July 11, 2019: Lori Vallow’s husband, Charles Vallow, is murdered by his brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona. Police initially rule that Alex acted in self-defense, but reopened the case months later after the children were reported missing.
August 2019: Lori moves her children JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho, near where her future husband Chad Daybell lives with his wife Tammy.
September 8, 2019: Tylee is last seen alive during a trip to Yellowstone National Park with Lori, JJ, and Alex. In the weeks that follow, Lori tells people that her daughter is studying at Brigham Young University’s Idaho campus.
September 23, 2019: JJ is last seen at his school in Rexburg. Lori sends an email to the school the next day stating that she will be moving the family to California to look for a new job.
October 2, 2019: Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Lori’s niece Melani Pawlowski, is the target of a drive-by shooting in Arizona. Police identify the vehicle transporting the shooter as a Jeep registered to Charles Vallow, Lori’s late husband.
October 19, 2019: Chad’s wife Tammy, 49, dies at their home in Idaho. An obituary states that she passed away peacefully in her sleep. Chad refuses an autopsy and her death is considered due to natural causes.
October 25, 2019: Tylee’s friend receives a vague “miss you” text from her phone, but says it didn’t sound like the teen.
November 5, 2019: Lori and Chad get married on a Kauai beach. Receipts indicate that Lori purchased her own wedding ring on Amazon almost three weeks before Tammy’s death.
November 26, 2019: Out-of-state relatives ask Idaho police to conduct a welfare check on JJ. Lori and Chad claim that she is in Arizona with relatives and ask her friend, Melanie Gibb, to lie and say that she took the boy there for Thanksgiving. The police soon learn that no one has seen JJ or Tylee since September.
November 27, 2019: The police execute a search warrant related to the children at Lori’s home and discover that she and Chad fled Idaho.
December 11, 2019: Tammy’s body is exhumed from a Utah cemetery and her death is reclassified as suspicious.
December 12, 2019: Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, is found dead in a bathroom at their home in Arizona. Months later, an autopsy determined that he died of natural causes while having an overdose of Narcan in his system.
December 21, 2019: Rexburg Police issue their first press release about JJ and Tylee, revealing that they believe her disappearance could be related to Tammy’s death and asking the public for information.
December 24, 2019: Lori and Chad issue a statement through an attorney saying they love their son and daughter and hope to address the “allegations once they have moved past the speculation and rumors.”
December 30, 2019: Police accuse Lori and Chad of lying to investigators and say they believe the couple knows where the children are or what happened to them.
January 3, 2020: Police search Chad’s Salem home and remove 43 items, including technology devices and magazines. They also comb sections of the snow-covered yard with rakes and metal detectors.
January 26, 2020: Lori and Chad are seen for the first time in months as police serve them with two search warrants in Kauai. Lori also receives a court order to present the children to Idaho authorities within five days. The media approaches the couple as the agents hand out the documents and refuse to say anything about the children.
January 30, 2020: Lori misses a court deadline to present the children to Idaho authorities.
February 20, 2020: Lori is arrested on Kauai and charged with two felonies each for desertion and failure to support dependent children, and one misdemeanor each for resisting and obstructing an officer, soliciting a crime, and contempt of court.
March 5, 2020: Lori is extradited to Idaho, where she is being held on $1 million bail in the Madison County Jail.
March 17, 2020: Lori professes her innocence in a statement through her attorney as two other members of her defense team resign and the judge withdraws from the case.
March 24, 2020: Court documents filed in the divorce of Lori’s niece, Melani, and her husband Brandon Boudreaux allege that Lori told people she believed her children were zombies before they disappeared.
April 9, 2020: Authorities reveal that they are investigating Lori and Chad for murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy in connection with Tammy’s death.
June 9, 2020: Police search Chad’s Salem home for the second time and discover human remains in the backyard. Chad is detained by the police and charged with destroying or concealing evidence.
May 25, 2021: Lori and Chad are charged with first-degree murder in the children’s deaths. Chad is also charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife Tammy.
May 27, 2021: Lori is deemed incompetent to stand trial on murder charges in Idaho.
August 5, 2021: The prosecution announces that it will request the death penalty for Chad.
April 11, 2022: Lori regains her competence. Criminal proceedings against her in Idaho are ordered to continue.
April 14, 2022: Lori is taken to the Madison County Jail in Rexburg, Idaho, by Fremont County Sheriff’s deputies.
April 10, 2023: Lori Vallow goes on trial for the murders of 7-year-old JJ and 16-year-old Tylee.