The Zombie Murders - "THE FINAL OBSTACLE: Seventeen Days from Murder to Marriage"

0:03 Caaleroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm read Carter, and welcome back to celebrity Trials. We've reached the point in the Valo day Bell saga where Chad and Laurie believed they were home free. Three people were dead, two children had vanished, and the couple thought they had committed the perfect crimes. Today we're exploring how their final murder, the elimination of Tammy day Bell, was supposed to complete their twisted plan, but instead became the beginning of their downfall. Because here's the thing about people who think they're untouchable. They get sloppy, they get over confident, they start making mistakes that reveal the very crimes they thought they'd covered up perfectly. Chad day Bell and Laurie Valo were about to learn that lesson the hard way. What unfolded between October twenty nineteen and February twenty twenty wasn't just the unraveling of a murder plot. It was a masterclass in how air, arrogance, and delusion can turn killers into their own worst enemies.

1:05 Chad and Laurie had convinced themselves they were so spiritually enlightened, so divinely protected that they could murder five people and walk away without consequences. They were wrong. October nineteenth, twenty nineteen, started like any other day in the day Bell household in Salem, Idaho. Chad and Tammy had been married for nearly thirty years. They had five children together. To their neighbors and friends, they seemed like a stable religious couple living a quiet life in rural Idaho. But Chad had been planning Tammy's death for months, psychologically preparing her with stories about prophetic dreams while making practical arrangements for her elimination and disposal. That morning, Chad called nine one one to report that he had found his wife unresponsive in their bed. The nine one one call itself is chilling when you know what really happened. Chad sounds remarkably calm for someone who is suppers just discovered his wife's dead body.

2:02 There's no panic, no desperation, no emotion in his voice. He sounds like a man reporting a minor inconvenience, not a devastating loss. Chad told paramedics that Tammy had been feeling ill the night before, complaining of fatigue and nausea. He said she had gone to bed early, and that he had found her cold and lifeless when he woke up. It all sounded plausible for a forty nine year old woman who might have suffered a heart attack or stroke in her sleep. But here's what made Tammy's death immediately suspicious to anyone paying attention Chad's behavior in the hours and days that followed. Within hours of Tammy's death, Chad was calling funeral homes to arrange for immediate cremation. He told anyone who would listen that Tammy had expressed a strong desire to be cremated, and that he wanted to honor her wishes as quickly as possible. There would be no viewing, no extended funeral service, no opportunity for family and friends to examine the box or asked questions. Most telling of all, Chad seemed more concerned with controlling the narrative around Tammy's death than actually mourning her loss. He immediately began calling family members and friends to explain how Tammy had been feeling sick, how her death wasn't really unexpected, how he had been having spiritual premonitions about losing her.

3:22 The local coroner, influenced by Chad's explanations and the apparent lack of trauma to Tammy's body ruled her death as natural causes. No autopsy was performed. Tammy's body was cremated within days, destroying any physical evidence of how she actually died. But Tammy's family wasn't convinced. Her sister, Samantha Gilliam, would later testify that the family found Chad's behavior disturbing. He seemed too calm, too prepared, too ready with explanations for what should have been a shocking and unexpected loss. More suspicious was what happened next. Most widowers take months or even years to consider dating again after losing a spouse of three decades. Chad day Bell took seventeen days. November fifth, twenty nineteen, Chad day Bell and Laurie Valo were married in a small ceremony in Kawai, Hawaii, Seventeen days after burying his wife of nearly thirty years. Chad was honeymooning with his new bride in Paradise. The quick remarriage raised immediate red flags with both families. Tammy's relatives couldn't understand how Chad could move on so quickly from a woman he claimed to love deeply. They began to wonder if Chad had been having an affair before Tammy's death, and if that affair might have motivated him to want his wife gone. Meanwhile, Charles Vallow's family was equally disturbed. Kay and Larry Woodcock couldn't understand how Laurie could be celebrating a new marriage when her previous husband had been violently

4:54 killed just four months earlier. They were also growing increasingly concerned about j J, whom they hadn't seen or spoken to since Charles's death. But Chad and Laurie were too busy celebrating to care about family concerns. Photos from their Hawaiian honeymoon show a couple who looked completely carefree, their smiling, laughing posing for romantic photos against tropical backdrops. There's no guilt, no remorse, no indication that they had just murdered multiple family members to be together. For Chad and Laurie, this wasn't just a honeymoon. It was a victory celebration. They had eliminated every obstacle to their relationship. They believed they had access to insurance money and social security benefits that would fund their new life. They thought they had committed the perfect crimes and gotten away with everything. But back in Idaho and Arizona, people were starting to ask uncomfortable questions.

5:50 Where were JJ and Tylee? Why hadn't anyone seen them since September? Why couldn't Laurie provide current photos or contact information for the children. The Woodcock were particularly persistent, as JJ's grandparents, through Charles, they had legal standing to demand contact with their grandson. They had been trying to reach JJ since Charles's death, but Laurie kept making excuses. The boy was adjusting to his new school, he was too busy to talk, he was having behavioral issues related to his autism, and couldn't handle phone conversations. By late November, the Woodcocks were convinced something was seriously wrong. They contacted Rexburg Police and requested a welfare check on JJ. They explained that no one had seen or heard from the seven year old boy in months, despite multiple attempts to contact him. November twenty sixth, twenty nineteen, Rexburg police officers arrived at Laurie's townhouse to check on JJ's welfare. They found Laurie cooperative and seemingly unconcerned. She told officers that jj was staying with a family friend named Melanie Gibb in Arizona. She provided contact information for Melanie and assured police that JJ was safe and happy with his temporary caregiver.

7:05 The officers had no reason to doubt Laurie's story. She seemed like a concerned mother who had made temporary arrangements for her son's care. She provided a reasonable explanation and contact information that could be verified. From their perspective, this looked like a routine welfare check that would be quickly resolved. But when police contacted Melanie Gibb, everything changed. Melanie told them that Jjay wasn't with her. She hadn't seen him in months. She had no idea where he was or why Laurie would tell police he was in her care. More disturbing, Melanie revealed that Laurie had asked her to lie to police about Jjy's whereabouts if anyone ever asked.

7:45 Police immediately returned to Laurie's townhouse with more questions, but when they arrived the next morning, November twenty seventh, they found the house empty. Laurie had vanished overnight, taking any evidence of the children's whereabouts with her. The disappearance confirmed police suspicions that something was seriously wrong. A mother who had nothing to hide wouldn't flee when asked about her children's location. The welfare check had just become a missing person's investigation. December twentieth, twenty nineteen, after weeks of investigation, Rexburg Police officially declared JJ and entirely missing persons. They issued a press release asking for the public's help in locating the children and identifying Chad Dabell and Lori Valo as persons of interest in their disappearance. The announcement created a media sensation. The story of two missing children and their mother's mysterious behavior captured national attention. True crime podcasters, amateur investigators, and concerned citizens began following every development in the case. Police revealed that they had found no evidence that JJ and Tyley were alive or safe. School records showed that neither child had been enrolled in any educational pre since September. Medical records showed that JJ had missed all his autism therapy appointments. Social media accounts for both children had gone silent at the same time they disappeared.

9:11 Most damning of all. Police revealed that Laurie had been lying about the children's whereabouts for months, giving different explanations to different people, and refusing to provide any proof that the children were safe. The media attention brought new witnesses forward with information about Chad and Laurie's strange behavior and religious beliefs. Former friends described their obsession with end Time's prophecies and their belief that certain people were zombies who needed to be eliminated. Family members revealed concerning conversations about rating people's spiritual darkness and preparing for the apocalypse, but Chad and Laurie remained confident they could weather the storm.

9:52 They were still in Hawaii, still posting on social media, still acting like a couple on an extended vacation rather than suspects in a missing p person's case. Back in a moment, Welcome back to Celebrity Trials. I'm Red Carter, and we're following Chad Dabell and Laurie Valo as their perfect murder plot begins falling apart in real time. January twenty fifth, twenty twenty, Hawaiian police, working with Idaho authorities, tracked down Chad and Lourie to their resort in Kawhi. They served Laurie with a court order demanding that she produced JJ and Tyley within five days or face arrest for contempt of court. The court order was a brilliant legal maneuver. Rather than trying to prove that Chad and Laurie had harmed the children, authorities were simply demanding that Laurie exercised her basic parental obligation to ensure her children's safety and whereabouts. If the children were truly safe with friends or relatives, as Laurie claimed, producing them should be simple.

10:57 But Laurie couldn't produce the children because they were dead and buried on Chad's property in Idaho. Instead, she hired a local attorney and began fighting the court order, claiming that the children were safe, but that revealing their location would put them in danger from unspecified threats. The legal maneuvering only made Chad and Laurie look more guilty. A mother who genuinely believed her children were in danger would want police protection, not court battles. A mother whose children were actually safe would be eager to prove it and end the media speculation about their whereabouts. January thirtieth, twenty twenty, the five day deadline passed without Laurie producing the children.

11:42 She had officially defied a court order and was now subject to arrest for contempt. But authorities had discovered something even more damning during their investigation. Phone records showed that Chad and Laurie had been in constant communication in the days before each disappearance. Financial records revealed that both were benefiting from the Social Security payments and insurance policies of their dead and missing family members. Witness statements painted a picture of a couple obsessed with money, power, and eliminating anyone who stood in their way. Most importantly, investigators had identified the locations where they believed the children's bodies were buried.

12:23 Ground penetrating radar and cadaver dogs had detected suspicious disturbances on Chad day Bell's property in Idaho. They were preparing search warrants that would finally uncover the physical evidence of Chad and Laurie's crimes. February twenty, twenty twenty, Lauri Valo was arrested in Hawaii on charges of desertion and non support of dependent children. The charges were relatively minor compared to what authorities suspected she had done, but they were enough to hold her while the investigation continued. Chad day Bell was not arrested at this time, but he was now the focus of intense scrutiny. Investigators were building cases for murder charges against both suspects, but they needed physical evidence to prove their theories. The arrest marked the end of Chad and Laurie's honeymoon period literally and figuratively. Their five months of freedom, celebration and confidence that they had gotten away with multiple murders were over. Now they would face the consequences of their actions, and the world would learn the full scope of their crimes. But even as Laurie sat in an Hawaiian jail cell awaiting extradition to Idaho, she maintained her innocence and her divine mission. In phone calls from jail, she continued to speak about her spiritual calling and her belief that she had done nothing wrong.

13:44 She still believed she was a goddess chosen by God, even as the evidence mounted against her. Chad remained free, but under constant surveillance. He knew that investigators were closing in that search warrants for his property were imminent, and that the body buried in his backyard would soon be discovered. But he too maintained his delusion that he was divinely protected and that the truth would somehow vindicate his actions. Neither Chad nor Laurie seemed to understand that their perfect crimes were about to be exposed in the most horrific way possible. The children they had murdered and buried were about to speak from beyond the grave, providing the evidence that would send their killers to prison for life. Tomorrow, in our final episode, we'll explore the discovery that shocked even experienced investigators, the moment when authorities uncovered JJ and Tiley's remains and finally understood the full scope of Chad and Laurie's evil. We'll also examine the trials that brought justice for the victims and what this case reveals about family annihilation in America. This is read Carter with celebrity trials.

14:54 The most dangerous delusion isn't believing you're chosen by God. It's believing that your divine calling places you above human law and basic morality. Chad Dabell and Laurie Valo were about to learn that even self proclaimed gods can't escape justice forever.