July 21, 2025 • 16 mins
Reid Carter reveals how a failed Mormon author and serial bride transformed into divine killers. Chad Daybell, struggling writer turned doomsday prophet, meets Lori Vallow, mother of five marriages seeking spiritual meaning. Their 2018 encounter spawns a twisted theology: they're gods chosen for the apocalypse, with power to identify "zombies" - people whose souls need liberating through death. As Chad rates family members' spiritual darkness and Lori brands her own children as possessed, their religious delusion creates the perfect justification for murder. When husband Charles Vallow desperately warns police his wife believes she's a goddess, he unknowingly signs his death warrant. Love, money, and apocalyptic madness collide.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Caalaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Read Carter, and welcome
to Celebrity Trials. Today we're beginning a five part series
on one of the most disturbing cases in modern American history,
a case that shows how love, religion, and delusion can
transform ordinary people into cold blooded killers. This is the
(00:26):
story of Chad day Bell and Laurie Valo, two people
who believed they were chosen by God to survive the apocalypse. Instead,
they created their own version of hell on Earth. By
the time their killing spree ended, five people were dead,
Laurie's fourth husband, her two youngest children, Chad's wife, and
Laurie's brother. Chad day Bell was sentenced to death last month.
(00:49):
Laurie Valo day Bell is serving multiple life sentences, and
two families were destroyed by a delusion that started with
self published books and ended in shallow graves. But before
we get to the murders, we need to understand how
two people convince themselves that killing their own family members
was not just acceptable, it was divine work. The failed prophet.
(01:12):
Let me paint you the picture of Chadguy day Bell
in twenty eighteen. He's fifty years old, living in Rexburg, Idaho,
with his wife, Tammy, and their five children. To his neighbors,
he seems like a typical Mormon family man. Tammy works
as a librarian and educator. Chad runs a small publishing
company called Spring Creek Book Company from their home. But
(01:34):
Chad day Bell has bigger dreams, much bigger. Since the
early two thousands, Chad has been writing what he calls
fiction based on spiritual truth, books with titles like Standing
in Holy Places and The Great Gathering. Their apocalyptic novels
loosely based on Mormon theology, filled with near death experiences, prophecies,
(01:54):
and preparations for the end times. Here's the thing about
Chad's books. They weren't sell. His publishing company was struggling
despite writing more than twenty five books. Chad day Bell
was essentially a failed author with delusions of grandeur. But
failure has a way of radicalizing people, and Chad was
about to find an audience among a very specific group,
(02:15):
Mormon preppers who believed the end of the world was
imminent and were preparing for doomsday. Chad began positioning himself
not just as an author, but as a prophet. He
claimed to have visions of the future, he said he
could communicate with spirits. He told followers that Utah would
be devastated by an earthquake in twenty fifteen, which is
(02:37):
why he'd moved his family to Idaho that year. Most importantly,
Chad began teaching that certain people were translated beings, essentially
immortal souls who had been chosen to do God's work
on Earth, and coincidentally, Chad day Bell believed he was
one of these special beings. By twenty eighteen, Chad was
(02:58):
speaking at preparing a People Conference, gatherings of fringe Mormons
who believed in imminent apocalypse and supernatural gifts. Suzanne Freeman,
another author who had worked with Chad, later said she
stopped collaborating with him in the twenty tens because she
was concerned about his radicalization and his dangerous deviation from
mainstream Mormon teachings. But Chad's most dangerous teaching was yet
(03:22):
to come. The belief that some people's souls could be
replaced by dark spirits, turning them into what he called zombies,
and that these zombies needed to be eliminated to free
the trapped souls. Now let me introduce you to Lori
Noreene Cox born in nineteen seventy three in California. By
twenty eighteen, she's forty five years old and has been
(03:44):
married four times. That's not a typo. Four husbands by
age forty five. Her first marriage was to her high
school sweetheart, Nelson Yanes when she was just nineteen. That
ended in divorce with no children. Marriage number two was
to William Lagioya in nineteen ninety five. They had a son,
Colby Ryan, but divorced in nineteen ninety six. Marriage three
(04:08):
was to Joseph Ryan, and they had a daughter, Tyleie
in two thousand and one. Joseph died of a heart
attack in twenty eighteen, but not before a contentious custody
battle over Tyley. In two thousand and six, Laurie married
husband number four, Charles Valow. This seemed like it might
be her stable marriage. Charles adopted his grand nephew, Joshua
(04:32):
JJ Valo, a boy with autism whose birth parents couldn't
care for him. Laurie appeared to be a devoted mother
to both JJ and Tyley. But here's what's crucial to
understand about Lourie Valo. She was always searching for something
Her family and friends described her as someone who was
constantly evolving, constantly seeking new spiritual experiences. Around twenty fifteen,
(04:56):
Laurie discovered Chad day Bell's Standing in Holy Place book series.
