Doomsday Couple: Zombies, Murders, and Cult Prophecies | ID v Chad Daybell

it is one of the most tragically bizarre cases in the history of Court TV if you wrote it as a screenplay no one would take it seriously because it would be too far-fetched for anyone to think it was actually real but it is Lori debel was married raising two children in Arizona when her brother shot her husband then she moved to Idaho to continue her affair with a grav Digger and an author claiming to be a prophet then her children disappear only to be found dead months later in the prophet's ba

ckyard meanwhile The Prophet's wife dies and 17 days later Lori marries the prophet then when they exume the prophet's wife Lorie's brother collapses on the toilet and later dies no one would believe the story but a jury of 12 did and convicted Lori d Bell now it's time for the prophet Chad debel to face a jury tonight we'll take a close look at his religious beliefs and how they seemingly changed his life we'll also examine his life and relationship with his first wife Tammy the woman he's accu

sed of murdering as we investigate the Doomsday couple Lori and Chad DeBell I'm Vinnie pitan get ready this trial's happening and on Monday right here on your front row seat to Justice it all begins let's go back to how this all began how it all started when a little boy went missing and had a grandma and grandpa who wanted to speak to him he was out in Idaho there in Louisiana they want to FaceTime they want to speak but mom is very elusive about where he is and and and finally it reached the p

oint where they're like something's got to be done here where where's our grandson JJ and that's when investigators were contacted and that's when this all started in the end three victims that lost their lives in all of this JJ was one of them his sister Tyle and Tammy DeBell who was the first wife of Lorie's next husband so it's all connected here there's obvious tentacles and connections to all this Lor's been convicted um but what about this relationship and and what was it about this has be

en a big part of the mystery here is exactly like this dynamic between Lori and Chad what was their relationship about was it about love was it about passion was it about religion because in the end it's it's this relationship that leads to all these people dying she's been convicted already he's going to be facing a trial beginning on Monday but it's what's going on between these two but there was a life for Chad before Lori it's Tammy Tammy yeah this is the one who married him not as a prophet

married him not as an author married him not as someone who was like leading people no married him he was a Gravedigger just a you know a regular Gravedigger and she had children with him and they raised these children into adults like this is what you do this is like part of regular life that you meet someone that you want to share this life with and part of sharing that life is is being there for each other helping each other protecting each other and and raising a family and you know from th

e outside you would think that's exactly what was going on here but something absolutely changed and you you try to understand what was it that changed well well Lori came into the picture but before Lori came into the picture like what brought her into the picture and it seemed like it was absolutely connected to Chad's beliefs and his writings and his so-called prophecies and she became enamored with them and that's what destroyed this life that should have been a great life a great life for T

ammy should have been a great life for Chad too you marry a woman who who she's not looking to marry some celebrity or some Prophet or someone that people are listening no just a regular guy they fall in love but that's that's not how this story ended Matt Johnson Court TV crime and Justice correspondent takes a look tonight at Chad's religious beliefs he had sold his soul he had made his I think he meant to do good somewhere along the way something's changed those who knew Chad deel say he bega

n his ministry with pure intentions I would say he has spiritual gifts and abilities I've seen them in action in very personal situations and I felt their genuine in in sort of a profound way like dbel Eric Smith was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints known to Outsiders as the Mormon church the church Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the name indicates believes that we are living in a particular moment in the world's history when God will return again and tha

t people need to prepare for that return the two shared beliefs that challenged LDS Doctrine including theories about the end of the world and reincarnation beliefs that Smith said led to his excommunication from the church that was what brought us together and so this idea of wanting to warn and help spread that message now Smith sees his old friend in a far more Sinister light when someone is gifted or have has that ability to discern messages from Heaven I think they are equally as open to me

ssages from Darkness Chad deel was arrested on June 9th 2020 after human remains were found on his East Idaho property they were the remains of 16-year-old Tye Ryan and 7-year-old JJ valow the children were missing for just a few few weeks when Chad married their mother Lori valow you know I feel like he lived this double life court records contain shocking revelations about the couple's alleged religious beliefs according to a probable cause affidavit the couple claimed to belong to the Church

