If Lori only wanted to be close to Chad in Rexburg, why did Alex and another relative (supposedly Melani) also follow? Did they have plans for their (religious) group, beyond getting rid of their spouses and remarrying?
Chad had a podcast speaking about how ID would play into his endtimes visions. He also claimed he was told by a mysterious voice upon visiting the area that he would live here soon, which caused the family to move there. If Alex and Melani were buying into his prophet shtick, maybe they were all going to be part of that prophecy. I've seen other people linked to auxiliary members of this case speaking about making pilgrimages to the area, so there might have been more followers convening in one spot.