The Chandler Police Department confirmed Detective Nathan Duncan will now be handling the case one year after Charles Vallow was shot and killed by his wife's brother.
A year after Lori Vallow Daybell's fourth husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother, Lori remains a person of interest and a new detective has been chosen to lead the investigation.
Detective Nathan Duncan took over from the previous detective, Nathan Moffatt, after Moffatt was promoted to sergeant in May, Sgt. Jason McClimans, a spokesperson for the Chandler Police Department, confirmed to Inside Edition Digital.
Lori remains a "person of interest" in the July 11, 2019 shooting death of her then-husband Charles, McClimans confirmed, and "the investigation is still open and ongoing" with "no change in status and no date of when it will be forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney."
Charles was shot and killed by Alex Cox, who claimed he fired on his brother-in-law in self-defense. Charles had come to pick up Lori and his son, Joshua "JJ" Vallow, then 6, for school when he was killed. Alex was not charged in the incident and died himself on Dec. 12 after being found unresponsive at his new wife's home. A medical examiner ruled Alex died of natural causes but his death also remains under investigation.
Bodycam footage and 911 calls released last month by the Gilbert Police Department in Arizona show Charles repeatedly pleading with officers to help Lori because Charles believed she was having a mental breakdown.
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 his sister, Tylee Ryan, 17, went missing. JJ and Tylee's remains were later discovered on property belonging to Lori's fifth husband, Chad Daybell.
"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," Charles told Gilbert Police Department officers in the Jan. 31 footage.
In the footage, Charles pleads with officers to help him get Lori an emergency mental health evaluation, telling police 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.
A Gilbert Police Department officer ultimately concluded that Lori should be allowed to go to the mental health facility on her own rather than being transported there by police, and the same officer wrote in a police report 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."
Lori is now being held on $1 million bond in an Idaho jail, facing two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence in Fremont County, Idaho, as well as misdemeanor charges of resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime and contempt in Madison County.
Lori's attorney, Mark Means, 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 a court document filed in the case.
Lori's fifth husband, Chad, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence, as well as two felony charges of willfully destroying, concealing or altering evidence after JJ and Tylee's remains were found on his property in June.
Chad and Lori are both due to appear in court for their preliminary hearings in person in August amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The couple has denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Neither Means nor Chad's attorney, John Prior, have responded to Inside Edition Digital's requests for comment.
Separately, Lori and Chad are currently under investigation by the Idaho Attorney General's office for "conspiracy, attempted murder and/or murder" in the death of Chad's first wife, Tammy, who died weeks before the couple married.
The Rexburg Police Department asks anyone with information regarding the case to contact them at 208-359-3000.
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