Sex, money and dark spirits: Inside the doomsday murders trial that gripped millions
Self-styled prophet Chad Daybell told the world the apocalypse was coming and spoke of dark spirits, but prosecutors say he lusted for sex, money and power.
Now the former gravedigger has been sentenced to death after being convicted of triple murder. A jury in Idaho unanimously agreed on Saturday that imposing the death penalty would be a just resolution to the case.
In 2017, Daybell wrote in his book that doomsday, in the shape of a huge earthquake, was coming. Two years later, five people in his life were dead, including two children.
Over the course of two murder trials, a web of lies and dark beliefs surrounding Daybell and his lover Lori Vallow has been revealed. Both have now been found guilty of murdering two of Vallow’s children, and Daybell was also convicted of murdering his first wife, Tammy.
Vallow, who is now his second wife, is already serving life in prison.
Daybell and Vallow identified anyone who stood in their way as “dark spirits” or “zombies”, an alternative reality that gave them pretext to remove them, prosecutors said. His defence team painted a picture of a simple author seduced by a manipulative woman.
“When he had a chance at what he considered his rightful destiny, he made sure that no person and no law would stand in his way,” prosecutor Rob Wood told his trial.
What was it like for Daybell’s followers, surrounded by talk of zombies and spirits, and why did two children end up buried in his backyard?
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow. Pic: KSLTV
Daybell and Vallow met at a religious conference in October 2018 in St George, a city in southern Utah surrounded by deep red rocks and distant mountains.
He was well known in the Mormon community as a publisher and author, whose books often featured themes of the apocalypse. Heavy set with brown hair, he was giving a talk at the event.
“Lori was being really flirtatious towards him,” her brother’s wife and a close friend Zulema Pastenes told Daybell’s murder trial years later. “She was really putting the moves on him.”
Vallow, a former Mrs Texas beauty pageant contestant with glossy blonde hair, clearly caught his eye. He giggled as they chatted, Zulema said.
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell met at a conference. Pic: AP
Theirs was not a typical flirtation. He told her that he was the reincarnation of Saint James the Less, who some believe was Jesus’s brother, and told Vallow she had been his wife 2,000 years ago. She was captivated.
Daybell and Vallow were both married to other people when they met at the conference. Within a year, their spouses would be dead in mysterious circumstances.
It wasn’t long after that first meeting that their affair began.
Daybell called Vallow an “exalted goddess”, who had returned to Earth on a special mission, part of which involved being with him.
Daybell gathered followers who listened to his beliefs about dark spirits. Pic: AP
He claimed to receive information from the spirit world through a portal in his home, Zulema said. This portal supposedly told him that his wife Tammy was going to die soon.
Daybell and Vallow shopped for wedding rings while Tammy was still alive. She moved from her home in Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho, with her brother and children to be closer to Daybell.
Daybell would give talks to Vallow and her female friends – who called themselves the “Seven Gatherers” – and would speak of light and dark spirits. The group would communicate on an email chain and meet to conduct “castings”, where they would pray for evil spirits to leave people.
The pair preached that only through spiritual intervention, burning or even death could these dark spirits be cleansed, the prosecution said.
“[Daybell and Vallow] identified those who stood in the way of their dream… as dark spirits or even zombies,” prosecutor Rob Wood told the trial. “It dehumanised people who stood in their way and were labelled as obstacles.”
The search for Lori Vallow’s 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan and seven-year-old son Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow went on for months. Pic: AP
The first to die was Charles Vallow, Lori Vallow’s fourth husband, who was labelled as “dark” by Daybell. He was shot and killed in July 2019 by his wife’s brother Alex Cox, prosecutors said, though he was never convicted. Charles claimed his wife threatened to kill him and believed she was a god.
Two months after his death, two of Lori Vallow’s five children vanished. The disappearance of her 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan and seven-year-old son Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow sparked a months-long search and grabbed huge media attention across America.
Then Tammy Daybell was found dead on 19 October 2019. At the time it was put down to natural causes, but later examination revealed a cause of death of asphyxiation. Her life insurance was increased to more than $400,000 not long before she died.
Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. Pic: Fremont County Sheriff’s Office
Barely two weeks later, Daybell and Vallow got married and jetted off to Hawaii to celebrate their union. They laughed and danced on the beach. Neither ever contacted police regarding the missing children.
In December the same year, just as Tammy’s body was being exhumed by authorities who were questioning her cause of death, Vallow’s brother Alex Cox was found dead.
Strangers from around the world became transfixed by the search for JJ and Tylee, and the growing questions about Vallow and Daybell’s doomsday beliefs only made the story spread further.
Investigators looked for human remains at Chad Daybell’s residence in Salem, Idaho, in June 2020. Pic: AP
It wasn’t until June 2020 that police found the mutilated remains of the children 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.
Daybell, now 55, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, insurance fraud and grand theft in connection with the deaths of his wife Tammy, JJ and Tylee.
Speaking at the start of the trial in April, prosecutor Rob Wood said Daybell crafted an alternate reality so he could fulfil “his desire for sex, money and power”.
The prosecution argued that Daybell’s beliefs of dark spirits and the apocalypse were an elaborate scheme to remove obstacles and cash in on life insurance.
He described Tammy as a “vivacious, healthy mother” who was “labelled as a dark spirit to be removed”.
The search for Tylee Ryan and Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow. Pic: KSLTV
Jurors heard grim testimony from police who described finding the children’s bodies in Daybell’s yard, and read dozens of phone records and messages between Daybell and Vallow.
