Idaho mom found guilty of killing her children

Prosecutors in Madison and Fremont counties said they are “very pleased with the jury’s verdict.”

“We also want to express sincere appreciation to the many members of law enforcement and the community who tirelessly worked together to hold Lori Vallow Daybell accountable,” they said.

Lori Vallow Daybell listens as the jury's verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho on Friday May 12.

Lori Vallow Daybell showed no visible reaction as the guilty verdicts were read.

Vallow Daybell was found guilty by an Idaho jury on all counts of killing her two children and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, the first wife of her husband, Chad Daybell. She will be transferred from Ada County to Fremont County for further proceedings and sentencing.

Judge Steven Boyce said setting a sentencing date will likely take place in approximately three months. 

As the jurors were excused from the courtroom, Vallow Daybell stood, arms crossed, and after briefly saying something to her attorney, quickly walked out of the courtroom, escorted by a bailiff.

This post has been updated with details about Tammy Daybell’s marital status with Chad Daybell.

Scheduling a sentence date for Lori Vallow Daybell will likely take at least three months, Judge Steven W. Boyce said Friday.

Vallow Daybell was found guilty by an Idaho jury on all counts of killing her two children and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, the first wife of her husband, Chad Daybell. She faces life in prison.

According to Boyce, the state of Idaho requires a pre-sentencing investigation before a sentencing date can be scheduled.

This post has been updated with details about Tammy Daybell’s marital status with Chad Daybell.

A booking photo of Lori Vallow after her transfer to the Ada County Jail in Boise ahead of her trial, according to jail records.

A jury has found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty on all counts of killing her two children and conspiring in the murder of her husband’s first wife.  

Vallow Daybell, who pleaded not guilty, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of conspiracy in the 2019 deaths of her children 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, as well as Tammy Daybell, the former wife of her husband Chad Daybell. 

She faces life in prison when she is sentenced. 

Chad Daybell, who also pleaded not guilty to his charges, will be tried separately.

This post has been updated with details about Tammy Daybell’s marital status with Chad Daybell.

A view from the court's livestream.

Court is in session at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, and the verdict is being read in the case of Lori Vallow Daybell.

Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell

People familiar with Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell, who married shortly after Vallow Daybell’s children went missing, have described them as doomsday cult members with extreme religious beliefs, according to CNN affiliate East Idaho News.

Vallow Daybell and Daybell “did endorse and teach religious beliefs for the purpose of justifying” the killings of Vallow Daybell’s children, JJ and Tylee, and Daybell’s first wife, Tammy, according to the May 2021 indictment.

In addition, Daybell was connected to a religious doomsday prepper website, which describes itself as a “series of lecture events focusing on self-reliance and personal preparation.” The publishers of the site said they decided to pull content featuring either Daybell or Vallow Daybell in light of the children’s disappearance.

Daybell and Vallow Daybell called themselves “James and Elaina” and believed they were religious figures and had a system of rating people as “light” or “dark,” Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors when the trial opened in April.

Jim Archibald, an attorney for Vallow Daybell, told the jury in April that “the evidence will show Lori had an interest in religion – especially the end of times,” but said she was a “kind and loving mother.”

Vallow Daybell was initially ruled not mentally fit to stand trial, but a judge reversed the determination last year.

The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, the Idaho mother accused of killing her two children and conspiring in the murder of her husband’s first wife.

The verdict is set to be read at 2:45 p.m. ET, according to a statement from the State of Idaho Judicial Branch.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Tammy Daybell’s marital status with Chad Daybell when she was murdered. They were still married.

Investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell's residence in Salem, Idaho, on June 9, 2020.

During opening statements in the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell in April, the prosecution described how the remains of her teenage daughter Tylee Ryan were found:

The body of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow was wrapped in a plastic bag, according to Blake.

JJ Vallow’s grandmother, Kay Woodcock, was the first witness to take the stand during the trial, testifying that her regular phone calls with her grandson dropped off after the death of Vallow Daybell’s ex-husband, Charles Vallow, CNN affiliate East Idaho News reported.

The grandmother said the last conversation she had with JJ was on August 10, 2019, when she spoke to him during a short call that lasted less than a minute. She said she attempted over the next few months to contact her grandson, but never got any response from Vallow Daybell.

