A woman dubbed the “doomsday mom” has been jailed for life without the possibility of parole for the murders of two of her children and conspiring to kill her husband’s ex-wife.
The mother, from Idaho, believed her children had to be destroyed so they could go to heaven, her trial heard.
She allegedly believed her son and daughter were zombies – and that she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.
She was handed three life sentences, one for each of the charges, to be served one after the other.
The disappearance of two of her children – seven-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and his sister Tylee Ryan, aged 16 – in September 2019 transfixed the nation and sparked a months-long search.
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‘Doomsday mom’ says she went to heaven
It was not until June 2020 that police found the mutilated remains of JJ and Tylee at a property in rural Idaho that belonged to Vallow’s fifth husband, Chad Daybell, who is awaiting trial on the same murder charges.
After a lengthy trial, Vallow was convicted of their murders in May this year, along with conspiracy to murder her husband Daybell’s ex-wife, Tammy.
Image: Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. Pic: Fremont County Sheriff’s Office
Vallow appeared at Fremont County Courthouse in St Anthony, Idaho, on Monday for sentencing.
Before her sentencing, she addressed the court claiming that a near-death experience allowed her to communicate with the “spirit world”.
She told the judge that she knew “for a fact” that her children and Tammy Daybell were happy in heaven. She said Tylee and JJ have communicated with her that they are happy after their deaths.
Son of ‘doomsday mom’ addresses court
Vallow also faces two other cases in Arizona – one on a charge of conspiring with her brother to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and one of conspiring to kill her niece’s ex-husband.
Charles Vallow was shot and killed in 2019, but her niece’s ex survived an attempt later that year.
AT Monday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Steven W Boyce heard testimony from several representatives of the victims, including Vallow’s only surviving son, Colby Ryan.
In a statement read by a lawyer, Mr Ryan said: “My siblings and father deserve so much more than this. I want them to be remembered for who they were, not just a spectacle.
“I’ve lost the opportunity to share life with the people I love the most.”
Image: Vallow faces two other cases in Arizona. Pic: AP
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell married in November 2019, about two weeks after his previous wife Tammy was killed.
While it was initially thought that Tammy had died of natural causes, an autopsy later revealed she had been asphyxiated.
When the two children JJ and Tylee were reported missing, Vallow and Daybell had told police that JJ was in Arizona with a family friend – and Tylee had died a year before and had been attending a university.
JJ’s body was wrapped in rubbish bags, his arms bound in front of him with duct tape. Tylee’s remains were charred.
Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.
Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.
And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.
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Trump’s tariffs: Ed Conway analysis
He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.
Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.
Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.
Image: Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters
And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.
But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.
We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.
To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.
Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.
The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.
She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.
Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.
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2:49
Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles
He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.
“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
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Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”
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Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
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Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.
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Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.
Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.
“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”
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The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.
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Elon Musk has called reports that he will leave his government role in the coming months “fake news”.
A senior White House official previously told NBC News, Sky’s US partner network, that Donald Trump had discussed the Tesla and X boss transitioning back to the private sector at a cabinet meeting last month.
Image: The Tesla boss has headed DOGE since 20 January. File pic: Reuters
After reports emerged of the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “garbage” and added: “Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
Mr Musk added in response on X: “Yeah, fake news.”
NBC News reported that the official said Mr Musk would leave at the end of his 130 days as a special government employee.
That would be 30 May, but it is unclear if the billionaire businessman will indeed leave on that date.
Previously, the White House said that as a temporary organisation, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would be terminated on 4 July next year – the 250th anniversary of the US.
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It comes days after Mr Musk said some members of his DOGE team were getting death threats on a daily basis.
Mr Muskhad drawn criticism over his efforts to downsize the US federal government.
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0:36
‘Elon Musk has got to go’
In just weeks, entire agencies were dismantled, and tens of thousands of workers from the 2.3 million federal workforce have been fired or have agreed to leave their jobs.
A number of lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts over cuts recommended by DOGE.