Fourth Mysterious Death Uncovered In Connection With Lori Vallow

The cause of her sister’s sudden death at age 31 remains undetermined.

May 05, 2020

Lori Vallow at a recent court hearing [Associated Press]

Lori Vallow at a recent court hearing [Associated Press]

By: Aaron Rasmussen

Another mysterious death connected to the Idaho mother of two children who went missing last September has come to light.

As CrimeFeed previously reported, Lori Vallow’s daughter, Tylee Ryan, 17, and 7-year-old son, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, vanished without a trace at the end of 2019. Tylee was last spotted on Sept. 8 with her mom and brother in Yellowstone National Park. Just over two weeks later, Vallow told Joshua’s school he would no longer be attending classes. He has not been seen since.

Now, investigators have begun taking a closer look at a strange string of deaths surrounding Vallow, 46.

Alex Cox shot dead Vallow’s fourth ex-husband, Chad Vallow, 62, during an argument in July 2019. Cox claimed at the time he acted in self-defense, and he was never charged with a crime.

Before his death, Chad Vallow alleged in divorce papers his estranged wife “became infatuated and, at times, obsessive about near-death experiences and spiritual visions” and believed she was “a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020.”

He was granted an order of protection against her after she allegedly threatened to kill him and said an angel would “help her dispose of the body,” USA Today reported.

On Oct. 19, Tamara “Tammy” Daybell died from unknown causes in her sleep at age 49. Just weeks later, her doomsday author husband, Chad Daybell, married Vallow. The Idaho Attorney General's Office is now investigating the pair’s possible connection with Tamara Daybell’s death, Phoenix’s KSAZ-TV reported.

In yet another twist, by December, Alex Cox — Vallow’s 51-year-old brother who had killed her former husband, Chad Vallow, six months before — was also discovered dead, police said.

Adding to the long list of unexplained deaths, Court TV recently reported that Vallow’s older sister, Stacey Lynn Cox Cope, suddenly passed away at the age of 31 in 1998. Her cause of death also remains undetermined.

"You can look at one death as a coincidence," Court TV contributor Ashleigh Banfield told People, "but these people have had a trail of deaths that seemed natural, and are now under investigation. This may be yet another one."

Neither Vallow nor Daybell, 51, currently face charges in relation to any of the deaths.

On Feb. 20, police in Kauai, Hawaii, arrested Vallow and later extradited her to Idaho after she failed to meet a court-ordered deadline to physically present her two kids to the state’s Department of Health and Welfare.

She is currently in custody in Madison County, Idaho, on felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime, contempt of court and willful disobedience of court process or order for failing to produce the children. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On May 1, a judge denied Vallow’s most recent request for her current $1 million bond to be reduced. It had already been lowered once from $5 million, USA Today reported.

Vallow is expected back in court on May 7.

Read more: CrimeFeed

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