The Zombie Murders - "MARKED FOR DEATH: The Divine Hit List That Doomed a Family"

0:03 Calarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm read Carter, and welcome back to Celebrity Trials. Yesterday we explored how Chad Dabell and Laurie Valo transformed from ordinary Mormons into self proclaimed gods with a twisted theology that justified murder. Today, we're diving into the dark mechanics of how that delusion became a death list. By spring twenty nineteen, Chad and Laurie had convinced themselves they could identify zombies, people whose souls had been replaced by dark spirits. But their rating system wasn't random spiritual assessment. It was a methodical process of marking family members for elimination, and the people who scored darkest on their scale the ones standing between Chad and Laurie and their new life together. What we're about to uncover isn't just religious extremism run away. It's the calculated planning phase of a family annihilation scheme disguised as divine revelation.

1:07 Chad and Laurie weren't just playing god, they were playing executioner. Let me paint you the picture of how Chad Dabell's spiritual gift actually worked. According to witnesses who heard Chad and Laurie discuss their beliefs. Chad claimed he could sense people's spiritual energy and rate them on a scale that determined their fate. The system was supposedly based on spiritual light and darkness. People with highlight ratings were spiritually advanced souls. People with dark ratings were either possessed by evil spirits or had become zombies, empty vessels controlled by demonic forces. But here's what makes this system so insidious. The ratings perfectly aligned with Chad and Laurie's personal convenience. The people who scored darkest just happened to be the ones standing in the way of their relationship, their money, or their plans.

2:00 Charles Valow dark. He was trying to divorce Laurie and expose her beliefs. Tylee Ryan dark. The sixteen year old was becoming increasingly resistant to her mother's control and Chad's influence. Seven year old jj Vallo also dark. According to their twisted assessment. Tammy Dabell the darkest of all. She was Chad's wife and the biggest obstacle to his new life with Laurie. Melanie Gibb Laurie's former friend would later testify about overhearing these conversations. She described how casually Chad and Laurie would discuss people's ratings as if they were talking about the weather. Oh, so and so is very dark.

2:42 They'd say their percentage keeps dropping. But the most chilling evidence of their planning came from their own phones. Prosecutors recovered text messages between Chad and Laurie that read like a supernatural hit list. In one exchange, Chad and law Or discussed death percentages for Tammy and JJ. Think about that phrase for a moment, death percentages. They were literally calculating the likelihood of killing family members and discussing it over text like they were planning a grocery run. In another message, Chad told Laurie there was a plan being orchestrated for the children. When Laurie asked about this plan, Chad replied, I was shown last night how it fit together. Again, these weren't abstract spiritual discussions. These were specific, tactical conversations about eliminating human obstacles. Chad claimed he was receiving divine revelations about who needed to die and when it should happen.

3:44 But here's what prosecutors would later prove. The timing of these revelations always coincided perfectly with Chad and Laurie's practical needs. Got a financial problem, Suddenly God reveals that an insurance beneficiary needs to be eliminated. Facing a custody battle, divine inspiration suggests the child should be liberated from their earthly body. By early twenty nineteen, Charles Valo was fighting for his life and his family, even though he didn't fully understand the danger he was in. After going to police in January and filing for divorce in February, Charles was trying to regain custody of JJ and protect Hily from Laurie's increasingly erratic behavior. But Chad and Laurie were watching his every move, discussing his activities in their text messages, and planning how to neutralize what they saw as his interference with their divine mission. In March twenty nineteen, Chad purchased the exact type of knife that would later be found buried with JJ's remains. This wasn't a spontaneous purchase. This was premeditation disguised as spiritual preparation. Around the same time, Laurie began making concerning statements to family and friends about Charles.

5:00 She told her friend April Raymond that Charles had become possessed by a demon named Ned. She started referring to her husband of thirteen years not by his name, but by the name of the evil spirit she claimed was controlling him. Most disturbingly, Laurie began discussing with her brother Alex Cox what she called their mission. Alex, who had a history of devotion to Laurie and previous legal troubles, was ready to do whatever his sister asked, and Laurie was asking him to prepare for violence. Charles Valow was marked for death by spring twenty nineteen, though he didn't know it. Every conversation with Laurie became a potential trap, Every interaction with the children became surveillance for evidence of his darkness. In text messages recovered from Laurie's phone, she sent her brother Alex a message that would later chill prosecutors.

5:53 We could be like Nephi. For those unfamiliar with Mormon theology, Nephi is a prophet in the Book of Mormon who who God commanded to kill Laban. Laurie was essentially telling her brother that God wanted them to commit murder, just like in their religious texts. But Laurie wasn't just spiritually preparing Alex for murder. She was practically preparing him too. She arranged for Alex to be at her house when Charles came to pick up JJ. She made sure Tyley would be there as a witness who could corroborate whatever story they decided to tell. She even planned the timing so that the shooting would look like self defense. The level of planning was sophisticated. Laurie knew that Alex had previously been involved in violent incidents but had never been charged.

