In newly released bodycam footage from the Gilbert, Arizona Police Department, Charles Vallow expresses his concerns about his wife's mental state and his children's safety.
Newly released bodycam footage and 911 calls show Lori Vallow Daybell's late husband pleading with police in Gilbert, Arizona to help her because he believed she was having a mental breakdown. Charles Vallow told police he was worried about Lori and what she could do to their children, Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17.
The footage and 911 calls are from Jan. 31, 2019, six months before Charles was shot and killed by Lori's brother and nine months before JJ and Tylee went missing.
"I want her to get help. She's my wife. I love her to death. Something's gone wrong. And if she wants me gone, fine, I can do all that stuff. I just don't want her to hurt [JJ]. I just don't want her to hurt anybody else," Vallow told Gilbert Police Department officers.
"I’ve got a 6-year-old with special needs," Charles explained to another officer.
"And he’s safe at school somewhere?" the officer asked.
"Right. For now," Charles replied.
The footage was shot by the officer's body cameras outside a Hyatt Hotel where Lori had taken JJ and Tylee to stay on the night of Jan. 30, 2019 while Charles was on a business trip to Texas.
Charles said he had called police after he returned from that business trip to find his truck gone from the airport parking lot, the Arizona house he shared with Lori locked and the kids nowhere to be found. Gilbert Police had previously released bodycam footage of Charles expressing his concerns about JJ and Tylee's safety that night as well.
"I don’t know what she’s going to do with them. I don’t know if she is going to flee with them, if she’s going to hurt them," Charles said in response to a police officer's question about whether Lori posed a threat to JJ and Tylee.
Charles also told officers he had filed a petition for an emergency mental health evaluation for Lori, but officers told him they couldn't serve Lori with it that night because she wasn't home.
In the newly released footage from outside Lori's hotel the next day, Charles again pleaded with officers to help him get Lori an emergency mental health evaluation, telling officers outside the hotel that Lori believes she’s married to an angel and that Jesus Christ is coming next year.
"She meets with [the angel] Moroni and Jesus Christ face to face in the temple every day," Charles told officers. "I’ve tried to support her as much as I could but it’s gotten really, really bad lately. She says I’m Nick Schneider, I’ve taken over Charles' body, 'Charles has been killed and I’m going to kill you.'"
Charles had previously told police Lori had threatened to kill him, and that she believed his body had been inhabited by a spirit named Nick Schneider.
The department also released two 911 calls from the morning of Jan. 31, 2019 in which Charles asks the dispatcher to hold Lori at the Gilbert Police station. Lori had gone to the police with Tylee and her friend, Melanie Gibb, after she said Charles stole her purse from her car while she was dropping JJ off at school that same morning. Charles told officers he had taken her keys, phone and purse to try to get her to stay at the school long enough to be served with the emergency mental health petition.
Charles agreed to come to the police station with Lori's purse to return it to her, but asked the officer about the mental health petition. In the bodycam footage, an officer told Charles over the phone that the petition must be verified by his sergeant before Lori could be transported to the facility.
After police at the station told Lori about the existence of the mental health evaluation petition, they emphasized she didn't have to stay while they verified it and that she couldn't be held against her will by police.
"During my contact with Lori, I found her to be in a normal state of mind but only slightly upset she did not have her property. Lori showed no signs of mental distress as she described what was occurring and appeared to be in a good mood," one officer wrote in the police report for that day.
The same officer wrote he was told of the emergency mental health petition, but "it was determined Lori would be allowed to go to [redacted facility] willingly to talk with staff at the facility rather than being transported by [Gilbert Police Department]."
The same officer wrote that the following day, Feb. 1, 2019, "I called [redacted facility]. I was informed Lori Vallow had checked herself into and was discharged a few hours later."
Six months after the Jan. 31, 2019 police recordings, Charles was shot and killed by Lori's brother, Alex Cox, who claimed he fired in self-defense. Two months after Charles' death, JJ and Tylee disappeared. Tylee was last seen on Sept. 8 at Yellowstone National Park and JJ was last seen at home on Sept. 22, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Lt. Ron Ball of the Rexburg Police Department, the lead detective on the case.
Rexburg Police believe the children have been dead and buried on property belonging to Lori's fifth husband, Chad Daybell, since they were last seen in September, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also states that Lori believed JJ and Tylee had become "zombies" and that she and Chad were on a mission to "rid the world of 'zombies.'"
Lori's attorney, Mark Means, has previously declined to disclose whether he "intends to raise any issue of mental condition" while defending her, claiming the prosecutor's "request violates [Lori's] Constitutional rights," according to court documents.
Chad was arrested and charged with two felony counts of willfully destroying, concealing or altering evidence. He is currently being held on $1 million bond at the Fremont County jail, and is due to appear in court on July 1 for a preliminary hearing. Chad has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Lori is also being held on $1 million bond on felony charges of deserting JJ and Tylee, as well as misdemeanor charges of resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime and contempt. Lori has pleaded not guilty, and is due to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on July 9.
Neither Means nor Chad's attorney, John Prior, responded to Inside Edition Digital's request for comment.
The Rexburg Police Department asks anyone with information regarding the case to contact the department at 1-208-359-3000.
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