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'Doomsday' mom Lori Vallow Daybell sentenced to life in prison

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“Doomsday” mom Lori Vallow Daybell denied that she murdered her two children and conspired to murder the wife of her then-boyfriend, Chad Daybell, as she was sentenced to life in prison Monday — insisting that “accidental deaths happen” and bizarrely claiming that she had heard from her dead children, “who are very busy and happy in heaven.”

Vallow Daybell — who was found guilty in May of murdering her youngest children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, and plotting to kill Chad’s wife Tammy — gave a bizarre statement to the court before she was sentenced to five terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“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.”

She went on to claim that she has had “many” communications with her victims.

“I have had many communications with Jesus Christ, the savior of this world,” she told the court. “Because of these communications, I know for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world … [B]ecause of … communications with my friend Tammy Daybell, I know that she is also very happy and extremely busy,” she said.

Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted in May of killing her two children and conspiring to murder her husband’s wife.
A jury found Vallow Daybell guilty in May of murdering her youngest children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, and plotting to kill Chad’s wife Tammy. AP

She called Tammy Daybell her “eternal friend,” who she said “rests safely this day in the arms of Jesus.”

She received the maximum sentence for each of the murder and conspiracy counts. She was also sentenced to five more years without parole, and five additional with the possibility of being paroled. 

Before handing down the sentences, Idaho District Judge Steven Boyce told Vallow Daybell she “chose the most evil and destructive path possible.”

“You had so many other options — you could have gotten divorced. You could have found someone to take care of those kids,” he told her. “You killed those children to remove them as obstacles and profit financially. You justified all this to go down a bizarre religious rabbit hole and clearly you are still there.”

He added: “I don’t think you have any remorse for the effort and heartache you caused.”

Daybell gave a bizarre statement to the court before she was sentenced to five terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole. AP/Tony Blakeslee
“Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me. I mourn with all of you who mourn my children and Tammy,” she said. AP/Tony Blakeslee
Kay and Larry Woodcock, the grandparents of JJ Vallow, embrace each other after Lori gave her victim impact statement. AP/Tony Blakeslee

Boyce called it “the most shocking thing — a mother killed her own children and you simply have no remorse for it — even sitting here today, there’s no remorse for what you did.”

“You may not believe to this day that you’ve done anything wrong,” Boyce went on. “But I don’t believe that any god in any religion would want to have this happen, what happened here. And your crimes are heinous and egregious and that alone and constitute a major aggravating factor.”

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.”

Vallow Daybell appeared in court for her sentencing Monday.
Vallow Daybell sat straight-faced as the court heard victim impact statements.

“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 facing similar charges.

Prosecutors asked 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 nearly $300,000 in fines and restitution.

Lori Vallow Daybell and her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, are being tried separately in connection with several murders. ABC News
Lori Vallow married Chad Daybell just two weeks after his wife died from what investigators found was asphyxia. ABC News
Chad Daybell will be tried separately from his convicted murderer wife. AP

“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 believe they were called upon by God to shepherd the 144,000 followers 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.

(From left) Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16. AP
Photos of JJ and Tylee are hung near Chad Daybell’s Idaho property, where their remains were found. John Todd Ogden/Shutterstock

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 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.

Chad Daybell and his late wife, Tammy Daybell, in an undated image.

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 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 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 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.

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Patria Henriques

Update: 2024-07-21