Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole after an Idaho jury found her guilty in May at all costs her role in the deaths of her 16-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan; her 7-year-old adopted son, Joshua “JJ” Vallow; and her husband’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. She had pleaded not guilty.
The trial began on Monday, April 10, after a week of jury selection that saw dozens of potential jurors dismissed, many of whom were too familiar with the details of the case or had already formed opinions. A jury of ten men and eight women heard the case, and twelve were selected to deliberate. The jury returned the guilty verdict on May 12.
The process seen some emotional momentsof several witnesses moved to tears on the stand and JJ Vallow’s grandfather openly weeping in the courtroom as he listened to testimony. Witnesses described finding JJ and Tylee’s bodies, as well as Vallow Daybell’s religious beliefs.
The defense rested without calling witnesses, and Vallow Daybell did not take the stand in her own defense.
The trial had been postponed in part because Vallow Daybell had been committed, but a judge ruled last year that she was mentally competent to stand trial.
A timeline of events in the Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell case
Who are the people involved?
Lori Vallow Daybell, now 50, had a daughter, Tylee Ryan, from a previous relationship when she married Charles Vallow, her fourth husband, in 2006. In 2012, the two adopted then-2-year-old Joshua, whose biological father was Vallow’s son. cousin – his sister’s son, Kay Woodcock. Joshua, better known as JJ, had autism, and by all accounts, he and his sister Tylee were close.
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, now 54, met in 2018. The Vallows separated the following year, with Charles Vallow filing for divorce. He said in the divorce filing that his wife had threatened to kill him.
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell / Credit: Kay Woodcock/Facebook
“She threatened me, killed me, killed me,” he told police in a conversation captured on video, “48 Hours” reported.
Charles Vallow was killed and shot in 2019 during an altercation with Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona, where the Vallow family — including JJ and Tylee — and Cox lived at the time. Shortly thereafter, Vallow Daybell and her children moved to Idaho.
Later that year, Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell’s wife and the mother of his five children, died at Daybell’s Idaho home from what officials initially said were natural causes but later said were suspicious.
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow were married two weeks later on November 5, 2019, in Hawaii.
What happened to Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow?
The last time anyone saw Tylee Ryan was in September 2019, when the family took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. JJ Vallow’s biological grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, said the last time they spoke to the 7-year-old was in August.
Kay Woodcock asked police in Rexburg, Idaho, to check on JJ in November — but Vallow Daybell told police he was in Arizona with a family friend. The friend, Melanie Gibb, told police she had not seen JJ in months.
In December, police and the FBI were looking for 16-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old JJ. The hunt continued even as police arrested Vallow Daybell in Hawaii on two felony charges related to the missing children and three other crimes. She was extradited to Idaho.
The search continued into 2020, when police executed a search warrant on Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho. There, they found human remainslater identified as JJ and Tylee – his, duct taped and in red pajamas, and hers, badly burned.
Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Lori Vallow. /Credit: Tylee Ryan/Instagram
What are Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell accused of?
Both Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the children’s deaths. Vallow Daybell was also found guilty of grand larceny, a misdemeanor, allegedly for collecting Social Security benefits on behalf of her children, including those Tylee received due to her father’s death.
Although Daybell could face the death penalty, the judge ruled that Vallow Daybell would not receive the death penalty. She faces a life sentence.
Vallow Daybell was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Tammy Daybell.
Both pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In separate cases in Arizona, she is accused of conspiring to kill her late husband, Charles Vallow, and Brandon Boudreaux, her niece’s ex-husband. Boudreaux testified against her at her trial in Idaho. In December 2024, two court-appointed doctors discovered that Lori Vallow Daybell was competent to be charged and stand trial in Arizona.
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell
What did the prosecution and defense say?
The prosecutor argued that Vallow Daybell wanted, as Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake said in her opening statement, “money, power and sex,” and would not let anything stand in her way. Blake also argued that Vallow Daybell and her husband used their religious beliefs to convince those around them not to question their actions and even to justify murder.
Vallow Daybell’s defense argued that jurors should focus on the evidence showing what Vallow Daybell did, and not on what her husband or brother may have done. Defense attorney John Archibald told jurors that people can choose their religious beliefs, and that Vallow Daybell was with other people in her apartment when JJ and Tylee were killed, and in Hawaii when Tammy Daybell died.
Why isn’t Chad Daybell on trial?
Both Vallow Daybell and Daybell’s attorneys asked the court to separate the cases, which were originally scheduled to go to trial in January. Daybell waived his right to a speedy trial and a judge granted the request, so this will happen at a later date. It’s scheduled for April 1, 2024.
Why is Lori Vallow Daybell called the “doomsday mom” and what role does religion play in this matter?
Both Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. Daybell owned a religious publishing company and his own writing focused on fringe beliefs, including what he said were his own near-death experiences and the end times.
Vallow Daybell, friends said, was increasing convinced that judgment day is just around the corner. As part of that belief, she said people’s bodies — including JJ, Tylee and Charles Vallow — were possessed by evil spirits, turning them into “zombies,” former friend April Raymond told “48 Hours.”
“Part of her mission on Earth was to eliminate the darkness, the demonic – the evil,” Raymond said.
Daybell had a religiously focused podcast, on which Vallow Daybell appeared. The two also held gatherings of people who shared their increasingly fervent beliefs: “48 Hours” reported that Vallow Daybell believed she had been chosen to lead the 144,000 people who would survive the end times. Her late husband told police she believed she was “a resurrected being – a god,” “48 Hours” reported.
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