Lori Vallow Daybell rested her case last week without calling any witnesses or presenting any evidence to support her contention that she did not conspire with her brother to kill her fourth husband in 2019.

Daybell, who opted to represent herself in the Arizona trial after being convicted in Idaho of the murders of two of her children and her fifth husband’s first wife, delivered a 16-minute closing argument on Monday that largely echoed her opening statement two weeks ago, The Associated Press reported.

Read more on the Vallow Daybell story from CrimeOnline.

“This event wasn’t a crime,” she said. “This was a tragedy. Don’t let them turn my family tragedy into a crime.”

Prosecutors argued that she and Alex Cox conspired to kill Charles Vallow so she could collect a $1 million life insurance policy and marry her doomsday book author boyfriend, Chad Daybell, who was also convicted in the murders of 7-year-old JJ Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Tammy Daybell.

Cox claimed self defense in the shooting death of Vallow and then died, presumably from natural causes, a few months later — but after the Vallow-Daybell saga was in full swing with the death of Tammy Daybell, the disappearance of the two children, and the two suspects’ marriage and flight to Hawaii.

The children were later found dead and buried on property ownded by Chad Daybell.

Prosecutor Treena Kay cautioned the jury on Monday that Vallow Daybell’s closing argument and opening statement — in which she claimed Charles Vallow chased her with a baseball bat and that Cox shot him after she left — can hardly be considered a defense

“Anything the defendant said in her opening statement was not presented at trial through a witness,” Kay told the jury, noting that she waited more than 45 minutes after the shooting before calling 911.

Kay played a recording between Vallow Daybell and the life insurance company that held Vallow’s policy. In the conversation, she told the company that her estranged husband had been shot and that “it was an accident.”

Last week, the jury heard from Adam Cox, another of Vallow Daybell’s brothers, who testified that she had told him Vallow was no longer alive and that a zombie was controlling his body, similar to statements she made about her children before their deaths.

Charles Vallow had filed for divorce four months before his death, saying in documents that had threatened to kill him and ruin him financially and that she was obsessed with near-death experience and claimed to have lived other lives on far away planets.

The jury went into deliberations shortly after 3 p.m., EastIdahoNews.com reported.

Vallow Daybell faces another life sentence if convicted of Vallow’s death. She was sentenced to three life terms for the deaths of her children and Tammy Daybell. Her husband, Chad Daybell, was sentenced to death on those counts.

Vallow Daybell faces another trial in Arizona in June for the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux, her niece’s ex-husband.

For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.

[Featured image: Lori Vallow Daybell/Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office]