Lori Vallow Daybell will head to trial Monday in Idaho, where the “Doomsday mom” stands accused with her husband of murdering her two kids and his previous wife.
The 49-year-old allegedly adopted bizarre religious beliefs centered around zombies and an impending “doomsday.”
Years after the alleged slayings, she faces up to life behind bars if convicted.
Prosecutors have said she and Chad Daybell killed Vallow Daybell’s youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, 17, in September 2019. They also linked the couple to the October 2019 death of Daybell’s former wife, Tammy Daybell, 49.
The couple then collected social security benefits and life insurance money related to the three deaths, prosecutors said.
The pair had espoused doomsday-themed beliefs involving the existence of “zombies” and contact with other realms — and further used their religious ideologies to justify their alleged crimes, authorities said.
One of Vallow Daybells friends, Melanie Gibb, told authorities the couple thought people turned to “zombies” once they were overcome by evil spirits.
She alleged they used a scoring system to rate how good or evil people were.
Friends also told investigators the two communicated through a “portal” from which Daybell could also go between other realms. Vallow Daybell allegedly boasted about being able to “teleport” between Hawaii and Arizona.
Vallow Daybell and her husband have each been charged but will be tried separately.
His attorneys have said the pair have “mutually antagonistic defenses.”
Each has pleaded not guilty.
Vallow Daybell narrowly escaped the threat of the death penalty, after a judge ruled last month it would no longer be on the table.
A jury of eight women and 10 men was selected Friday, according to CourtTV.
Loved ones first grew suspicious of Vallow Daybell’s behavior, and were concerned for her children’s safety, around 2019.
Her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, detailed his then-wife’s newly espoused beliefs in divorce papers, writing that she thought she was a god-like figure. She felt she was leading 144,000 believers in preparing for the apocalypse, he wrote.
Vallow expressed his concerns about her in emails and messages to loved ones.
But he died suddenly in July 2019, when Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed him in Phoenix, in what he claimed was self-defense.
Cox, Vallow Daybell and the two kids then moved to Idaho, where JJ grew estranged from his grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock.
The Woodcocks notified police and, in turn, kickstarted a case that soon made headlines nationwide.
Investigators in Rexburg, Idaho, performed welfare checks in November 2019 and soon realized Vallow Daybell and Daybell were lying about where the children were.
The couple allegedly skipped town within hours.
Police ultimately determined both kids had last been seen days apart in September 2019.
JJ’s and Tylee’s bodies were discovered months later buried on the property of Daybell’s Salem, Idaho, home.
Meanwhile, Tammy Daybell was initially thought to have died unexpectedly from “natural causes” in October 2019 – and loved ones declined not to have an autopsy performed.
Vallow Daybell was arrested in May 2021 and later spent nine months in a mental health hospital before she was deemed fit for trial in April 2022.
She has also been indicted in the Arizona death of her estranged husband.
Opening statements are slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time Monday in the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho – 700 miles from the Salem area. The trial is expected to last up to three months.
Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce has prohibited cameras from inside the courtroom.
With Post wires