I think there's a likely layer in the sequence of events that has been overlooked. Just an idea, but to me it not only fits but also explains a lot that is otherwise puzzling. I didn't double-check the details, so some may be slightly off as to time/sequence, but I think the themes of impatient, frustration, lust, and goddess making demands have been in this story at the end, but overlooked in how they manifested.
HERE'S MY STORY.
Lori and Chad meet in the fall of 2018 and want each other. Or so they say. Both see something in the other that thrills them. But there are obstacles in the way to having a real relationship, both spouses and kids, to be removed.
So they plan to be together "some day." Chad? He promises and promises "Tammy is going to die." But Lori gets to work and kills Charles.
Once she has no hubby, Chad has her move close by, so she can be his side piece. But he's still married, still promising, but nothing changes.
So Lori makes sure her kids are killed, because Chad says he doesn't like being around them. Meanwhile, Chad is still married, his family still intact, Lori is still just the other woman and a side romance with a promise of something later. He does nothing. It's been almost a year since they met. But the phone sex is hot, the promises are impressive, the future is coming!
Chad makes more promises that Tammy will die. He has had visions!
But I think at some point, soon after Lori has killed her family while Chad has done nothing to be free of his, Lori says to Chad, "This is BS. I'm leaving town. Let me know when you are single."
In the time after JJ's death, didn't she go to Missouri, and to AZ, and to Hawaii? I think she was mad, impatient, and not letting him have her.
She goes to Missouri for a stay, putting pressure on Chad (and frustrating his lust) because she's not in ID for him to play with. There in Missouri, she tries to "cast" Tammy to death. Of course such nonsense doesn't work. She returns to ID, nothing new, Chad is still making promises.
So she tells Chad again, "I'm not sitting here while you do nothing." She goes to AZ. Then she calls Alex to kill Tammy since Chad has done nothing (utter failure).
She flits into ID, tells Chad, "I'm tired of waiting. I'm not gonna be your other woman. I'm a goddess, you said, and I deserve better. You've done nothing. I think I'll hit the beach in Hawaii in a new bikini. " Off she goes to Hawaii.
They stay in contact with phone sex (err, I mean portals), but she's getting more frustrated with the wait. (Isn't she entitled? Hasn't she done a lot, while he just sits?) But she's obsessed with getting what she wants, so in Hawaii she tries again to cast Tammy to death. All the while she is impatient, snippy, on edge, while Chad keeps promising her it will happen. She calls him all the time, ragging on him to do something, and also teasing him with promises of hot sex that drives him wild.
Finally, Chad takes action. He can't wait to figure out any sort of elaborate plan. So impulsively, one night when he and Tammy are alone, he simply smothers Tammy to death, and then the next morning claims she died in her sleep.
