Lori Vallow Daybell is back in court for the death of her fourth husband. She is now serving three life terms for the heinous murders of her two children and her husband’s ex-wife.
After making the perplexing decision to represent herself, the “doomsday mom” made a crucial error just minutes into her opening statement, drawing quick attention and causing some mayhem in the courtroom.
Authorities claim that Lori Vallow Daybell is the main character in a sick, cult-driven run of horrific murders, making her more than just another name in the news.
According to reports, Vallow Daybell and her new husband, Chad Daybell, thought they were “chosen” spiritual warriors getting ready for the end of the world. Death, they said, was the only way to “save” those “zombies” whose bodies had been overtaken by demonic spirits.
Timetable
Vallow Daybell, 51, had been an apparently happy mother before her descent into darkness claimed the lives of her two children and the ex-wife of her new husband.
It all began on July 11, 2019, when Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox murdered her estranged ex-husband Charles Vallow, whom the siblings allegedly thought was a “zombie,” according to many news sources.
According to Local News 8, Cox was never charged and claimed self-defense.
Then, in September 2019, Vallow Daybell’s adoptive 7-year-old son, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, and her 16-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan, vanished.
Chad, who married Lori a few weeks later, revealed the following month that his wife Tammy was suffering from a disease and had inexplicably passed away while she was sleeping.
It doesn’t end there, though; according to CNN, Cox passed away in December 2019 from what “medical examiners said was a blood clot in his lungs,” but his “account was later called into question.”
The timeline’s most startling event occurred in June 2020 when Tylee and Charles’ biological son JJ’s remains were discovered interred in Chad’s Idaho property.
People describe that while her younger brother was shackled with duct tape and wrapped in plastic, Tylee had been burned and mutilated.
In 2023, Vallow Daybell was found guilty of killing Tylee and JJ and conspiring to commit murder in the death of Tammy, whose body was excavated and found to have died from asphyxiation. She was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of release.
killed using religion
The death of her fourth husband, Charles, brought Vallow Daybell before a judge and jury once more on April 7.
Despite having no legal experience, Vallow Daybell bravely chose to represent herself and enter a not guilty plea in her most recent courtroom twist. Another high-stakes battle was put in motion when she also asserted her right to a speedy trial.
In order to marry Chad, who “wrote several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world,” prosecutor Treena Kay accused Vallow Daybell of plotting with her brother to kill Charles and profit from his life insurance policy.
“Lori killed Charles Vallow by using religion as a justification,” Kay remarked.
“Self-defense is not a crime,” Vallow Daybell told the court in her opening statement, arguing that Charles was slain in “self defense.” Family tragedies are tragedies, not crimes.
Covert observer
CBS reports that there were three witnesses—two police officers and a firefighter—and sixteen jurors, including four alternates.
The doomsday mom, however, attempted to defy convention by calling on Brandon Boudreaux, her niece’s ex-husband, who was not subpoenaed. She is also charged with plotting her niece’s murder.
She claimed she didn’t want to “give away my defense” by disclosing that knowledge when the judge questioned if his evidence was relevant.
The judge walked the accused through court 101 after a 45-minute delay, and then “decided to strike” Boudreaux from Vallow Daybell’s witness list “without prejudice,” according to 12 News.
According to the publication, he was permitted to remain in the courtroom and “this means he can be called as a witness if the defense is able to prove he has relevant information to the case, which Vallow Daybell hasn’t done yet.”
In May 2025, Vallow Daybell is expected to appear in court for her role in Boudreaux’s attempted murder.
The dangers of self-representation are brought to light by this courtroom incident, particularly in a case as complicated as Lori Vallow Daybell. The world will undoubtedly be watching this strange case develop.
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