Chad Daybell Found Guilty of Murdering Lori Vallow’s 2 Kids and His 1st Wife Tammy Daybell
Chad Daybell was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 2019 killings of Joshua "J.J." Vallow, Tylee Ryan and Tammy Daybell
John Roark/Post Register/Pool/AP
Chad DaybellChad Daybell has been found guilty of murdering his second wife Lori Vallow's two youngest children and his first wife.
Chad, 55, was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the 2019 killings of 7-year-old Joshua "J.J." Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and his first wife 49-year-old Tammy Daybell.
In addition to the murder and conspiracy charges, Chad was also convicted of insurance fraud. The jury deliberated for less than 6 hours in Ada County, Idaho.
The capital murder trial lasted nearly two months and included testimony from multiple witnesses, including Chad's two adult children. It was live streamed by Judge Steven W. Boyce on YouTube.
Prosecutors said that Daybell, a self-published author of doomsday-themed books, believed that both of Lori’s children as well as Tammy were possessed by dark spirits and that Daybell and Lori's life together revolved around a small doomsday cult.
John Roark/Post Register/Pool/AP
Chad Daybell“More than anything else Chad's obsession with Lori was rooted in her adoration for him,” Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood said at the beginning of the trial in April. “He called her an exalted goddess.”
On Oct. 19, 2019, Chad reported Tammy’s death, saying she had gone to bed with a cough and didn't wake up.
Rexburg Police Department; Tammy Daybell/Facebook
From left: Joshua "J.J." Vallow, Tylee Ryan and Tammy DaybellShe was found dead in her bed and although her manner of death was initially ruled as natural, it was later determined — and revealed during Lori’s trial — that she died by asphyxiation, PEOPLE previously reported. By that point, it had been weeks since J.J. and Tylee had disappeared.
"You will hear from multiple witnesses that Chad predicted multiple times that Tammy would die an early death," Wood said during opening statements.
Chad and Lori then married in November of that same year. On June 9, 2020, the remains of J.J. and Tylee were found on a Rexburg, Idaho, property belonging to Chad. J.J. was wrapped in plastic and bound by duct tape; Tylee was dismembered and burned. The children were last seen in September 2019.
Madison County Sheriff's Office via AP; Rexburg Police Department via AP
Lori Vallow and Chad DaybellRelated: 'Attraction from the Very Beginning': Inside the Courtship of Lori Vallow & Chad Daybell
During Chad’s trial, his two adult children, Emma Murray and Garth Daybell, testified in his defense. Murray testified that her father, who was married to Tammy for nearly 30 years and had five children with her, was distraught over Tammy's death.
“I’d never seen him more upset than in that moment,” Murray told the jury, 12News reported. “I know the grief was real. He may not have had the same romantic relationship that he had with my mother in the past, but I know he valued her as a person and seeing her die was very traumatic.”
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Murray told the jury that her mother’s health began to get worse leading up to her death. Garth Daybell also testified that his mother “was getting tired extremely easily,” got winded often and had “fainting spells,” according to KSL.
Chad's trial took place nearly one year after Lori was found guilty of murdering J.J. and Tylee and conspiring to murder Tammy. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in July 2023. Lori did not face the death penalty.
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