E-mails suggest Lori Vallow tried to lock ex-husband out of his life insurance account

PHOENIX - What did the former husband of Lori Vallow, Charles Vallow, accuse her of doing months before his death? FOX 10 has obtained new details on the mother of two missing kids with Arizona ties.

Lori's children, Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan, were last seen in September 2019. The disappearances have uncovered a complicated sequence of events related to Lori and her new husband, Chad Daybell, including details surrounding Charles' death, details surrounding the death and subsequent burial of Daybell's former wife, Tammy, and allegations of cult membership.

Joshua "JJ" Vallow (left) and Tylee Ryan (right) (Photo Courtesy: Rexberg, Idaho Police Department)

RELATED: Click here for an interactive timeline of events surrounding the case

In late January, Idaho authorities say a child protection action was filed on behalf of JJ and Tylee, and that a court has ordered Lori to physically produce the two children to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in Rexburg within five days of being served with the order. Lori, ultimately, failed to obey the court order. She has since been extradited to Idaho,

Lori has appeared in front of a judge, and she is currently waiting for a bond reduction hearing on April 24. The Idaho Attorney General's Office is also investigating Lori and Chad for conspiracy, attempted murder and or murder in connection with the death of Tammy Daybell.

Lori Vallow appears in court on March 6, 2020.

JJ’s grandmother, Kay Woodcock, says Charles, who was her brother, confided in her, saying Lori didn't want to deal with their autistic son anymore. JJ is noted to be on the Autism spectrum.

"We couldn’t believe it, but as time progressed, absolutely we knew that she was. She was off," said Kay.

E-mails from Charles suggest Lori locked him out of his account

A $1 million life insurance policy could have went a different way nearly five months before Charles was shot and killed.

E-mails composed by Charles at the time accuded Lori of locking him out of his account. Charles, however, managed to catch the change, and ultimately removed her as beneficiary.

By February 26, 2019, Charles had filed for divorce, and discovered his life insurance policy had been hacked.

One e-mail from Charles to Banner Life Insurance says a password was placed six days prior, and not by him. He requested an investigation into his "soon to be ex-wife" Lori, saying she threatened his life within the last month.

According to divorce paperwork filed by Charles, Lori threatened Charles and told him she was a "God preparing for Christ's second coming in July 2020," and if he got in her way, she would murder him. Charles later got an Order of Protection.

Kay believed in her brother’s concern.

"She told people that I’ve spoken with that Charles was gonna he dead any day," said Kay.

Kay said Charles approached her in late February about his life insurance policy, and said he wanted to name Kay as the beneficiary.

"Because he knew I would do things the way he asked, and that his boys all three of them would be taken care of in a way that Charles asked me to do so," said Kay.

Charles took action

It took an official letter to Banner and a notarized beneficiary change form to give Charles access to his policy again.

In the letter, Charles also asks for any call or transcript linked to Lori, suspecting her of the password change.

In an e-mail Kay was a CC recipient on, Charles named her as beneficiary so she could use the money to take care of JJ, if anything happened to him.

"I want nothing to go to Lori or any member of her family," Charles wrote.

Deadly July 2019

On July 11, 2019, Chandler Police officials say Lori's brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles to death in self-defense during a fight.

Alex has since died, and the case is still being investigated.

By the end of August, Lori moved JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho, shortly before marrying Daybell.

Daybell is noted to be a doomsday author, and Charles' family members of charles say he warned them about before his death

"It just made it more real to him that she was done with him, with their relationship, and that she was done with being a mom," said Kay.