‘Cult’ mom accused by her ex-husband of locking him out of his $1 million life insurance policy

The Idaho ‘cult mom’ who is being investigated over the disappearance of her two children and the deaths of three others is accused in emails of tryuing to lock her late husband out of his $1million life insurance policy just months before her brother shot and killed him.

Lori Vallow, 46, is under investigation in Idaho in connection with the disappearance of her two missing children – 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow.

Both kids have not been seen or heard from since September. She has denied any wrongdoing.

Lori Vallow’s current husband, Chad Daybell, a 51-year-old Mormon author of doomsday and ‘prepper’ books, is being investigated in connection with the death of his first wife, Tammy Daybell, in October.

Two weeks after she died, Daybell married Vallow, prompting suspicious authorities to exhume Tammy’s body in December.

Last July, Charles Vallow, Lori Daybell’s estranged fourth husband, was shot and killed by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, in Phoenix.

Charles Vallow (left), 63, the estranged fourth husband of Idaho ‘cult mom’ Lori Vallow (right), removed her as the beneficiary from his $1million life insurance policy just a few months before he was shot and killed by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox

Charles Vallow accused his then-estranged wife Lori Vallow of hacking into his life insurance policy in February 2019 – right around the time he filed for divorce

Charles Vallow filled out a notarized change of beneficiary form and submitted it to Banner Life Insurance Company, which removed Lori Vallow from the policy

Cox, who said the shooting was in self-defense, died of unknown causes several months later.

Five months before Charles Vallow, 63, was killed, he wrote an email to his life insurance provider accusing Lori Vallow of hacking into his account and changing his password, according to KSAZ-TV.

At the time, Charles Vallow sought to remove his then-wife as a beneficiary of the $1million policy, emails show.

Charles Vallow, JJ Vallow’s adoptive father, told his sister, Kay Woodcock, who is also JJ’s biological grandmother, that his wife did not want to deal with the 7-year-old because of his autism, according to KSAZ-TV.

On February 26, 2019, Charles Vallow officially filed for divorce from Lori Vallow. At the time, he discovered his life insurance policy was allegedly hacked.

In an email he wrote to Banner Life Insurance Company, Charles Vallow wrote that the password listed on his account was changed a week prior on February 20.

‘IT WAS NOT BY ME,’ he wrote in the email. ‘I request an investigation as I believe it’s my soon to be ex wife who fraudulently placed a password on the account.’

Charles Vallow asked the Maryland-based life insurance company to remove Lori Vallow as the beneficiary on his policy.

‘I want to change the beneficiary to my sister, Ethel Kathleen (Kay) Woodcock,’ he wrote.

Alex Cox (left), Lori’s brother, shot and killed her fourth husband, Charles Vallow (right), during an argument. He claimed that the former baseball player hit him over the head with a bat 

Vallow’s new husband, Chad Daybell, is being investigated in the death of his previous wife Tammy (pictured with Chad), who was found dead under suspicious circumstances at their home in Idaho in October 2019

Lori and Chad tied the knot less than three weeks after Tammy died. They are seen celebrating the wedding on a beach in Kauai on November 5

Charles Vallow also wrote that he obtained ‘an order of protection against Lori Vallow as she has physically threatened my life in the past 30 days.’

Kay Woodcock told KSAZ-TV that her brother sought to change the policy because ‘he knew that I would do things the way he asked and that his boys – all three of them – would be taken care of in a way that Charles asked me to do so.’

Charles Vallow filled out a notarized beneficiary change form and submitted it to Banner, which agreed to remove Lori Vallow from his policy.

In a subsequent email to the company, Charles Vallow wrote that he wanted ‘nothing to go to Lori or any member of her family.’

Woodcock said that she had spoken with people who were told by Lori Vallow that her brother ‘was going to be dead any day.’

On July 11, Lori Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles Vallow in Lori Vallow’s home in Chandler, Arizona.

Charles Vallow arrived at the home that day to pick up JJ when a confrontation ensued.

Lori’s children, 7-year-old JJ and 17-year-old Tylee , have not been seen since September 2019

The timeline of the mysterious deaths and disappearance in Vallow’s immediate family

Alex Cox claimed at the time that he shot Charles Vallow in self-defense.

That shooting is still being investigated, as is Cox’s mysterious death months later.

