Former friend of missing woman, kids speaks of her complicated marital past, with two husbands dead
PHOENIX - Disturbing new details are coming out about the mother of two missing children from Arizona who were last seen in Idaho.
Both the FBI and local authorities consider Lori Vallow and her new husband Chad Daybell persons of interest in the disappearance of Joshua Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17.
Police say she never reported her kids missing.
We're hearing from a former friend of Lori's, who is remaining anonymous, about her infatuation with her new husband's beliefs. She witnessed Lori become obsessed with Chad's books, she said.
He writes books about the end of the world and how to prepare for it. This happened about four years before Lori would eventually marry the author.
Her old friend says she can't wrap her head around what's happening as Vallow's two kids haven't been seen since September. She remembers Lori as an amazing mother who devoted herself to Tylee and Joshua
"She would fly her daughter's friend from Arizona to come see her just so that she would have a better week. I mean she's like mother of the year here," she remembered.
But now, Lori and Chad are wanted for questioning. With no trace of the kids, she realizes there may have been red flags, like when she says Lori spoke constantly about "the end of times."
"She was 100% into the end of times, the end of the world and she would tell me no you really gotta start preparing for the end of the world. You gotta start getting your stuff together. She would order stuff all the time she would tell me I needed to read all these books," her friend said.
The books written by Chad were specifically a fictional series called "Standing in Holy Places." Her friend said, "Those books she got really obsessed with and she started buying me those books too. She must have gotten close to him from his books."
Lori's third husband, Joseph Ryan died of a heart attack in Gilbert in 2018 and was cremated. The next year, Chandler Police say Lori's brother Alex Cox shot and killed her estranged husband Charles. Cox claimed self-defense.
"Lori would say things to me like 'I'm never gonna get divorced again. I'm on my fourth husband.'" Adding, "And then she would tell me, 'You gotta get rid of your husband. We'll just go off and do our own thing.'"
In October, Chad's wife Tammy was found dead in Idaho, but it's now a suspicious death investigation the day after her body is exhumed. In this same month, Lori's brother dies in Gilbert, the cause is unknown.
The two got married within weeks of Chad's wife's death. Rexburg Police last spoke to them during a welfare check for the kids in November.
Her friend vividly remembers one disturbing thing Lori would allegedly say, "It's gonna be the end of the world and we should all just drive off a cliff and kill us and our kids and die all at the same time."
Now, she wonders how she trusted the woman.
"I would've trusted her with my kids more than I would've trusted anybody."
If you have any information on Joshua and Tylee call 1-800-THE-LOST.