Child Killer Lori Vallow Sends Cryptic Message from Prison to Her Only Surviving Son During Crime Convention By Toria Sheffield

Lori Vallow, the Idaho woman convicted of killing two of her children and conspiring to kill several others as part of what she claimed was a grand religious prophecy, sent a message to her only surviving child.

Colby Ryan, an adult, appeared on a panel at CrimeCon 2025 in Denver on Friday, Sept. 5. The panel was hosted by journalist Nate Eaton, and during the conversation, Eaton said that Vallow had found out about the panel and sent him a message to share with her son.

“If you talk to Colby, please tell him that ‘I love you very much, no matter what,’ ” Vallow said in her message read by Eaton, per a clip he shared on X and Instagram.

She continued, “You can ask him about [Bible verse] Matthew 25.”

Eaton then said he had looked up the verse and told the audience that it was in reference to the parable of “the wheat and the tares, and the parable of the 10 virgins, I believe.”

“Any idea what that scripture reference means?” he asked Ryan.

Ryan replied that he believed the message was simply an attempt for his mother to appear “godly.”

“It’s her trying to talk about the wicked and the good being sifted apart, basically. So it’s her way of trying to say she is still good and, basically, godly,” Ryan explained.

Eaton then asked Ryan if he had a desire to talk to his mother again, to which Ryan replied, “No.”

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In 2023, Vallow was convicted of the 2019 murders of her other two children, 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “J.J.” Vallow, and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was sentenced to life in prison. Her then husband, Chad Daybell, was also convicted of murder in relation to their deaths.

At one point, Vallow allegedly told a friend that Tylee and J.J. were “zombies” and that she and Daybell were on a mission to eradicate zombies before the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

“[T]he term ‘zombie’ refers to an individual whose mortal spirit has left their body and that their body is now the host of another spirit,” Rexburg Police Department Lt. Ron Ball wrote in an affidavit obtained by PEOPLE. “The new spirit in a ‘zombie’ is always considered a ‘dark spirit.’ “

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Vallow has also been convicted of conspiracy to kill Chad’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell. In June, she was additionally found guilty of conspiring to kill Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of her niece, according to the Associated Press. Both incidents took place in 2019.

Vallow is serving multiple consecutive life sentences, per CNN.