Deliberations began on Thursday afternoon and a verdict was reached by noon on Friday.
Lori Vallow Daybell is guilty.
Jurors on Friday announced their verdict in the case of the "doomsday mom," charged with murdering her 16-year-old daughter Tylee and 7-year-old son J.J. and conspiracy to murder her husband's wife Tammy.
The jury convicted Vallow of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft in the deaths of her two children and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Tammy Daybell.
Deliberations began on Thursday afternoon and a verdict was reached by noon on Friday.
Deliberations were brief after prosecutors delivered closing arguments in which they described how the two children were allegedly killed by Vallow Daybell's brother, Alex Cox.
“JJ’s voice was silenced forever by a strip of duct tape placed across his mouth. A white plastic bag was placed over his head where it was secured tightly with duct tape wrapped around and around from his forehead to his neck," prosecutor Rob Wood said in his closing. "The evidence says he struggled and we’ll never know how long he fought before they wrapped tape around his wrists and ankles. He stopped breathing, his heart stopped beating and he died. It was a brutal, horrific murder of a 7-year old boy with special needs."
Next, Tylee.
"She was burned and buried in Chad Daybell’s backyard. What was left of her body they dumped in a green bucket and buried in a pet cemetery on top of a piece of her skull," Wood said.,
Wood also noted that Tylee had been "burned and dismembered" in his closing.
The closing remarks from prosecutors also noted that Vallow shopped for a wedding dress on the day Tammy was allegedly murdered in her sleep.
Prosecutors said the entire case boiled down to three things: "money, power, and sex."
The defense said in their remarks that Vallow could not be found guilty because she was not present at the time the children were murdered. They also moved to dismiss the case in lack of evidence, a motion that the judge quickly denied on Thursday.
Vallow Daybell was first arrested back in 2020, months after her children disappeared in Idaho.
At the time, she and her fifth husband were enjoying an extended honeymoon in Hawaii.
It was not until months after her arrest that the bodies of her two children were discovered, buried on Daybell's property.
Daybell will stand trial for his alleged role in the murders later this year.
Vallow Daybell and Daybell's alleged beliefs were described in a 2021 probable cause affidavit filed by the Chandler Police Department in Arizona, which included allegations that Vallow Daybell was involved in her husband Charles' death.
"It was discovered that Lori Vallow believed she was an exalted Goddess and she and Chad were directed to lead 144,000 people in preparing for the end of the world," reads the affidavit.
It goes on to say: "It was discovered that Lori and Chad believed that they had extraordinary abilities. Some of these abilities included the power to teleport and cause harm to others, the ability to call up natural disasters, the ability to pray away demonic spirits attached to others and also visionary capabilities. Because of these abilities provided to them, they felt that they were qualified to tell whether someone had a 'light' or 'dark' scale associated with them. This scale would indicate whether or not they had demonic spirits attached to them."
Among those Vallow Daybell is alleged to have said had a "dark" scale were her ex-husband Charles and children J.J. and Tylee, according to the affidavit.
She is also facing charges in Arizona related to her ex-husband's Charles death, but that case has been stayed while she stands trial in Idaho.
Daybell has denied having anything to do with the deaths of Vallow Daybell's two children and his Tammy. Vallow Daybell similarly denies having anything to do with the death of her ex-husband.
Related Stories
