The morning of July 11, 2019, brought a fatal confrontation to a home in Chandler, Arizona, ending the life of 62-year-old L. Charles Anthony Vallow. The male victim had arrived at the residence where his estranged wife, Lori Vallow, was living with her two children and her brother, Alex Cox. Charles was there to pick up his and Lori's young, adopted son, J.J. An argument erupted, culminating in Alex Cox shooting Charles twice.
Cox claimed the shooting was in self-defense.
He told police that Charles became enraged during the argument and that Lori’s teenage daughter, Tylee, had grabbed a baseball bat to defend her mother. Cox alleged that Charles took the bat from Tylee and struck him in the back of the head. In fear for his life, Cox said, he retrieved his gun and shot his brother-in-law. Initially, no charges were filed, and the claim of self-defense was accepted. However, Lori's behavior in the immediate aftermath was described as oddly nonchalant; she took her son to school, stopping for food on the way, just moments after her husband had been killed.
Months before his death, Charles had expressed grave concerns about his wife's mental state and his own safety. He had filed for divorce in February 2019, stating in court documents that Lori had developed obsessive beliefs about near-death experiences and spiritual visions. He claimed she had declared herself a god on a mission for the second coming of Christ and had threatened to murder him if he interfered. Despite these fears, Charles later withdrew the divorce petition in an attempt to reconcile. The investigation eventually uncovered that Lori and her new religious group believed Charles had been possessed by a dark spirit, referring to him as a 'zombie.'
As the investigation deepened, the self-defense narrative crumbled. Police found evidence suggesting one of the gunshots was fired while Charles was already lying on the ground. Phone records also contradicted Lori and Alex's timeline of events, indicating a significant delay of approximately 45 minutes between the shooting and the 911 call placed by Cox. This, along with other inconsistencies, led prosecutors to believe the murder was premeditated. The motive, they argued, was to remove Charles so Lori could be with her new love interest, Chad Daybell, and pursue a life free from him. Alex Cox was never charged in connection with the death; he died of what was ruled natural causes in December 2019. Lori Vallow was later charged and convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of her husband, one of several violent crimes she was found guilty of in a case that spanned multiple states and included the murders of her two children.