The children’s disappearance became national news after Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Vallow, abruptly left Idaho following questioning by police about the whereabouts of Tylee and JJ, and about the recent death of Daybell’s first wife Tammy Daybell in October 2019.

More details: Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo, testifying in August 2020 at a preliminary hearing for Daybell, said JJ was buried in a black plastic bag in red pajamas and black socks and with a white and blue blanket on top of him.

Hermosillo said he observed “several layers of duct tape tightly wrapped” around the boy’s head, from his chin to his forehead.

JJ also had duct tape wrapped over his elbows, arms and hands, Hermosillo said in court, and his wrists and ankles were bound with the tape.

Both Vallow Daybell and Daybell have pleaded not guilty.

Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan

An Idaho mother who is accused of killing her two children and conspiring to kill her husband’s first wife was motivated by “money, power and sex,” prosecutors said during opening statements in Lori Vallow Daybell’s month-long trial, which began on April 10, according to CNN affiliate East Idaho News.

Lori Vallow Daybell has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of conspiracy in the deaths as well as grand theft for collecting government benefits on behalf of her children after they were killed, according to an indictment.

She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

On Thursday, Madison County prosecuting attorney Rob Wood urged the jury to convict Vallow Daybell on every count in closing arguments.

“You must convict her,” Wood said Thursday as the courtroom saw images of Vallow Daybell’s children, East Idaho News reported.

The sensational case, featured in a Netflix true-crime documentary last year, involves the deaths of a number of family members and claims Vallow Daybell and her husband had apocalyptic religious beliefs.

Two of Vallow Daybell’s children from previous marriages — Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7 — were last seen on different days in September 2019. Shortly after that, she married Chad Daybell, whose first wife Tammy Daybell died in her sleep in October 2019.

“The defendant will remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wants – and she wanted Chad Daybell,” Blake said, according to East Idaho News.

Konstantin Toropin contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated with details about Tammy Daybell’s marital status with Chad Daybell

Before resting their case in the trail of Lori Vallow Daybell on Tuesday, the defense made a motion called Rule 29 seeking judgment of acquittal before the case is handed to the jury, on the grounds the case lacked sufficient evidence to warrant the charges, CNN affiliate KBOI-TV reported. Judge Steven Boyce denied the motion on all counts Thursday.

Jim Archibald, an attorney for Vallow Daybell, told the jury in April that prosecutors don’t have enough evidence to prove her guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“The evidence will show Lori was a kind and loving mother,” he also said.

In closing arguments Thursday, Archibald said, “No one here thinks Lori actually killed anyone, that’s why she’s being charged with conspiracy.”

The charges: Vallow Daybell has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of conspiracy in the deaths as well as grand theft for collecting government benefits on behalf of her children after they were killed

Konstantin Toropin contributed reporting to this post.

The charges against Lori Vallow Daybell are part of a sprawling investigation that has stretched from Idaho to Arizona to Hawaii, picked up connections to a deep religious ideology and raised new questions about the deaths of other family members.

Two of Vallow Daybell’s children from previous marriages, Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, were last seen on different days in September 2019. Shortly after that, she married Chad Daybell, whose previous wife Tammy Daybell had died several weeks prior.

In late November 2019, relatives asked police in Rexburg, Idaho, to do a welfare check on JJ because they hadn’t talked to him recently. Police didn’t find him at the family’s house but did see Vallow Daybell and Daybell, who said JJ was staying with a family friend in Arizona, according to authorities.

When police returned the next day to serve a search warrant, the couple was gone. They were ultimately found in Hawaii in January 2020.

In June 2020, law enforcement officials found the remains of Tylee and JJ on Daybell’s property in Fremont County, Idaho. Vallow Daybell and Daybell were indicted on murder charges in May 2021.

Daybell, Vallow Daybell and her brother Alex Cox conspired to kill the children and Daybell’s first wife, according to the indictment.

Vallow Daybell won’t face the death penalty if convicted, a judge ruled last month. Daybell’s trial will be held separately. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Other charges: Vallow Daybell has separately been charged in Arizona with conspiracy to commit murder in the July 2019 death of her estranged husband Charles Vallow. He was fatally shot by her brother Alex Cox, who later died in December 2019.

CNN has reached out to prosecutors regarding those charges.

Konstantin Toropin contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated with details about Tammy Daybell’s marital status with Chad Daybell