A relative of missing children Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan was recently targeted in drive-by shooting that he believes was linked to their disappearance and three other suspicious family deaths after their mother, Lori Vallow, allegedly joined a doomsday cult with her new husband.
Brandon Boudreaux is the ex-husband of Lori’s niece. Lori is currently on the run from police with her new husband Chad Daybell, who are persons of interest in the disappearance of Joshua, seven, and Tylee, 17, who have not been seen since September.
On October 2, Brandon was shot at while driving home from the gym in Gilbert, Arizona. The bullet missed his head by mere inches as the shooter fled the scene, according to court documents obtained by The Arizona Republic.
An ongoing police investigation revealed that the shooter was driving a Jeep registered to Charles Vallow, Lori’s estranged husband who was shot dead by her brother, Alex Cox, three months earlier.
Three weeks after the shooting, Chad’s wife Tammy Daybell was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Chad and Lori tied the knot days after Tammy’s death.
Cox joined the list of mysteriously deceased family members on December 12 as the search for Joshua and Tylee intensified.
Brandon has now said he believes the children’s disappearance, the three deaths and his attempted murder are connected to a dangerous religious cult that Chad recruited Lori into about 18 months ago.
‘I just don’t know how people can get so wrapped up that they can end up in this space where these people are. It’s just so radical, so different,’ Brandon told The Arizona Republic this week.
Brandon Boudreaux, a relative of missing children Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan, was targeted in drive-by shooting that he believes was linked to their disappearance and three other suspicious family deaths after their mother, Lori Vallow, allegedly joined a doomsday cult with her new husband. Brandon said his ex-wife Melani, Lori’s niece, demanded a divorce after she began spending time with the alleged cult. Brandon and Melani are pictured together
An ongoing police investigation revealed that the person who shot at Brandon on October 2 was driving a car registered to Charles Vallow, Lori’s estranged husband (pictured together). Charles was shot dead by Lori’s brother three months before the drive-by
Chad (left) and his new wife Lori Vallow, 46, (right) went on the run in November after authorities learned Lori’s children have been missing since September. In a press release issued Monday Rexburg police said they have ‘information indicating that Lori knows either the location of the children or what has happened to them’
A multi-state police search is underway for seven-year-old Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow (left) and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan (right), who were last seen in Rexburg in September. Joshua and Tylee were never reported missing by their mother or her new husband
Brandon said his ex-wife, Melani Boudreaux, had begun spending time with her aunt’s cult, a radical offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called Preparing for People, before she suddenly demanded a divorce over the summer.
‘I thought I had a happy marriage, so it was pretty overwhelming,’ Brandon said.
The parents to four young children were in the middle of divorce proceedings when someone tried to kill him in the October drive-by.
Brandon said he was about to pull into his driveway when the Jeep passed and he saw a gun fitted with a silencer extend from one of the windows. A shot rang out as the bullet shattered his driver’s side window, narrowly missing his head.
The Jeep was later found to be registered to Charles Vallow.
Charles and Lori, Joshua’s adoptive parents, were estranged at the time of his death. Lori had asked him for a divorce after she joined Prepping for People, Brandon said.
Charles, who lived in Texas, went to pick up Joshua at Lori’s home in Chandler on July 11. When he arrived, the couple got in an argument.
Cox, Lori’s brother, intervened and shot Charles dead in front of Joshua and Tylee.
Charles’ death is still under investigation, according to the Chandler Police Department.
Cox himself died on December 12. Investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine his cause of death.
Lori and her two children moved to Rexburg, Idaho, where Chad lived, soon after Charles’ death. Family members say they stopped hearing from Joshua and Tylee around that time.
The children were last seen in Rexburg on September 23, but were never reported missing by their mother or the man she married days after his previous wife’s sudden death.
Tammy died on October 19 of what authorities initially thought was natural causes. The investigation into Joshua and Tylee’s disappearance led authorities to look into Tammy’s death. Her body was exhumed on December 11 to perform an autopsy.