of the firstborn their mission in the church was to lead the 144,000 during end times and to rid the world of zombies the allegations raised questions about where those beliefs came from as for the notion of of ridding the world of evil people that's that's not the object in latterday Saint uh Theology of of what you do before Jesus comes the Church of the firstborn exists within the LDS but Mormon studies Professor Kathleen flake says she's never heard of zombies in LDS Doctrine if there's anyt

hing that lends itself within the the mainstream or even within the the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of L says it's probably the uh sense of immediacy they have about the last days Eric Smith isn't the only one with second thoughts about debel I'd like people to understand that he his message is very different from the message I share in my podcasts my blogs Smith met debel through author Julie row an energy practitioner who was also excommunicated from the church the day Bells publis

hed Rose books through their imprint the Spring Creek Book Company there was something about his energy that always kind of like bugged me but I I would look past it because I was I was picking up on a his potential and that he had like a pretty good heart but in March of 2019 Rose says she cut ties with Chad after a series of red flags including visions of him with Lorie valow and others it was very clear to me that Not only was he not going to apologize to me or admit that he was having an aff

air with Lori or anybody else I think initially they thought they were light uh and they were deceived all right let's bring in our guest joining me tonight Lorie Valor de Bell's Uncle Rex Connor is with us in Salt Lake City UT host of the Mormon stories podcast John delin and in Salt Lake City retired police Commander religious is called expert host of the profiling evil podcast Mike King thank you everyone uh for being here tonight uh great to see you all uh Rex let me begin with you this this

um Church of the first born zombies um did you hear any of this stuff from Lori at all during during her life was this something that maybe was sort of simmering with her or was this something that really became part of her life when she started following Chad d oh it started before she was with Chad she didn't talk with me directly about it she talked with Adam her brother I'm the co-host of our our Silver Linings podcast and he didn't bite and so she cut him off that was the last time that he

talked to her and she didn't use that terminology because that's a little deeper into the rabbit hole I think for her um but he cut it off quickly now her brother Alex my other nephew he bought in at some point just whole hog and and went went uh all in with her John delin um it seems that Chad was involved in a group or or started one way gets excommunicated and then things start to get even more extreme once he is tossed out of the U LDS church well uh I I'm not exactly sure what date uh wher

e in the timeline he was excommunicated my understanding is that both he and Lori were excommunicated way later than they should have been and I think you highlight something really really crucial these these sort of prepper Mormons and they're all over Utah Idaho and Arizona that the Mormon church has known about them for not just years but decades and the Mormon church is terrified generally to excommunicate these people and so I believe that in some sense the church um has some responsibility

in in these sorts of things getting way out of control because I think the church is terrified to clamp down on what to many um might believe is their core some of their core constituency especially in places like Arizona Idaho and Utah Mike how do Mike King how do you how do you see this issue where you know he he starts they're members of the LDS and then they get excommunicated at some point point but the the beliefs the zombies um seem to be off the rails I think you're muted Mike you have

a little mute button go ahead you could hit it let's see how about that that's perfect okay sorry about that I you know the thing that's always troubled me about this is sometimes we want to put them into a real easy tood Define bucket because this is such bizarre behavior for us to try to put wrap our minds around and and so I go back to kind of the the things I learned early on when we ran the ritual crime task force for the attorney general and the main thing that we learned Vinnie was that u

sually it it's more important to focus on the predatory behaviors that are exhibited and try to figure out that based on what someone's ideology is what someone's uh background is if they're using those kind of things that they might have learned uh in in attending some worship service somewhere as a youth or throughout their life or the way in which they pray that they use that and they start to twist it and they mingle it with philosophy and everything else to come up with something that seems

pretty believable because for the people that are coming in and looking at these cult leaders they're looking and listening to people that are kind of talking about scripture that sounds familiar but then they're coming up with these wacky ideas like zombies and other kinds of things that are just so far out there but the individual who's coming in and trying to mature into the to the group or the cult thinking that they themselves are going to end up with some kind of special dispensation in l

ife they don't have the courage to stand up and say that's a goofy belief system you've got there and so they get sucked into it now Chad Dell is also writing a bunch of books and and we saw that in Matt's piece here's a dramatic reading of one piece of one of the books this one is called chasing Paradise uh Chad debel wrote all the words we're just reading them isn't there ever a time we're allowed to contact our loved ones Tina asked can I ever talk to Kim she's really my only hope of ever bei

