‘Deceived: The Daybell Story’ podcast launches this week with untold details, new interviews
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IDAHO FALLS – When Charles Vallow woke up in an Arizona hotel room on July 11, 2019, he had no way of knowing it would be his last day on Earth.
Vallow had come to Chandler, the new home of his estranged wife, to spend time with his son, JJ. But what was supposed to be a fun father-and-son day ended almost before it began.
Sometime after he arrived at 7:35 a.m., police say Vallow was fatally shot by his brother-in-law, Alex Cox, who claimed self-defense.
Vallow’s death would be the first in a series of killings carried out under the direction of his wife, Lori Vallow. It was an event that altered the trajectory of dozens of lives and left the country wondering: How could this happen?
That’s the very question a new podcast from KSL Podcasts and East Idaho News journalist Nate Eaton attempts to answer.
“Deceived: The Daybell Story” is set to debut on Thursday. Written by Eaton and producer Ben Keubrich, it chronicles the Daybell case from before Charles Vallow’s death, through the trail of destruction his killers went on to cause, and over the years it took to ensure they were held accountable.
“One of the purposes of this podcast is we explore: How does one go from mainstream to extreme?” says Eaton, also podcast’s host. “And when the bonds that we have with other people, at what point are they betrayed? And then what do you do?”
Eaton has followed Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell’s story every step of the way, even traveling to Hawaii early on in the investigation to find the couple and ask the question on everyone’s mind: Where are the children?
Ultimately, Lori’s children – Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow – would be found dead, buried in Chad’s backyard in Fremont County, Idaho. Chad’s former wife, Tammy Daybell, would be exhumed from her grave in Springville, Utah, and investigators would learn she, too, had been killed. And Charles Vallow, originally thought to have been the aggressor in the situation that led to his death, would also be determined a victim of homicide.
Behind it all, a sorted tale of the pursuit of “sex, money and power,” as prosecutors said, carried out by Chad, Lori and Cox.
It’s a tragedy most people are very aware of. Both Eaton and Keubrich know they’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t already know about the “Doomsday Mom,” her self-proclaimed prophet/author husband, and the talk of zombies, missing children, and bodies.
But the creators say the aim of “Deceived” is different and multifaceted. First, Eaton and Keubrich say they want to provide a place where listeners can get a full accounting of the case.
“So many people have said, ‘I wish there was one place I could go to hear the whole story, from start to finish,’” Eaton says, “because this thing unfolded over years. And if you’re somebody that’s brand new to the story, or you only know little bits and pieces, it can be hard to find one spot that has it all. And that’s what this (podcast) is going to do.”
Keubrich says the podcast is also an attempt, with the benefit of hindsight and the ability to see the whole picture, to find out what we can learn from the Daybell tragedy.
“There’s so many different aspects to it, and it’s sort of trying to put them all together,” Keubrich says. “It’s just a unique story in how much information we have about how everything that happened, and what people were saying when, and kind of how it spiraled out of control.”
“Deceived” also tells how the Daybell case was uncovered, bit by bit, as journalists like Eaton and his colleagues in eastern Idaho learned more from police and those who knew Chad and Lori. Eaton calls it the biggest story of his career.
“Oh my gosh, it changed everything – as a reporter, as a dad, as a human. I’ve covered violent crime before – of course, nothing like this,” he said.
The intense fear, the profound grief, the disgust and betrayal the Daybell story evokes in so many people are all very common human experiences – and worth exploring with listeners, according to the podcast’s creators.
Keubrich says that in producing each episode, he’s made an effort to use music and audio in ways that help listeners get inside the characters’ heads and feel what it’s like to be part of the story.
“Maybe they can understand a little more, you know, the paranoia or the heartbreak or whatever is motivating the people that we’re discussing,” he explains.
And what about the true crime junkies who have followed every detail of the case right alongside Eaton? Well, he says there’s new information for them, too.
“We go way back into Lori Daybell’s childhood. We go back into Chad Daybell’s time as a youth. We talk to people that haven’t spoken publicly before,” Eaton says.
Does that list of interviewees include Chad or Lori Daybell themselves?
So far, Chad has refused to talk to the media, but Lori has given a handful of post-conviction interviews. She also tries to keep in semi-regular contact with Eaton — the man she blames for her arrest — through text.
What would Lori think if she knew about this podcast?
“Lori is well aware that this podcast is coming out,” Eaton said. “We’ll leave it at that for now.”
The first two episodes of “Deceived: The Daybell Story” will be available for listening on Thursday morning. You can find the show wherever you listen to podcasts.
For more information about the podcast, visit the show’s website. If you want a deeper dive into the case, check out the Daybell Case story archive on EastIdahoNews.com.
