Lori Vallow Daybell during a hearing in 2020
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Lori Vallow Daybell during a hearing in 2020
(AP)
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell will both appear in court in Idaho on Tuesday in preparation for a trial in the “Doomsday cult mom” case.
The pair were charged in May 2021 for conspiracy, murder and grand theft in connection with the deaths of her two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, following their dissapeatance in September 2019.
Their bodies were found in June 2020 on Mr Daybell’s property, leading to an investigation into the pair, who allegedly fell into religious beliefs around a “Doomsday cult”.
Mr Daybell is also accused of his ex-wife, Tammy Daybell’s, death, which took place weeks before the Vallow-Daybell marriage in October 2019. Ms Vallow is similarly facing charges for her ex-husband, Charles Vallow’s, death.
The pair have previously pleaded not guilty and Ms Vallow was recently ruled fit to stand trial after being committed to a mental health facility in Idaho.
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Key points Couple will appear in court for hearing Trial is expected in 2023 Vallow-Daybell face multiple charges in connection to killings
Show latest update 1650370216 Vallow ‘fit to proceed’, said judge last week
An Idaho judge last week that Ms Vallow was now mentally competent to stand trial on some charges in connection to a complex case involving allegations of beliefs in “zombies” and doomsday predictions.
Prosecutors have said that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell espoused the religious beliefs in an effort to encourage or justify the murders, which include those of her two youngest children and the pair’s former partners.
Judge Steven Boyce previously committed Ms Vallow to a mental facility so she could undergo treatment last year.
He said the so called “Doomsday cult mom” was “restored to competency and is fit to proceed” in the case in Idaho, with the charges in connection with her ex-husbands death in Arizona.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.
‘Doomsday mom’ Lori Vallow committed for treatment after being ruled unfit to stand trial for murder of her two children A report found Vallow ‘is not dangerously mentally ill’
Gino Spocchia 19 April 2022 13:10
1650369016 Friends explained Vallow’s beliefs in ‘zombies'
Ms Vallow allegedly remarked that her children had become “zombies” and that dark spirits had taken over their bodies, a friend previously told police.
She and Mr Daybell also allegedly believed a person with a “dark spirit” needed to be killed, with the spirit of that person being stuck in “limbo”, it was alleged.
The same idea was cited by the couple in text exchanges following the death of Tammy Daybell in October 2019, prosecutors said, The Associated Reported.
The ideas appear similar to those touted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with friends of the pair telling investigators the pair’s religious beliefs became “extreme”.
Ms Vallow also thought she was a “Goddess” who had been sent to bring the second coming of Christ and the biblical end of times, with the belief cited by her late husband Charles Vallow during divorce proceedings.
The allegations lead to her being nicknamed the “Doomsday cult mom”.
Mr Daybell has previously pleaded not guilty to charges, while Ms Vallow has not yet had an opportunity to do so because of her time receiving mental health treatment.
Gino Spocchia 19 April 2022 12:50
1650367816 What time will the pair appear in court?
Today’s arraignment hearings will begin at 9am when Chad Daybell is due in the courthouse in St Anthony, Fremont County, Idaho.
He will be closely followed by Ms Valllow who will appear at 1pm, according to Komo News.
The arraignments will mean the court has formally charged the pair with the previously announced allegations, and sets up a future trial.
It may not be at the same courthouse however, with a change of location expected to be discussed on Tuesday.
Gino Spocchia 19 April 2022 12:30
1650366616 How was Charles Vallow killed?
Ms Vallow’s estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, in 2019. He was her fourth husband and had been seeing a divorce because of her increasing religious or cult beliefs.
Her brother, Alex Cox, was accused of shooting Mr Vallow and pleaded self defence. He was never charged and also later died of an apparent blood clot on his lung, as The Associated Press reported.
Ms Vallow was however later charged with conspiracy to commit her husband’s murder. She moved to Idaho from Arizona with her two youngest children before their deaths.
Gino Spocchia 19 April 2022 12:10
1650365416 How was Tammy Daybell killed?
Two weeks before her death in October 2019, Tammy Daybell told the Fremont County sheriff’s office that someone dressed in black and wearing a ski mask shot at her with what she thought was a paintball gun.
As The Associated Press reported however, she wasn’t hit, and without any evidence local law enforcement attributed the incident to a prankster. She was later found dead, aged 49.
Her body was exhumed by police after their invesigation into Ms Vallow’s children’s deaths gathered pace. While Ms Daybell’s death was initially ruled as “natural causes”, the result of the autopsy has not been made public.
An earlier indictment against Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell said the pair believed Ms Daybell had been possessed by a spirit named “Viola”. Such claims were not dissimilar to the so called “Doomsday cult” beliefs of the pair.
Gino Spocchia 19 April 2022 11:50
1650364014 Recap: What are the pair charged with?
Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell were charged with the murders of Tylee and JJ in May 2021, almost one year after their bodies were discovered on the Daybell property in June 2020.
The children had not been seen since September 2019, just one month after Ms Vallow moved with them from Arizona to Idaho to be with Mr Daybell. Family members then raised the alarm in November.
After refusing to present the children to authorities, Ms Vallow was arrested in Hawaii in January 2020 on charges of desertion and Mr Daybell was also arrested following the discovery of remains.
Meanwhile, Tammy Daybell was found dead on 19 October 2019.
The couple are each charged in Idaho with conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of the two children, and separately in the death of Tammy, as Rachel Sharp and Justin Vallejo report.
Gino Spocchia 19 April 2022 11:26
1650362725 Everything we know about the case
The latest chapter of the ‘Doomsday cult mom’ saga is about to begin on Tuesday morning as Lori Vallow is scheduled to appear in court for her arraignment for the murder of her two children.
It comes after her case was put on hold last year after she was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial.
She was however back behind bars last week, paving the way for prosecutors to move forward with the case and try the couple together. Chad Daybell is also due in court in St Anthony, Idaho’s, Fremont County courthouse.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp and Justin Vallejo explain everything we know about the case so far, below:
Murders, mystery deaths and Doomsday: The twisted case of ‘cult mom’ Lori Vallow A deeply disturbing pattern of alleged murders, unexplained deaths of people close to the couple and bizarre cult beliefs about killing zombies surrounds the story of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. Rachel Sharp and Justin Vallejo outline the case as it draws closer to trial
Gino Spocchia 19 April 2022 11:05
1650362425
Hello and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell hearing in Idaho on Tuesday.
Gino Spocchia 19 April 2022 11:00