Lori Vallow on Dateline: Deaths, Trial, and Jailhouse Interview

NBC’s Dateline covered the Lori Vallow case across five years, from the 2020 search for her missing children through her 2025 sentencing in Arizona, and the signature moment of that coverage was a March 2025 jailhouse interview in which Keith Morrison sat down with Vallow Daybell and she denied every accusation against her, including the deaths of her two youngest children and her fourth husband.¹

The Dateline Episodes

Three Dateline installments mark the arc of the case.

The first, “What Happened to the Children?”, aired on May 1, 2020, while seven-year-old JJ Vallow and sixteen-year-old Tylee Ryan were still officially missing. Keith Morrison interviewed Colby Ryan, Lori’s eldest son and the children’s older brother, in his first network television appearance. The episode also featured Lori’s niece Melani Pawlowski and surfaced previously unseen text messages sent by Charles Vallow, Lori’s fourth husband, before his death.² The children’s remains were found on June 9, 2020, buried on property belonging to Chad Daybell in Salem, Idaho.³

The second major episode, “The Trial of Lori Vallow Daybell,” aired on May 18, 2023, the same day the Boise jury returned its guilty verdict. It walked through the trial and included private phone calls and video evidence that had not been seen publicly.⁴

The third, “Lori Vallow Daybell: The Jailhouse Interview,” premiered in March 2025. Keith Morrison conducted an exclusive sit-down with her while she was in custody, and the episode also included reflections from family members of the victims. It aired ahead of her Arizona conspiracy trials and drew wide attention as a rare on-camera look at a convicted child-killer who kept insisting she was innocent.¹

What She Said in the Jailhouse Interview

During the Dateline interview, Vallow Daybell denied everything she had been accused of, including the conspiracy charges tied to the death of Charles Vallow.¹ She characterized the deaths around her as a “family tragedy,” the same framing she carried into her Arizona trials, where she represented herself and called no witnesses.⁵

The timing mattered. The interview ran in the window between her Idaho conviction and sentencing in 2023 and her Arizona convictions in April and June 2025 for conspiring to kill Charles Vallow and to murder Brandon Boudreaux, the estranged husband of her niece.³ Viewers watched her deny the Arizona allegations on camera weeks before an Arizona jury rejected those denials.

The Deaths at the Center of the Case

Four deaths and one attempted murder form the spine of the story Dateline followed.

Charles Vallow, Lori’s fourth husband, was shot and killed on July 11, 2019, at her home in Chandler, Arizona, by her brother, Alex Cox. Cox claimed self-defense; the Maricopa County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, and investigators noted evidence that Charles was on the ground when the second shot was fired. Cox waited 43 minutes before calling 911 and never performed CPR. He was never charged and died in December 2019 of a pulmonary embolism.⁶ Prosecutors later argued Lori conspired with Cox to kill Charles for a $1 million life insurance policy and to clear her path to Chad Daybell. The day before the killing, she messaged Cox: “Lots to do. Thank you for standing by me. It’s all coming to a head this week.”⁷

Tylee Ryan was last photographed on September 8, 2019, at Yellowstone National Park. JJ Vallow was last seen at Kennedy Elementary School on September 23, 2019.⁸ Both children’s remains were found the following June on Chad Daybell’s property; JJ was buried in a pet cemetery, and Tylee’s remains showed evidence of dismemberment and burning in a fire pit.³

Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell’s first wife, died on October 19, 2019, in Idaho. The initial coroner’s finding was a “cardiac event,” and no autopsy was done at the time.⁹ After her body was exhumed in December 2019, Dr. Erik Christensen of the Utah Department of Health and Human Services determined the cause of death was asphyxia and ruled it a homicide, with bruising showing she had been restrained in the hours before she died.¹⁰ Two weeks after Tammy’s death, Lori and Chad were married.

On October 2, 2019, Brandon Boudreaux was shot at as he pulled into his driveway in Gilbert, Arizona. A bullet shattered his Tesla’s window and landed inches from his head. He survived. Forensic evidence tied the attack to Alex Cox, who had driven Charles Vallow’s old Jeep Wrangler from Rexburg to Gilbert.¹¹

Chad Daybell and the “Zombie” Belief

Chad Daybell ran a religious publishing company focused on fringe end-times prophecy and his own claimed near-death experiences.¹² After he and Lori met in 2018, she grew absorbed in his teachings.

