(Lori Vallow, speaking with investigators in Chandler, AZ, after the shooting death of her husband. Photo: screen grab of video provided by Chandler PD)
CHANDLER, Ariz — Was Charles Vallow going to expose the affair between his wife, Lori Vallow-Daybell and Chad Daybell, before he was killed in Arizona? Recently released documents say Vallow had already reached out to others about the infidelity.
Investigators say Charles Vallow and Lori Vallow-Daybell sent angry text messages to each other, with Vallow saying he knew about the affair she was having with Chad Daybell. He pointed to an email that was sent to Daybell under his name, asking Daybell to come to Arizona and ghost write a book. However, Vallow stated he never wrote that email.
(Responses are copied exactly how they appeared in police records, and spelling mistakes were not corrected.)
“Than you tell me why you used my name and fictitious email To send a BS email about a book I am having him ghost write for me. It’s fraud and a lie. There’s no other reason for it other than to get him to AZ and have an excuse for his wife. You did this. I had nothing to do with it and you know it. Also he did NOT stay with us in November. I will find out.”
By late June 2019, Vallow sent a message to Chad Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy, saying he wanted to tell her about the affair. It reads…
“Tammy My name is Charles Vallow. I have some vital and disturbing information regarding your husband and my wife, Lori. This is your work email so I’ll wait to send you the ‘evidence’ that is very disturbing. You may call or email me from the address where you can receive the information. I apologize to be the one sending this but something has to be done. I feel it’s best if I shed some light on the ‘issue.’”
Later that day, Vallow sent an email to Chad Daybell, saying he knew about the infidelity.
Vallow communicated with his wife’s estranged brother, Adam Cox, and the two decided to record their conversations with her on their phones. In hopes she would admit to having an affair. Vallow planned on taking that recording to religious leaders.
On July 11th of that year, Vallow arrived at his wife’s rental home to see their son, JJ. However, she reportedly took his cell phone from the counter and demanded to see what was on it. She told officers that infuriated Vallow.
Vallow-Daybell said, “He was, like, ‘Give me my phone,’ and I was like, ‘Why don’t you show me your texts that you have been texting?’”
The two reportedly argued, with him screaming at her to give the phone back. She told investigators she refused to do that.
“I was just holding it there and he was screaming at me. I was, kind of, walking around the house so he couldn’t get it and he was reaching for it,” she said. “It was, like, is something on his phone that he does not want me to see that he was, like, freaking out?”
During the interview, Vallow-Daybell told investigators she discovered her husband and her estranged brother were talking to each other.
She said, “I was like, ‘Why are you texting Adam? Do you even talk to him?’”
Vallow-Daybell told police she believed her husband would use a baseball bat to get the phone out of her hands. Her brother, Alex Cox, told police he shot Vallow in self-defense.
After the shooting, police say Vallow-Daybell and Daybell appeared to be having trouble in their relationship. On August 11, 2019, she sent Daybell a message, saying…
“U should give all of you love and your attention to your wife and family. I’m just a distraction. Go have fun with your family. I really do want you to. I just can’t be in the way anymore. If things change we can talk. But we have nothing until things change anyway”.
Tammy Daybell died on October 19, 2019.
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