Lori Vallow appears in court; her dead children, JJ Vallow, on the right, and Tylee Ryan, on the left, appear inset, on April 13, 2023. (Courtroom pool sketch artist; Fremont County Sheriff's Office)
The triple murder trial for Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, a "doomsday cult"-connected mother of two dead children and two dead former husbands continues with a fifth day of testimony in Ada County, Idaho, on Friday morning.
Vallow and her fifth and current husband, Chad Daybell, 54, stand accused of murder over the 2019 deaths of Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ashlyn Ryan, 17. The children disappeared on different dates in September of that year. Vallow was initially arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 on charges of child desertion. Daybell was arrested later that year after the children's bodies were found buried at his property. The two defendants were indicted for the murder of Vallow's children and Daybell's first wife, Tammy Daybell, 49, in May 2021. Initially being prosecuted as husband-and-wife co-defendants, the couple's cases were recently severed and will be tried separately.
Last week, jury selection wrapped up with 12 jurors and six alternates being chosen from nearly 2,000 Ada County residents who received a summons. The trial is being overseen by Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce, who previously explained to would-be jurors that the complicated case is expected to last as long as eight weeks.
On Thursday, jurors heard explosive testimony from Vallow's friend Melanie Gibb and Chandler Police Detective Nate Duncan, along with emails and phone calls involving the defendant.
Law&Crime correspondent Gigi McKelvey will provide rolling updates as the case progresses Friday and throughout the trial:
3:21 p.m. MT – The night Tammy Daybell was shot, Vallow told Pastenes that Tammy was 'possessed by a demon' and needed to be cast out
1:14 p.m. MT – Vallow tells Pastenes that JJ will live a very short life
1:12 p.m. MT – Vallow's brother Alex was not bothered by killing Charles Vallow because 'he was a zombie'
11:51 a.m. MT – Vallow tells Pastenes that Charles Vallow's death was 'orchestrated by God,' and needed to happen for the '2nd coming' to occur
11:14 a.m. MT – New witness Zulema Pastenes, the wife of Lori Vallow's deceased brother Alex Cox, testifies that Vallow told her that Charles Vallow was 'possessed by a dark spirit'
9:50 a.m. MT – Detective Duncan reads text from Charles Vallow to Lori Vallow, accusing her of having affair, calling her 'evil'
9:22 a.m. MT – Vallow finds out she isn't the beneficiary of her husband Charles Vallow's life insurance policy, calls it a 'spear through the heart'