'Doomsday mom' Lori Vallow Daybell sentenced to 2 more life sentences
The terms are life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years to be served consecutively.
Daybell, 51, already is serving several life sentences after being convicted of murdering two of her children in 2023 in Idaho with Chad Daybell, and conspiring to commit murder in the death of Tammy Daybell, the former wife of Chad Daybell, who later married Lori Daybell.
On April 22, the jury in Maricopa County Superior Court found her guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder on July 11, 2019. Charles Vallow, her husband of 13 years, was executed.
On June 12, she was convicted of scheming to kill Brandon Boudreaux, the former husband of her niece, in a targeted shooting on Oct. 2, 2019, that failed.
She didn't testify in either trial.
"I want everyone to know that I mourn with all of you," Daybell said. "I am sorry for your pain. Losing those close to you is painful, and I acknowledge all of the pain, and I do empathize, I feel it, too. If I was accountable for these crimes I would acknowledge it."
She claims she didn't get a fair trial.
Judge Justin Beresky, who presided over both trials in Phoenix, denied that.
"You have not victimized just a single victim but many. You've shattered lives. You've undermined trust," Beresky said before the sentences. "In the face of such profound damage, a long prison sentence is not merely a punishment, it is a necessary affirmation that our society values justice, protection and the sanctity of human life."
During the sentencing hearing, family members of Vallow Daybell's victims testified for more than one hour. That included her only surviving child, Coly Ryab, who described when he found out his father was shot and killed, and then her two siblings were murdered.
"I had to do something I've never done, and that was fight to stay alive after the pain," Ryan said in court.
Vallow Daybell, who represented herself in court, has maintained that her brother, Alex Cox -- who died from a pulmonary embolism before he could be charged -- killed her estranged husband in self-defense at her home in Chandler.
Prosecutors, however, argued that Vallow Daybell had wanted her then-husband of 13 years dead so she could claim a $1 million life insurance policy on him and marry Chad Daybell, which she did months after Charles Vallow was killed.
"A family tragedy does not involve the intentional killing of a person," Maricopa County Prosecuting Attorney Treena Kay said before sentencing. "A family tragedy does not involve working with an accomplice to commit first-degree premeditated murder. And a family tragedy does not involve conspiring with others to kill."
They met at a religious conference in Utah.
In the case involving her children, prosecutors argued that she and Chad Daybell thought the children were possessed zombies and they were murdered so they could be together.
Also, she was convicted of stealing Social Security benefits for their care after they went missing.
In the two instances in Arizona, prosecutors said she also invoked the "twisted" religious beliefs. They thought he was possessed by an evil spirit referred to as "Ned."
In the second case, Boudreaux called 911 that someone driving by in a Jeep shot at his vehicle outside his home in Gilbert, missing his head by inches.
Prosecutors said Boudreaux lived in fear because he would "return to finish the job." Cox died in December 2019.
Joshua "J.J. Vallow was 7 and Tylee Rose, 16. Their remains were found on property owned by Chad Dayball in June 2020.
Chad Daybell, a Mormon author of apocalyptical fiction and cult leader, was sentenced to death on June 1, 2024, by an Idaho jury.
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