“Doomsday” mom Lori Vallow Daybell denied that she murdered her two children and conspired to murder the wife of her then-boyfriend, Chad Daybell — insisting “accidental deaths happen” as she emotionally addressed the court Monday.
Vallow Daybell – who was found guilty in May of murdering her youngest children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, age 7, and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and plotting to kill Chad’s wife, Tammy – bizarrely claimed that she had been visited by visions of her children as she repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me. I mourn with all of you who mourn my children and Tammy,” she said.
“Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here. Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medications happen.”
Vallow Daybell sat straight-faced next to her attorney for the majority of the hearing, as the court heard victim impact statements.
“[Vallow Daybell] is a danger to society. Her body and manipulative mind are weapons used for her selfish greed and satisfaction,” her former sister-in-law and JJ’s grandmother, Kay Woodcock, told the court.
“She is driven by her greed and need to be the center of attention.”
In a statement read by prosecutors, Vallow Daybell’s only surviving son, Colby Ryan, told the court: “I have lost my entire family in life.”
“I have watched everything crumble and be shredded to pieces,” his prepared statement read. “I have lost my sister, brother, father and my mother.”
Tammy’s aunt, Vicki Hoban, also blasted Vallow Daybell for pursuing what she wanted at any cost.
“Lori wanted money sex and more power. And what Lori wants, Lori gets,” Hoban said.
Vallow Daybell was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and grand theft. She narrowly escaped the threat of the death penalty.
She was tried separately from Daybell, her fifth husband, who is accused of similar charges.
Prosecutors asked Idaho District Court Judge Steven Boyce to give Vallow Daybell the maximum sentence for each count: five fixed life sentences, each without parole, with an additional 20-year sentence for grand theft. They also requested over $30,000 in fines and restitution.
“Because this was the ultimate crime – killing your own Children, killing your boyfriend’s wife – the punishment must be the ultimate allowed by the law,” Prosecutor Rob Wood said.
Prosecutors alleged that the pair espoused beliefs about zombies and said they were called upon by God to shepherd the 144,000 followers in to the end of the world and the second coming of Christ
Vallow Daybell allegedly believed people either represented light or dark – the latter of which were those who had signed contracts with the devil.
According to her beliefs, the only way for some people to lose their “dark” spiritual attachments was through spiritual castings, or their deaths.
After the murders, the couple allegedly collected social security benefits and life insurance money related to the three deaths, prosecutors said.
Vallow Daybell has also been indicted in the Arizona death of her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, and for allegedly conspiring to kill Brandon Boudreaux, her niece’s ex-husband, who survived.
Vallow Daybell was arrested in May 2021 and later spent nine months in a mental health hospital before she was deemed fit for trial in April 2022.
Loved ones first grew suspicious of Vallow Daybell and concerned for her children’s safety around 2019.
Her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, detailed her bizarre beliefs in divorce papers that described how she thought she was a god-like figure. She felt she was leading the 144,000 believers in preparing for the apocalypse, he wrote.
But he died suddenly in July 2019, when Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed him in Phoenix in what he claimed was self-defense.
Cox, Vallow Daybell and the two kids then moved to Idaho, where JJ grew estranged from his grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock.
The Woodcocks notified police after they had not been able to get in touch with Lori or the kids. That kickstarted a case that soon made headlines nationwide.
Investigators in Rexburg, Idaho, performed welfare checks in November 2019 and soon realized Vallow Daybell and Daybell were lying about where the children’s whereabouts.
The couple allegedly skipped town within hours.
Police ultimately determined both kids had last been seen days apart in September 2019.
JJ’s and Tylee’s bodies were discovered months later buried on the property of Daybell’s Salem, Idaho, home.
JJ was ultimately found to have died from asphyxiation with the use of duct tape and a plastic bag. The cause of Tylee’s death remains unknown due to the condition of her body when it was found.
Meanwhile, Tammy Daybell was initially thought to have died unexpectedly from “natural causes” in October 2019. But a later autopsy revealed her cause of death to be asphyxia.
