Lori Vallow Daybell sentencing updates: 'Doomsday' mom gets life in prison without parole
Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for the killing of two of her children in what prosecutors argued was a doomsday plot.
The judge had previously granted the defense's motion to dismiss the death penalty in the case.
Vallow Daybell, 50, was found guilty of 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 her husband, Chad Daybell, following a monthslong search.
She was also found guilty of conspiring to kill her children and her husband's first wife, Tamara Daybell, who died on Oct. 19, 2019, less than a month before Lori and Chad married in Hawaii.
Latest Developments
Jul 31, 3:48 PM
Vallow Daybell sentenced to life in prison without parole
Judge Steven Boyce sentenced Lori Vallow Daybell to life in prison without parole.
Boyce mentioned several times that Vallow Daybell "lived a law-abiding life" until this case.
Boyce said Vallow Daybell suffers from mental health issues, adding, "Something radically changed in you that led you to where you are today."
A mother killing her children is the most "unimaginable type of murder," he said.
"You had so many other options. ... You could have found someone to take care of those kids," he said. "You killed those children ... to remove them as obstacles and to profit financially."
The judge noted, although Vallow Daybell was convicted, she in court on Monday denied committing the murders.
The judge said he doesn't think she's shown any remorse for the crimes or for those who searched for her children while they were missing.
Jul 31, 2:41 PM
Lori Vallow Daybell: 'No one was murdered'
Lori Vallow Daybell spoke at sentencing, and started by quoting a Bible verse.
She then said, "Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me. I mourn with all of you who mourn my children and Tammy."
She continued, "Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here. … No one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen. Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medications happen."
She said she died while giving birth to Tylee, and since then she said she's had "access to heaven and the spirit world."
"I have had many communications with people now living in heaven," she said, including Tylee and J.J. "I know for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world. Because of my communication with my friend Tammy Daybell, I know she is also very happy and extremely busy."
"Tylee is free now from all the pains of her life. Tylee suffered horrible physical pain her whole life ... I am the only person on this earth who knows how much Tylee suffered. ... Her body did not work right," she claimed.
She said of her communications with J.J. since he's died, "He is busy, he is engaged, he has jobs that he does there and he is happy where he is."
She said of Chad Daybell's wife, Tammy Daybell, "She is extremely busy helping her family, especially her children and grandchildren," adding, "I have a great love for Tammy."
Jul 31, 2:41 PM
Defense: 'We ask the court to show mercy'
Lori Vallow Daybell's defense attorney, John Thomas, said to the court, "We need peace to replace the hurt. And that peace and that healing will only come about by love and compassion."
"Lori, if she could speak to each one of those people who have been hurt by this case … her message would be one of love," Thomas said.
Vallow Daybell was given the opportunity to give her own statement in court but she has not spoken at this point.
"Lori's a very misunderstood person," Thomas said, describing her as kind, loving and caring.
"She was a great mother to her kids," he said. "She has redeeming values."
Thomas added, "There's a lot of confusion and there's a lot of misunderstanding about how this ultimately came to pass."
Thomas asked the court to sentence Vallow Daybell to a 20-year fixed term with an indeterminate term of life.
"We believe that meets all the goals of sentencing with an added bonus of hope," he said.
"If you give her fixed life, you will have essentially thrown her away," and she'll have no incentive to rehabilitate, Thomas said.
"If we give her hope ... she has the incentive to be a model prisoner ... and over time she changes her behavior," he said.
"We ask the court to show mercy and look to the future," he said.
Jul 31, 2:41 PM
Prosecutor: 'There's no rehabilitation possible'
Prosecutor Rob Wood said in court Monday, "What is the value of a human life? What is the value of a 16-year-old girl? … A 7-year-old boy with special needs? What is the value of a life of a mother and a grandmother?"
"We are calculating and assigning a value for the lives of Tylee Ryan, J.J. Vallow and Tammy Daybell," he said, noting that Lori Vallow Daybell "assigned a value of zero."