ng allowed into Paradise Lucille smiled kindly Heavenly father's kingdom is a place of order and contact between the different spheres is purposely limited she motioned back toward the rampaging Spirits those people have rejected the gospel plan and no longer follow the laws of heaven so they can do whatever they want haunt houses fight each other or whatever but those who follow the Savior obey his laws righteous Spirits don't contact Mortals or alter the mortal world in any way unless they are

instructed to or receive special permission Lucille said there are different levels even in spirit prison and we know about these levels there was an email from Chad Tori this is in U October of 2018 kind of giving the rankings of people whether they're in the lightness or in the darkness Alex Cox 2L Lori 4.3 L Colby Ryan one of her other children 3L Tyle 4.1d she's in the darkness the zombies have her Charles Valor was a 3L uh and and little JJ a 4.2 L uh before according to Lori the zombies g

ot him um Rex Conor let me ask you you know these books seem to have a huge impact on your niece Lori debel apparently they did I haven't read any of the books myself but when she started into it she started with another book that everyone familiar with the case has heard of and and the Name Escapes me I haven't read that one myself either John has has uh done some great deep dives into it a visions of Glory is the name of the book but but she bought into this she is intrigued by all of this wri

ting by the second coming and there are people that are intrigued by that it's not mainstream church church doctrine but they get into it and make of it what they will out of as a hobby or their own belief system speaking of visions of Glory um I believe that's what she was reading poolside in Hawaii when she got served with papers in her bikini unbelievable can't make it up can't make it up you know um 144,000 I don't even know if you can fit them on that by the pool there John delin um thinkin

g about what Chad was doing here and I always come back to this question like what was he a believer of his own stuff or was he you know kind of like trying to sell something so people will pay attention to him maybe buy a book show up at a seminar maybe uh flash some googly blue eyes at him what's what's really tricky that that people need to understand I think is that wh while you you know an orthodox Mormon might be able to say that Chad and Lori were Fringe that's that's um that's not gettin

g the full picture we just learned that visions of Glory was the number one selling non-fiction book in Utah for 2023 um and and I have some citations for that if you look at their beliefs beliefs in uh evil spirits that possess our bodies belief in a second coming belief in this in the um Prophecies of Isaiah that a one Mighty and strong is going to emerge to usher in the second coming um the teachings of blood atonement the teach teachings of polygamy those are all the 144,000 in the Book of R

evelations those are all core Mormon doctrines that I was certainly taught throughout my entire upbringing now think of those as Legos it's true that Chad and Lori may have assembled those Legos into their own formations you know the light and the dark and the zombie but what we would be um it would be unfortunate if we missed the main point which is that they're building with the core building blocks of Mormonism and to some extent you know biblical Christianity and so they were sincere Believe

rs I think if you look at Lori Val's um some of her testimonies in in court it seems very clear that she believed firmly that Jesus was going to rescue her any day all right everyone stay where you are we got to get a quick uh break in here when we come back we'll bring back everyone they know a lot that's why we bring them on the show uh we're going to talk about U Chad and Tammy and their family plus coming up next hour in Los Angeles California Miami Florida and New York City the federal sex

trafficking investigation connected to hipop Mogul sha Diddy combes brand new body cam video of the arrest of Diddy's associate out jaw-dropping accusations some of which could make little Rod a witness in the sex trafficking investigation we are moving closer to trial in the case against doomsday Prophet Chad deel prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against him investigators have recovered human remains at Chad Dell's residence there's no way lgan I should ever come up with this hi

s wife Lorie valel has already been convicted now will her husband end up with the same fate it's just so hard to know where the truth ends it's the Doomsday Prophet Chad debel on trial [Music] I know I've been told for years that Tammy would pass away at a young age I had no idea that Lori would even be a part of my life I just knew that my life had two segments and that I know Tammy's on a special Mission and she's with my kids she's visited them just so much Melanie that you you just have to

have faith and this is not some sort of Master Plan there's no way laor I ever come over this welcome back we're getting ready uh Chad Dell's trial begins on Monday right here on court TV with jury selection death penalty trial uh there will be a camera inside the courtroom so you're going to get to see it this time and it's going to be a much different case than Lori Dell's case um let's get to the wedding though the wedding of Chad and Tammy like I said off the top this should have been a life