Timeline of JJ and Tylee’s disappearance 

July 11: Lori Vallow’s husband, Charles Vallow, is killed by her brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona 

August: Lori moves children JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho

September 23: The last time JJ was seen at his school in Idaho 

October 19: Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy dies at their Idaho  home 

October 25: A friend of Tylee receives a text from her phone   

November 5: Lori and Chad marry

November 26: Out-of-state relatives ask Idaho police to perform a welfare check on JJ. Lori and Chad claim he is in Arizona with relatives. Police also learn Tylee has not been seen since September, either

November 27: Police execute a search warrant at Lori and Chad’s home, discovering the couple have fled Idaho

December 11: Tammy Daybell’s body is exhumed from the Utah cemetery

December 12: Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, believed to have died in Arizona

December 21: Police issue a press release about JJ and Tylee, revealing they believe their disappearance is linked to Tammy’s death

December 24: Lori and Chad issue a statement through an attorney saying they love their son and daughter and look forward to addressing ‘allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor’

December 30: Police accuse Lori and Chad of lying to investigators and say they believe the couple know where the kids are or what happened to them

January 26: Lori and Chad are seen for the first time in months as police serve two search warrants in Kaua’i 

January 30 Lori misses court deadline to produce the children to authorities

February 20: Lori is arrested in Kauai 

In late August, more than a month after her husband was killed, Lori Vallow took the children and moved with them from Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho, where Daybell and his then-wife of 28 years, Tammy, had lived.

JJ Vallow was last seen in school on September 23, 2019 – the day before Tylee’s 17th birthday.

Tylee was last seen during a family trip to Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019, according to investigators.

Lori Vallow did not inform authorities that her children were missing until two months later. That’s when she came under police scrutiny.

Tammy Daybell´s death on October 19, 2019, was described in her obituary as being from natural causes, and her husband Chad Daybell reportedly told authorities that she died in her sleep.

But law enforcement became suspicious when he married Lori Vallow about two weeks later, and in December authorities had Daybell’s body exhumed.

Autopsy and toxicology tests have not been released.

Woodcock told KSAZ-TV that her late brother, Charles Vallow, warned her about Chad Daybell after he realized his then-wife was taken with him.

Woodcock said that Lori Vallow became interested in Chad Daybell after reading his novels.

Daybell, a devout Mormon, is the author of some 20 books whose themes are often apocalyptic.

One of his novels, a best-seller titled The Great Gathering, describes ‘a United States that is growing increasingly wicked.’

Daybell writes in the book: ‘The Norths and their extended family notice that many Latter-day Saints are being deceived by alluring temptations, and they wonder how much longer the Lord will allow American society to continue its downward spiral.’

Another book written by Daybell, The Times of Turmoil, describes how ‘natural disasters will lead to economic difficulties, leaving the United States on the edge of collapse.’

‘During this time of strife, members of the LDS Church will be invited by their leaders to survive the civil unrest by gathering to holy refuges,’ according to a summary of the book.

Woodcock said her late brother confided in her that Lori Vallow was no longer the same person he married after she was introduced to Daybell’s work.

‘It just made it more and more real to him that she was done with him, with their relationship, and that she was done with being a mom,’ she said.

Rexburg, Idaho, police say both Lori and Chad Daybell lied about the children´s whereabouts, and Lori is currently being held in jail on charges that she deserted or abandoned the kids, asked a friend to lie for her and obstructed the officers investigating the case.

She’s pleaded not guilty.

Investigators say the tangled case includes two other mysterious deaths.

Police in Rexburg have said they are gravely worried about the kids’ safety.

They’ve asked people who visited Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019, to scour their photos for any sign of the kids, Lori or Alex Cox.

That’s the last known time that Tylee Ryan, whose father is Lori Vallow’s ex-husband, was seen, during a trip the family took to the park.

JJ Vallow was last seen a few weeks later.

Authorities have also indicated that they will search the remote wilderness in and around Yellowstone once weather conditions allow.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden agreed last week to take over the investigation of Tammy Daybell’s death after a request from a local prosecutor, according to documents The Associated Press obtained through a public record request.

Lori is currently being held at Madison County Jail as she awaits trial on charges of child neglect and desertion in connection with the disappearance of her children. She is seen in court last month 

Fremont County prosecutor Marcia Murdoch asked Wasden´s office this month to consider the possibility of filing conspiracy, attempted murder and murder charges against Lori and Chad Daybell in Tammy Daybell’s death.

The attorney general had initially turned down the request citing a lack of resources, according to Murdoch.

Scott Graf, the attorney general´s spokesman, said that when Murdoch first made the request it wasn´t clear if the state office would have the capacity to take over the case, based on current and anticipated caseloads.

The attorney general’s office asked Murdoch to see if other county-level prosecutors were available to take over the case first.

None of the other county prosecutors she approached were able to take the case, Murdoch told the state office when she made the request again on April 7.

‘I am again requesting that the AG’s office take over this case because my office does not have the resources or the experience to handle the case,’ Murdoch wrote in the letter obtained by The Associated Press. 

‘We would be willing to assist in any way to help the AG’s office, as needed at your request and at your discretion.’

It’s not yet clear if the attorney general´s decision to take over the case will have an impact on Daybell’s request to have her $1million bond reduced on the child abandonment charges. 

Neither Lori Daybell´s attorney Mark Means, nor Chad Daybell´s attorney Sean Bartholick immediately responded to requests for comment. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk