The mother of two children who were found dead at her husband’s Idaho property said the kids had become “zombies,” and that she and her spouse were on a religious mission to rid the world of those creatures, according to court documents.
An affidavit filed in Fremont County revealed details about the deaths of Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, whose bodies were found June 9, People reported.
Lori Vallow Daybell, 46, and her husband, Chad Guy Daybell, are currently in jail. Lori Vallow Daybell has pleaded not guilty to charges of child abandonment and obstructing an investigation. Chad Daybell has pleaded not guilty to two counts of destruction, alteration and concealment of evidence.
Lori Vallow Daybell was arrested in February, while her husband was arrested earlier this month. So far, no one has been charged with killing the children, according to The Associated Press.
“(T)he term ‘zombie’ refers to an individual whose mortal spirit has left their body and that their body is now the host of another spirit,” Rexburg police Lt. Ron Ball wrote in the affidavit. “The new spirit in a ‘zombie’ is always considered a ‘dark spirit.’
“While the ‘dark spirit’ inhabits the host body, the person’s true spirit goes into ‘limbo’ and is stuck there until the host body is physically killed,” Ball wrote in the affidavit as he summarized the statements of Lori Vallow Daybell’s longtime friend, Melanie Gibb. “As such, death of the physical body is seen as the mechanism by which the body’s original spirit can be released from limbo.”
“This belief was told to Gibb by Lori Vallow,” police allege in the affidavit. “Lori Vallow had learned it from Chad Daybell and immediately told Gibb.”
According to the affidavit, the Daybells also told Gibb that “their mission was to rid the world of ‘zombies.’” They allegedly told Gibb their religious beliefs made them a part of the “Church of the Firstborn,” whose role in that church was to lead the “144,000” mentioned in the Book of Revelation, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also described in detail the conditions in which the children’s bodies were found. The two children had been missing since September.
J.J. Vallow’s body was wrapped in black plastic secured with duct tape, while Ran’s body appeared to be dismembered and burned, according to the affidavit.
Gibb said she had heard the zombie reference before, as early as spring 2019, the affidavit stated.
“Lori Vallow also told Gibb that Tylee had turned into a zombie when she was 12 or 13, which was approximately the same time Tylee had become ‘difficult’ to deal with,” according to the affidavit.