Lori Daybell, the mother condemned for killing two of her children in a so -called Final Judgment Factor, has now been guilty of conspiring with her brother to kill her fourth husband.
The jury in Maricopa County, Arizona, received the case on Monday afternoon before reaching a verdict on Tuesday afternoon.
Lori Vallow Daybell sits during his sentence hearing at the Fremont County Palace in St. Anthony, Idaho, on July 31, 2023.
Tony Blakeslee Eastidahonews.com/pool through AP
Lori Daybell, 51, represented herself at the Phoenix trial. She did not take the position or call any witness.
Nicknamed the “Mom of the Doomsday”, Lori Daybell has argued that her brother shot her then 13 -year -old husband, Charles Vallow, in self -defense at her home in Chandler, Arizona, in July 2019. Her brother, Alex Cox, died for natural causes months after the shooting.
He declared himself innocent of conspiracy to commit a first degree murder.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said the shooting was a ploy so that Daybell would get rid of her separate husband to get her life insurance policy of $ 1 million and be with her current husband, Chad Daybell, with whom she married four months after the shooting.
Prosecutors also said that he invoked his “twisted” religious beliefs as justification for murder and gave his brother “religious authority” to kill Valleow because they believed he was possessed by an evil spirit they referred to as “Ned.”
For two weeks, the state called more than a dozen witnesses, including Daybell’s other brother, Adam Cox, who testified that he had “undoubtedly” his two brothers conspired to kill Vallow upon learning that his brother had triggered him fatally.
In her final argument, the attached lawyer of Maricopa County, Treena Kay, said the evidence in the scene showed that Vallow did not receive a shot in self -defense, but was “executed” and the scene “staged.” She related text messages sent from Lori Daybell to her husband, Chad, seven days after Vallow was killed, discussing her husband’s life insurance policy now deceased. Kay said that, upon learning of her, she was no longer the beneficiary of the plan, the defendant sent a message to Chad that “Ned” probably changed it “before getting rid of him.”
Lori Daybell intervenes his brother, Adam Cox, during his trial for murder in Phoenix, Arizona, April 10, 2025.
Pool through ABC News
The prosecutor also discussed a text message that the defendant sent Alex Cox days before the mortal shooting in which they said they could “be like Nephi”, a prophet in the Mormon book that God ordered to kill Laban.
“Lori Vallow wanted the millions of dollars, and wanted Chad Daybell, and she and Alex used those twisted religious beliefs they had to be able to kill evil, possess Charles and” Be like Nephi, “Kay said.
Three jurors who talked to journalists after the verdict said the evidence of the text message in the case had stood out while deliberating. The jury members said they had no knowledge of the previous sentences of Lori Daybell, which were not discussed during the Phoenix trial.
Vallow family members expressed relief in the guilt verdict.
“I am ready to move on,” said Vallow’s sister, Kay Woodcock, to journalists outside the court.
“This was pushed over us, and our lives entered, like a tornado, for a long time,” he said.
After the guilt verdict, Lori Daybell agreed several aggravating factors in the case, instead of a jury to conclude them. Among them, she agreed that this was a dangerous crime and involved the presence of an accomplice. When asked if she agreed on that as a result of her behavior, the victim or the victim’s family “suffered emotional or financial damage,” he said, “absolutely.”
He will be sentenced after another next trial in Maricopa County, where she is more accused of planning with her brother Alex Cox to kill Brandon Boudreaux, the ex -husband of her niece.
Three months after the Vallow shooting, Boudreaux called 911 to inform that someone who was driving in a Jeep shot his vehicle out of his home in Gilbert, Arizona.
She declared herself innocent in that case.
Both Lori and Chad Daybell were declared guilty of first degree murder for the death of their children, Joshua “JJ” Vallew, 7 years old, and Tylee Ryan, 16, who disappeared months after Charles Vallow was killed. In separated trials in 2023 and 2024, prosecutors argued that the couple thought that the children were zombies and killed them so that they could be together. The remains of the children were found in a Idaho property belonging to Daybell in June 2020 after a search for months.
Lori Daybell is currently fulfilling life imprisonment without probation for the murders of their two children. She has denied killing them.
Chad Daybell was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing the two children, as well as his first wife, Tamara Daybell, and now he expects the execution in the Idaho death corridor.
