‘Sins of Our Mother’: A Lori Ryan Vallow Daybell Complete Timeline of Events
Netflix drops a new documentary series, Sins of Our Mother, in September 2022, detailing the timeline of events leading up to Tylee Ashlyn Ryan and Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow’s death. The new production features testimony from Lori Ryan Vallow Daybell’s only surviving son, Colby Ryan. Take a look at the complete timeline leading up to and since the discovery of the children’s bodies before watching (or while you binge) Sins Of Our Mother.
‘Sins of Our Mother’: The suspicious deaths surrounding Lori Vallow — the timeline begins
July 11, 2019: Lori Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, kills Lori’s husband at the time, Charles Vallow, in Arizona. The police initially ruled the altercation as self-defense. However, they reopen the case after Tylee and JJ go missing.
August 2019: Only one month after Charles’ death, Lori moves with her children, JJ and Tylee, to Rexburg, Idaho. This location is close to where her future husband, Chad Daybell, lives with his wife, Tammy.
September 8, 2019: The last day that Tylee is seen alive. She travels to Yellowstone National Park with Lori, JJ, and Alex. After the trip, Lori told people that her daughter was studying at Brigham Young University’s Idaho campus.
September 23, 2019: The last day that students and teachers see JJ at his school in Rexburg, Idaho. The school received Lori’s email the following day stating that she was moving the family to California for a new job.
October 2, 2019: Someone targets Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Lori’s niece Melani Pawlowski, in a drive-by shooting in Arizona. Police found that the shooter’s vehicle was a Jeep registered to Charles Vallow, Lori’s husband (who died July 11, 2019).
October 19, 2019: Chad’s wife Tammy dies at their Idaho home at the age of 49. The obituary reports that she died peacefully in her sleep. Chad refused the autopsy, and the coroner listed the reason for her death as natural causes.
December 12, 2019: Alex Cox’s stepson found his new stepfather gasping for air in their bathroom after his mother, Zulema Pastenes, asked him to check on the 51-year-old man. Doctors pronounced Lori’s brother dead when he arrived at Banner Gateway Hospital. According to The East Idaho News, the autopsy determined that he died of natural causes.
The search for JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan begins
October 25, 2019: A friend of Tylee’s received a vague ‘miss you’ text from Tylee’s phone, but the friend reported that the text did not sound like the teen.
November 5, 2019: Lori and Chad get married in Kauai. Receipts indicate that Lori purchased her wedding ring from Amazon almost three weeks before Tammy (Chad’s wife) died.
November 26, 2019: Out-of-state relatives ask the Idaho police to perform a welfare check on JJ. Lori and Chad report that the young boy is in Arizona with relatives. They ask their friend, Melanie Gibb, to lie and say she took the boy there for Thanksgiving. Police discover that no one has seen JJ or Tylee since September.
November 27, 2019: After obtaining a search warrant, the police find that Lori and Chad have fled to Hawaii.
December 11, 2019: The police investigation leads to exhuming Tammy’s body from a Utah cemetery. They reclassify her death as suspicious.
The missing children case timeline intensifies as the search for JJ and Tylee continues
December 21, 2019: The Rexburg police department issues the first press release about JJ and Tylee, revealing they believe their disappearance is linked to Tammy’s death.
December 30, 2019: Police accuse Lori and Chad of lying to investigators and say they believe the couple knows where the kids are or what happened to them.
January 3, 2020: Police search Chad’s home in Salem and remove 43 items, including technology devices and journals. They also comb over sections of the snow-covered yard with rakes and metal detectors. The investigators do not find the children.
Timeline: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell refuse to cooperate with the authorities
January 26, 2020: The police serve Lori and Chad with search warrants in Kauai. They also serve Lori with a court order to produce JJ and Tylee to authorities in Idaho in five days.
January 30, 2020: Lori does not meet the deadline to bring the children to Idaho authorities.
February 20, 2020: The police arrest Lori in Kauai, charging her with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children. They also charge her with one misdemeanor count each for resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime, and contempt of court.
March 5, 2020: The police extradite Lori to Idaho, where they hold her on a $1 million bond at Madison County Jail.
March 17, 2020: Lori professed her innocence in a statement through her attorney. However, two other members of her defense team quit, and the judge removed himself from the case.
March 24, 2020: Lori’s niece, Melani, and her husband, Brandon Boudreaux, allege that Lori told people she believed her children were zombies before JJ and Tylee disappeared.
April 9, 2020: Authorities reveal they are investigating Lori and Chad for murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy concerning Tammy’s death.
June 9, 2020: The police search Chad’s home in Salem for the second time and discover human remains in the backyard. Chad is taken into police custody and charged with destruction or concealment of evidence.
Criminal proceedings timeline in Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s cases continue
May 25, 2021: The police charged Lori and Chad with first-degree murder in the death of Tylee and JJ. They also charge Chad with first-degree murder in his wife, Tammy’s death.
May 27, 2021: A judge deems Lori incompetent to stand trial on the murder charges in Idaho.
August 5, 2021: The prosecution announces that it will seek the death penalty for Chad.
March 21, 2022: A judge denies Chad’s request to separate his case from Lori Vallow’s.
April 11, 2022: Judge Boyce restores competency to Lori so she can stand trial. Criminal proceedings against her in Idaho continue.
April 14, 2022: Fremont County Sheriff officers take Lori from a mental health facility to the Madison County Jail in Rexburg, Idaho.
April 19, 2022: Lori Vallow pleads not guilty at her arraignment.
May 2, 2022: The prosecution announced that they seek the death penalty for Lori Vallow.
May 26, 2022: The start date of Lori Vallow’s trial is changed to January 9, 2023 to ensure that she and Chad Daybell are tried together.
Background information is provided by the East Idaho News.
The three-episode documentary Sins of Our Mother hits Netflix on Sept. 14, 2022.
