Inside the iCloud Trail That Exposed Lori Vallow: Divine Missions, Dead Bodies, and a Deleted Husband

Apr 17, 10:00 AM

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Inside the iCloud Trail That Exposed Lori Vallow: Divine Missions, Dead Bodies, and a Deleted Husband

“So the Plot Thickens”

Charles Vallow was already dead when his brother-in-law Alex Cox finally decided to call 911. That call didn’t come until 8:36 a.m., and Charles had been lying on the floor for at least 47 minutes by then. Lori Vallow, his wife, had already left the house by 7:49 a.m.—taking Charles’ phone with her—and she never made a call for help. Not on her phone, not on his. Nothing. Just silence.

The whole scene, the timing, the calls—or lack thereof—was outlined by Chandler Police Detective Nathan Duncan as he testified about what they found when they started pulling data from Lori’s iCloud and Charles’ phone. Turns out, the dead man’s device was still being used hours after he was killed. The texts Adam Cox sent to his brother Charles that morning were read promptly—until they weren’t. Suddenly, the messages stopped being opened. Then, at 12:13 p.m., they were read. Charles had been dead for hours by then. So who was reading them?

The breadcrumbs didn’t stop there. Duncan found that Alex Cox had sent Lori the flight itinerary for Adam’s trip after Charles died, but the message was sent using Charles’ phone. That’s like borrowing someone’s toothbrush after they've been buried. Adam, meanwhile, was desperately trying to reach Alex—texting and calling—once he got into Phoenix on July 10. No reply. At all.

Then came the iCloud accounts—two of them: “lollytime” and “lori4style.” These accounts were a goldmine of encrypted nonsense and unsettling revelations. Lori had flown to Idaho in March 2019 and returned with Chad Daybell the same month. Around that same time, there was an odd email supposedly from Charles inviting Chad to Houston to write a book. Only problem? Charles didn’t send it. Lori did. She made a fake email account under the name Karen Walker and used her own old phone number to set it up.

By June 27, the messages between Charles and Lori had all but dried up. Their marriage was clearly fractured, but not in a normal marital spat kind of way. This was nuclear.

Charles was living in Houston, but he still helped Lori move into the Phoenix rental on June 22. That lease was supposed to run until 2022. On July 10, he flew into town. He was planning an intervention. He had been talking with Lori’s brother Adam about it. They were going to try to bring Lori back to reality, whatever that even looked like anymore.

Too bad Lori already knew. She had texted Alex around 9:50 p.m. the night before Charles died saying, “Getting sleepy. So I’m going to need you to stay close to me the next few days. Mel too. She can’t go to Utah. They are planking (sic) some kind of intervention…Lots to do. Thank you for standing by me. It’s all coming to a head this week. I will be like Nephi I am told! And so will you.” That’s a reference to a Book of Mormon figure known for killing a man to obtain sacred records. Light bedtime reading, apparently.

The “Nephi” text came just after Lori messaged Alex, “So the plot thickens. Call me when u can.” That was July 8. By July 11, Charles was dead.

Lori and Alex weren’t just texting about scripture and divine missions. They were deep in a parallel universe where Charles wasn’t Charles anymore. He was “Ned,” a dark spirit that had taken over his body. In February and March, Lori told Alex that Ned had been at the temple looking for him. She said Tylee “unleashed on him.” She even asked, “No one has seen him, right? Just talked to him??” As if Charles was a missing ghost in a body suit.

Then there’s the money. Lori sent pictures of Charles’ life insurance policy to a contact named “Bubby,” along with documentation showing she was the beneficiary. But there was also a picture showing that Kay Woodcock, Charles’ sister, had been made the new beneficiary. That change had been made by Charles. Lori wasn’t thrilled.

On July 12—the day after Charles was killed—Lori texted about going to Social Security. Because when someone dies, the paperwork party begins.

When detectives entered the home on July 11, they found Charles' body face up on the western side of a mostly empty room. There was a bat nearby, but no blood splatter on the walls or floor—just a little blood on Charles' left hand, suggesting he had placed it on his chest after being shot. The bullet? It went through his body and left a visible strike in the floor. Duncan cut that piece out for evidence.

Alex claimed he was injured in the scuffle, but no one saw any wounds that morning. Later, during the investigation, they learned he had a cut on the back of his head. Even the gun he used—registered to him—had no blood on it.

Inside the house, they found an orange duffle bag with a Health Savings Account card labeled Alex Cox. There were extra magazines inside. The kitchen faucet had a smear of blood, but no towels, no evidence of cleanup.

It’s like everyone knew Charles was going to die that day—except Charles.

#LoriVallow #CharlesVallow #TrueCrimePodcast #DaybellCase

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