Lori Vallow Daybell became known as the “Doomsday mother” after two of her children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow went missing and their disappearance made national headlines. The case captivated the nation, and Lori was eventually arrested for their murders and sentenced to life in prison. With Lori set to appear in an upcoming jailhouse Dateline interview, people are looking to refresh their memories on the crime.

In Touch goes inside the infamous murder case story before the two-hour special airs.

Lori’s case was one of the most shocking true crime enthusiasts had come across in a long time. The murder of Tylee, 16, and JJ, 7, was just the tip of the iceberg as authorities began to unravel what happened to the children and more details came to light.

Lori met her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, in 2018, but they were both still married to other people at the time. They were obsessed with apocalyptic prophecies and believed in a bizarre ideology where they labeled people as “zombies” — essentially, souls they thought were possessed and needed to be “freed.”

Friends said that Lori had become convinced that “doomsday” was right around the corner.

In July 2019, Lori’s fourth husband, Charles Vallow, went to her home to drop JJ off and Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, shot Charles and killed him. Alex claimed that he shot Charles in self-defense in an effort to protect his sister. He was never charged and died in December 2019. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.

In September 2019, her children vanished, and Lori lied to authorities about their whereabouts. After months of dodging questions about her missing children, Lori and Chad were discovered on the island of Kauai in Hawaii where they had wed, just two weeks after Chad’s first wife, Tammy Daybell, had died.

Lori was served with a court order on January 25, 2020, demanding she physically produce JJ and Tylee to authorities in Idaho within five days. She didn’t respond to authorities which ultimately led to her arrest.

On February 20, 2020, Kauai police arrested Lori at the Princeville Resort, charging her with child desertion, contempt of court, obstruction, and criminal solicitation to commit a crime. She was held on a $5 million bond before eventually being extradited to Idaho. However, even after her arrest, she and Chad refused to reveal where JJ and Tylee were.

On June 9, 2020, Tylee and JJ’s remains were found buried on Chad’s Idaho property and he was arrested. He was charged with destruction and concealment of evidence and, eventually, murder. Along with the children, Chad was charged with murdering Tammy.

In May 2023, Lori was convicted of first-degree murder for the deaths of Tylee and JJ, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for plotting with Chad and others to kill JJ, Tylee and Tammy and grand theft for continuing to collect JJ and Tylee’s Social Security benefits even after their murders. Two months later, Lori was sentenced to life in prison.

A year later, Chad went to trial and was convicted of the same charges as Lori, plus, insurance fraud for cashing in on Tammy’s $430,000 life insurance policy just weeks after her suspicious death. He was given the death penalty.

Lori’s Dateline interview with Keith Morrison will air on March 7, 2025, at 9:00 p.m. ET, and the “Doomsday Mom” still doesn’t seem to grasp the severity of her crimes.

Keith asked Lori how she “thought Chad would be exonerated” in a teaser shared by NBC News.

“The same way I will be exonerated. We will both be exonerated in the future,” she replied. “I have seen things in the future that Jesus showed me when I was in Heaven, and we were not in jail. We were not in prison and they were still in the future from now.”