Naman Shrestha
In an episode titled ‘Lori Vallow Daybell: The Jailhouse Interview’ of NBC’s ‘Dateline,’ the focus is on the crimes of Lori Vallow Daybell, who killed her two children, JJ and Tylee, and conspired to kill her husband’s former wife, Tammy Daybell. She was also allegedly involved in a couple of other crimes, which are yet to be proven in a court of law. The documentary also features the killer as she agreed to give a jailhouse interview about the conviction and allegations against her. Through the exclusive interview, the audience gets a look inside Lori’s mind as she tells her side of the story.
Lori Vallow Daybell Had Direct and Indirect Involvements in Multiple Murders
It all started when Lori Vallow was in a seemingly healthy marriage with Charles Vallow. Together, the couple raised Tylee Ryan, her daughter from a previous marriage, and JJ Vallow, the grandson of Charles’ sister. In 2018, things changed around the time Lori crossed paths with Chad Daybell, who was also married to Tammy Daybell and had five children. As they started doing religious podcasts together, they got closer and formed a connection. In 2019, Charles filed for a divorce from Lori, claiming that she had threatened to kill him. In July of the same year, when he went to her house in Chandler, Arizona, to pick up their son, JJ, he was allegedly shot to death by her brother, Alex Cox. He claimed that he shot down Charles in self-defense during an altercation.
In the month of September of the same year, both Tylee and JJ mysteriously and suddenly disappeared. With Lori’s children still missing, another tragedy struck when Chad’s wife, Tammy, met her demise on October 19, 2019. Not long after, on November 5, Lori and Chad tied the knot in Hawaii and made their relationship official in the eyes of the law. Initially, Tammy was considered to have died of natural causes. But as suspicions around Lori and Chad grew, the authorities exhumed Tammy’s body in December 2019 for an autopsy, which revealed that she had died by asphyxiation. In the same month, Alex died of natural causes. As JJ’s grandparents reported him missing, the police launched a nationwide search for him and Tylee.
When Lori failed to give the authorities answers regarding the missing children, she was arrested in Hawaii on February 20, 2020. A few months later, on June 9, the police searched Chad Daybell’s property and dug up several areas of his backyard, only to discover the remains of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan buried in shallow graves. Thus, in May 2021, Lori and Chad were officially charged with the first-degree murder of both children. In the following month, the former was also accused of conspiring to kill her previous husband, Charles Vallow. On top of that, she was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Tammy and accused of stealing Social Security payments.
Lori Vallow Daybell is Currently Held at an Arizona County Jail, Awaiting Another Trial
Right after her arrest, Lori Vallow Daybell was found incompetent to stand trial and ordered to get the necessary mental health treatment while her case was put on hold. Less than a year later, on April 11, 2022, she was ruled mentally competent and fit for trial. Having pleaded not guilty to the charges against her, Lori stood trial on April 3, 2023. After more than a month, on May 12, she was convicted of murdering her two children — 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow — and conspiring to kill them and Tammy Daybell. Finally, on July 31, Lori received three consecutive life imprisonment sentences without the possibility of parole for her crimes. In addition, she was also sentenced to 10 additional years for grand theft and ordered to pay over $50,000 in restitution and fines.
During her sentencing, Lori not only maintained her innocence but also claimed that Jesus had told her that her children and Tammy were “happy and extremely busy” in heaven. Moreover, she stated that their spirits visited her regularly and reminded her that she “didn’t do anything wrong.” In December 2023, while she was serving her sentence, Lori was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the 2019 death of Charles Vallow, her fourth husband, and the 2019 attempted murder of her niece’s husband, Brandon Boudreaux. She was deemed competent to stand trial for the two charges in the first week of December 2024.
The following month, Lori represented herself in the trial and stated: “The state has continued to impede the defense from conducting a defense. This is a violation of the 14th Amendment of our great Constitution, and the defense’s due process rights.” As of now, she is held at the Maricopa County Jail in Arizona, where she awaits her pre-trial hearing scheduled for March 18, 2025, and her trial for the murder charges related to Charles Vallow’s death scheduled for March 31, 2025. After that trial is over, another trial for her alleged involvement in the attempted murder of Brandon will commence.
Read More: Charles Vallow’s Murder: How Did He Die? Who Killed Him?
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