Lori Daybell was sentenced to 2 life sentences in Arizona on Friday for conspiring with her late brother to kill her fourth husband, who was fatally shot in 2019, and her niece’s ex-husband, who survived a failed drive-by capturing that very same yr.
Daybell was discovered responsible of two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree homicide in two separate trials in Maricopa County this spring. She was sentenced to life in jail with the opportunity of parole after 25 years for every conviction, to be served consecutively, the choose mentioned..
“Within the face of such profound harm, an extended jail sentence is just not merely a punishment, it’s a needed affirmation that our society values justice, safety and the sanctity of human life,” Decide Justin Beresky, who presided over each trials in Phoenix, mentioned earlier than handing down the sentences.
Lori Daybell at her sentencing listening to in Phoenix, July 25, 2025.
Pool through ABC15 Arizona
The so-called “doomsday mother” is already serving a number of life sentences after being convicted in 2023 of murdering two of her youngsters. Prosecutors within the Idaho trial argued that she and her present husband, Chad Daybell, thought the youngsters have been possessed zombies and murdered them in 2019 in order that they may very well be collectively. She was additionally discovered responsible of stealing Social Safety survivor advantages allotted for the care of her youngsters after they went lacking.
Equally, prosecutors in Maricopa County argued that she conspired together with her brother to kill her estranged husband of 13 years, Charles Vallow, so she may get his $1 million life insurance coverage coverage and be with Chad Daybell, an creator of non secular fiction books whom she married 4 months after the lethal capturing.
Prosecutors additional mentioned she invoked their “twisted” non secular beliefs as justification for the homicide and gave her brother “non secular authority” to kill Vallow as a result of they believed he was possessed by an evil spirit they known as “Ned.”
Within the first of her Arizona trials, Lori Daybell argued that her brother, Alex Cox, shot Vallow in self-defense in her house in Chandler, Arizona, in July 2019.
She was then discovered responsible in a second trial of scheming with Cox to kill Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of her niece. Three months after Vallow’s killing, Boudreaux referred to as 911 to report that somebody driving by in a Jeep shot at his car outdoors his house in Gilbert, Arizona, lacking his head by inches.
Prosecutors mentioned in a sentencing memorandum that Boudreaux continued to stay in worry following the failed try on his life, questioning if Cox would “return to complete the job.”
Cox died from pure causes later in December 2019.
Lori Vallow Daybell sits throughout her sentencing listening to on the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, July 31, 2023.
Tony Blakeslee/EastIdahoNews.com/Pool through AP, FILE
Motives have been cash and intercourse, prosecutor says
Lori Daybell, 51, didn’t take the stand or name any witnesses in both trial, wherein she represented herself. In her closing assertion, she argued that her household has been struck by tragedy and that she didn’t conspire to commit any crime.
In remarks forward of the sentencing, Maricopa County Deputy Prosecuting Lawyer Treena Kay disputed Lori Daybell’s repeated claims that this was a “household tragedy.”
“A household tragedy doesn’t contain the intentional killing of an individual,” Kay mentioned. “A household tragedy doesn’t contain working with an confederate to commit first-degree premeditated homicide. And a household tragedy doesn’t contain conspiring with others to kill.”
She mentioned Lori Daybell’s motives have been the identical ones normally seen in homicide instances: cash and intercourse, saying that the deaths of Vallow and Boudreaux would have financially benefited her and her niece, respectively.
“Though this defendant denies it, her textual content messages and her personal actions present that these have been her motives,” Kay mentioned.
Lori Daybell continued to keep up her innocence in remarks forward of the sentencing.
“I need everybody to know that I mourn with all of you. I’m sorry on your ache. Dropping these near you is painful, and I acknowledge the entire ache, and I do empathize, I really feel it, too,” she mentioned. “If I used to be accountable for these crimes I might acknowledge it.”
She claimed she was prevented from presenting her facet within the trials, which the choose mentioned was “not true.”
“When she says that she could not get a good trial in Maricopa County, that isn’t the reality,” Beresky mentioned forward of handing down the sentence.
She additionally questioned the need of further life sentences on prime of the a number of life sentences she’s serving in Idaho. “Now I’ll serve seven life sentences — will that be sufficient? Will that be sufficient?” she requested.
To that time, the choose mentioned, “Justice calls for not solely recognition of the ache inflicted, however a agency response that upholds the dignity of each sufferer harmed by the actions of somebody who has proven blatant disregard for humanity.”
He mentioned she has “left a wake of destruction” throughout a number of states and the “quantity of contemplation, calculation, planning, manipulation that went into these crimes is unparalleled in my profession.”
“Your powers of manipulation are profoundly damaging, one which undermines belief, distorts reality and might erode the very foundations of wholesome relationships and society,” he mentioned. “The impression of your manipulation has been devastating, insidious and far-reaching and maybe nonetheless unknown.”
