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ABC News
ABC News
12 May 2023
ABC News


A jury has reached a verdict in the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, who is accused of killing two of her children in a doomsday plot.

Lori Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell, were both charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the 2019 deaths of her children, Joshua "J.J." Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, whose remains were found on an Idaho property belonging to Chad Daybell following a monthslong search.

The verdict is set to be read at 2:45 p.m. ET.

If convicted, Lori Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison without parole.

PHOTO: Lori Vallow Daybell sits in a police car after a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022.
Lori Vallow Daybell sits in a police car after a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022.
Tony Blakeslee/AP

The verdict follows a five-week trial during which prosecutors argued that the couple thought the children were zombies and murdered them.

Lead prosecutor Rob Wood told the jury during closing statements on Thursday that Lori Vallow Daybell set a plan for the children's murder in motion in October 2018 "using money, power and sex," and she and her husband "used religion to manipulate others."

"It does not matter what they believed, it matters what they did," Wood said. "They can believe whatever they want, but when it's murder, that's different."

Defense attorney Jim Archibald characterized Lori Vallow Daybell as a devoted mother who loved her children and Jesus, but that all changed near the end of 2018, when she met Chad Baybell.

"Is Lori a leader or a follower of Chad? She so desperately wants to be a leader, but she is following Chad," Archibald said during closing statements.

During the trial, the jury heard text messages that prosecutors said were sent between Lori Vallow Daybell and her husband in the weeks prior to her children's disappearance.

The messages discussed demons inhabiting the children's bodies and that they were "weary" taking care of demons. Lori Vallow Daybell reportedly texted her husband to "please ask the Lord to take them" and, days later, if he thinks there is a "perfectly orchestrated plan to take the children," to which he reportedly responded, "There is a plan being orchestrated for the children."

Archibald dismissed the text message evidence presented by prosecutors during closing statements.

"Of the 15,000 texts in evidence, show me one that says, 'When are you killing Tylee?' It's not there," Archibald told the jury on Thursday. "Of the 15,000 text messages, show me one where Lori says, 'When are you killing J.J., by the way?' There is no such text."

PHOTO: A picture of Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow is seen on a fence opposite the property where their bodies were found in 2020, on April 4, 2023 in Rexburg, Idaho.
A picture of Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow is seen on a fence opposite the property where their bodies were found in 2020, on April 4, 2023 in Rexburg, Idaho.
Natalie Behring/Getty Images

The children were last seen alive in September 2019 and were reported missing by extended family members to police in November 2019. Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell were indicted on murder charges nearly a year after authorities discovered the remains of her children on Chad Daybell's property in June 2020.

In closing statements, Wood pushed back against the defense's characterization of the defendant as a good mother, saying, "You can't have a good mom if she doesn't report her children missing or dead."

"We have the evidence in spades. You must convict her," he told the jury.

Among the revelations during the trial, a DNA expert testified for the state that a strand of hair attached to duct tape found among the remains matched Lori Vallow Daybell's DNA profile.

Jurors also heard emotional jail phone calls from Lori Vallow Daybell's sister and surviving son confronting her about the children's murders. Her sister, Summer Shiftlet, testified that she initially trusted Lori Vallow Daybell until she learned the bodies of the children had been found on Chad Daybell's property.

Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell have also been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Chad Daybell's former wife, Tamara Daybell, who died Oct. 19, 2019, less than a month before Lori and Chad married in Hawaii. Chad Daybell was also charged with his former wife's murder.

In opening statements, prosecutors revealed that Tamara Daybell, 49, died of asphyxiation. Her death was initially believed to be natural.

Prosecutors rested their case on Tuesday after calling roughly 60 witnesses. The defense did not call any witnesses.

Chad Daybell, the author of many religious fiction books, is Lori Vallow Daybell's fifth husband. The couple both reportedly adhered to a doomsday ideology, with Lori Vallow Daybell at one point claiming she was "a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ's second coming in July 2020" and didn't want anything to do with her family "because she had a more important mission to carry out," according to court documents obtained by ABC News.

PHOTO: The aunt of Tylee Ryan, Annie Cushing, walks past reporters after testifying on the first day of Lori Vallow Daybell's murder trial, which commences at Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, April 10, 2023.
The aunt of Tylee Ryan, Annie Cushing, walks past reporters after testifying on the first day of Lori Vallow Daybell's murder trial, which commences at Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, April 10, 2023.
Brian Losness/Reuters

Lori Vallow Daybell was deemed fit to stand trial last year following a 10-month stint at an Idaho mental health facility. Her attorneys had said they did not plan to raise a mental health defense at the guilt-phase portion of the trial.

The judge had granted the defense's motion to dismiss the death penalty in Lori Vallow Daybell's case.

Lori Vallow Daybell was additionally indicted on the charge of grand theft related to Social Security survivor benefits allocated for the care of her children that prosecutors said were appropriated after the children were missing and ultimately found dead.

Chad Daybell was also charged with two counts of insurance fraud related to life insurance policies he had on Tamara Daybell for which he was the beneficiary, prosecutors said.

Both had pleaded not guilty to their respective charges. A judge allowed their cases to be tried separately, with Chad Daybell's expected to start at a later date.