‘Doomsday mom’ Lori Vallow to be sentenced for murders of her children she thought were zombies
Evil spirits, zombies and the end of the world. Lori Vallow’s murder trial had it all, and ended with her being found guilty of killing two of her children.
The so-called “doomsday mom” from Idaho became obsessed with a coming religious apocalypse, prosecutors say, and believed her kids had to be destroyed so they could go to heaven.
Vallow and her fifth husband Chad Daybell went from being followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) to something altogether darker and cult-like, it is claimed.
Whatever happened after they met, not long later two of her children – Joshua “JJ” Vallow and his big sister Tylee Ryan – were dead, and so was Daybell’s ex-wife Tammy.
What happened at Lori Vallow’s trial?
Her long trial captivated the nation and gained attention across the globe.
“It didn’t matter what it was,” Fremont County prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors at the beginning of the trial.
She said that Tylee, Joshua and Tammy Daybell were all killed because they got in the way of Vallow and Daybell’s relationship.
“Remember, the defendant will remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wants, and she wanted Chad Daybell,” Ms Blake said.
Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan. Pic: Fremont County Sheriff’s Office
Vallow’s defence team, however, argued that she was a “kind and loving mother to her children” who happened to take an interest in religion and biblical prophecies about the end of the world.
“Some people care less about biblical prophecies, some people care a lot about it. Thankfully in this country, we get to worship as we choose,” defence attorney Jim Archibald said.
After weeks of evidence setting out the dark, cult-like, reality Vallow had become absorbed in, she was found guilty of murdering Joshua “JJ” Vallow and his big sister Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to murder Daybell’s ex-wife Tammy.
What happened to JJ and Tylee?
Rexburg, Idaho, used to be best known as a haven for Mormons – some 95% of people living there are Latter-day Saints (LDS) members.
But in September 2019 it was thrust into the spotlight for a different reason: the disappearance and search for two children.
Vallow and Daybell told police that JJ was in Arizona with a family friend and that Tylee had died a year before and had been attending a university.
It wasn’t until June 2020 that police found the mutilated remains of JJ and Tylee at a property in rural Idaho that belonged to Daybell.
JJ’s body was wrapped in rubbish bags, his arms bound in front of him with duct tape. Tylee’s remains were charred.
Investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell’s residence in Salem, Idaho, in June 2020. Pic: AP
What about Vallow’s ex-husband and Daybell’s ex-wife?
Strangers from around the world became transfixed by the search for the children, rumours of doomsday beliefs… and the mysterious deaths of Vallow’s fourth husband Charles Vallow and Daybell’s ex-wife Tammy.
Charles Vallow had been shot and killed by Lori Vallow’s brother in July 2019, a few months after he filed for divorce. He claimed his wife threatened to kill him and that she believed she was a god.
Tammy was found dead in October 2019 of what doctors at the time thought was natural causes. Vallow and Daybell were married just two weeks after Tammy’s funeral.
Lori Vallow faces life in prison. Pic: AP
What will happen to Lori Vallow?
Vallow is expected to be sentenced later on Monday, at Fremont County Courthouse in St Anthony, Idaho.
She faces up to life in prison but will not receive the death penalty after a judge took it off the table at a hearing in August last year.
Daybell is set to face court in a separate trial at a later date.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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Who is being targeted in Trump’s immigration raids?
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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