Lori Vallow's new husband believes he could judge 'light and dark spirits'
PHOENIX - (NOTE: Due to a potentially disturbing subject matter, discretion is advised)
It's like something out of a science fiction movie, as FOX 10 has uncovered more documents sent from a doomsday author to the mother of two missing children with Arizona ties, more than a year ago.
Lori Vallow'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 Daybell, including details surrounding the death of Vallow's former husband, Charles Vallow, details surrounding the death and subsequent burial of Chad Daybell's former wife, Tammy, and allegations of cult membership. Chad Daybell is Lori Vallow's current husband.
Chad Daybell (left) and Lori Vallow (right) (Photo Courtesy: Rexburg, 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 Vallow 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. Vallow, ultimately, failed to obey the court order. She was subsequently arrested in Hawaii, extradited to Idaho, and made a court appearance there.
FOX 10 has been researching information surrounding Daybell's beliefs for months now, with multiple sources telling FOX 10's Justin Lum that Daybell believed he could judge light and dark spirits, ultimately influencing Lori.
E-mails began in 2018
On the morning of October 30, 2018, Lori received an email from Chad. Its unknown exactly how long the two communicated leading up to the message, which reads:
"Here are the family history documents you requested."
The attachments include a rubric, explaining how there are "light" and "dark" spirits”, showing levels of estates.
According to a FOX 10 source, Chad believes people are reborn, or graduate, to the next level when they essentially die. The document says most LDS (Latter Day Saints) members are level two, and the dark side only matches the light.
"The thing is when you have some of these gifts, it gets real tricky because you’re not living in one dimension, you’re living in multiple dimensions, and Chad's had two near-death experiences, so his veil is kind of open, but not completely," said author Julie Rowe, who is Chad's former friend.
Rowe says Chad, a doomsday author himself, never brought up this 'system' when he published her books, but by 2018, she says he changed and claimed he could see the light and dark in people. Chad's ideas eventually reached Lori.
Another attachment lists Lori's family tree, which includes her parents, siblings, past husbands, and her kids.
In the attachment, Tylee was labeled as a 4.1 dark spirit, while Tylee's father, Joseph Ryan, was listed as dark and "sealed away."
Joseph Ryan died in 2018.
JJ, who is Lori's adoptive son, was listed as a light spirit, level 4.2.
Joshua "JJ" Vallow (left) and Tylee Ryan (right) (Photo Courtesy: Rexberg, Idaho Police Department)
Lori herself, meanwhile, was classified as being on the light side.
Chad's former friend says he's off base.
"You cannot just go and test and say, 'OK, this person is a 4.1 dark," said Rowe.
The twisted timeline evolves three months after Lori receives these documents. In February 2019, Charles, then Lori's husband, files for divorce, accusing Lori of threatening his life and calling herself a "translated being." Charles was shot and killed by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox. Cox told Chandler Police it was self-defense.
By September, Lori moved JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho, living minutes away from Chad.
On October 19, Tammy suddenly died, and by December, Cox was dead. The cause of death for both remain unknown.
Rowe admits to defending Chad’s name in the past, but now she says his teachings are of false doctrine.
"If that isn’t a cult leader, I don’t know what it is," said Rowe. "That’s where I am now, because he was going around, saying things in people’s homes, going to people now. Whether they joined a cult or realized that’s what he was trying to do or not, he won’t call it a cult. I think he thinks he’s starting a church."
The Idaho Attorney General is investigating Chad, as well as Lori, for the death of Tammy.
On Friday, Lori will try to get her bond amount of $1 million reduced by a judge. Meanwhile, her preliminary hearing has been moved to July 9 and 10.