She became increasingly interested in near death experiences, listening to
podcasts by excommunicated Mormons, reading books about spiritual gifts and prophecies.
Those closest to Laurie say that before twenty eighteen, she
(05:17):
was a loving, devoted mother and a faithful member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, but
something was changing. Larry Woodcock, who would become JJ's grandfather
through Charles, later said he noticed a shift in Laurie
in twenty eighteen. It was just crazy, he said, of
her new beliefs. I couldn't believe that she was falling
(05:38):
for it. October twenty eighteen, a preparing a People conference
in Utah. This is where Chad day Bell and Laurie
Valo first meet in person, though Laurie had been reading
his books for years. Picture this Chad, the failed author,
desperate for validation and followers, meets Laurie, the spiritual seeker
(06:01):
looking for meaning and purpose. It's a match made in hell.
According to witnesses, the attraction was immediate and intense. But
this wasn't just physical attraction. This was two people who
believed they'd found their spiritual soulmate. Chad began telling Laurie
that she was also a translated being, one of the
(06:22):
one hundred forty four thousand chosen to survive the apocalypse
and help Jesus Christ during his second coming. More specifically,
Chad told Laurie that she was a goddess named Elena
and he was James, and they had been married in
previous spiritual lives. Laurie ate it up for someone who
had been searching for spiritual significance her entire life. Being
(06:45):
told she was literally a goddess chosen by God was intoxicating,
But Chad and Laurie's spiritual beliefs quickly took a dark turn.
They developed what prosecutors would later call a rating system,
a way to determine whether people were light or dark,
good or evil. Chad claimed he could sense people's spiritual
(07:06):
energy and rate them on a scale. More dangerously, they
began teaching that some people had become zombies, that their
original souls had been replaced by dark spirits, and according
to Chad and Laurie's twisted theology, these zombies needed to
be eliminated to free the trapped souls and allow them
to move on to the spirit world. In the months
(07:29):
following their meeting, Laurie Valo underwent what her family described
as a complete personality change. Her sister in law, Annie
Cushing said there was a tectonic shift in her and
she went over the edge. Laurie began distancing herself from
family members who questioned her new beliefs. She started calling
(07:49):
people who disagreed with her dark or possessed by evil spirits.
Most chillingly, she began applying Chad's zombie theory to people
in her own life. Her friend Melanie Gibb would later
testify that she heard Chad and Laurie talking about zombies
people whose souls had been replaced by dark spirits. According
(08:10):
to Gibb, Laurie started referring to her husband Charles, as
a demon. But the most horrifying development was when Laurie
began applying the zombie label to her own children. GiB
testified that she heard Laurie call her daughter Tylee a zombie.
After Tylie refused to babysit JJ when TYLEI responded, not me, mom.
(08:31):
Laurie later concluded that JJ had also become a zombie.
Think about that, for a moment, a mother was being
convinced by her lover that her own children were no
longer her children, that they were evil spirits inhabiting their bodies.
By early twenty nineteen, Charles Vallow was terrified his wife
had transformed into someone he didn't recognize. She believed she
(08:53):
was a goddess. She thought the world was ending. In
July twenty twenty, she had threatened to murder him. On
January thirty first, twenty nineteen, Charles went to the Gilbert,
Arizona Police with his concerns. Police bodycam footage shows a
desperate man trying to save his family. Charles told officers
(09:13):
that Laurie believed she was a god assigned to carry
out the work of the one hundred forty four thousand
at Christ's second Coming. But here's what makes this footage
so heartbreaking to watch. Charles is trying to explain beliefs
that sounds so crazy, so unhinged, that even he seems
to struggle with how to articulate them. When the officer
(09:35):
asks how Laurie poses a threat to the children, Charles says,
I don't know what she's going to do with them.