"This defendant violated the most sacred trust that exists in society -- that between a mother and her children. And she did it for gain -- she did it for money," he said. "A defendant who is willing to murder her own children is willing to murder anyone. Society can only be protected from this defendant by a life sentence without the possibility of parole. ... There's no rehabilitation possible."
Wood said Vallow Daybell can only be rehabilitated by "facing the consequences" of her crimes, which he said should be a life sentence without parole.
"The impact of the murder of Tylee was horrendous," Wood said.
The body of Vallow Daybell's 16-year-old daughter, Tylee, "was utterly destroyed, and she was buried in a pet cemetery next to animals," Wood said.
Seven-year-old J.J., Wood said, likely endured "fear and betrayal" in his last moments alive, and was then "buried like a piece of trash."
Jul 31, 2:40 PM
Vallow Daybell's son: 'I pray for healing'
A statement was read in court on behalf of Vallow Daybell's only surviving child, Colby Ryan.
"Tylee and J.J. brought so much light into this world," Ryan said. "My girls will never have a chance to know them."
"I want them to be remembered for who they were," he said.
"Tylee was sweet and kind, funny and bold," Ryan said, while J.J. was "the most fun, sweet and silly kid I've ever known."
"I pray for healing for everyone involved, including those who took the lives of all the ones we loved," he said.
Jul 31, 2:40 PM
JJ's grandmother speaks of 'depravity, cruelty and betrayal'
J.J. Vallow’s grandmother, Kay Woodcock, spoke in court Monday about what she called Lori Vallow Daybell's "cruel campaign of terror."
"J.J. and Tylee could have been with us living happy lives," she said as she started to cry.
"Instead she took all that away," she said, calling Vallow Daybell a "monster."
"Today I take the power back by standing here, speaking out loud about all the pain and loss she's caused," Woodcock said.
Woodcock recalled the birth of J.J., who was born premature and with illicit substances in his system. "As soon as I laid my eyes on him I knew he was my grandson," she said.
"He was a champion and oh so very special," she said through tears.
Lori Vallow Daybell and her then-husband, Charles Vallow, later adopted J.J.
Woodcock and her husband would still often visit, and she noted that her "incredibly smart," compassionate and empathetic grandson "had an innate and unbroken attachment to us."
Woodcock, choked up, said, "That same mother murdered that same child she expressed deep appreciation for. It is mind-boggling."
"What did Lori deprive the world of?" she said.
"I will only have the precious memories to cling to," she said through tears.
Lori Vallow Daybell's daughter, Tylee, was 9 when J.J. became her little brother. "She doted on him and J.J. loved every minute of attention," Woodcock said.
Vallow Daybell was found guilty of the first-degree murders of J.J., 7, and Tylee, 16, who were killed in 2019.
J.J.'s "life was expendable to [Vallow Daybell]," Woodcock said. "His materialistic, self-centered mother cruelly and brutally stole his life -- and him from the world. Lori's acts of depravity, cruelty and betrayal have no limits."
When J.J. and Tylee were missing, "fears continued to mount daily," Woodcock said.
When she learned J.J. and Tylee had been "buried like animals" in Chad Daybell's backyard, Woodcock said she let out a "guttural" sound.
"We were destroyed," she said.
Woodcock called Vallow Daybell "a danger to society."
"She is driven by her greed and her need to be the center of attention," she said.
She said she believes Vallow Daybell should be sentenced to life in prison.
Jul 31, 2:39 PM
Tammy Daybell 'taken from us by murdering thieves'
Vicki Hoban, the aunt of Chad Daybell's wife Tammy Daybell, who died of asphyxiation in 2019 less than one month before Chad and Lori Daybell married, gave a victim impact statement through tears on Monday.
"Tammy was a most excellent person and she led her life with the utmost dignity," Hoban said. "There will be a huge void."
Her niece was "brutally executed in her own bed," Hoban said as she wept, "taken from us by murdering thieves."