Chad Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell, died at their home in Rexburg, Idaho, in October and was buried in Springville, Utah. Chad’s new wife, Lori, was also widowed in 2019 when her husband, Charles Vallow, was shot dead by her brother, Alex Cox, in July in Chandler, Arizona
Chad married Lori days after his previous wife, Tammy Daybell, died under suspicious circumstances on October 19. Tammy and Chad are pictured together
The complex web of deaths surrounding Lori and Chad came to light earlier this month when Rexburg police issued a statement asking for information about Joshua and Tylee’s whereabouts.
The search for the children began in November when police tried to do a welfare check on Joshua, who is autistic.
Rexburg police say Chad and Lori have repeatedly lied about where their children are – initially saying the boy was in Arizona – and aren’t cooperating with the investigation.
The couple had disappeared from their Rexburg home when police returned with additional questions and search warrants.
No charges have been filed against Chad or Lori in Idaho or Arizona but they are considered persons of interest in the children’s disappearance.
In a press release issued Monday, Rexburg police said they have ‘information indicating that Lori knows either the location of the children or what has happened to them’.
They also slammed the mother for her refusal to help with the investigation and confirmed they know the children are not with Lori and Chad.
Police said Monday: ‘Despite having this knowledge, she has refused to work with law enforcement to help us resolve this matter.
‘It is astonishing that rather than work with law enforcement to help us locate her own children, Lori Vallow has chosen instead to leave the state with her new husband.’
Officials are now calling on Lori and Chad ‘to do the right thing’ and ‘be honest’, saying: ‘This entire investigation could have been avoided if Lori and Chad had simply been honest with law enforcement.’
The release also states: ‘We are aware that in the weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death, Lori Daybell and Chad Daybell told witnesses that Lori’s daughter had died a year before the death of her father, which is untrue.
‘Around that same time Chad told another witness that Lori had no minor children.
‘We strongly believe that Joshua and Tylee’s lives are in danger.’
Police also addressed why they haven’t filed charges in the case, stating: ‘Our primary concern at this point is simply locating Joshua and Tylee and charging decisions will be made in due course based upon the evidence available.
‘If we find that harm was done to these children within our jurisdiction, we will prosecute whoever caused that harm.’
Lori and Chad issued a statement on December 24 through an attorney, saying they love their son and daughter and look forward to addressing ‘allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor’.
Police say it appeared the couple abruptly left the house and city. They said they don’t believe the couple had the children with them. How the couple left the city is unclear.
Police ‘strongly believe that Joshua and Tylee’s lives are in danger’. A release also states: ‘We are aware that in the weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death, Lori Daybell and Chad Daybell told witnesses that Lori’s daughter had died a year before the death of her father, which is untrue’
The search for the children began in November when police tried to do a welfare check on Joshua, pictured. The boy was adopted and has special needs
Chad, a self-published author who writes about near-death experiences and doomsday events, is a former member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He was excommunicated from the church after he declared that he was a prophet, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed earlier this month.
Chad allegedly claimed to have prophesied the death of his previous wife three weeks before she died
A friend of Chad’s revealed this week that the 51-year-old had claimed to have prophesied the death of his previous wife Tammy weeks before she died.
Two of Lori’s relatives – one of them Brandon Boudreaux – have expressed suspicion that the children’s disappearance may be linked to their mother’s newfound religious beliefs.
Her former mother-in-law, Kay Vallow Woodcock, wrote in a December 20 Facebook post: ‘Things started changing over the past 18+ months when Lori began spending all her time with a new religious group, that we refer to as a “cult”.’
Kay and her husband Larry Woodcock told Fox 10 that they last saw Joshua via FaceTime in August and that Lori had moved the two missing children from Arizona to Idaho shortly before they went missing in September.
Kay said that Lori’s personality had changed over the last 24 months.
‘To think that within the last two years she has completely changed into a monster, I’m making an understatement,’ Kay said.
She added: ‘Something happened to her. She just turned off and once she got involved with that cult with Daybell, she just turned off the person we knew just went away.’
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Rexburg Police Department at 208-359-3000, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-THE-LOST.
- Joshua, seven, has brown eyes and brown hair. He is 4′ tall and weighs 50lbs
- Tylee, 17, has blonde hair and blue eyes. She is 5′ tall and weighs 160lbs
- Lori Vallow, 46, has blonde hair and blue eyes and is 5’6″
- Chad Daybell, 51, has brown hair and blue eyes and is 6’3“