I don't know if she's going to flee with them,
if she's going to hurt them. Charles explained that Laurie
had threatened to kill him, and he feared for his
safety and the safety of the children. He told police
that Laurie claimed she could receive revelations and had been
(09:57):
having visions. She believed Charles had become possessed by an
evil spirit and was no longer her husband. Charles filed
for divorce in February twenty nineteen, writing in court documents
that he feared for his and the children's safety. In
those divorce papers, he described how Laurie had become obsessed
(10:19):
with near death experiences and apocalyptic beliefs. He said she
had withdrawn thirty five thousand dollars from their joint accounts
and disappeared to Hawaii for weeks without telling him where
she was going. But Charles Valow had no idea that
by trying to protect his family from Laurie's delusions, he
had just signed his own death warrant. In Chad and
(10:39):
Laurie's twisted worldview, anyone who opposed their mission was an
obstacle that needed to be removed. What makes this case
even more disturbing is how Chad and Laurie found others
willing to participate in their delusions. Laurie's brother, Alex Cox,
became their enforcer. A man with a history of legal
troubles and complete devotion to his sister, Alex was ready
(11:02):
to do whatever Laurie asked of him. Melanie Pawlowski, Laurie's niece,
became another true believer. She left her husband Ian to
be with Chad's friend Ian Pawlowski, and both couples began
preparing for the end times. Together. They talked about gathering
intense cities to await the apocalypse. They discussed which family
members were light and which were dark. Chad also surrounded
(11:26):
himself with other fringe believers through his conferences and book sales.
These weren't random people. They were often educated, successful individuals
who had become convinced that mainstream Mormonism wasn't enough. They
wanted special knowledge, insider information about God's plans for the
end times. What Chad and Laurie created wasn't just a relationship.
(11:49):
It was a cult of personality, with themselves at the center.
They convinced their followers that they had special spiritual gifts,
that they could see things others couldn't, that they were
chosen for us divine mission. More in a moment, but
(12:15):
let's talk about something prosecutors would later prove was just
as important as the religious delusion. Money. Charles Valo had
a one million dollar life insurance policy with Laurie as
the beneficiary. JJ received Social Security benefits as an adopted child.
Tylee had Social Security survivor benefits from her biological father's death.
(12:37):
Tammy Daybell had life insurance policies that would pay Chad
if she died. Chad's publishing business was failing, Laurie had
expensive tastes and had been spending their money freely. The
couple was looking at financial ruin if they stayed with
their current spouses and kept supporting their children. But if Charles, Tammy,
(12:59):
and the children were going on suddenly, Chad and Laurie
would have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars in
insurance payouts and benefit payments. They could start their new
life together without financial worries. Prosecutors would later argue that
while Chad and Laurie used religious delusion to justify their murders,
the underlying motive was as old as time greed. By
(13:23):
summer twenty nineteen, Chad Dabell and Laurie Valo had convinced
themselves they were divine beings chosen by God to survive
the apocalypse. They had developed a system for identifying enemies
and obstacles. They believed that eliminating zombies was not murder,
it was spiritual warfare. But they had also identified very
(13:45):
specific financial benefits to removing the obstacles in their path.
Charles Valow threatened to expose them, divorce Lauri and cut
off her access to his money. Tylee and JJ were
not just spiritual burdens. They were financial ones, requiring care
and support that would complicate Chad in Laurie's new life.
(14:07):
Tammy Dabll wasn't just standing between Chad and his goddess.
She was standing between Chad and life insurance money. What
they had created was the perfect storm religious delusion that
justified murder, combined with financial incentives that made murder profitable.
In their minds, these weren't family members. They were spiritual
(14:28):
and financial obstacles that God wanted them to remove, and
by July twenty nineteen, they were ready to start removing them.
Here's what I find most chilling about Chad and Laurie's transformation.
They didn't need a compound robes or dozens of followers
to create a murderous cult. They just needed each other.
Two people convinced of their own divine nature created a
(14:52):
belief system that justified murdering anyone who inconvenienced them. They
gave each other permission to do the thing thinkable by
wrapping it in religious language and spiritual justification. This is
what makes the Valo de Bell case so terrifying. It
shows how quickly ordinary people can rationalize extraordinary evil when
(15:12):
they believe they're chosen by God. It reveals how religious
language can be twisted to justify the most unholy acts,
and it demonstrates that you don't need to be obviously
crazy to become a killer. You just need to be
convinced that your victims aren't really human. Tomorrow, we'll explore
how this delusional theology became a murder plan. How Chad
(15:33):
and Laurie began developing their hit list and preparing to
eliminate the people they claimed to love. Because what happens
next isn't just murder. It's the systematic destruction of two
families by two people who believed they were doing God's work.