long commitment and when I mean lifelong commitment I mean you you get to live your entire life you don't start a life with someone else while your wife is still alive because that happened here we have evidence that that happened here but you know you you meet when you're young you kind of grow together you build a family and then you grow old together that's the way it is you enjoy your grandkids there's there I mean that's the way life can be when you choose to take someone as your partner bu

t they're married in 1990 and then Tammy dies October 19th 2019 and then 17 days later November 5th 2019 this happens this happens all everything was picked out for the wedding beforehand by the way they've got receipts and then a month after this wedding Tammy's body is exhumed in December and one of the children of that marriage Chad and Tammy Emma Emma Murray spoke with court TV about her mom being exhumed and the autopsy uh results take a listen the Fremont County sheriff is who I called and

I left a voicemail at their office I just wanted to know if I could see my mother's autopsy results I I want to see them before they're released to the media and Sheriff Humphrey returned my call and he told me that if I work with Fremont County's head detective I would be able to discuss it with them but I was also told that he would not even be able to call me back until later the next week and my brothers and sisters and I have been on pins and needles for over a year waiting to know what th

is report says but I was told that the sheriff himself cannot let my mother's own children see an autopsy report until we all meet together with a detective and answer all of their questions I don't understand why we would have to meet with a detective just to see a report and it's something so private personal and sensitive that this isn't something that we would be going around talking about anyway I just want to see the autopsy report this is my mom I I don't think this is common knowledge bu

t the Fremont County Sheriff's Office reported the exhumation of my mother's body in December 2019 two weeks after the fact through a public press release from the Rexburg Police Department that's a city in a different County they did not sit us down or anything and prepare us or let us know what was going on but we found out that our mother had been exhumed I didn't even know what that word meant but she was exhumed and we had no idea Mike King um real tough spot for all of these children I mea

n even if you're an adult child I I've covered unfortunately a lot of cases involving accusations of spousal murder the kids are are caught in the middle um and and I would say 18 times out of 20 they believe that their parent is not guilty of anything here um yeah in this despite the evidence and here the timing of everything I mean Tammy is dead October 19th and they're getting married on November 5th yeah that that whole thing Vinnie is so troubling to those of us on the outside that are not

connected by the emotion and we have to remind ourselves one of the things we work so hard for for in the Attorney General's office is the victim advocacy program Statewide that actually U represented families during periods of crises like this but this is a criminal investigation and and they can uh put across the point that yeah we wanted to know what was happening but they had to have known that something wasn't right when their father goes through this experience uh we don't know exactly wha

t the emotional responses were right after Tammy's death or any disconnect but we are are learning through testimony in in Lori Dell's case and and trial of comments that were made that hey this was predestined no that that means it was pre-planned and and those kinds of things become really difficult because a family's already lost one parent they don't want to lose another and frankly they love their mom and dad H they love their dad right now whether he is right now is an accused killer or if

he ends up being convicted and is known as a killer they love their dad and we got to be we got to be kind of sympathetic to that but we can't be sympathetic to the point that it jeopard is a criminal investigation now we don't know if the daybell children will be standing um behind their father when his trial begins on Monday I I think they will be but back in September of 2021 all five of the daybell children said their father was innocent when they appeared on this episode of 48 Hours on CBS

did your father Chad deel play any role in killing JJ and tyly no it's completely Unthinkable how is it possible two children are found buried in your father's backyard and he had nothing to do with it he was framed now in that same episode of 48 Hours G debel recounted the night in October of 2019 when he discovered his mother Tammy unresponsive in her room halfway between the bed and the floor uh G dayel I just ran over and picked her up and put her back on the bed and said to my dad I said I

think she's dead my dad was just pacing back and forth just saying why how could this happen pointing at pictures on the wall she can't be dead like how could this be what do we do again not easy for the children and G seems to be in the middle of of of all of this um let me ask you Rex do you think it's possible and that Alex your nephew may have entered that home to commit this murder you know the way this story has played out and when the evidence has come out in court we've learned to say t

