Exclusive: Lori Vallow Daybell Went from 'Devout' Cheerleader to 'a Mystery,' High School Friend Says
Crime
12:46 PM PST, February 28, 2020
Decades before she was arrested in the
disappearance of her two children, Lori Daybell was a "quiet," "sweet" Southern California girl from a devout Mormon family who loved spending time with her cheerleading friends.
Now, those friends are shocked to see Lori at the center of a case involving her two missing children, JJ and Tylee, three suspicious deaths and a multi-state investigation. Bernadette Flores-Lopez said she met Lori when they were both 15 years old and became close friends.
[...]
Flores-Lopez said it's hard to reconcile the Lori who has refused to publicly answer questions about her kids with the Lori she knew.
Back then, she was Lori Cox, a 10th grade girl trying out for the cheer squad at Eisenhower High School in Rialto, California. Flores-Lopez said Lori and the other members of the squad "clicked immediately" and became very close. Lori was the girl the team threw into the air, a position known as "a flyer." She was quiet but also "hilarious," Flores-Lopez said. "She had us laughing hysterically all the time."
[...]
"As a cheer squad, we were always at Lori's house. Her mom and dad let us hang out there. We used to swim," Flores-Lopez remembered. "Everybody was just so welcoming. They had a big family."
The Cox family were "very, very devout Mormons," Flores-Lopez said, and
Lori would attend religious education classes in the morning before school.
[...]
Lori's parents didn't come to her cheer competitions, Flores-Lopez said, but that didn't seem to bother Lori. They were a quiet family and kept pretty much to themselves, she said.
[...]
"It's weird because it wasn't until our senior year that she even had a boyfriend. She was very much to herself and she hung around just the girls," Flores-Lopez said. "There was hardly ever boys with us. But in senior year, that's when she started kind of like branching out a little bit."
Lori was smart and got good grades, but when it came to what she would do after graduation, Lori's path seemed to be guided by her faith, Flores-Lopez said.
She talked about attending Brigham Young University, a private university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[...]
After Lori graduated in 1991, she married her first husband, a boy from her high school, in 1992. But the marriage was short-lived.
"I know the boy was not a Mormon, so that might've been a cause of [the breakup]," Flores-Lopez said.
Lori moved away from Rialto soon after her divorce and Flores-Lopez lost touch with her friend.
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Exclusive: Lori Vallow Daybell Went from 'Devout' Cheerleader to 'a Mystery,' High School Friend Says
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