This is read Carter with celebrity trials. Truth isn't just
stranger than fiction. Sometimes it's more horrifying than anything the
(15:57):
human mind can imagine. And sometimes the most dangerous criminals
are the ones who think they're saints.
Caalaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Read Carter, and welcome
to Celebrity Trials. Today we're beginning a five part series
on one of the most disturbing cases in modern American history,
a case that shows how love, religion, and delusion can
transform ordinary people into cold blooded killers. This is the
(00:26):
story of Chad day Bell and Laurie Valo, two people
who believed they were chosen by God to survive the apocalypse. Instead,
they created their own version of hell on Earth. By
the time their killing spree ended, five people were dead,
Laurie's fourth husband, her two youngest children, Chad's wife, and
Laurie's brother. Chad day Bell was sentenced to death last month.
(00:49):
Laurie Valo day Bell is serving multiple life sentences, and
two families were destroyed by a delusion that started with
self published books and ended in shallow graves. But before
we get to the murders, we need to understand how
two people convince themselves that killing their own family members
was not just acceptable, it was divine work. The failed prophet.
(01:12):
Let me paint you the picture of Chadguy day Bell
in twenty eighteen. He's fifty years old, living in Rexburg, Idaho,
with his wife, Tammy, and their five children. To his neighbors,
he seems like a typical Mormon family man. Tammy works
as a librarian and educator. Chad runs a small publishing
company called Spring Creek Book Company from their home. But
(01:34):
Chad day Bell has bigger dreams, much bigger. Since the
early two thousands, Chad has been writing what he calls
fiction based on spiritual truth, books with titles like Standing
in Holy Places and The Great Gathering. Their apocalyptic novels
loosely based on Mormon theology, filled with near death experiences, prophecies,
(01:54):
and preparations for the end times. Here's the thing about
Chad's books. They weren't sell. His publishing company was struggling
despite writing more than twenty five books. Chad day Bell
was essentially a failed author with delusions of grandeur. But
failure has a way of radicalizing people, and Chad was
about to find an audience among a very specific group,
(02:15):
Mormon preppers who believed the end of the world was
imminent and were preparing for doomsday. Chad began positioning himself
not just as an author, but as a prophet. He
claimed to have visions of the future, he said he
could communicate with spirits. He told followers that Utah would
be devastated by an earthquake in twenty fifteen, which is
(02:37):
why he'd moved his family to Idaho that year. Most importantly,
Chad began teaching that certain people were translated beings, essentially
immortal souls who had been chosen to do God's work
on Earth, and coincidentally, Chad day Bell believed he was
one of these special beings. By twenty eighteen, Chad was
(02:58):
speaking at preparing a People Conference, gatherings of fringe Mormons
who believed in imminent apocalypse and supernatural gifts. Suzanne Freeman,
another author who had worked with Chad, later said she
stopped collaborating with him in the twenty tens because she
was concerned about his radicalization and his dangerous deviation from
mainstream Mormon teachings. But Chad's most dangerous teaching was yet
(03:22):
to come. The belief that some people's souls could be
replaced by dark spirits, turning them into what he called zombies,
and that these zombies needed to be eliminated to free
the trapped souls. Now let me introduce you to Lori
Noreene Cox born in nineteen seventy three in California. By
twenty eighteen, she's forty five years old and has been
(03:44):
married four times. That's not a typo. Four husbands by
age forty five. Her first marriage was to her high
school sweetheart, Nelson Yanes when she was just nineteen. That
ended in divorce with no children. Marriage number two was
to William Lagioya in nineteen ninety five. They had a son,
Colby Ryan, but divorced in nineteen ninety six. Marriage three
(04:08):
was to Joseph Ryan, and they had a daughter, Tyleie
in two thousand and one. Joseph died of a heart
attack in twenty eighteen, but not before a contentious custody
battle over Tyley. In two thousand and six, Laurie married
husband number four, Charles Valow. This seemed like it might
be her stable marriage. Charles adopted his grand nephew, Joshua
(04:32):
JJ Valo, a boy with autism whose birth parents couldn't
care for him. Laurie appeared to be a devoted mother
to both JJ and Tyley. But here's what's crucial to
understand about Lourie Valo. She was always searching for something
Her family and friends described her as someone who was
constantly evolving, constantly seeking new spiritual experiences. Around twenty fifteen,
(04:56):
Laurie discovered Chad day Bell's Standing in Holy Place book series.
