An Idaho jury on Thursday found Chad Daybell, the husband of so-called “cult mom” Lori Vallow, guilty of murdering two of her children and his own first wife in 2019.
The jury found Daybell guilty of all nine charges, including murder, conspiracy to murder, insurance fraud and theft.
Daybell, 55, and Vallow, 50, are central figures in a multiple murder case involving both her and Daybell’s late ex-spouse, as well as Vallow’s two children. Last year, a Fremont County jury found Vallow guilty of multiple charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, in the 2019 disappearance and murder of 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, with the assistance of her husband.
The two also conspired to murder Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell, in October 2019. They were originally scheduled to be tried together, but Daybell’s defense team asked for the self-published author’s trials to be held separately in 2022, citing “mutually adversarial defenses” in the two cases.
Chad Daybell trial: Lori Vallow’s husband seeks different outcome than ‘cult mom’ for children’s murders
Daybell’s trial, charged with the murder of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children, was scheduled to begin on Monday, April 1, 2024, in Idaho. (John Roark/Idaho Post Register via The Associated Press)
But in both the Vallow and Daybell cases, prosecutors allege the pair murdered Vallow’s two children and Daybell’s first wife out of a desire for “money, power and sex.” Vallow and Daybell stole JJ and Tylee’s Social Security benefits between Oct. 1, 2019, when they disappeared, and Jan. 22, 2020, when they were murdered.
The two children were found dead in a shallow grave. Chad Daybell’s Rexburg, Idaho estate In June 2020, several months after they disappeared from their home in September 2019, the body of the 16-year-old girl was incinerated and the 7-year-old girl was bound with duct tape.
Lori Vallow Trial: ‘Cult Mom’ Convicted of Murdering Husband’s First Wife and Two Children
Lori Vallow Daybell attends a sentencing hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse on July 31, 2023 in St. Anthony, Idaho. (Tony Blakeslee/EastIdahoNews.com via The Associated Press)
The Ada County coroner testified that JJ died of asphyxiation with a plastic bag, and that Tyree died of undetermined homicide because his body had been dismembered and severely burned before burial.
After the children went missing, Vallow and Daybell fled to Hawaii to get married. Authorities arrested Vallow in February 2020 and Daybell in June 2020.
Lori Vallow trial: Hear testimony from ‘cult mom’ and her sister after Vallow’s children were found dead
Lori Daybell and Chad Daybell are accused of murdering 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old JJ Vallow in 2019. (Rexburg Police Department)
While prosecutors have focused on money, power and sex, the couple’s crimes have a cult-like religious underpinning: First reported by FOX 10 Phoenix, the couple met at a religious conference in 2018 and bonded over their apocalyptic beliefs and the idea that they were married in a past life.
According to FOX 10, prosecutors said the pair referred to each other as the biblical characters James and Elena and discussed their belief that humans have light and dark spirits, some of which are so dark they need to be removed from the Earth.
Lori Vallow trial: Idaho coroner reveals cause of death of JJ Vallow and Tyree Ryan
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are accused of killing Vallow’s two children and Daybell’s first wife. (Facebook and Tony Blakeslee/East Idaho News)
Daybell has written several end-time novels loosely based on Mormon theology, and both men were involved in groups that promoted biblical end-time preparation.
Vallow was sentenced in July to life in prison without parole on five counts.
Hawaii Police Issue Summons to Lori Vallow as She Relaxes Poolside in Bikini: Video
At his sentencing in August 2023, Vallow told the court that the children who died were “happy” and “busy”.
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“I have had many communications with our earthly Savior, Jesus Christ, and with our Heavenly Parents. Because of these communications, many angels have come and communicated with me and even appeared to me,” Vallow said at the time. “It is true that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world. And because of my communication with my friend Tammy Daybell, I find that she is also very happy and very busy.”
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She also said she has “always mourned the deaths” of “loved ones” and that although she has “lost many people in this life,” she believes she is still in contact with them in the spirit world.
Footage from the Kauai Police Department shows an officer handing Lori Vallow a summons as she sat poolside in January 2020. (Kauai Police Department/FOX 10)
Judge Stephen Boyce later told Vallow he has “mental health issues” and his current diagnosis, handed down in February, says he suffers from a “delusional disorder”, “excessive religiosity” and a “persistent unspecified personality disorder” with narcissistic traits.
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“You took these children from their home in Arizona, separated them from their friends and family and brought them here to be murdered. You had many other options and you chose the most evil and destructive path,” Judge Stephen Boyce said at Vallow’s sentencing hearing. “To this day, I don’t believe you feel any remorse for the effort and the heartache you caused.”
Authorities extradited Vallow to Arizona.She is scheduled to be arraigned in November 2023 in Maricopa County on charges of first-degree murder and premeditated first-degree murder.