The sentencing listening to comes after failed makes an attempt at getting new trials on each counts. After being convicted of conspiring to kill Vallow, she additionally unsuccessfully tried to take away Decide Beresky from the case, claiming he was biased towards her.
She incessantly clashed with the choose whereas representing herself through the trials. In the course of the second trial, Beresky at one level eliminated her from the courtroom after she turned combative throughout discussions about her character. The choose had warned that if she referred to herself as having “nice character,” that might open the door for the state to introduce proof to rebut that character, together with concerning her earlier convictions in Idaho.
Each Lori and Chad Daybell have been discovered responsible of first-degree homicide for the deaths of her youngsters in separate trials in Fremont County, Idaho. Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, went lacking months after Charles Vallow was killed. Their stays have been discovered on an Idaho property belonging to Chad Daybell in June 2020 following a monthslong search.
They have been additionally discovered responsible of conspiring to kill Chad Daybell’s first spouse, Tamara Daybell, who died in October 2019 — two weeks earlier than Lori and Chad Daybell married in Hawaii. Chad Daybell was found guilty of murdering her.
Lori Daybell is at present serving life in jail with out parole, whereas Chad Daybell was sentenced to loss of life for the three murders and now awaits execution on Idaho’s loss of life row.
Lori Daybell offers her opening assertion in her homicide trial in Maricopa County, Arizona, April 7, 2025.
Pool/ABC Information
Emotional sufferer impression statements
A number of of Lori Daybell’s kinfolk addressed the court docket forward of the sentencing. In grief-stricken, at instances indignant remarks, they touched on the lack of Vallow in addition to his nephew JJ, whom he and Lori Daybell had adopted, and Tylee, a toddler from Lori Daybell’s third marriage.
Her eldest son, Colby Ryan, from her second marriage, remembered Vallow as a beneficiant man.
“My father, Charles Vallow, cared for his household. He took care of our household, and he made certain we had a very good life,” Ryan mentioned.
He mentioned his mom informed him Charles Vallow had died from a coronary heart assault, earlier than he realized the reality, and spoke concerning the ache of dropping his father after which his siblings.
“I am right here to inform you the impact that this has had on me. In easy phrases, every one among my members of the family was taken from us multi functional swoop,” Ryan mentioned.
On this March 8, 2020, file picture, Lori Vallow Daybell glances on the digicam throughout her listening to in Rexburg, Idaho.
The Idaho Submit-Register through AP, Pool, FILE
Concerning his mom, he mentioned it “have to be a really unhappy life to smile your method by all of the ache you’ve got brought on.”
“Somewhat than with the ability to acknowledge the ache that she has brought on, she would quite say that Charles, Tylee and JJ’s deaths have been a household tragedy and never her evil doing,” he mentioned. “Fairly frankly, I consider that Lori Vallow herself is the household tragedy.”
One in all Vallow’s sisters, Susan Vallow, mentioned the day her brother died “modified my life without end.”
“My brother’s loss of life was a deliberate act of evil and self-seeking monetary acquire. Your greed has brought on a lot ache to this present day,” she mentioned just about.
Kay Woodcock, one other one among Charles Vallow’s sisters and JJ’s organic grandmother, learn a letter she wrote from the attitude of JJ in court docket.
“I can not be right here to learn this letter, as a result of I’m useless. I used to be murdered by the defendant Lori Daybell, or as I used to name her, mother,” she learn. “See, there are an entire lot of tragedies which have occurred to my household, and all of them are the results of my mother’s actions.”
Vallow “by no means would have let her damage me, and I do know he died defending me,” the letter mentioned.
“I ought to be 13 years outdated now, however I am without end seven,” she learn.
On the finish of the letter, she screamed at Lori Daybell, “I trusted you!” earlier than breaking down in tears.
Her husband, Larry Woodcock, his anger visceral, referred to as Lori Daybell a “narcissist, psychopath, delusional assassin.”
“You are nothing, murderess,” he mentioned. “I can not stand you.”
Brandon Boudreaux attends the sentencing listening to for Lori Daybell in Phoenix, July 25, 2025.
Pool through ABC Information
Following remarks by a number of members of his household, together with his siblings and present spouse, Boudreaux addressed how the tried homicide has impacted him.
“The betrayal by somebody linked to my household has left me battling overwhelming feelings over time,” he mentioned, his voice shaky. “I felt worry, paranoia. I lived with fixed vigilance, loneliness, remorse, disappointment, despair, anger, heartache and embarrassment.”
He mentioned he has chosen to forgive Lori Daybell so he generally is a higher father, husband, son, neighbor and buddy. “However I had by no means seen any regret or acknowledgement from Lori,” he mentioned.
