Netflix has gained a reputation for producing unsettling true-crime documentaries, and “Sins of Our Mother” lives up to it. The three-episode documentary series is disturbing, to put it mildly. The series deals with the sudden disappearance of Tylee, 16, and JJ, 7. It was while investigating the case that the police came across a larger conspiracy at play. At the center of the conspiracy were Lori Vallow Daybell, her brother, Alex Cox, and her husband, Chad Daybell. Lori’s son, Colby, shares his account of what he went through when his family was completely shattered.
Who Is Lori Vallow?
Lori Vallow from Netflix’s documentary series “Sins of our mother” was raised at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and she loved The Book of Mormons. She always believed in spirituality and that she had a deeper spiritual connection than most did. Her first marriage was a failure. She married the second time to William Lagioia and gave birth to Colby. She separated from him due to conflict and married Joseph Anthony Ryan, giving birth to Tylee. The two initially shared a harmonious relationship, but it soon turned into an abusive one. She left the household with her children when the abuse got out of hand.
Colby had later confided in his mother that his stepfather had sexually abused him. Colby believed that changed his mother. He felt his confession was a turning point in her life. She did not respond after listening to him, making him wonder if it was all his fault. She was devastated to the point that she was ready to murder him. In her podcast, she confessed that she had surrendered herself to her bishop and decided to turn her life to the temple. Alex Cox, Lori’s brother, who later supported Lori in her bizarre journey, had tried to seek revenge from Joe, but it was not a success. Alex wanted to be a stand-up comedian and considering how we know his life goes into a state of madness, watching him perform in front of a live audience joking about his life was eerie.
Lori then went on to marry Charles Vallow in 2006. Colby thought that her mother loved Charles, but more than the romantic bond, it was his financial security that attracted her. They adopted his grandnephew, Joshua J. Vallow. JJ soon became a part of their family, and he was loved and nurtured by Tylee. Since Colby had his own life now, Tylee and JJ formed a special bond. In her podcast, Lori discussed how she often heard voices of angels asking her to carry out certain missions. Her first mission was to travel to Hawaii with her family. They lived there for three years. Through her podcast, we get a sense of the kind of person Lori was. She believed in destiny, in everything happening for a larger purpose, and that she was a chosen one. While Lori and Charles seemed to share a good relationship, Lori was not satisfied spiritually. She did not connect with him on a spiritual level, and that bothered her. From what it seems to be, Charles was not buying into her conspiracy theories. He initially supported her ideas, but later it got too bizarre for him. Lori says that she barely sleeps because she is woken by angels asking her to carry out Father’s work. This clearly shows how mentally unstable Lori was becoming over time. And as she searched for a partner who would understand her spiritually, she met Chad Daybell.
Who Is Chad Daybell? How Did He Influence Lori Vallow?
Everyone around Lori remembered how obsessed she was about the end times. She was storing food to survive when the world would be destroyed. She found a group of friends, along with her brother Alex. They all believed in the end times and that it would be the second coming of Christ. It was at one of the conferences that she went along with her friends that she met Chad Daybell. Daybell claimed to have undergone two near-death experiences, after which he believed he could look beyond the veil of the present to the future and knew his purpose on Earth. He was a prophet sent on Earth to carry out missions. In his message, he discussed how the spirits of those who had gathered had brought them there for a larger purpose. His vision was that there would be an apocalypse, those who followed the right path would survive it, and there were 144.000 chosen ones who would be saved. After the apocalypse, a new Jerusalem would be established, and they would carry on the Lord’s work together. He also had a grading system through which he numbered the light and dark spirits. When the light spirit left a human body, they turned into a state of limbo, and that was when humans became zombies. The dark spirits then took control of these bodies, and it was the duty of the chosen ones to eliminate them from Earth. When Chad met Lori, he discussed how they were married multiple times in numerous lives and that they were spiritually connected. Lori was completely mesmerized by him. She read his books and believed in his vision. Lori was convinced that her husband, Charles, was possessed by the dark spirit of Nick Snider. Therefore, he was a zombie, and the spirit of Charles had already died. Lori had to get rid of Charles/Nick Snider, and she discussed eliminating him with her brother, Alex.
Charles had called the police when he returned home and saw his car and clothes missing. Knowing how erratic his wife had been behaving, he discussed with the police how his life and his children’s lives could be in danger because of her. The police behaved incompetently when they met Lori. They were convinced that Lori was innocent and that her husband was making allegations against her because of their separation. The situation escalated when Charles went to visit JJ and Tylee in Arizona, and he met Alex there. They argued. Lori claimed that Charles was having an affair, and she had come across evidence on his phone and refused to return it. The situation gradually went out of control, and Alex shot Charles in the chest. After carrying out an investigation, it was found that Alex contacted the police 43 minutes after he spoke to Lori over the phone. Lori had left the house with Tylee after the argument. The postmortem report indicated that Alex did not try to perform CPR even after the police advised him to. It also indicated that Charles had collapsed on the floor after the first shot, but Alex shot him again. This confirms that it was not self-defense that he claimed it was but rather murder that was planned and performed.
