Lori Vallow Daybell had a message for her only surviving child, and went about delivering it in an untraditional way.

Lori Vallow Daybell, convicted of murdering two of her children and plotting other killings, including those of her fourth husband and a romantic rival, after embracing odd religious beliefs, reached out to her sole surviving son, Colby Ryan, at CrimeCon 2025 through media channels.

During a panel discussion on September 5, 2025, at the true crime convention in Denver, journalist Nate Eaton revealed that Vallow Daybell sent him a puzzling message from prison meant for Colby, who was attending as a panel guest.

“She found out we were going to be here today, she sent me a message this morning,” Eaton said in a short video clip posted on X.

Eaton — who had already gotten permission backstage from Colby to share the message — then went on to read Vallow Daybell’s words.

“If you talk to Colby, please tell him that I love him very much, NO MATTER WHAT,” Vallow Daybell wrote. “You can ask him about Matthew 25.” 

Eaton informed the audience that the message referred to a chapter in the New Testament that includes “the parable of the wheat and the tares and the parable of the ten virgins.”

“Any idea what that scripture reference means?” Eaton asked Colby, who spoke to Dateline for an episode that aired in March. 

Colby told the CrimeCon audience that he believed the message was his mother’s latest attempt to prove she was a righteous person. 

He elaborated to the attendees, explaining that Vallow Daybell was attempting to convey the theme of distinguishing between good and evil. “It’s her way of trying to say she remains virtuous and essentially godly,” he stated.

Eaton asked Colby whether he ever wanted to talk to his mother again.

“No,” Colby simply replied. 

“Ok, well, let’s not talk about her anymore today,” Eaton responded as the crowd erupted into cheers.

What crimes did Lori Vallow Daybell commit?

Vallow Daybell is currently behind bars in Idaho after receiving multiple life sentences for a string of killings. 

The series of violent events began in July 2019 when Vallow Daybell’s estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was fatally shot by her brother, Alex Cox, in her Arizona home. Cox, who died in December of that year, claimed self-defense in the shooting of his brother-in-law, and no immediate charges were brought against him.

Weeks later, Vallow Daybell moved her family to Rexburg, Idaho, to be closer to Chad Daybell, a religious author who often spoke about the end times.

After relocating, Vallow Daybell’s 16-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan, vanished, followed by her 7-year-old son, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, just weeks later. In October 2019, Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell, was discovered dead in her bed.

Just weeks after Tammy’s death — which was initially thought to be the result of natural causes — Daybell and Vallow Daybell secretly tied the knot in Hawaii. But their crimes soon came to light after JJ’s grandparents reported him missing in November of 2019. 

Authorities eventually recovered the bodies of both children buried on Daybell’s property. Both deaths were declared homicides.  After a closer look into the case, a medical examiner also determined that Tammy had died of asphyxiation.

Vallow Daybell and Daybell were later convicted in separate trials for their roles in the deaths of Tylee, JJ, and Tammy. While Daybell was sentenced to death, Vallow received life without the possibility of parole. 

In July, Vallow Daybell received two additional life sentences in Arizona for conspiring to kill Charles and her former nephew-in-law Brandon Boudreaux, who survived an attempt on his life in October of 2019.