The Lori Vallow Daybell trial, what to know

Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial began on April 3 in Madison County, Idaho. Daybell will be tried on charges relating to conspiracy, grand theft and murder — including the alleged murder of her two children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow. 

She and her husband, Chad Daybell, were indicted in May 2021 on nine criminal charges, including conspiracy and first-degree murder relating to Lori’s children and Chad’s former wife, Tammy Daybell. They are being tried separately.  

If Chad is found guilty of his three murder charges, he will receive the death penalty — while if Lori is convicted, she will receive life in prison. 

Jason Marshall, a criminal justice professor and lecturer from USU Eastern, noted his thoughts on why the couple is being tried separately and why both have different punishments.   

“Sometimes it’s a strategic move. My guess is that once her trial is over, she’s going to testify against him,” Marshall said. “And they got that agreement from her by taking the death penalty off is my guess, but I don’t know that for sure.”  

Marshall also speculated another reason they’re receiving separate trials could be because Chad “was the one that committed the actual murders,” while Lori conspired and planned the murders with him.  

“With a conspiracy charge, it’s going to be a lot easier to prove that she had a role in planning it and helping out, but she didn’t do it,” Marshall said.  

According to Idaho law, the court does not need to prove the reason or motive for Lori’s murder or conspiracy, but rather, that she simply committed the crimes.  

Prosecuting attorney Lindsey Blake noted in her opening remarks that Lori was motivated by “money, power and sex,” citing Tylee’s Social Security benefits — which she was receiving from the death of her father, as well as Tammy’s life insurance check. 

Lori has received charges of conspiracy in the death of Tammy. Lori originally told the police Tammy had died of cardiac arrest, but Chad has now been charged with Tammy’s murder.  

Lori was also charged with conspiracy in a separate case in Arizona regarding the murder of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow — who died in July 2019. She allegedly arranged to have her brother, Alex Cox, kill her husband. Cox died of what was reported to be natural causes on Dec. 12, 2019. 

On Nov. 5, 2019 — just 17 days after Tammy died — Chad and Lori got married in Hawaii, according to Blake’s opening argument.  

A few weeks later, on Nov. 26, 2019, the Rexburg Police Department conducted a welfare check on Lori’s home.  

JJ and Tylee were nowhere to be found, according to the Idaho court’s probable cause affidavit, which detailed the testimony of Rexburg Police Department’s Lt. Ron Ball.  

The affidavit said Lori had reported JJ to be staying with her friend, Melanie Gibb.  

Later that night, Gibb told police JJ was not staying at her residence. Rather, Lori had told Gibb JJ was living with Kay Woodcock, his grandmother, and that Tylee was at BYU-Idaho. 

Gibb said she last saw JJ on the night of Sept. 22, 2019, when she was staying over at Lori’s residence, according to the affidavit. 

That weekend, Lori told Gibb her son had been acting like “a zombie,” citing behaviors such as sitting still, watching TV, increased vocabulary and that he “loved Satan.”  

“Gibb observed JJ’s behavior and felt it to be the same as she had always observed it,” the affidavit said.  

A “zombie,” as Lori allegedly told Gibb, was an individual whose spirit has left their body and has been replaced by a dark spirit.  

Lori also allegedly said the only way for the original spirit to “progress to paradise” was for their physical body to die, according to the affidavit. 

JJ wasn’t the only one to be seen as a zombie under Lori’s eye — the affidavit also noted that she accused Tylee, and Chad’s former wife, Tammy, as being zombies.  

Chad and Lori informed Gibb it was their mission to “rid the world of zombies,” the affidavit said.  

On June 11, 2020, JJ and Tylee’s remains were found on Chad’s property in Idaho.  

Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo said during his testimony the detectives had to take turns digging for the children because the smell was so bad. 

Tylee’s body was burned and destroyed, and the little tissue left was put into a plastic bucket. The bucket was then buried in Chad’s “pet cemetery.” JJ’s body was bound in duct tape, wrapped in plastic and buried under a tree, Hermosillo said. 

Both Chad and Lori prescribed to a religious group called “Preparing a People” — which focused on preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, as well as some beliefs derived from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

According to the affidavit, Gibb said the Daybells believed they were a part of the “Church of the Firstborn” and their mission was to lead the 144,000, as stated in the book of Revelation.  

“Preparing a People” initially produced a statement about the Daybells, saying they do not share the couple’s beliefs — and their website is no longer in operation. 

Eliza Rosenberg, a USU lecturer of history and world religions, explained that some may interpret the Bible in different ways — including seeing the contents in the book of Revelation as “a weather forecast.”  

Even still, no interpretation excuses the Daybells’ violent actions, she said.  

“If it is true that somebody interpreted any text to do what they’ve been accused of doing, what they’re charged of doing — it’s wrong,” Rosenberg said. “I don’t care what the text is — it’s not okay. And even if you made a case that it were accurate, ‘My text made me do it’ is not an excuse, any more than, ‘The devil made me do it,’ or, ‘Society made me do it.’”  

Patrick Mason, a USU professor of religious studies and history, director of the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture, and director of the USU religious studies program, said a religious individual can become extreme in their beliefs and actions through self-glorification — such as believing God has chosen them to carry out certain actions or know specific truths. 

“It’s exactly the sense that the ‘normal rules’ don’t apply to me. That because I can see things that other people don’t see, because I have special powers of perception, because I understand — and you know, at least again, in some court documents, there was a sense that some of these people had to be removed or killed for God’s work to move forward,” Mason said.  

In other cases, he said, individuals may become extreme when they apply their religious text too heavily — such as believing they are a scriptural hero needing to kill to continue God’s work.  

Beliefs such as dark spirits and zombies “have nothing to do with mainstream Mormonism,” Mason said. “If you don’t know anything about Mormonism, and then you hear this story, then you might be led to make some assumptions.”  

He encouraged students to take a religious studies course and to advocate for religious peace, and that, “part of it is just becoming more educated and gaining more religious literacy so that you can understand the broader traditions.” 

-Jenny.Carpenter@usu.edu

Featured photo from ABC News