Lori Vallow, also known as Lori Vallow Daybell, is an Idaho mother convicted of murdering two of her children and conspiring to kill her fifth husband’s first wife in a case tied to apocalyptic religious beliefs she shared with author Chad Daybell. An Idaho jury found her guilty on all counts in May 2023, and she was sentenced to three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. Arizona juries later convicted her of conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and to murder a niece’s ex-husband, adding two more life sentences. She is imprisoned at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center while her Idaho convictions are on appeal.
The Doomsday Beliefs at the Center of the Case
Lori Vallow was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and married four times before meeting Chad Daybell, a self-published author of apocalyptic fiction popular in fringe Latter-day Saint prophecy circles. Daybell told followers he could identify past lives, judge whether a person’s spirit was “light” or “dark,” and name individuals who were part of the prophesied 144,000 chosen for salvation.1University of Chicago Divinity School. The Daybells and Latter-Day Saint Apocalypticism He and Lori came to believe they had been married in multiple previous lives.
Together they developed a belief system in which certain living people were “zombies” whose bodies had been taken over by dark spirits. Melanie Gibb, a former close friend, testified that the couple taught that when spiritual “castings” failed to expel a dark spirit, physical death was the only way to free the host body.2NPR. Lori Vallow Zombie Murder Trial Gibb told jurors that “as soon as people started questioning her or thought something suspicious was going on, all of a sudden that person became a zombie.”3Idaho Statesman. Melanie Gibb Testimony in Lori Vallow Daybell Trial Prosecutors argued the couple applied the label to everyone standing between them and the life they wanted: Charles Vallow, Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell.
The financial thread ran alongside the theology. Charles Vallow carried a $1 million life insurance policy. Chad had raised Tammy’s policy to its maximum shortly before her death and collected $430,000.4Rexburg Standard Journal. Chad and Loris Finances Under Scrutiny During Wednesday Testimony Lori continued collecting Social Security survivor benefits for Tylee and JJ after both were dead, taking in roughly $23,000 between October 2019 and January 2020.
The Victims
Charles Vallow
By early 2019, Charles Vallow had filed for divorce, telling police that Lori believed she was a “god” preparing for the end of days.5CBS News. Lori Vallow Chad Daybell Case Timeline On July 11, 2019, Lori’s brother Alex Cox shot and killed Charles at Lori’s home in Chandler, Arizona. Cox claimed self-defense, saying Charles had attacked Lori and Tylee with a baseball bat. Police initially accepted the account, and Cox was never charged.6Courthouse News Service. Lori Daybell Cites Self-Defense in Opening Statements of Ex-Husband Murder Trial
Later evidence undercut the story. A medical examiner testified that bullet trajectory indicated Charles was on the ground when the second shot was fired.7NBC News. Medical Examiner Testifies About Bullet Wounds at Lori Vallows Trial Cox waited 47 minutes to call 911. Weeks earlier, Lori had texted Cox referring to a Book of Mormon prophet commanded by God to kill: “It’s all coming to a head this week. I will be like Nephi, I’m told. So will you.”8People. Lori Vallow Opening Statements Trial Death Husband Charles
Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow
The last known photograph of Tylee Ryan, Lori’s 16-year-old daughter from an earlier marriage, was taken on September 8, 2019, during a family trip to Yellowstone. Joshua “JJ” Vallow, Lori’s adopted seven-year-old son who had special needs, was last seen by witnesses on September 22, 2019, at the family’s Rexburg, Idaho, apartment. Investigators later concluded he was killed the next day.9ABC4. Latest Timeline in Vallow Daybell Alleged Murder Cases Neither child was reported missing by their mother. When Gibb asked about JJ during a recorded call in December 2019, Lori answered: “I could tell everything — where JJ is right now. And that would not be good for JJ.”10ABC7 Chicago. Lori Vallow Daybell Trial Melanie Gibb Testimony
Tammy Daybell
On October 19, 2019, Tammy Daybell, Chad’s wife of nearly 30 years, was found dead in her home. The death was initially attributed to natural causes. Two months later, an autopsy on the exhumed body revealed deep bruising and lungs filled with fluid, and the Fremont County coroner amended the cause of death to asphyxiation by suffocation, ruled a homicide.11KSL. Coroner Describes Why She Changed Tammy Daybells Cause of Death to Homicide Seventeen days after Tammy’s death, Lori and Chad married in Hawaii.12NewsNation. Lori Vallow Timeline Arizona
Brandon Boudreaux
On October 2, 2019, Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Lori’s niece Melani Pawlowski, was pulling into his driveway in Gilbert, Arizona, when a rifle appeared from the rear window of a Jeep Wrangler. The bullet shattered his car window but missed him. The Jeep was registered to Charles Vallow. Prosecutors presented evidence that Lori and Alex Cox had removed the Jeep’s rear seat and tinted its windows in Rexburg days earlier to allow firing from inside. Cell phone data, Google search records, and security footage linked both of them to the planning.13Courthouse News Service. Shooting Survivor Testifies in Lori Daybell Murder Conspiracy Trial
Alex Cox, the alleged triggerman in both the Charles Vallow killing and the Boudreaux shooting, died on December 12, 2019, of natural causes before he could be charged.14East Idaho News. Medical Examiner Says Alex Cox Had Blood Clots in His Lungs and Died of Natural Causes
How the Case Unraveled
On November 26, 2019, Rexburg police conducted a welfare check on JJ after his grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, reported they had been unable to reach the children. Lori told officers JJ was in Arizona with a friend. The claim was quickly disproven. Police announced JJ and Tylee as missing persons on December 20, 2019, and named Lori and Chad as persons of interest the next day.9ABC4. Latest Timeline in Vallow Daybell Alleged Murder Cases The couple had already fled Idaho. Lori was arrested in Hawaii on February 20, 2020.
