Lori Vallow Daybell set to go on trial for former husband’s death
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — On July 11, 2019, Charles Vallow headed to a Chandler home where his estranged wife Lori Vallow was living at the time, intending to take their young son JJ, who had severe autism, to school. But what happened next didn’t go as planned.
While Charles was inside the home, he was shot and killed by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox. He told police at the time he shot Charles in self-defense after the two got into a fight and he was hit by a bat.
“I just went back in the living room like, ‘What’s your problem?‘” Cox said on bodycam footage after police arrived in 2019.
“With the gun in your hand?” the officer asked.
“Yes. I said I want you to put that bat down, and he wouldn’t do it. ... He came at me with the bat again after he already hit me in the head, so I shot him to stop him,” answered Cox.
RELATED: Arizona’s Family complete coverage on Lori Vallow Daybell
That was the story investigators originally went with seemingly for months. But after two of Lori’s kids, JJ and Tylee, went missing and were found murdered months later, investigators took a closer look at Charles’ death.
The investigation found that days before his death, Charles confronted Lori about an affair with Doomsday author Chad Daybell, who she would later marry. Earlier in 2019, Charles had changed the beneficiary on his life insurance, saying Lori had physically threatened her life.
Prosecutors in Maricopa County allege that Lori set up Charles to be killed by Cox, who died himself at the end of 2019 from what was determined to be natural causes. Cox was never charged in Charles’ death.
Opening statements for Vallow Daybell’s trial are scheduled to start on Monday at 10:30 a.m.
The so-called “doomsday mom” was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of her two children in 2023. In that trial in Idaho, former friends of Vallow Daybell told jurors about the couple’s purported spiritual beliefs, which included the idea that evil spirits could take over a person’s body, forcing the person’s soul out and turning them into a “zombie.” The only way to get rid of the evil spirit was to kill the body, former friend Melanie Gibb told jurors.
WATCH: Exclusive interview with Lori Vallow Daybell
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