Lori Vallow Daybell Story – An Idaho judge has agreed to suspend murder proceedings against Lori Vallow Daybell and to vacate a scheduled trial date. The apparently indefinite pause is necessary, a judge wrote, because of renewed questions about Vallow Daybell’s mental competency to stand trial.
The so-called “doomsday cult” mom is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the deaths of her children Tylee Ryan, 16, and JJ Vallow, 7. She also faces murder charges connected to the death of Tammy Daybell, the former wife of Chad Daybell. Chad is Lori’s current husband; he is also charged in connection with the deaths.
Lori Vallow Daybell Story
Netflix just dropped its newest, three-part, true-crime docuseries, Sins of Our Mother, which details the devastating and terrifying story of a Mormon mother from Idaho, Lori Vallow Daybell, who has been accused, along with her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, of murdering two of her children.
The documentary details how Lori met Chad while attending a spiritual conference in Utah in 2018, and adopted Chad’s “extreme” doomsday beliefs, per ABC. Chad believed that an apocalypse was coming, according to Cosmopolitan, and Lori also believed that Chad could see good and bad spirits, or “zombies.”
In the docuseries, a host of people in Lori’s life, including her only remaining son, Colby, are interviewed about the events that led up to the death of Lori’s two children.
1973, and grew up in California, per Cosmopolitan. She has been married five times and was the mother to two biological children and one adopted son.
The Idaho mother was accused of murdering her 17-year-old daughter, Tylee, and 7-year-old son, JJ, with her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, according to the documentary. The couple has also been accused of killing Chad’s former wife, Tammy.
Lori was raised as a Mormon and, as recordings in the documentary show, she thought she was a reincarnated warrior who spoke to the angel Moroni (this is the same angel that Latter-Day Saints founder Joseph Smith said he spoke to on numerous occasions).
According to the doc, Lori eventually met Chad, a Mormon author who wrote about the apocalypse, per Insider, and said he could determine if people were on the “light” or “dark” side of a spirituality spectrum. More on that in a sec.
Lori Vallow and her only living son, Colby Ryan.
Judge Pauses Murder Case Against Her After Defense Files ‘Mental Commitment Case Records’
Vallow’s attorneys on Oct. 3 filed a brief motion to request that the case be put on hiatus.
“Trial is currently set to being on January 9, 2023,” the defense wrote. “A final pretrial conference is set for November 9, 2022. The time limit to file written notice of our intention to raise any issue of mental condition under Idaho Code Title 18 is 9O days before trial, or October 11, 2022.”
The entirety of a subsequent paragraph and part of a proceeding paragraph are blacked out in the public file.
“Because of [redacted], the defense asks for a toll on the time limit in which to comply with pretrial orders, a continuance of the pretrial date, and a continuance of the trial date.”
Idaho District Judge Steven W. Boyce agreed to redact the defense filing on Oct. 3 — the same day it was filed — “in order to adhere to protecting information expressly exempt from disclosure under I.C.A.R. 32(g)(10).”
The Idaho Court Administrative Rule cited by the judge says “[m]ental commitment case records” are “exempt” from the state’s usual policy of open access to court documents.
The judge further explained:
Pursuant to I.C.A.R. 32 the Court finds that the motion makes reference to information expressly exempt from public disclosure. See I.C.A.R. 32(g)(10). Accordingly, the MOTION TO CONTINUE TRIAL, TO TOLL TIME LIMITS, AND TO STAY CASE is redacted and such redaction filed for public inspection in conformity with I.C.A.R. 32. The Court determines such redaction is necessary in order to preserve the Parties’ rights to a fair trial and is no broader than necessary to protect this fundamental right under I.C.A.R 32(i)(2)(E).
On Oct. 5, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said it wished to wash its hands of the proceeding:
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (hereinafter the ‘Department’), hereby notifies the Court and parties that the Department does not intend to take a position or otherwise participate in the proceedings that are currently pending before the Court in this matter. Therefore, the Department does not intend to further appear in said proceedings. The Department waives its appearance at any further hearings held in this criminal matter. If the Court requests the Department’s attendance at any proceeding, the Department requests permission to appear by telephone or by zoom video conference.
Furthermore, the Department’s interest in this matter is solely in protecting confidential information of the participants in the information requested and the Department will raise no objection to the Court reviewing and redacting any such information that the Court may deem confidential; or to the Court ordering the release of redacted material. The Department understands the relief requested in the Motion of Non-Party Movant to Unseal Court Documents and Transcripts or Recordings of Past Hearings and is not proposing any further action by the Department at this time.
On Oct. 6, prosecutors filed a response to Vallow Daybell’s request to pause the proceedings. Unlike the defense filing, which contained redactions, the state filed its motion completely under seal:
(1) The information contained in the document is exempt from disclosure pursuant to I.C.A.R.(g)(10);
(2) The interests in privacy are predominant over the public’s interest in disclosure
(3) Sealing said documents is the least restrictive measure consistent with the privacy
interests at issue.(4) Sealing these documents during the pendency of this criminal investigation is in
the best interest of justice and will preserve the right to a fair trial.
The judge agreed the same day — Oct. 6 — to seal the material. He also ordered that the case be paused on Oct. 6.
