Did a religious group's beliefs lead to the disappearances of two kids with Arizona ties? FOX 10 has an exclusive look into the digital footprints left by their mother Lori Vallow and her new husband Chad Daybell.

Multiple sources say Vallow read Daybell's fictional doomsday books for years, but in October 2018, Vallow's husband at the time, Charles Vallow, found multiple emails from the eventual couple.

He was concerned and he warned his family five months before Vallow's brother shot and killed him, claiming self-defense.

Daybell was author Julie Rowe's former publisher, and she takes us through the mind of her former friend. “When I knew him and was working with him, I did not view him as a cult leader because he never was like that when I was around him. But I have never been to any of the small gatherings that he conducted in different people’s homes in Idaho or Utah,” she said.

The two met through an end of times forum online called "Another Voice of Warning" in 2014. Rowe would go onto write books about visions she says she had after her near-death experience.

Daybell claimed to have similar experiences and spoke about them at events. “He talked about his near-death experience and the visions he’s had about mostly what's coming to Idaho and Utah,” Rowe explained.


That's where Vallow enters the picture. Not only did she read Daybell's books for years, they finally met and by October 2018, and a source says he started emailing the married woman and mother of the now missing JJ Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17.

The subject of an obtained email from January 2019 reads: "Seven missions to accomplish together." The plan details translating ancient records, writing a book about it, identifying locations in Arizona for "white camps," the presidency of the Church of Firstborn, establish food distribution as the tribulations start, ordain individuals to translation and provide supplies to righteous members of families.

Rowe says she had distanced herself from Daybell at this point, saying his beliefs evolved into something off base and the information he gave Vallow was false. “He thinks that he has some kind of priesthood authority or sealing power that has been given to him to perform ordinances that one day will be on the Earth but are not now and he has no business messing with any of this,” she said.

She adds, “So I don’t know why he thinks Idaho or Arizona are any place special other than I have seen gathering places there and I know when we talked about it he did too but he seems to have taken it several steps further.”

By September 2019, Vallow moved her kids to Rexburg, Idaho from Arizona. By November, the kids were missing and she married Daybell in Kauai, Hawaii. “I think it’s a partnership that they went into, she went into it willingly and I think he is very accountable for the things he’s said and done to her and other people,” Rowe said.

Rowe said she spoke to Daybell's daughter the day her mother Tammy died, saying she was afraid her father would remarry. “And she said Julie do you know what I’m most scared of and I said no what and she said my dad getting remarried,” Rowe remembered.

Authorities say Daybell received $430,000 through her life insurance policy.

Meanwhile, the deaths of Vallow's former husband, her brother and Daybell's first wife are under investigation. The children are still missing and Vallow is in jail, accused of felony child abandonment.

FOX 10 reached out to Daybell and his attorney for comment on our report but have not heard back.

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