Lawyers: Husband of Lori Vallow made prediction on who will kill him months before he died
PHOENIX - The disappearance of Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan from September has also uncovered many more layers to the story, including mysterious deaths and allegations memberships in a religious group that is fixated on doomsday events.
On Wednesday, FOX 10's Justin Lum spoke with the former attorneys of Charles Vallow, the late husband of Lori Vallow.
Ellsworth Family Law represented Charles last February, and the court documents petitioning for divorce and sole custody of JJ have now been seen across the country.
The alleged claims in these documents are disturbing, with Charles saying during a phone call that Lori told him she is a "translated being who cannot taste death sent by god to lead the 144,000 into the Millennium". Charles also said in the documents that Lori threatened him, telling 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.
Lori Vallow
In the interview, Charles' former attorneys said Charles predicted who would end his life.
The prediction was made five months before it actually happened.
Nearly one year after the prediction, Steven Ellsworth and Taylor Larson can't believe it. The attorneys say Charles confided in him about Lori in February 2019.
"He said, 'I'm afraid I'm gonna be killed, and I know who's gonna do it'," said Ellsworth. "'I'm telling you, Steve, so that if something happens to me, I wanna make sure you let everyone know that something happens, I'm killed, that it's my wife Lori and her brother, Alex Cox."
Steven Ellsworth, Charles Vallow's former attorney
On July 11, 2019, Charles went to pick up JJ in Chandler, before police say he got into a fight with Cox. It all happened with Lori, JJ and his Tylee in the home.
Moments later, police say Cox shot Charles to death in self-defense.
A former employee at a Gilbert hotel said Charles stayed there in the few weeks that led up to his death. The source said she expected Charles and JJ to return to the hotel for breakfast on July 11.
The police arrived instead.
"They pulled out their badges and said, 'well, we're detectives and he's not able to give clarification to let us in because he's dead," said an employee, in a phone interview.
Charles Vallow
"We knew that this wasn't an accident," said Larson. "This wasn't self-defense."
The investigation is still open, but Cox has since died suddenly in Gilbert.
Results from an autopsy are reportedly pending.
A little more than a month after the deadly shooting, Lori, JJ and Tylee packed their bags for Idaho, and Lori later was married to Chad Daybell.
Charles' former attorneys tried to serve an Order of Protection against Lori last winter, but could never find her.
"I think she had a talk or a conference with Preparing A People, and we're just not ever able to find her and serve her," said Larson.
The attorney who filed Charles' petition for sole custody of JJ said Charles didn't just predict his own death.
Larson said he also believed Lori would take the kids out of state.
"The fact that she had called JJ's school and asked if he was present that day really gave us a lot of fear, and Charles had to go over there and take JJ out of school," said Larson.
Family members have put out a $20,000 reward for information leading to the missing kids being found.