She became increasingly interested in near death experiences, listening to
podcasts by excommunicated Mormons, reading books about spiritual gifts and prophecies.
Those closest to Laurie say that before twenty eighteen, she
(05:17):
was a loving, devoted mother and a faithful member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, but
something was changing. Larry Woodcock, who would become JJ's grandfather
through Charles, later said he noticed a shift in Laurie
in twenty eighteen. It was just crazy, he said, of
her new beliefs. I couldn't believe that she was falling
(05:38):
for it. October twenty eighteen, a preparing a People conference
in Utah. This is where Chad day Bell and Laurie
Valo first meet in person, though Laurie had been reading
his books for years. Picture this Chad, the failed author,
desperate for validation and followers, meets Laurie, the spiritual seeker
(06:01):
looking for meaning and purpose. It's a match made in hell.
According to witnesses, the attraction was immediate and intense. But
this wasn't just physical attraction. This was two people who
believed they'd found their spiritual soulmate. Chad began telling Laurie
that she was also a translated being, one of the
(06:22):
one hundred forty four thousand chosen to survive the apocalypse
and help Jesus Christ during his second coming. More specifically,
Chad told Laurie that she was a goddess named Elena
and he was James, and they had been married in
previous spiritual lives. Laurie ate it up for someone who
had been searching for spiritual significance her entire life. Being
(06:45):
told she was literally a goddess chosen by God was intoxicating,
But Chad and Laurie's spiritual beliefs quickly took a dark turn.
They developed what prosecutors would later call a rating system,
a way to determine whether people were light or dark,
good or evil. Chad claimed he could sense people's spiritual
(07:06):
energy and rate them on a scale. More dangerously, they
began teaching that some people had become zombies, that their
original souls had been replaced by dark spirits, and according
to Chad and Laurie's twisted theology, these zombies needed to
be eliminated to free the trapped souls and allow them
to move on to the spirit world. In the months
(07:29):
following their meeting, Laurie Valo underwent what her family described
as a complete personality change. Her sister in law, Annie
Cushing said there was a tectonic shift in her and
she went over the edge. Laurie began distancing herself from
family members who questioned her new beliefs. She started calling
(07:49):
people who disagreed with her dark or possessed by evil spirits.
Most chillingly, she began applying Chad's zombie theory to people
in her own life. Her friend Melanie Gibb would later
testify that she heard Chad and Laurie talking about zombies
people whose souls had been replaced by dark spirits. According
(08:10):
to Gibb, Laurie started referring to her husband Charles, as
a demon. But the most horrifying development was when Laurie
began applying the zombie label to her own children. GiB
testified that she heard Laurie call her daughter Tylee a zombie.
After Tylie refused to babysit JJ when TYLEI responded, not me, mom.
(08:31):
Laurie later concluded that JJ had also become a zombie.
Think about that, for a moment, a mother was being
convinced by her lover that her own children were no
longer her children, that they were evil spirits inhabiting their bodies.
By early twenty nineteen, Charles Vallow was terrified his wife
had transformed into someone he didn't recognize. She believed she
(08:53):
was a goddess. She thought the world was ending. In
July twenty twenty, she had threatened to murder him. On
January thirty first, twenty nineteen, Charles went to the Gilbert,
Arizona Police with his concerns. Police bodycam footage shows a
desperate man trying to save his family. Charles told officers
(09:13):
that Laurie believed she was a god assigned to carry
out the work of the one hundred forty four thousand
at Christ's second Coming. But here's what makes this footage
so heartbreaking to watch. Charles is trying to explain beliefs
that sounds so crazy, so unhinged, that even he seems
to struggle with how to articulate them. When the officer
(09:35):
asks how Laurie poses a threat to the children, Charles says,
I don't know what she's going to do with them.