On June 9, 2020, FBI agents and Rexburg police searched Chad Daybell’s property in Salem, Idaho. Guided by cell phone data placing Chad, Lori, and Alex Cox at the property when the children vanished, investigators found human remains in two separate locations. JJ’s body was wrapped in plastic and bound with duct tape; a forensic pathologist determined he had been asphyxiated with a plastic bag. Tylee’s remains were in a fire pit, badly decomposed, dismembered, and burned; her cause of death was listed as undetermined, though the manner was ruled homicide.15People. Body of JJ Vallow Released to Grieving Grandparents Investigators also recovered a pickaxe from a shed that contained Tylee’s DNA.16Post Register. FBI Agent Details Finding Tylees Remains Chad Daybell was arrested that same day.
The Idaho Trial and Life Sentences
Lori and Chad were indicted together on May 24, 2021, on charges including first-degree murder and conspiracy. Lori was soon found mentally unfit to stand trial and committed to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for restorative treatment. She spent roughly ten months in a state hospital before being restored to competency.17Fox 10 Phoenix. Lori Vallow Mental Competency Hearing
Her trial began on April 3, 2023, at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise before Judge Steven Boyce. She faced two counts of first-degree murder for Tylee and JJ, three counts of conspiracy to commit murder covering both children and Tammy Daybell, and grand theft for the Social Security payments collected after the children were dead.18NPR. Lori Vallow Daybell Verdict Murder Verdict Central witnesses included Melanie Gibb, who described the zombie beliefs and played the December 2019 phone call; Zulema Pastenes, Alex Cox’s widow, who described “casting” rituals and testified that Chad had predicted JJ “was going to die young”;19KMVT. Widow of Alex Cox Takes Stand in Murder Trial of Chad Daybell and FBI agents who described the excavation.
On May 12, 2023, the jury convicted her on all counts.20ABC7. Lori Vallow Daybell Trial Verdict Idaho Murders On July 31, 2023, Judge Boyce imposed three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, plus two concurrent life sentences and ten additional years for grand theft. The judge said she “justified all of this by going down a bizarre religious rabbit hole.”5CBS News. Lori Vallow Chad Daybell Case Timeline
Arizona Conspiracy Convictions
Lori also faced charges in Maricopa County for conspiracy to murder Charles Vallow and conspiracy to murder Brandon Boudreaux. She represented herself in both trials.21ABC News. Lori Daybell Sentencing Murder Conspiracy Arizona In the Vallow case, she argued Alex Cox acted in self-defense; in the Boudreaux case, she denied involvement. Juries convicted her of first-degree conspiracy in both, first on April 22, 2025, and again in June 2025.22NBC News. Doomsday Mom Lori Vallow Sentenced in Arizona Murder Conspiracy Trials
On July 25, 2025, Judge Justin Beresky sentenced her to two additional life terms with parole eligibility after 25 years on each count, ordered to run consecutively to each other and to her Idaho sentences. He told her: “You should never be released from prison.”23CNN. Lori Vallow Daybell Sentenced Arizona Murder She was then returned to Idaho.
What Happened to Chad Daybell
Chad Daybell was tried separately and convicted on May 30, 2024, of three counts of first-degree murder for Tammy, JJ, and Tylee, plus conspiracy and two counts of insurance fraud tied to Tammy’s policies. He waived his right to present mitigating evidence at sentencing, saying only, “That is my choice.” On June 1, 2024, the jury sentenced him to death.24ABC News. Jury Reaches Decision on Chad Daybell Sentencing His appeal is pending before the Idaho Supreme Court, which conducts automatic review of all death sentences under state law.25KSL TV. Chad Daybells Appeal of Verdict and Death Penalty Gets Public Defender
Appeal and Current Status
Lori’s Idaho convictions are under appeal at the Idaho Supreme Court. Her appellate attorney, Craig H. Durham, filed an opening brief on May 30, 2025, raising five claims:26Idaho Supreme Court. Opening Brief – Appellant Lori Daybell
- The trial court improperly disqualified her retained attorney, Mark Means, over a conflict from briefly representing both Lori and Chad before charges.
- Her lawyer was excluded from pretrial hearings in Chad’s case that directly affected her rights.
- Critical pretrial hearings were held while she was legally incompetent and absent.
- The court allowed prosecutors to introduce uncharged “bad acts” evidence from the Arizona cases.
- The court denied her motion to dismiss based on her right to a speedy trial.
As of early 2026, the case remained in briefing, with the defense seeking additional time to file a reply brief.27Idaho Supreme Court. Appellant Daybells Third Motion for Extension of Time to File Reply No oral argument date has been set. She is currently held at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center in Pocatello, Idaho.28Idaho Department of Correction. Resident Client Search – Lori Norene Vallow