Skye Borgman is the director behind some of the most popular true crime documentaries of the last decade, including Abducted in Plain Sight and Girl in the Picture. Her latest project Sins of Our Mother sheds new light on the alleged crimes of Lori Vallow, who is accused of murdering her two children, JJ and Tylee. Lori's pleaded not guilty to all charges.
But Borgman told E! News she isn't just looking to entertain viewers, she wants to show them that JJ, Tylee and Charles Vallow could still be alive today had someone helped Lori. "I would hope that what people take away from this film is that they can really see how many times Lori could have been stopped or could have been helped," she explained. "There could have been some kind of intervention I think, from many of the family members, from law enforcement, from friends."
Borgman noted that Lori's late husband Charles sounded the alarm to police before his death in 2019. "Charles tried to speak up," Borgman said, "and nothing happened."
In a video obtained by NBC News, Charles told police he feared for his life mere days before he was shot by Lori's late brother Alex, who told police he acted in self-defense. Cox has since died of what the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office said was natural causes, as reported by NBC News in May 2020.
Lori was later charged in connection to Charles' death, as announced by the Maricopa County District Attorney's office in June 2021. Legal proceedings are on hold while Vallow awaits trial in connection to her children's deaths.
Police told Charles they couldn't arrest Lori because she hadn't committed a crime, according to NBC News. However, Borgman thinks his death is proof that people should still raise their concerns. "These things can be stopped," she insisted, "and if something's wrong, if you feel like they're red flags, keep being loud about it."
Charles wasn't the only person to express concern about Lori's behavior. Lori's sole surviving son Colby Ryan said in the documentary that he felt Lori was behaving increasingly erratic as she grew closer to her current husband Chad Daybell, who is also facing charges of murder, conspiracy and grand theft in connection to the deaths of JJ and Tylee. He has pleaded not guilty.
"[Colby] gives us an insight into her and what she was like while he was growing up and what their life was like," Borgman said, adding that Colby said he wanted to participate in the documentary to distance himself from his mother's alleged actions. "He was really interested in telling that aspect of the story and to give his voice as part of this narrative."
Borgman said she feels great sympathy for those who knew Charles, Tylee and JJ, saying that the family doesn't want to believe Lori could've committed such crimes. "When you talk to the family, especially with Janice [Cox], she's a grandmother who's lost two grandchildren, and her daughter most likely will end up spending the rest of her life in prison," Borgman said. "And the reason she lost her grandchildren is because of her daughter. So that's a really complicated thing to process."
The director noted that some people may blame Lori's family for not doing more, but she said that they're victims, too. "I think it's important to give people like Colby a spotlight," she said. "Look at the ripple effects that somebody like Lori Vallow can have on her entire family. And I think we forget about those people a lot. I think Lori ends up taking the spotlight."
She continued, "To be able to tell their stories and to be able to look at the survivors and how they get through this life, how they keep going forward and how they deal with a loss—that's an important story to tell."
Sins of Our Mother is streaming now on Netflix.