Ever had that moment where you wonder how far someone would go for their beliefs? Well, buckle up, crime junkies, because Lori Vallow’s descent into delusion is about to make your true crime podcast obsession seem like child’s play.
I’ve spent countless nights falling down this particular rabbit hole (much to Ryan’s dismay as I gasped at 2 AM reading court documents beside him). The “doomsday mom” case has all the elements that make my criminology degree tingle: religious extremism, manipulation, and a psychological breakdown so complete it’s like watching someone exit reality in real time.
The Making of a Monster (or a Victim?)
Lori wasn’t born believing her kids were “dark spirits” that needed eliminating. Her family first noticed concerning behavior around late 2017—which, in hindsight, is about as subtle a warning sign as blood spatter on white carpet.
Before meeting Chad Daybell, Lori was by all accounts a devoted Mormon mom. After connecting with this apocalyptic fiction author (red flag the size of Idaho), her beliefs took a sharp turn into the land of delusion. She began claiming she was a personal witness of the resurrected Jesus Christ. Not just a believer—a WITNESS. As in, “Hey Jesus, lookin’ good for being 2,000 years old!”
When Reality Takes a Permanent Vacation
The timeline of Lori’s mental disintegration reads like the world’s most disturbing connect-the-dots:
2018: Begins absorbing Chad Daybell’s teachings about the end times
2019: Tells friends her children have become “zombies” possessed by dark spirits
2019: Her children JJ and Tylee disappear (later found buried on Daybell’s property)
2020: Arrest in Hawaii, looking unbothered in floral prints while her children were missing
What fascinates me (in that can’t-look-away-from-a-train-wreck kind of way) is how completely her perception divorced from reality. In a heartbreaking interview with Lori’s sister, Summer Shiflet describes how Lori genuinely believed her murdered children were “happy” and “busy” in heaven.
Not just content with her own delusions, Lori dragged others into her distorted reality. She convinced her niece that evil spirits were inhabiting people close to them. (Because nothing says “loving aunt” like traumatizing your niece with supernatural horror stories!)
The Daybell Factor
I’ve studied enough cult dynamics to recognize the classic manipulation playbook, and Chad Daybell deployed it with the precision of someone who’d been planning this for years.
Daybell positioned himself as a spiritual authority with special knowledge about the apocalypse. He assigned people ratings as “light” or “dark” spirits. And wouldn’t you know it? The people inconvenient to their relationship just happened to be classified as “dark.” What a cosmic coincidence! (About as coincidental as finding blood on your shoes after a stabbing.)
Their relationship created the perfect echo chamber. When you have someone validating your most extreme thoughts, reality becomes optional. According to detailed accounts of the case, Lori and Chad reinforced each other’s beliefs until murder seemed like a divine mission rather than, you know, MURDER.
The Mental Health Question
The million-dollar question in this case (and the one that kept me up debating with myself while scrolling through court documents): Was Lori genuinely delusional or coldly calculating?
Her defense team argued she couldn’t form intent due to her mental state. But as someone who’s studied criminal psychology, I’m skeptical. The careful planning, the lies to cover their tracks, the flight to Hawaii—these aren’t typically the actions of someone completely detached from reality.
When Lori appeared at her sentencing, she showed little remorse, instead doubling down on her beliefs. She claimed her children were happy in the “celestial kingdom.” The judge wasn’t buying it, and honestly, neither am I.
The Scariest Part? It Could Happen Again
What keeps me checking my locks at night isn’t just this specific case—it’s knowing there are other Loris and Chads out there, slowly disconnecting from reality and finding each other.
The intersection of mental health issues, religious extremism, and manipulative relationships creates a perfect storm for tragedy. And while we’re all fascinated by the gruesome details (don’t pretend you’re not), the real value in studying cases like Lori’s is learning to spot the warning signs before someone else’s reality becomes so warped that murder seems justifiable.
Would I have survived this crime? Well, I wouldn’t have joined a doomsday cult in the first place, so… yes. But the children in Lori’s life never had that choice.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go convince Ryan that my true crime obsession is actually a public service. (He’s still not convinced.)