hat anything is possible there are just like um CH children were expressing it's Unthinkable to think people you know and love are involved in something like this but all evidence to the contrary you know and they are so I think that's entire possible just like it's possible that Alex did what he apparently did to the to the victims and Lor's part in it and uh we expect Chad's part to be proven in that also we don't know that until it happens but yes possible heartbreaking life disrupting disrup

ting families our family we don't know any of Chad's children don't know Chad's family but why do our hearts go out to them for the terrible terrible burden that they're that they're bearing during this John dely the other thing that always um gets me in all this is that after Tammy dies there's Insurance that's collected very quickly we heard that testimony in the first trial and they take that cash and that's when they're down in Hawaii that's when Nate Eaton from East Idaho news is the one yo

u know chasing them down and they're just not talking because they're hanging out in Hawaii in the Sun the kids are buried in the backyard at this time Tammy is dead and they've got a bag of money because Tammy's dead yeah and and again I'll just highlight the fact that the name of the church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Latter Day means literally that Jesus is coming any moment if you combine that with the teaching that you know God or Jesus can communicate to you

through your emotions and that there's one Mighty and strong that's going to be lifted up to prepare for Jesus maybe Chad gets these emotions maybe he's having a midlife crisis maybe he is starting to have feelings for Lori and is losing his feelings for his wife and how's he supposed to discern between his own feelings and emotions in a midlife crisis and him being taught through the church that when the Holy Ghost communicates to you he communicates through emotions and maybe those emotions te

ll him that he's the one Mighty and strong and that he supposed to run off with Lori to usher in the second coming of Jesus and I I think that's very plausible and that's part of the Legos that I was mentioning that that people in these sorts of religions can build to build up their own theologies I stay where you are everyone when we come back we're going to take a trip to uh Chad daybell's backyard and what a day when we found out they were digging and what they [Music] found here's what we ca

n see uh there are multiple police officers here there's at least one K9 dog it looks like uh there is an area of focus in the backyard they have set up uh three or four blue canopy tents they have taped off the backyard and that seems to be the area of Focus right now we're across the field from Chad day B's home and we're going to zoom way way in so that you can kind of see where investigators have been outside all day long investigators from the Rexburg Police Department the Fremont County Sh

eriff's Office as well as the FBI evidence response team now uh Rexburg police did say they're out here serving the search warrant in relation to the case of JJ and tyly the kids missing since September and they confirm they have found human remains on this property shortly after the remains were discovered uh Chad Dell was was taken into custody and booked into the Fremont County Jail we noticed they were having um a few bonfires that were kind of out of the ordinary so they had a bonfire a big

bonfire last fall and they had two or three big bonfires this spring when I returned to that area they had already dug down and located what appeared to be a a mass of burnt flesh and charred bone the amount of duct tape that was covering the body okay uh where was that duct tape located on the head arms and feet and what happened in that backyard what was discovered in that backyard is going to be crucial in this trial remember Chad deel is is charged in connection to the murders of JJ and tyl

y as well as his wife Tammy well Wife Tammy he's there you know as she's murdered mured or dies depending upon uh whatever the evidence shows us but but for the two children she's he's not there when they're murdered but they're in his backyard and connecting him there is so crucial in all this now take a look at this very peculiar text message that was sent from Chad to tamy September 9th 2019 11:53 right almost noon well I've had an interesting morning I felt I should burn all of the limb debr

is by the fire pit before it got too soaked by the coming storms while I did so comma I spotted a big raccoon along the fence I hurried and got my gun he was still walking along I got close enough that one shot did the trick he is now in our pet cemetery fun times well the pet cemetery is where Ty was found burnt let's bring back in our guest Rex Conor l follow Uncle John Delane host of the Mormon studies uh podcast Mike King host of profiling evil uh Mike this this was such a big day in the inv

estigation but this is a big part of connecting Chad debel to Lor's children yeah there were a couple of really key points that came out of this particular find number one is that it helped us understand how important the mobile phone forensics was on this case because I think they used that to help help narrow down and get them to that location number two people are really upset by the fact that he would have the children buried in the backyard but you think about it Vinnie it it's a way to mai