Prosecution witnesses testified that the couple believed certain people had been taken over by evil spirits and had become “zombies,” and that the host body could only be freed by physical death. Lori claimed she could rate people on a scale to detect how close they were to darkness, and she and Chad performed rituals they called “castings.” Prosecutors said she had designated JJ, Tylee, and Charles Vallow as dark or possessed, referring to Charles as being possessed by a spirit she called “Ned.”¹³ The couple also believed they were reincarnated religious figures previously married in past lives under the names “James” and “Elena,” and Lori told associates she had been chosen to lead the 144,000 people who would survive the end of the world.¹²

Chad Daybell was tried separately in Boise. On May 30, 2024, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the deaths of Tammy Daybell, Tylee Ryan, and JJ Vallow, plus conspiracy and insurance fraud. The next day, the jury sentenced him to death, and Judge Steven Boyce imposed an additional 15-year sentence for insurance fraud.¹⁴ His attorney filed a notice of appeal with the Idaho Supreme Court on June 3, 2024.¹⁵

Where the Cases Stand

Lori Vallow Daybell’s road to the Idaho trial was slowed by mental health proceedings. In May 2021 she was declared incompetent and committed to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for treatment.¹⁶ In April 2022, Judge Boyce ruled she had been restored to competency.¹⁷ The death penalty had been dismissed from consideration earlier in the case.

On May 12, 2023, a Boise jury convicted her of first-degree murder and conspiracy for JJ and Tylee, conspiracy to murder Tammy Daybell, and grand theft for collecting Social Security survivor benefits intended for her dead children.¹⁸ She was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in July 2023.¹⁹

In Arizona, she was convicted in April 2025 of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Charles Vallow’s death and in June 2025 of conspiracy to murder Brandon Boudreaux. On July 25, 2025, Judge Justin Beresky sentenced her to two life sentences, each with the possibility of parole after 25 years, running consecutively to each other and to her Idaho sentences. “You should never be released from prison,” he told her, saying she had “shown blatant disregard for humanity.”²⁰

Her Idaho appeal is pending. Appellate attorney Craig H. Durham filed a brief with the Idaho Supreme Court in March 2026 arguing the trial court committed reversible error, raising right-to-counsel, due process, and speedy trial claims and seeking either dismissal or a new trial.²¹²² She remains in the custody of the Idaho Department of Corrections.

The Families Dateline Followed

Kay and Larry Woodcock, JJ’s grandparents, raised the first alarm. Kay, JJ’s biological grandmother and adoptive aunt, had not been able to reach the children for months, and at the Woodcocks’ request Rexburg police conducted a welfare check on November 26, 2019.¹⁹ Larry Woodcock’s refrain, “Where are the children?”, became a rallying cry during the search. After the May 2023 verdict, Kay called the moment “liberating.”²³

Colby Ryan, Lori’s eldest son and the only one of her children still living, gave a victim impact statement at her Idaho sentencing. “It must be a very sad life to smile your way through all the pain you caused,” he told the court, rejecting his mother’s “family tragedy” framing: “I believe that Lori Vallow herself is the family tragedy.” At a CrimeCon panel in September 2025, Colby said he had no wish to speak with her again. Even from prison, Lori continued to reach out, sending a message through a journalist urging him to read a Bible passage she seemed to believe portrayed her as righteous; Colby read it as another attempt at manipulation.²⁴

1
NBC News. Dateline Episode – Lori Vallow Daybell: The Jailhouse Interview
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WWLP. What Happened to the Children
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NBC News. Lori Vallow Daybell Sentenced in Arizona Murder Conspiracy Trials
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NBC News. Watch Dateline Episode – The Trial of Lori Vallow Daybell
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ABC News. Lori Daybell Sentencing Murder Conspiracy Arizona
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NBC News. Lori Vallow’s Brother Says No Doubt She Conspired to Kill Fourth Husband
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KJZZ. Charles Vallow’s Death Ruled a Homicide in Medical Examiner Report
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KIVI. The Timeline in the Disappearance and Tragic Deaths of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan
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Fox 10 Phoenix. Coroner Says Tammy Daybell’s Initial Cause of Death Was Cardiac Event
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KSL TV. Utah’s ME Testifies Tammy Daybell Was Restrained in Hours Around Her Killing
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Court TV. AZ v. Lori Daybell Cult Mom Conspiracy Trial – Brandon Boudreaux
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CBS News. Chad Daybell Trial Doomsday Cult Murder Case
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NPR. Lori Vallow Zombie Murder TrialSpiritual Beliefs Dominate Day Six of Lori Daybell Murder Trial
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CNN. Chad Daybell Murder Sentencing Death Penalty
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Courthouse News. Chad Daybell’s Attorney Files Appeal With Idaho Supreme Court
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Good Morning America. Lori Vallow Committed to Mental Health Facility After Being Deemed Unfit for Trial
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NBC News. Lori Vallow Charged With Killing Children Ruled Mentally Fit to Stand Trial
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ABC News. Lori Vallow Daybell Murder Trial Verdict
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CBS News. Lori Vallow Chad Daybell Case Timeline
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CNN. Lori Vallow Daybell Sentenced Arizona Murder
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KTVB. Lori Vallow Daybell Appeals Murder Convictions
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Idaho News. Lori Vallow Daybell Appeals Conviction Citing Constitutional and Procedural Violations
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ABC4. Grandparents of JJ Vallow Share Feelings After Lori Daybell Verdict
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Oxygen. Lori Vallow Daybell Sends Son Colby Ryan Message at CrimeCon