‘Doomsday Cult’ Mom Sentenced To Life In Prison For Murdering Her Children

 Lori Vallow Daybell, the Idaho mom found guilty of killing her kids and conspiring to kill her fifth husband’s first wife, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday without the possibility of parole.

Vallow Daybell, 50, received a life sentence for the murders of each of her children; her 16-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan, and 7-year-old adopted son, J.J. She also received a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Tammy Daybell, who was her current husband Chad Daybell’s ex-wife. Each of those three sentences will be served consecutively, while the judge added two additional life sentences and a 10-year sentence for grand theft, all to be served concurrently, CNN reported.

“Murder is the most serious offense, and the most unimaginable type of murder is to have a mother murdering her own children, and that’s exactly what you did,” Judge Steven W. Boyce said when handing down Vallow Daybell’s sentence. “You were involved in and guilty of conspiring to murder … Tammy Daybell, who had children of her own. And despite the jury convicting you with overwhelming evidence, you still sit here before the court today and said you didn’t do it.”

The judge noted that Vallow Daybell showed no remorse for the murders.

Vallow Daybell denied killing her children and cited religious texts during her sentencing.

“Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case,” she said, according to CNN. “Accidental deaths happen, suicides happen, fatal side effects from medications happen.”

In May, a jury deliberated for less than a day before finding Vallow Daybell guilty of murdering her children.

Chad Daybell goes on trial later this year. He faces the same charges.

Colby Ryan, Vallow Daybell’s oldest son from a previous marriage, wrote in a victim impact statement that “Tylee and JJ brought so much light into this world.”

“Tylee will never have an opportunity to become a mother, wife, or have the career she was destined to have. She’ll never be able to have the life she deserved,” he wrote in the statement, which was read by prosecutors on Monday. “JJ will never be able to grow and spread his light with this world the way he did. He will never have a chance to grow up.”

“I want them to be remembered for who they were,” Ryan added, “and not to be just a spectacle or a headline to the world.”

Relatives began searching for the children in September 2019, when Vallow Daybell, along with Tylee and J.J., moved to Rexburg, Idaho, to be closer to Chad Daybell, the author of several doomsday books, who said a voice told him to move there for the second coming of Christ. On September 8, 2019, Vallow Daybell and her brother Alex, took Tylee and J.J. to Yellowstone National Park. Tylee was never seen alive again.

Two weeks later, on September 23, J.J., who is autistic, was last seen at his school in Idaho. The next day, Vallow Daybell informed the school that he would be homeschooled instead.

Shortly after this, Chad’s wife, Tammy, was found dead in her home. Her death was initially ruled to be natural, but police have since opened an investigation into the matter.

Less than a month after Tammy died, Vallow Daybell married Chad Daybell in Hawaii.

Three weeks later, after Vallow Daybell and Daybell returned to Idaho, police conducted a welfare check on J.J. at the request of his grandmother. According to police, Vallow Daybell said that J.J. was with friends in Arizona and that Tylee had gone to Brigham Young University-Idaho. People then began to question where J.J. and Tylee had gone, and suddenly, Vallow Daybell and Daybell packed up and traveled to Hawaii on the same day police began searching for the children, court documents indicate.

Not long after, on December 12, Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex died in Gilbert, Arizona, due to a reported blood clot. His death was not investigated further, as the condition ran in the family.

 

On December 20, police in Rexburg officially announced an investigation into the disappearance of J.J. and Tylee. A month later, Vallow Daybell was served a court order to produce the children within five days.

When the deadline to produce the children passed, police began laying the groundwork to arrest Vallow Daybell. They did so on February 20, 2020, arresting Vallow Daybell in Kauai and charging her with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children.

It wasn’t until June 9, 2020, when police searched Chad Daybell’s property in Idaho, that the bodies of Tylee and J.J. were found. Daybell tried to flee the scene but was caught and charged with two felony counts of destruction, alteration, or concealment of evidence.