Investigators in Arizona expect to charge ‘cult mom’ Lori Vallow in relation to the shooting death of her former husband before the end of the year.
Cops investigating the case believe they could charge Lori, 47, in ‘four to six months’ but are still searching through 100,000 pieces of ‘digital data’ to find evidence, according to Fox News.
She will likely be charged with conspiracy to commit murder, police said.
It comes after a hearing this week heard how the charred remains of Lori’s missing children were found on the property of her new husband.
Arizona cops expect to recommend charges against ‘cult mom’ Lori Vallow relating to the shooting death of her estranged husband Charles Vallow in July 2019
Charles Vallow, pictured left with Lori, was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox last year, who claimed he acted in self defense. Charles was filing for divorce at the time
Lori’s estranged husband, Charles Vallow, 52, was shot dead on July 10, 2019, in suburban Phoenix following an altercation with his brother-in-law, Alex Cox.
Cox, who died on natural causes in December, asserted the shooting was in self-defense.
However, Charles had been seeking a divorce at the time, saying Lori believed she had become a god-like figure who was responsible for ushering in the biblical end times.
Lori is already in police custody and charged with crimes relating to the deaths of her two children, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow.
Yet Arizona police say they could recommend further charges in their state in relation in Charles’ death.
Chandler police spokesman Sgt. Jason McClimans told Fox News that investigators will submit a case on the death to Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
‘I can’t confirm the exact date or timeline when the case will be sent over, but an estimate is 4-6 months,’ McClimans said.
He added that there was still 100,000 pieces of ‘digital data’ to search through and search warrants and subpoenas in the case.
‘This case is a marathon, not a sprint,’ Chandler Police Detective Nathan Duncan told EastIdahoNews.com. ‘We are conducting a very thorough investigation to determine the truth behind the murder of Charles Vallow.’
While Cox has been established as the person who shot Charles, Lori had previously been identified as a person of interest in the death.
Shortly after his death, she had left Arizona for Idaho to join ‘doomsday prepper’ Chad Daybell, 51, who is also charged with crimes relating to the deaths of her children.
Vallow and Daybell married in Hawaii in November, three months after the kids were last seen and only weeks after the deaths of both their previous spouses.
The children’s bodies were found in June on Daybell’s rural Idaho property and he was arrested later that day.
Investigators said they found the bodies by tracking Cox’s cellphone movements as he appeared at the property shortly after both of the kids disappeared.
‘Lori has always been a person of interest in this investigation,’ McClimans added of the Charles Vallow death.
‘With regards to this charge, Lori was not the person who shot Charles, as it was already determined Alex Cox did.’
Prosecutors will ultimately decide if further charges will be pursued.
Lori is already facing two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence in relation to the disappearance for her children.
She previously pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanors charges for contempt, resisting and obstructing and criminal solicitation to commit a crime.
Police started investigating a missing child case last year and eventually arrested Lori on charges she abandoned her children.
Investigators found their bodies during a search in June, months after they were last seen in September 2019.
Authorities have yet to file charges related to their deaths.
The bodies of Vallow’s children, seven-year-old Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow (left) and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan (right), were found in June 2020, nine months after they had disappeared
The remains of Lori’s children Tylee Ryan (left) and Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow (right) were discovered on the property of her husband Chad Daybell on June 9 – nine months after they went missing
In this aerial photo, investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell’s residence in the 200 block of 1900 East in Salem, Idaho on June 9 where Vallow’s children were found
They also have yet to say how or when the children died, but a prosecuting attorney speaking during Daybell’s preliminary hearing this week called both deaths homicides based on the condition of the bodies.
The two-day hearing included graphic testimony about unearthing the duct-tape bound body of the boy and the charred and dismembered remains of the girl.
It ended with the Idaho judge concluding that Daybell will stand trial.
On Thursday during a brief Zoom appearance in court, Vallow waived her right to a preliminary hearing next week.
She is now set to be arraigned by a district court on charges relating to the hiding of the remains.
The move means Vallow’s case will automatically move to a higher court, where a trial date will be set if she pleads not guilty to the felony charges, KTVB reported.
Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins, pictured at the hearing Tuesday, said Daybell will stand trial
In a two-day hearing this week a judge ruled husband Chad Daybell (pictured on Tuesday) will stand trial for the charges relating to the hiding of evidence linked to the kid’s disappearance
Lori Vallow (pictured on Thursday) has waived her right to a preliminary scheduled for next week a brief court appearance via Zoom. She is now set to be arraigned by a district court
During Daybell’s hearing Tuesday, prosecutors said that they used cellphone location records to confirm that that the day after JJ Vallow was last seen alive in late September, Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, showed up at Chad’s property just as he had shown up at Tylee Ryan’s grave site the day after she disappeared.
An FBI analyst who reviewed cellphone records said that was notable because Tylee Ryan was last seen alive on September 8 in Yellowstone National Park.
They testified that on September 9 Chad sent a text to his then wife, Tammy Daybell, saying he was burning debris and that he had also shot and buried a large raccoon on his property.
Police said Cox was involved in the conspiracy to hide the children’s remains as well as being responsible for the death of Charles Vallow. He died of an apparent blood clot in his lung at his Arizona home late last year.
Lori is charged with crimes relating to the deaths of her two children, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan (pictured together right) and 7-year-old Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow (pictured together left)
A missing persons case was first launched last year when family members became concerned that they hadn’t seen the children in several month. Pictured, Lori with daughter Tylee
A friend of Lori Daybell, Melanie Gibb, also testified Tuesday about how people involved in the case became acquainted through a doomsday belief system that led them to ‘preparedness’ meetings loosely affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Court documents in Lori’s criminal case include claims that the couple believed dark spirits, or ‘zombies,’ would possess people.
Gibb said Lori told her at different times last year that both children had become zombies and that the couple believed the only way to rid a person of a dark spirit was by killing them.
Much of Gibb’s testimony revolved around a phone conversation she recorded with the couple after she became suspicious and confronted them about the missing children and accused them of multiple lies.
Gibb acknowledged to Chad’s attorney, John Prior, that she initially lied to police about having JJ Vallow with her because she was persuaded to lie by Lori.
Gibb said she became concerned that she could be blamed for the children’s disappearance, leading her to call the couple and record the conversation, which she shared with police.
Police in Idaho are also investigating the October 2019 death of Daybell’s wife Tammy who died just weeks before he married Vallow in Hawaii.
Her body was exhumed in December but further autopsy results have not yet been released.