Lori Vallow Referred to Her Children as Zombies and Believed They Were Driven by Dark Forces
Lori Vallow believed her children were possessed.
Published March 7 2025, 5:40 p.m. ET
In April 2024, more than 200 people gathered at the Colonial Theater in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to memorialize Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan. According to the East Idaho News, the event was also live-streamed, which allowed thousands of strangers from all over the world to celebrate the lives of the children murdered by Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell.
The theater was decorated with flowers and photos of JJ and Tylee, whose families waited years to say a proper goodbye to their loved ones. Larry Woodcock, J.J.'s grandfather, stood next to a photo of his grandson and said, "That’s my little man."
Tylee's cousin said he couldn't stop thinking about what she would be doing if she was still alive. No one can fully understand what happened, though Vallow's trial provided some answers. Why did she kill her children? Here's what we know.
Lori Vallow might have killed Tylee and J.J. for so-called religious reasons.
Vallow's motive can be divided into two categories. One is her religious beliefs. The lifelong Mormon started trafficking in end-of-times rhetoric that led many to believe she and Daybell were creating some sort of doomsday cult.
During Vallow's trial, her friend testified about her increasingly alarming religious beliefs. Melanie Gibb said that Vallow and Daybell thought they were in charge of a group of 144,000 people who were waiting for the end of time, per Idaho News 6.
Giibb said the couple believed in this idea of Light and Dark. Those who were part of the Light were in a contract with God, while those who were in the Dark had a contract with Satan. She revealed that Vallow told her Tylee was in the Dark and J.J. was possessed. Sometimes, a Dark person would be referred to as a zombie.
Daybell told Vallow and Gibb that he believed Tylee became a zombie when she was 12-13 years old, but they didn't know she was until the young girl was 16.
Investigators believe Vallow's crimes were financially motivated.
During Vallow's trial, investigators provided evidence to support the idea that Vallow killed Tylee and J.J. for financial reasons, per The Independent. Two months after Tylee and J.J. were killed, Daybell was emailing with a realtor in Hawaii regarding rental properties. He specifically asked about one property and wanted to know if they would rent it to a clean couple who had no children or pets.
After Tylee's father died in 2018, she was then eligible to receive his Social Security benefits. One month before she was killed, Vallow diverted Tylee's benefits into her own bank account. A few days later, Vallow had her daughter open up a joint bank account with her, mere days before moving her children to Rexburg, Idaho, where Mr Daybell lived. Tylee was last seen on Sept. 8, 2019.
The same thing happened with J.J., who was adopted by Vallow and her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. The 7-year-old was autistic and was a bit much for his mother, Charles's sister, to handle. When Charles passed away, J.J. began receiving his Social Security benefits. Just like with Tylee, Vallow made sure J.J.'s Social Security payments ended up in her bank account. He was killed soon after this change was made.