The disturbing true story of Lori Daybell, the killer behind Sins Of Our Mother

Netflix’s most horrifying-looking true crime since the Chris Watts doc finally comes out today (14th September). Sins Of Our Mother tells the unthinkable story of one woman – Lori Vallow-Daybell, and the brutal way in which her two children, Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow, were murdered.

The limited series will explore the case from the moment Tylee and J.J. went missing; including the family’s beliefs, the discovery of the murders, and two more mysterious deaths which put proceedings on hold.

It looks set to be a truly horrific watch. This is the true story of Lori Vallow-Daybell and the events which led up to her killing children’s murders.

Daybell married five times, raising at least three children

Lori Vallow-Daybell’s relationship history was pretty turbulent, to say the least. In 1992, she married her childhood sweetheart, Nelson Yanes. But things became rocky, fast, and the pair decided to split shortly afterwards. Three years later, she married William Lagioia, having a son one year later. Colby Ryan (the pair’s son) was actually arrested on two counts of sexual assault earlier this year – although the charges were dropped.

In 2001, Vallow-Daybell married again. This time, to Joseph Anthony Ryan Jr. Vallow-Daybell’s third husband chose to legally adopt Colby, raising him as his own – and the couple’s biological daughter, Tylee, was born just one year later.

Their marriage turned sour soon enough, and Joseph was attacked by Vallow-Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, for allegedly being abusive towards his family.

Five years after she married Joseph, Vallow-Daybell married for a fourth time. Leland Vallow (more commonly known as Charles Vallow) was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and the couple became invested in religion. Vallow-Daybell and Charles adopted his great-nephew, J.J. in 2013.

During the marriage, Vallow-Daybell became obsessed with the works of a religious author, Chad Daybell. The two met at an LDS event, where Chad explained to Vallow-Daybell he felt the pair had been “married in seven previous lifetimes.” By the end of 2018, Charles filed for divorce from Vallow-Daybell, claiming she’d threatened to murder him.

In November 2019, just weeks before two of her children were officially reported missing, Lori Vallow-Daybell got married for the fifth and final time to the man she was reportedly “obsessed” with: Chad Daybell.

Both Tylee and J.J.’s last known appearances were in September 2019

On 23rd September, J.J. had been filmed playing with his friends by a doorbell video. This is the last known recording of him alive. His sister, Tylee, was last seen at Yellowstone National Park on 8th September.

The day after J.J. was last seen in public, Vallow-Daybell rang his school, telling them she was pulling him out of classes and planning to teach him from home. She didn’t give them a reason why.

Colby started to become worried when numerous messages he’d sent to Tylee were left on “delivered”. Eventually, when she messaged him back, she told him she was safe but too busy to talk. The 16-year-old was also not picking up any calls, which struck Colby as concerning.

At the Daybells’ wedding, they explained away Tylee’s disappearance by saying she’d actually died in 2017. After J.J.’s grandma told police to perform a welfare check on her grandson after the wedding, the Daybells again concocted a story to explain away his disappearance: They said he’d gone to visit family in another state. The next day, the FBI discovered the couple had abandoned their home altogether.

Police initially arrested Lori Vallow-Daybell for child neglect

In February 2020, after months of police investigation, they finally found something they could arrest Vallow-Daybell for. She was charged with desertion and non-support of dependent children – as well as other minor misdemeanours, like obstructing a police officer. Her bail was set at £4.3 million, before being lowered to £864,000.

While Vallow-Daybell was in custody (despite pleading with judges to lower her bail), police managed to obtain a search warrant for Chad Daybell’s home. While searching through a supposed pet cemetery in the garden, human remains were found instead. He was charged with murder, while Vallow-Daybell was re-charged with concealing evidence.

The trial has, in fact, not even begun, and investigations are still ongoing. On 17th July 2020, the human remains were confirmed to be those of Tylee and J.J. As of writing this, the trial is set for early 2023, when officials will decide whether Vallow-Daybell is fit to stand.

Sins of Our Mother is available to stream on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Netflix’s next true crime tells chilling story of a mother who killed two of her children
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Featured image via Netflix.