I don't know if she's going to flee with them,
if she's going to hurt them. Charles explained that Laurie
had threatened to kill him, and he feared for his
safety and the safety of the children. He told police
that Laurie claimed she could receive revelations and had been
(09:57):
having visions. She believed Charles had become possessed by an
evil spirit and was no longer her husband. Charles filed
for divorce in February twenty nineteen, writing in court documents
that he feared for his and the children's safety. In
those divorce papers, he described how Laurie had become obsessed
(10:19):
with near death experiences and apocalyptic beliefs. He said she
had withdrawn thirty five thousand dollars from their joint accounts
and disappeared to Hawaii for weeks without telling him where
she was going. But Charles Valow had no idea that
by trying to protect his family from Laurie's delusions, he
had just signed his own death warrant. In Chad and
(10:39):
Laurie's twisted worldview, anyone who opposed their mission was an
obstacle that needed to be removed. What makes this case
even more disturbing is how Chad and Laurie found others
willing to participate in their delusions. Laurie's brother, Alex Cox,
became their enforcer. A man with a history of legal
troubles and complete devotion to his sister, Alex was ready
(11:02):
to do whatever Laurie asked of him. Melanie Pawlowski, Laurie's niece,
became another true believer. She left her husband Ian to
be with Chad's friend Ian Pawlowski, and both couples began
preparing for the end times. Together. They talked about gathering
intense cities to await the apocalypse. They discussed which family
members were light and which were dark. Chad also surrounded
(11:26):
himself with other fringe believers through his conferences and book sales.
These weren't random people. They were often educated, successful individuals
who had become convinced that mainstream Mormonism wasn't enough. They
wanted special knowledge, insider information about God's plans for the
end times. What Chad and Laurie created wasn't just a relationship.
(11:49):
It was a cult of personality, with themselves at the center.
They convinced their followers that they had special spiritual gifts,
that they could see things others couldn't, that they were
chosen for us divine mission. More in a moment, but
(12:15):
let's talk about something prosecutors would later prove was just
as important as the religious delusion. Money. Charles Valo had
a one million dollar life insurance policy with Laurie as
the beneficiary. JJ received Social Security benefits as an adopted child.
Tylee had Social Security survivor benefits from her biological father's death.
(12:37):
Tammy Daybell had life insurance policies that would pay Chad
if she died. Chad's publishing business was failing, Laurie had
expensive tastes and had been spending their money freely. The
couple was looking at financial ruin if they stayed with
their current spouses and kept supporting their children. But if Charles, Tammy,
(12:59):
and the children were going on suddenly, Chad and Laurie
would have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars in
insurance payouts and benefit payments. They could start their new
life together without financial worries. Prosecutors would later argue that
while Chad and Laurie used religious delusion to justify their murders,
the underlying motive was as old as time greed. By
(13:23):
summer twenty nineteen, Chad Dabell and Laurie Valo had convinced
themselves they were divine beings chosen by God to survive
the apocalypse. They had developed a system for identifying enemies
and obstacles. They believed that eliminating zombies was not murder,
it was spiritual warfare. But they had also identified very
(13:45):
specific financial benefits to removing the obstacles in their path.
Charles Valow threatened to expose them, divorce Lauri and cut
off her access to his money. Tylee and JJ were
not just spiritual burdens. They were financial ones, requiring care
and support that would complicate Chad in Laurie's new life.
(14:07):
Tammy Dabll wasn't just standing between Chad and his goddess.
She was standing between Chad and life insurance money. What
they had created was the perfect storm religious delusion that
justified murder, combined with financial incentives that made murder profitable.
In their minds, these weren't family members. They were spiritual
(14:28):
and financial obstacles that God wanted them to remove, and
by July twenty nineteen, they were ready to start removing them.
Here's what I find most chilling about Chad and Laurie's transformation.
They didn't need a compound robes or dozens of followers
to create a murderous cult. They just needed each other.
Two people convinced of their own divine nature created a
(14:52):
belief system that justified murdering anyone who inconvenienced them. They
gave each other permission to do the thing thinkable by
wrapping it in religious language and spiritual justification. This is
what makes the Valo de Bell case so terrifying. It
shows how quickly ordinary people can rationalize extraordinary evil when
(15:12):
they believe they're chosen by God. It reveals how religious
language can be twisted to justify the most unholy acts,
and it demonstrates that you don't need to be obviously
crazy to become a killer. You just need to be
convinced that your victims aren't really human. Tomorrow, we'll explore
how this delusional theology became a murder plan. How Chad
(15:33):
and Laurie began developing their hit list and preparing to
eliminate the people they claimed to love. Because what happens
next isn't just murder. It's the systematic destruction of two
families by two people who believed they were doing God's work.
This is read Carter with celebrity trials. Truth isn't just
stranger than fiction. Sometimes it's more horrifying than anything the
(15:57):
human mind can imagine. And sometimes the most dangerous criminals
are the ones who think they're saints.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!