ntain control of them and from a very sick perspective you think about people who are just normal Predators they love the ability to kind of vicariously roll in the dirt and remember the experience so also having him there close by is a way to kind of look out and and remember this thing that you did whether he believes it was something that he was supposed to do cuz go his God wanted him to do that or whether he really had this predatory evil nature about him and when I say him doing this it co

uld be through a conspiracy and somebody else was actually the arm of God while he portrays the voice of God but all of it starts to give us an indication of the behaviors and these little kind of trial balloons that are that are away of saying hey I did this but I'm going to do it in a very cons uh inconspicuous way I'm going to make a text that only uh Lori might understand but it sends a very clear message that I've accomplished step b in a multi-step process Rex when you think about what hap

pened to JJ and tyly how difficult is it for you to come to the realization that it's your niece your nephew who I don't know if it's one or the other or both uh took the lives of these two children well to answer that let me revisit your question earlier that is it possible that Alex went in assisted with the death of Tammy if anyone can do this whomever can do this or participate in this or know about it and allow it to happen people that do that can do anything that's why I say anything is po

ssible I can't emotionally spend much time thinking about it that's the hardest part of this entire entire scenario this entire tragedy formul is thinking who would do this and how how can you get to the point to do that and I've answered that for myself so and answer more direct answer to your question Vinnie I don't think about very often and when I do it just brings on profound sadness and just facing the reality that that's what happened and I believe other people were involved the original

indictment that said um talked about Alex Lori and Chad and said any other co- cons any other conspir all the conspirators both known and unknown know there may be others out there I it's just terrible thinking about it isn't it oh absolutely John de I I think about the way like all of this is being done we we you know we think by you know their beliefs or Lor's beliefs or whatever and then the way that the bodies of these children are disposed of burnt put in a pet cemetery duct taped in plasti

c and just thrown in the back yard I I and and Lori and Chad were living in this house we're going to live I don't know if they're moving to Hawaii they're just going to leave them I I just can't believe what you would do to the remains of of of of children uh in in this way and in somehow some way uh in the name of of God yeah I I'm not I'm not by any means anti- religion if the religion is um you know teaching peace and kindness and that sort of thing and if it's not teaching to put your faith

in excessively super natural kind of beliefs but I've heard it once said that bad people do bad things good people do good things it takes religion sometimes to make good people do bad things and if Chad and Lori believed that an evil spirit could come in and occupy uh you know uh the children's bodies such that the children's Spirit went to heaven and they're really not alive anymore um and and those bodies are are really occupied by S anic Spirits once you're allowed to believe such kind of i

nsane things then if you kill that that child you're not really killing the child the child's spirit has already gone on and you're doing God in the world a favor by putting that zombie down and that's why I just really believe it's important not just to focus on the details of the crime or the gore but but on the beliefs that sometimes are what enable this really dark Behavior I is there any indication that Chad had ever done something like this before I maybe he had but I don't know of anythin

g and so we have to ask what would allow him to do something so horrific and I would say it's twisted beliefs and that brings me to my final question tonight Mike um motive right when you look at this couple we talked about it during Lor's trial and you know it depends on how you're looking at it is it their Twisted beliefs is and is it is it different for Chad than Lori is it passion is it lust is it the money I I you know how do you see this that like the bottom line of why this happened Vinni

e I think you you probably said all the reasons that might be involved in this but what what we find is that it really is about power dominion and control and as this and I've said this before on your show as as you get fuel gas gasoline and fire together which Lori and Chad were gas and fire together you have this explosive thing occur where these two are feeding off of each other and whether they are they have some forms of of uh mental illness or whether it is a power play and a way in which

to control other people or a way to run off and start a brand new life for themselves and get away from everything else they've done it it it's really difficult to say and that's why in these kinds of cases that involve religious uh ideology and these these kinds of decisions that are made where we want to keep focusing on the religion I keep saying let's focus on the elements of the crime the fact that a murder occurred the fact that the child's body was desecrated and destroyed and then at the

appropriate time bring in all the crazy belief systems that might have fueled it from the background but don't lose track of the fact that we got to prove a criminal case absolutely and you have elements that you have to prove you know that very well Mike all right great job tonight really appreciate everyone's time tonight Rex Conor say Silver Linings podcast that's it it is you got it it is Mormon stories podcast John dein and profiling evil with Mike King thank you all so so much