Tammy Daybell was "robbed of her entire life," she said, and "all her family robbed of ever seeing her again."
"Heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, unbearable is not a big enough statement," she said. "The most innocent of lives was simply discarded like it meant nothing."
Hoban said Vallow Daybell turned her niece's "home into a cemetery," adding, "Tammy would have been horrified to know what you have done -- and it's broken us as a family."
Chad Daybell is charged with Tammy Daybell's murder and conspiracy to commit murder and pleaded not guilty. Vallow Daybell was found guilty of conspiracy to commit Tammy Daybell's murder.
Jul 31, 2:38 PM
Tammy Daybell's sister: 'My family has been ripped apart'
Samantha Gwilliam, the sister of Chad Daybell's wife Tammy Daybell, who died of asphyxiation in 2019 less than one month before Chad and Lori Daybell married, took the stand to give a victim impact statement.
Gwilliam testified that Chad Daybell told her that he'd married Vallow Daybell two weeks after her "beloved sister," Tammy Daybell, was buried, and claimed the new couple then told lie after lie.
"Because of you and your desire to get what you want at any cost, my family has been ripped apart. I helped raise Tammy's children and because of you they no longer have their mother or grandmother," Gwilliam said.
Choked up, she said her relationship with Tammy and Chad Daybell's children is "strained and most contact with them is gone" she said.
"Your trial is the last thing my ailing mother had to live through," she said, adding that her death in June "was marred by the fact that Tammy's children chose not to participate in her funeral by fear of causing more drama."
"We blame you and Chad for all the lies you told in ripping apart this family," she said.
"I choose to forget you … I choose to never think of you again," she said.
Gwilliam also read a statement on behalf of her father, Ronald Douglas.
"Tammy's death was unexpected and had a profound impact on all of us," Douglas' statement said, adding "we were barely into our recovery process" when learning that Chad Daybell had remarried weeks later.
"The emotional stress" accelerated Tammy Daybell's mother's declining health, he noted.
"The eternal ramifications of [Vallow Daybell's] actions are yet to be calculated. Lori needs to pay," he said.
Chad Daybell is charged with Tammy Daybell's murder and conspiracy to commit murder and pleaded not guilty. Vallow Daybell was found guilty of conspiracy to commit Tammy Daybell's murder.
Jul 31, 11:03 AM
Who the court is allowing to speak at the sentencing
Multiple people sought to give victim impact statements at Monday's sentencing hearing on behalf of Tylee Ryan, J.J. Vallow and Tamara Daybell, according to a June court filing.
Those granted permission to address the court include Colby Ryan, the half-brother to Tylee and adoptive brother to J.J.; Summer Shiflet, the sister of Lori Vallow Daybell; and Kay Woodcock, a representative of Charles Vallow, who was J.J.'s adoptive father and Lori Vallow Daybell's late husband. Vicki Hoban, the aunt of Tamara Daybell, was also later granted permission to speak as a designated representative of Tamara Daybell's late mother.
Idaho law allows the "immediate family members" of homicide victims to address the court.
It was unclear ahead of the hearing who was scheduled to address the court.
Jul 31, 10:59 AM
Defense request for a new trial was denied
Ahead of Lori Vallow Daybell's sentencing, defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought a new trial.
On May 25, the defense filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that the jury instructions were "confusing" and "prejudicial," among other claims.
Judge Steven Boyce denied the request for a new trial on June 15.
The jury handed down its verdict in mid-May, after deliberating for approximately six hours across two days. The verdict was read before a packed Boise courtroom and also livestreamed by the court.
The verdict followed a six-week trial during which prosecutors argued that Lori Vallow Daybell and her husband Chad Daybell thought the children were zombies and murdered them. Prosecutors called roughly 60 witnesses, while the defense called none.
Prosecutors said at the time they were "very pleased" with the jury's verdict but declined to comment further given the pending case against Chad Daybell. His case is scheduled to go to trial in April 2024.
