Arizona jury finds Lori Vallow Daybell guilty in trial for conspiring to kill husband
An Arizona jury has convicted Lori Vallow Daybell of conspiring to kill her former husband in 2019, the latest conviction for the Idaho mother who has already been found guilty of killing her two youngest children and conspiring to kill her husband's first wife.
The jury returned the guilty verdict April 22 after a weeklong trial that centered on whether Lori Vallow Daybell had conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.
Vallow Daybell, who is not a lawyer, opted not to call witnesses to the stand to fight the conspiracy to commit murder charge. In closing arguments on April 21, she insisted there was no evidence she conspired to kill her then-husband, telling the jury that what happened was not a crime but a tragedy – a fight involving several members of her family that left Vallow dead.
"A two-minute period changed our lives forever," Vallow Daybell said. "How can you choose between three people you love: your husband, your daughter, your brother?"
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office argued Vallow Daybell orchestrated Vallow’s death to collect insurance and begin a new life, telling the jury that the killing was an execution. "There is nothing that you can say about shooting a man as he lay on the ground, that you can try to construe in any way, to make that a family tragedy," said prosecutor Treena Kay.
Vallow Daybell has become known as the "Doomsday Mom" as court proceedings have shed light on her beliefs of a coming apocalypse and that people around her were evil "zombies." Prosecutors argued Vallow Daybell wanted the victims' money and used sex and power to manipulate her brother and her husband, Chad Daybell, into carrying out crimes.
During opening statements, Vallow Daybell said her brother acted in self-defense and shot her then-husband after he chased her with a bat. Cox, who died in 2019 of an apparent blood clot, had said he acted in self-defense.
In 2023, Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell, her fifth husband, to whom she is currently married, were convicted in Idaho of the murders of two of her children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, 7, as well as Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life without parole. He was sentenced to death.
What led to the trial in Arizona?
Lori Vallow Daybell married her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in 2006, and the pair shared a home with their children Tylee Ryan and Joshua "J.J." Vallow.
In 2018, Vallow Daybell met Chad Daybell at a religious conference in Utah. Court records show the pair, who were both married at the time, bonded over their shared religious beliefs, including that an apocalyptic doomsday would soon be arriving.
Vallow Daybell's marriage to Charles Vallow fell apart. He filed for divorce in 2019, claiming that his wife had threatened to kill him and that she believed she was a godlike figure preparing for the second coming of Christ, according to court documents.
Vallow Daybell went to Hawaii for several weeks and, upon her return, influenced relatives and friends, including her brother, Cox, and niece, Melani Pawlowski, into believing the apocalyptic beliefs she shared with Daybell, Pawlowski testified in an Idaho courtroom.
Vallow was fatally shot in July 2019 at Vallow Daybell's rental home in Chandler, Arizona.
Months later, Pawlowski's ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, was shot at by someone in a Jeep Grand Cherokee while driving in Gilbert, Arizona. The vehicle was later tied to Cox, who died in December 2019.
The murders of Joshua Vallow, Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell
In September 2019, Vallow Daybell moved with her children to a small Idaho town where Daybell lived with his then-wife, Tammy Daybell. Within a few weeks of Vallow Daybell's move, Tammy Daybell was found dead of what was later determined to be asphyxiation.
Soon, a separate investigation was launched after relatives of Vallow Daybell reported to police that they had not seen her children for some time. At the time, Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell had been traveling back and forth to Hawaii, where they got married.
Vallow Daybell was arrested in February 2020 in Hawaii on child abandonment counts. She was extradited to Idaho, and in early June, authorities found the bodies of her children, Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan, buried on Chad Daybell’s property. Chad Daybell was arrested shortly after and eventually found guilty and sentenced to death. He remains on death row.
Vallow Daybell was found guilty of her children's murders and of conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell in 2023. She was sentenced to life in prison.
Her trial on charges of attempted murder in the shooting of Boudreaux was scheduled to start in early June.
Contributing: N'Dea Yancey-Bragg and Terry Collins