Body camera footage shows Charles Vallow telling police his wife wanted him dead
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GILBERT, Arizona — Newly released police body camera video shows the distraught father of 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan expressing concerns to police months before he was shot and killed.
Charles Vallow, the former husband of Lori Vallow Daybell, called the Gilbert Police Department in January 2019 after he was unable to speak to his two kids for a few days. When police arrived, Vallow told an officer about alarming beliefs his wife was sharing.
“She’s not here,” Vallow said in the video. “She lost her reality.”
Vallow told officers Lori considered herself a translated being and a God who spoke with an ancient prophet and Jesus Christ daily. He said her strange religious views were several years in the making but became increasingly worse.
“I love her to death. This is killing me, officer,” Vallow said.
Even more concerning to Vallow was when Lori told him a man named Nick Schneider had taken over his body and she would have to kill him. Vallow said Lori told him, “I can murder you now with my powers.”
Vallow told officers he called them as he feared for his, JJ and Tylee’s safety. He said earlier that day, while he was on a business trip in Houston, Lori had called and told him to take the kids.
When he arrived home, Vallow found his truck was not at the airport, and Lori said she threw out all of his clothes. She also allegedly emptied their joint bank account that day.
Vallow’s keys to get into their home had been inside the truck, and the police body camera footage shows him, as well as officers, kicking in the door of the house.
When the police arrived, they had an order to have Lori picked up by officers for a mental health exam. They said typically they don’t serve those orders during the night time and only came to check on the kids.
“The only reason why we’re here is some of the statements that you made towards our dispatcher – that you provided to them … he (an officer) made the discussion to conduct the welfare check to make sure your children are safe,” an officer said.
A crime had not been committed, so police left the home.
The next morning, Lori visited with officers to file a report against Vallow. She then went for the mental health exam and was medically cleared.
Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Vallow at a home in Chandler, Arizona, on July 11. In August, Lori took her family to live in Rexburg. By the end of September, JJ and Tylee had vanished.
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