Over at MAD, Calm gave a very good update and synopsis of this case
here.Calm @ MAD wrote:Chad Daybell is an Latter-day Saint author and publisher. Some mainstream books, some more fringe. He is associated with AVOW, an online prepper group with LDS slant. Also Preparing a People, who have cut off any connection to him, removed his videos off their site, etc.
He was, I supposed, considered a minor prophet by some as he had his own visions he published along with Julie Rowe and others. I think he was the power behind Rowe. He was her editor and basically told her what he wanted to get a bestseller and she gave it to him,(my interpretation of her description of her working on her first book...chapter too short, suddenly her visions gets much longer and exciting).
He started out in Springville where his wife Tammy is from and eventually moved up to Rexburg due to a vision. He appears to be deeply involved in an even more fringey and super private group within private pay to access AVOW that believes the world ends in July 2020, I believe in part due to his visions. Apparently a number of the group moved up to Rexburg, possibly to prepare. Someone in his ward in Rexburg thinks a number of them appear to have gone missing lately, possibly up in the hills in some compound to wait for the second coming. I have some little hope kids are there, but unlikely. Would explain why they refuse to say where they are. But why dump toys and belongings of kids and family pictures if so?
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Lori Vallow got involved in the fringe group after becoming obsessed with his books, attended conferences, gave podcasts, and now apparently thinks she is a god/translated Being who will be one who leads the 144,000 who survive the second coming. Last June her brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed her estranged husband, claiming self defense. She missed out on the $1 million life insurance because Charles had changed it to his sister when he saw how bonkers Vallow was going. In September, she moved to Rexburg with her two kids, Tylee (16) and adopted autistic son, JJ (7). Sept 8 was the last time anyone saw Tylee. It was in Yellowstone Park with her mom, JJ, and uncle Alex...who apparently likes to kill dogs and has other violent tendencies. Last time anyone saw JJ was Sept 23. Vallow had been lying about the kids for months, telling people Tylee was dead or off to college even before their disappearance.
Mid-October, Daybell's very healthy wife of 30 years suddenly dies in her sleep. No autopsy and Daybell get $430,000 life insurance. Tammy is buried 3 days later in Springville. November-Two weeks later, Daybell is in Hawaii marrying Vallow. No sign of either her kids or his. They go home, he tells kids still living with him he is moving out to live with his new wife and will be selling the home. They persuade him to let them live there still (adult children). He tells Tammy's parents she has no minor children.
November, JJ's grandmother who has had no clue where he was as they just disappeared off the map as far as family was concerned when they moved to Rexburg, sees one of Charles' Amazon accounts being used and sending the package to Rexburg. She contacts Police and asks for a welfare check for JJ. Police show up at home, Vallow is not there, but Daybell and Cox are. Daybell says he barely knows her and doesn't know her phone number. Cox says JJ is with Grandma in AZ. No kids are found at home. Police eventually find Vallow, she says JJ is with friend in AZ. Police leave. Police contact friend and find out JJ isn't there and that Vallow and Daybell both asked her to lie about it. Police go back next day, but Vallow and Daybell are gone off to Hawaii and have been there ever since refusing to answer any questions about children.
Cox gets married in Las Vegas late Nov to a good friend of Vallow's. A few weeks later Alex Cox, her brother, is found dead with foam in his mouth. Other bodies attached to him: possibly Tylee's father the previous year, was cremated so can't have an autopsy. Cox served time previously for assaulting him outside a custody case over Tyler. Long time ago Cox was found using his sister's credit card after she was found dead in their shared living quarters. She was diabetic, unsure her cause of death.
Melani B, the daughter of that sister, is part of the fringe prepper group. She divorced her husband. Someone shot at her husband from a car belonging to Charles Vallow. He went into hiding with their 4 kids, she attempted to get them by trespassing on her inlaws property, then went off and married another prepper.
Apparently one of the beliefs of the group is you must be married to be saved as one of the 144,000.
Daybell was active in his Rexburg Ward up until he left for Hawaii. Think he was a ward clerk. He is no longer listed in ward directory, taken off in December I think.
No knowledge of Vallow's commitment level.
Julie Rowe, excommunicated self proclaimed prophetess and energy worker, claimed at the beginning Daybell was great guy who had visions his wife, Tammy, was going to die for quite sometime. Tammy helped Daybell connect with Lori after her death according to Rowe. The kids were in a wonderful place and the media evil for ignoring her as a valid source. Then a few weeks later, hey, maybe it wasn't all love and roses. Daybell had wanted to dump his business and Tammy refused to let him as coowner. The marriage was strained because of it. Few weeks later after apparently Daybell publicly rejects Rowe as prophet, she comes out with he's brainwashed his kids, not a nice guy after all.
Other church connection is they attended church twice in Hawaii in January, the ward Vallow had lived in when she used to live in Hawaii with Charles, possibly to try and establish residency to fight extradition or hoping to get bail when the axe finally fell as Vallow had her records transferred there....but not Daybell or the kids. People are wondering if there is some tieup with him now so they wouldn't transfer them.