“Fremont County Case No. CR22-21-1624, is hereby suspended until a determination of Mrs. Daybell’s competency to stand trial can be determined,” the judge wrote. “[A]s a result of a need to determine the Mrs. Daybell’s competency, it is impractical for all Parties to adhere to the Court’s May 26, 2022 Scheduling Order. Accordingly, the Court sees no other alternative at this time than to vacate the January 9, 2023 trial for case CR22-21-1624.”
Finally, the judge rationed that a further delay would not violate Vallow Daybell’s right to a speedy trial under the Constitution.
Other filings and hearings in the case have also been sealed or handled in private, and Judge Boyce recently agreed to shut down television coverage of both future hearings and of the trial itself. Boyce chastised the press’s “inordinate focus on the Defendant” during an Aug. 16, hearing. What Boyce didn’t mention is that Vallow Daybell incessantly looked into and smiled at the camera during the hearing. He did, however, note that none of the press coverage violated any rules. Rather, he banned future television coverage because he said it might result in a biased jury venire.
Vallow Daybell’s competency to stand trial was in question during earlier proceedings; however, she was treated and was adjudicated competent to face the charges against her as of April 2022. Apparently, according to the foregoing, that assessment has again changed.
Given the judge’s ban on cameras in court, the state filed one additional opposition to Vallow Daybell’s request to appear in court without wearing prison garb:
Co-Defendant Vallow Daybell filed a motion to appear in street clothes on September 9, 2022. At that time the State entered no objection to the request given the fact the proceedings, or at least portions of them, were being recorded and broadcast. The State was concerned about the potential for jury contamination based on the media presence surrounding the Defendants’ case(s). However, since the State filed an initial response in case CR22-21-1624, this Court has entered an order restricting cameras in the courtroom. Given the new posture of these proceedings in relation to the media’s access to images of the Defendants, the State’s concern regarding jury contamination has been dispelled, and the State would request absent a finding to deviate from the standard procedures, the Defendants no longer be allowed to appear in street clothes.
Lori and Chad’s spouses both died right before the two got married.
Yes, it’s about as strange as it sounds.
Body cam footage shown in the documentary features Lori’s former husband, Charles, saying that Lori was threatening to kill him because there was a demon named “Ned” living inside of him.
Charles also detailed in his divorce papers that he was worried about the safety of his children, noting that Lori believed she was sent to be a leader for the second coming of Christ, per TODAY.
On July 11, 2019, Charles was shot by Lori’s brother in an alleged act of self-defense after Charles visited Lori’s house.
The doc then goes on to explain that Lori purchased a ring from Amazon for her October wedding to Chad, only a few weeks before Chad’s wife Tammy died of “natural causes.”
What did Lori and Chad do?
Lori’s two younger children, Tylee and JJ, both went missing in September 2019. At the time, Lori told people that Tylee was at Brigham Young University’s Idaho campus, and that young JJ was attending homeschool, per Cosmopolitan. JJ’s grandparents panicked when they couldn’t locate JJ or Tylee, the doc says. Lori and Chad went on the run and refused to answer questions.
The police were soon involved and requested Lori bring her children to authorities to prove they were safe by January 2020. But a month later, the children were still missing and Lori and Chad were located in Hawaii, per TODAY.
In June 2020, the remains of both children were found on Chad’s Idaho property, with authorities alleging that the children had been murdered by the couple in September 2019.
They were indicted with first-degree murder and conspiracy in the death of Lori’s children in 2021, per 12News.
Lori told her family about her strange beliefs.
During an appearance on the podcast “The Followers: Madness of Two,” Lori’s brother Adam revealed that she spoke about death frequently and shared details about “the next life.”
“[Lori] talked about the next life, how great the next life is and how it’s going to be perfect, and how her kids won’t have to suffer in the next life,” he explained, per TODAY. “If she says, ‘I’m not going to tell you where the kids are,’ that means the kids aren’t alive. And I knew right then and there that the kids are dead.”
What might have motivated Lori and Chad?
The couple believed that they were on a mission that required them to kill “zombies,” which were people who they believed had spirits that had left their bodies. A friend told authorities that Lori called her two youngest children “zombies” at one point and that they’d said Tammy had been possessed by a “dark spirit,” per USA Today.
Did Lori go to prison?
Yup. Lori was arrested in early 2020 when she failed to show authorities that her children were safe, per Cosmo. The children’s bodies were found a few months later.
Lori, now 49, was most recently reported to be in an Idaho jail, where she awaits trial, according to Deseret News.
What is the status of her case?
Lori and Chad are currently awaiting their January 2023 trials dealing with the alleged murders of various family members. Lori faces the following charges, according to local news site KSL.com:
- First-degree murder in the death of Tylee Ryan
- First-degree murder in the death of JJ Vallow
- First-degree murder in the death of Tammy Daybell
- Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception in the death of Tylee.
- Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception in the death of JJ.
- Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Tammy.
- Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Charles in Arizona.
The couple has pled not guilty to the charges, per TODAY.
Most recently, the prosecutors and defense on the case filed a motion to ensure that the trial is not broadcasted out of concern that “incessant media exposure” could obstruct Vallow from having a fair trial, per Fox News.
What punishment could Lori face if she is found guilty?
Lori could face the death penalty in Idaho if the prosecuting attorneys decide to seek this punishment, per KSL.com.
