An Idaho woman accused of killing her two children has now been charged in the death of her previous husband.
Lori Vallow Daybell was indicted by an Arizona grand jury of conspiring with her brother to kill her estranged fourth husband, Charles Vallow, back in July 2019, according to a copy of the indictment filed last Thursday but unsealed this week.
Prosecutors say Vallow and her brother, Alex Cox, agreed that, if not together, one of them would kill her then-husband who had filed for divorce and sought an order of protection against her.
This is the first time charges have been filed in the man’s shooting death. Cox, 51, who died last December from what a medical examiner determined to be natural causes, had claimed that he shot and killed Vallow at his home in Chandler, southeast of Phoenix, in self-defense.
“Complex, difficult cases of this nature take time to properly investigate and solve,” said Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel in a statement following the new charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. “I appreciate the tremendous number of hours the dedicated officers of the Chandler Police Department have invested, and my office is equally committed to bringing those responsible for Charles Vallow’s death to justice.”
It’s not clear what evidence authorities have to support the new charge against Vallow Daybell, who in May was deemed unfit to stand trial following a psychological evaluation.
Cox told police at the time of the shooting that he fatally shot Vallow after the man hit him with a baseball bat following an argument involving Vallow Daybell. Vallow’s sister, Kay Woodcock, later called his death a “setup” and “murder.”
Vallow Daybell is currently behind bars for the deaths of her two children, JJ Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, in late 2019.
Their bodies were found in June 2020 buried on the property of her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, whom she married shortly after her kids were reported missing. He was arrested immediately after and faces similar charges in the children’s deaths.
Daybell also faces charges in the alleged murder of his previous wife, Tammy Daybell, who mysteriously died in her sleep just two weeks before he moved to Hawaii with Vallow Daybell and married. Tammy Daybell’s body was exhumed in December 2019 for further testing in the wake of the children’s disappearance. The results of those tests have not been made public.
He had pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.
Authorities have also said that Cox was involved in conspiring to hide the children’s remains.