6:39 She understood that claiming self defense could work if the scene was staged properly, and she made sure that the only witnesses would be family members loyal to her. Perhaps the most horrifying aspect of Chad and Laurie's rating system was how they began categorizing Laurie's own children. These weren't step children or distant relatives. These were kids Laurie had raised, loved, and supposedly devoted her life to protecting. Tylee. Ryan was sixteen years old and becoming increasingly resistant to her mother's new beliefs and boyfriend. She didn't like, Chad Dabell. She questioned Laurie's behavior. She was starting to assert her independence in ways that threatened Laurie's control. According to Melanie Gibbs' testimony, Laurie called Tyleie a zombie after Tylie refused to babysit JJ one day. When Tylie responded, not me, mom, Laurie took this as confirmation that her daughter's soul had been replaced by a dark spirit. JJ Valo was seven years old and autistic. He required special care and attention that would complicate Chad and Laurie's plans for their new life together.

7:46 He also represented an ongoing connection to Charles Valo's family, who were becoming increasingly suspicious of Laurie's behavior. But here's what makes their targeting of the children even more calculating. Both Tylie and JJ had financial benefits attached to them. Tyley received Social Security survivor benefits from her biological father's death. JJ received benefits as an adopted child. If the children died, those benefits could potentially continue flowing to Laurie as their surviving parent. Meanwhile, Chad was working on his own target, his wife, Tammy. But Chad's approach was more subtle than Laurie's direct confrontation with Charles. Chad began telling Tammy that he was having dreams about her death. He claimed these were prophetic visions, spiritual warnings about what God had planned for her. But Chad presented these visions as unavoidable fate, not as threats. Tammy, who had been married to Chad for nearly thirty years, was troubled by these dreams. She confided in friends and family members that Chad was having disturbing visions about her dying young, but she interpreted these as spiritual gifts, not as her husband planning her murder.

9:00 Chad also began making practical preparations for Tammy's death. He increased her life insurance. He started talking about what he would do when she died, not if she died. He began positioning himself as the grieving widower who would need comfort and support from his spiritual community. What makes the Valo de Bel case particularly disturbing is how Chad and Laurie managed to recruit others into their delusion. This wasn't just two people planning murders. This was a small network of believers who provided validation, support, and practical assistance. Melanie Paulowski, Lourie's niece, became deeply involved in the couple's beliefs. She left her husband Ian to be with Chad's friend, Ian Pawlowski, creating a second couple who believed in the same apocalyptic theology.

9:49 Zulima Pastaines, another friend from the Preparing a People community, provided spiritual validation for Chad and Laurie's beliefs. She claimed to have her own sp spiritual gifts and confirmed that Chad and Laurie were indeed chosen beings. Most importantly, Alex Cox served as their enforcer. Laurie's brother was completely devoted to her and willing to do whatever she asked. He had a history of violence and legal troubles, but also a history of avoiding serious consequences. He was the perfect person to carry out their plans while maintaining plausible deniability. More in a moment, while Chad and Laurie rapped their planning in spiritual language, prosecutors would later prove that money was a constant consideration in their target selection. Charles Valow's one million dollar life insurance policy made him worth more dead than alive, at least until he changed the beneficiary to his sister Kay Woodcock in early two thousand nineteen.

11:01 When Laurie discovered this change, her text messages showed fury about losing access to her money. The children's social Security benefits provided ongoing income that Laurie could access as their guardian. If the children died, there might be ways to continue collecting those benefits without the burden of actually caring for them. Tammy day Bell's life insurance policies would provide Chad with immediate cash to start his new life with Laurie. More importantly, Tammy's death would free Chad from his marriage without the financial complications of divorce. But perhaps most calculating of all, Chad and Laurie realized that if they eliminated their current family obligations, they could access all these financial benefits while starting fresh together. They could use the insurance money and benefit payments to fund their new life as self proclaimed profits and spiritual leaders. By summer twenty nineteen, Chad and Laurie had completed their spiritual and practical preparations for murder.

12:00 They had identified their targets, justified their deaths through religious delusion, and arranged for the means to carry out their plans. Charles Valow was scheduled to die first. He was the most immediate threat to their relationship and the most vocal opponent of their beliefs. Alex Cox was prepared to kill him and claim self defense. The children would follow. Their resistance to Chad and Lourie's authority, combined with their financial value, made them obvious targets for elimination. Finally, Tammy day Bell would be removed so Chad could marry Laurie and access his wife's life insurance money. What Chad and Laurie had created wasn't just a murder plan. It was a systematic family annihilation scheme that would clear the path for their new life together while providing the financial resources to fund it. Tomorrow, we'll explore how this planning became reality in the summer of twenty nineteen, when the killing began with a single gun shop in a suburban Arizona home. Because what happens next shows how quickly spiritual delusion can turn into very real violence and how a family gathering can become a crime scene in a matter of minutes. This is read Carter with celebrity trials. The most dangerous people aren't always the ones who look evil. Sometimes they're the ones who think they're doing God's work. And sometimes the most terrifying weapon isn't a gun or a knife. It's the absolute certainty that you're righteous.