What made it worse was how desperately Charles had tried to warn Lori’s family of her behavior, but nobody believed him except for her brother, Adam. He contacted the police and sent emails to the family members explaining how she had met Chad Daybell and how he was manipulating her, but nobody doubted Lori. The video of Lori after Charles’s death reveals how unaffected she was by the entire incident; she was joking even after knowing that her husband had died. After his death, she tried to claim insurance money, but thankfully he had changed his nominee, and she did not receive the money. The murder of the spouses was financially motivated; the insurance money was a way to fund their mission and to marry those they spiritually connected with.
Who Murdered Tylee And Jj?
The police were convinced that Alex had acted out of self-defense, and that led to the death of Charles. But it got stranger when Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy, died suddenly. Chad claimed that Tammy was possessed by a dark spirit and had transformed into a zombie, which was why she needed to be terminated. Thirteen days after her memorial, Lori and Chad were married in Hawaii in a private ceremony. In the meantime, Alex died due to blood clot formations in his lungs, a genetic condition. What became concerning was that the rest of the family had no connection with JJ and Tylee. JJ’s grandmother demanded to talk to him, but Lori avoided doing so. Colby had not spoken to Tylee for a long time now. The little that he did was over texts, and she did not seem to be her usual self. She did not receive his calls and didn’t bother to call him back. Lori explained to Colby that she was busy in her life, but it was all too unusual. Kelsee, Colby’s wife, went through the emails Charles had sent them before his death. It consisted of a forwarded email from Chad listing down the family history of Lori, in which he noted down the members who were light spirits and dark spirits. People who supported Lori were the ones with light spirits, and those who disagreed with her were dark spirits. As it turned out, Tylee was labeled as a dark spirit. This signifies how it was potentially the reason they acted upon it. When JJ’s grandmother, Kay, further probed the matter and called the police to examine the situation with her grandchildren, Lori started to lose control. She lied to the police about the whereabouts of her children. The police searched her apartment, but the children were not found. The case started to get popular, but Lori and Chad maintained silence.
‘Sins Of Our Mother’ Ending Explained: Where Are Lori Vallow And Chad Daybell Now?
Lori and Chad were spotted in Hawaii. They returned to Idaho and were arrested after they failed to comply with the court order. During the court case, Colby could barely recognize his mother. She was not herself; she had a layer of makeup on and seemed to be unaffected by what was unfolding. She continued to deny any knowledge of her children’s whereabouts. She claimed that they were happy and safe but did not reveal anything more. She was smiling during the court hearing. It seemed as if she was performing; she was a character in a fantasy world where nothing occurring in the real world was affecting her. Later on, when the police investigated the case and traced the GPS of Alex’s phone, they noticed that he had spent two hours in Chad’s backyard. Chad had texted Tammy the same day, stating that he had killed a raccoon and had cremated it in their backyard. The police dug into his backyard and found the bodies of Tylee and JJ. Tylee was last spotted on September 8, 2019, and JJ was last seen on September 22. Lori was considered mentally unstable to stand trial; she was admitted to a mental health facility in Idaho. Meanwhile, on August 21, 2020, Chad pled not guilty on all counts. As of April 11, 2021, Lori was found mentally fit to stand trial. Both continue to live in prison. The couple is scheduled to stand a joint trial in 2023 in Idaho.
Even though they are yet to be declared guilty, the documentary series is clear in its stance. The telephonic conversations between Colby and Lori indicate the fantasy world Lori resided in. Since the murders were committed for a spiritual purpose, they believed that they were not morally wrong to do so. Lori perhaps believes that it was all for the betterment of her children; for their well-being, she took decisions that nobody other than she and her close associates knew the purpose behind. Lori found a greater cause for her existence by believing that the world would end by July 22, 2020. She considered herself a worrier who would fight the zombies and create the perfect world for the Lord. Therefore, she was beyond the human trials and justice system. She knew the secrets of the future that nobody knew, and perhaps she was laughing at the innocence of those around her who could not comprehend the larger scheme of things. “Sins of our mother” will haunt you and make you wonder how blind faith can completely destroy one’s life and the extent to which one can go to hold on to their beliefs.
“Sins of Our Mother” is a 2022 Documentary Crime series streaming on Netflix.
