Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - From Faith to Darkness Lori Vallow, Cult Obsession, Murder, and Missing Kids PART3 #25

Episode Date: November 9, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #truecrime #cultcrime #lorivallowcase #missingkids #deadlyobsession  From Faith to Darkness Part 3 intensifies the terrifying story of Lori Vallow, exploring the deadly consequences of her cult-driven obsession. This chapter focuses on the discovery of shocking evidence, the authorities closing in, and the unraveling of her plans, highlighting the tragic fate of her children and the psychological manipulation that fueled her actions. It underscores how obsession, control, and extremist beliefs can lead to unimaginable horror.  horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, truecrime, cultcrime, lorivallowcase, missingkids, deadlyobsession, shockingcases, familytragedy, manipulation, darkfaith, twistedobsession, crimeinvestigation, realcrime, realhorrorstories, culthorrorstory

The Fall of Charles and the Rise of the Apocalyptic cult. When people first heard about Laurie and Chad's so-called castings, it all sounded strange but almost harmless. A little bizarre religious ritual here, a prayer gathering there, it was the kind of thing you might roll your eyes at and think, OK, that's weird, but people believe all sorts of things, right? But the more you looked into it, the scarier it became. These castings were supposed to be about light and darkness.

According to Lori and Chad, if someone was struggling, mentally, spiritually, or even just living in a way that the group didn't approve of, they could be put through a casting. During the ceremony, members of the cult would pray over them, calling on divine powers to push away evil spirits. If the ritual worked, the person would be cleansed. They'd transform into what Laurie could. called a being of light. Saved. Pure. A soul fit for the end times. But if it didn't work, that's where things got terrifying. Laurie and Chad preached that if the darkness inside a person

was too strong, then the spirit of evil would win. That soul was permanently corrupted. And the only way to get rid of that evil, according to them, was to, well, get rid of the person entirely. Yeah. In their twisted logic, the solution wasn't therapy, prayer, or forgiveness. It was death. That's how they trapped people. First, with fear. Fear of the apocalypse, fear of being left behind, fear of losing their families. And then, with false hope, they positioned themselves as the heroes who could protect you, the ones who had the tools to guarantee your salvation. And people bought it.

These castings started getting more popular. Before long, it wasn't just face-to-face rituals. They were hosting them over Zoom. Followers would drag their spouses, their children, their friends, anyone they thought was slipping into darkness, into these sessions. It was a full-on spiritual intervention, except the stakes weren't about rehab or reconciliation. In their eyes, it was literally life or death. That's how dangerous belief can become when it's twisted by the wrong people.

But while Laurie and Chad were building this apocalyptic brand, their personal lives were falling apart. Both of them were married, Laurie to Charles, and Chad to his wife, Tammy. Naturally, a cult romance didn't exactly sit well with their families. At one point, a woman in the cult even told Laurie straight up, you and Chad should divorce your spouses. You belong together. Lori didn't even hesitate. She told the woman that she and Chad were bound for eternity through a spiritual covenant, that they'd been married in multiple past lives. As for Charles and Tammy?

Well, she claimed that God had a different destiny waiting for them. Which, knowing what we know now, sends a chill down your soul. spine. January 2019. By the beginning of 2019, Charles had reached his breaking point. He loved his wife, but her beliefs were spinning out of control. One day, he sat Lori down and begged her to see a psychologist. He told her he was worried about her mental health, worried about how far she was taking all this. She flat out refused. Instead, Laurie flipped the script. She called up her relatives and told them she'd discovered Charles had been cheating on her for years.

To her family, she painted herself as the victim, the heartbroken wife. Meanwhile, Charles was sending desperate emails to Laurie's relatives, pleading with them to step in and help. In those emails, he explained the truth, Laurie was not well. She was hearing voices, claiming to be a reincarnated goddess, convinced she had supernatural powers. He wasn't exaggerating. He was scared, for her, for their kids, and for himself.

It turned into a tug of war. Charles begging for people to see the reality, Laurie convincing those same people that Charles was just angry and making things up because she had caught him cheating. Then came the breaking point. Charles had to travel for work, a quick trip to Houston. But when he came back home, his life had been flipped upside down. Everything, his clothes, his computer, even his truck, was gone. Laurie had taken it all.

On top of that, she drained more than $5,000 from their joint bank account and disappeared with Tiley and JJ. Charles panicked. He called the police and reported the theft. When the officers showed up, he told them everything, that Laurie believed she was a god, that she claimed he wasn't even really Charles anymore. In her mind, he had been possessed by an evil spirit named Ned Schneider. That was the name Chad, Lori, and her brother Alex had supposedly given to one of the demons. Charles told the cop straight up, I'm afraid she's going to hurt me or the kids.

She says if anyone gets in her way, she'll kill them. The officers searched the house. Empty. No Laurie, no kids. And then came the kicker, the police told him they couldn't do anything. Because Laurie was the mother of the children, technically, she hadn't committed a crime by taking them. Imagine that. You're standing there, terrified your wife might actually harm your children, and the people you turn to for help shrug their shoulders.

Charles refused to give up. He waited outside JJ's school until he saw Lori show up. Desperate, he snatched her purse and keys, hoping to stall her long enough for help to arrive. But Lori had a backup set of keys. She jumped in her car and sped off. Both of them ended up at the police station, filing complaints against each other. Charles begged the officers to admit Lori into psychiatric care. He wasn't trying to punish her, he was trying to save her. When the cops interviewed Laurie, she was calm. Smooth.

She told them the same story she told her family, that she'd left Charles because of his infidelity. She didn't rant about spirits or demons. She kept it simple, almost boring. The officers bought it. To be safe, they suggest, did she go in for a psychiatric evaluation. Lori agreed.

She walked involuntarily, smiled through the questions, and walked right back out. No hospitalization. No consequences. Meanwhile, Charles was unraveling. He filed for divorce, citing everything she'd done, the theft, the threats, the belief that she could kill him with her powers. He even requested a restraining order. and it was granted. In his petition, he made one thing very clear, he feared for his life

and for the safety of their kids. There was more. Charles had a life insurance policy worth $1 million, and Laurie was listed as the sole beneficiary. Given her threats, he made a drastic move. He changed the beneficiary to his sister, Kay. If anything happened to him, Laurie wouldn't see a dime. But for some reason, maybe love, maybe hope, maybe desperation, when Laurie reappeared after nearly two months in hiding, Charles relented. He withdrew the restraining order. He told her he wanted to try again. He even rented a separate house for Lori, Tiley, and JJ, so they'd have space while they

worked through their issues. Charles tried. He really did. He wanted to bring her back to reality. But then, he discovered the affair. He stumbled across emails, emails supposedly sent from his own account, arranging meetings with Chad. The excuse was that they were working on a book together. But Charles knew better. He hadn't written those emails.

Laurie had. She'd been impersonating him to hide the truth. If Chad's wife Tammy ever saw the messages, she'd think it was just business. A collaboration. Nothing to worry about. But Charles wasn't fooled. He tracked down Tammy's email address and sent her a message, exposing the affair.

Whether she believed him or not, we'll never fully know. What we do know is that Charles confronted Laurie. He told her he knew about the affair, and he threatened to tell Tammy face-to-face. Meanwhile, inside the cult's inner circle, Laurie was making a different kind of request. She often asked members to pray for Charles' soul, which, considering everything else she'd said, that he was possessed, that he was a demon, wasn't exactly a comforting thought. The stage was set and the danger was closing in. To be continued.