On Friday, an Idaho jury found Lori Vallow guilty of killing her two children and conspiring to kill her current husband’s then-wife in 2019.
Lori Vallow is currently standing trial in Ada County for the slayings of her two children, Tylee Ryan and J.J., and Tammy, who was her fifth husband’s wife. Her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, is facing the same charges but will stand trial at a later date.
The 12 jurors deliberated for seven hours before handing down the following verdicts:
- Tylee Ryan’s first-degree murder: guilty
- conspiracy: guilty
- J.J. Vallow’s first-degree murder: guilty
- conspiracy: guilty
- Conspiracy in Tammy Daybell’s first-degree murder: guilty
- Grand theft by deception (2 counts): guilty
Prosecutors have alleged that Lori Vallow killed her two kids in September 2019 but never reported them missing so she could still receive their Social Security payments. Within weeks of Tammy Daybell’s death in October 2019, her surviving husband, Chad Daybell, married Lori Vallow in Hawaii.
“Well, make it count for Lori Vallow that Tylee Ryan will never go to college. That her remains were buried and put in a bucket. Make it count for Lori Vallow that JJ Vallow, a boy with special needs, had a plastic bag over his head and fought for his life,” prosecutor Rob Wood said during closing arguments. “And make it count for Lori that Tammy Daybell had to die so Lori could get to that money.”
While the prosecution called dozens of witnesses, the defense rested its case on Wednesday without presenting anything.
In their closing arguments, defense attorney Jim Archibald alleged that Chad Daybell and Alex Cox (Lori Vallow’s brother) were responsible for J.J. and Ryan’s deaths.
“Was it proven who killed J.J.? No, but Chad got in a scratch fight with JJ the day before. Maybe those were the scratches on JJ’s neck. Alex was only at the gravesite for JJ for 17 minutes. That’s not enough time to find a board, find rocks and line them up. I’m guessing Alex had help from Chad,” Archibald said. “Of the 15,000 texts you have in evidence, show me one where Lori is part of that conspiracy. ‘When are you killing JJ by the way? There is no such text.’”
Tammy’s initial cause of death was listed as pulmonary edema with the manner being ruled as natural. However, officials now believe she was asphyxiated and her death was a homicide.
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell were married in November 2019, days after Lori’s two children disappeared. Her children were missing for nine months before their remains were discovered on Chad Daybell’s property in June 2020.
J.J.’s body was reportedly found in a plastic bag that was wrapped in plastic. His face, arms, wrists, and feet were wrapped with duct tape. Ryan’s burned remains were on the property, though her entire body was not intact.
Prior testimony revealed that J.J. was suffocated with a plastic bag and duct tape. Ryan’s cause of death was undetermined due to the condition of her remains.
Lori Vallow has said she was with Melanie Gibb, David Warwick, or her husband when her son and daughter died in her brother’s apartment in Rexburg, Idaho. She allegedly said she was at her residence, also in Rexburg. She claimed she was in Hawaii when Tammy was killed at her husband’s home in Salem, Idaho. She stated she was with two other people at the time.
Lori Vallow — believed to have been involved in a so-called doomsday cult — allegedly told a friend that her children had become zombies and the only way to exorcise their bodies of evil spirits was to kill them.
In Arizona, Lori Vallow is charged in connection with the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Her brother, Alex Cox, fatally shot Charles in July 2019, months before Tammy’s death and J.J. and Tylee’s disappearances. Cox died, reportedly of natural causes, in December 2019.
Lori Vallow underwent psychiatric treatment twice before she was deemed fit to stand trial in Idaho. She is not facing the death penalty.
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[Featured image: Dennis Fujimoto, The Garden Island via AP, Pool]