The pair said JJ and Tylee were “zombies” and Daybell allegedly told her in one message that there “is a plan being orchestrated for the children”.
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Chad Daybell was arrested and charged
The prosecution said Vallow’s brother Cox was given a “blessing” by Daybell after they were killed. Daybell told Cox he had “assisted us in ways that can never be repaid” and earned a place in their exclusive religious group.
But in other text messages the pair discussed concerns that Cox could be the one to implicate them. Shortly before his death, as Tammy’s body was being exhumed, Cox voiced fears to his wife Zulema that he was going to be “Chad and Lori’s fall guy”, the prosecution said.
Daybell’s lawyer John Prior painted a picture of his client – who denies the killings – as simply a published author with mainstream religious beliefs.
He told jurors that Daybell’s books about the apocalypse were fiction, based on “premonitions” that he had. He would promote his books in order to make a living.
But Vallow was a different story, Prior argued.
Describing her as “very sexual” and “very manipulative”, he said she drew Daybell into an affair and that’s where things started going wrong.
Lori Vallow in a police photo. Pic: Reuters
Prior pointed the finger at Alex Cox, Vallow’s brother, who the court heard killed Vallow’s fourth husband Charles Vallow. “Whenever there was a problem or a threat to Lori Vallow, Alex Cox came to the rescue,” he said.
Cox died in December 2019, aged 51, apparently from natural causes. But the timing of his death – as authorities questioned what happened to Tammy – and the reported presence of the overdose drug Narcan in his system have fuelled speculation.
“Alex Cox is a murderer, and he is not shy about shooting people,” Prior said, noting that Cox had previously killed Charles Vallow and that the two kids were the only witnesses to that shooting.
Cox never faced any charges over any of the deaths.
Prior argued there was not enough evidence to tie Daybell to the deaths of Tammy and the children, or even to prove that Tammy had indeed been killed instead of dying from natural causes.
Daybell’s son Garth testified that his mother had been fatigued and sickly before she died.
Ultimately, the jury found Daybell guilty of the murders of JJ, Tylee and Tammy. Daybell was stoic as the verdicts were read out.
Chad Daybell seen in court during his trial. Pic: AP
In an autobiography published in 2017 – two years before JJ and Tylee went missing – Daybell wrote about his Mormon upbringing and his claimed brushes with death that he claims left him able to communicate with spirits and glimpse the future.
In one, he described jumping from a 60ft-high cliff into water, an experience he said left him “spiritually changed” having “glimpsed another dimension”.
His second alleged near-death experience apparently saw him hit by a giant wave and cut up on jagged rocks by the sea. He claimed to see a tunnel of light and be visited by the spirit of his grandfather.
From then on, he claimed, he could communicate with spirits and see glimpses of the future – including the apocalypse.
He spoke of “destruction and terror” in US cities as a foreign power invaded America, and an earthquake that would tear the land apart.
Cults expert speaks about the trial
Jackie Johnson is a social worker and cult expert who runs the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) which provides information and support for people affected by cults.
While not involved in the trial, she described how charismatic figures like Chad Daybell can draw people in by offering belief systems that resonate with people or offer comfort – to the point that nothing else matters.
Jackie said: “I wonder about Chad Daybell. Part of me perceives him as someone who was very purposeful, it gave him a lot of ego and strength.
“It’s hard to know if he really believes the things that he was teaching people… In any case, he was certainly able to sit back and watch all of the horrific things that happened.”
Convicted in May 2023, Vallow is already serving life in prison for the murders of her children, and conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell.
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 were happy in heaven. She said Tylee and JJ have communicated with her that they are happy after their deaths.
A social media post believed to have been published by the suspect in the killing of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC accuses Israel of “atrocities” against Palestinians.
The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, from Chicago, chanted “free, free Palestine” as he was arrested, footage shows.
The victims, who were attacked as they were leaving an event at a Jewish museum, have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a young couple who were about to be engaged.
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Rodriguez shouted ‘free Palestine’ as he was arrested.
Pic: Katie Kalisher
Sky News has uncovered what is believed to be a statement by the shooting suspect posted at 10pm local time, around an hour after the shooting – suggesting it was scheduled.
The letter, signed with Rodriguez’s name, was dated 20 May 2025.
In the lengthy essay, Rodriguez criticises Israel’s actions in Gaza and attacks the US government’s position.
“The atrocities committed by the Israelis against Palestine defy description and defy quantification,” it says.
“Instead of reading descriptions mostly we watch them unfold on video, sometimes live. After a few months of rapidly mounting death tolls Israel had obliterated the capacity to even continue counting the dead.”
Victims Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. Pic: @yaron_li/X
The statement adds: “Public opinion has shifted against the genocidal apartheid state, and the American government has simply shrugged, they’ll do without public opinion then, criminalize it where they can, suffocate it with bland reassurances that they’re doing all they can to restrain Israel where it cannot criminalize protest outright.”
Rodriguez concludes the statement: “I love you Mom, Dad, baby sis, the rest of my familia, including you, O***** . Free Palestine.”
Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described a UN report accusing Israel of carrying out “genocidal acts” against the Palestinians as biased and antisemitic.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence secretary Yoav Gallant – as well as a senior Hamas commander – for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu has decried what he said were the “false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body”.
Analysis: Trump team will worry about Washington attacker being glorified
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DC shooting: What we know so far
The attack
The couple were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect approached a group of four people and began shooting, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
She said the suspect was seen pacing outside the museum before the shooting.
“After the shooting, the suspect entered the museum and was detained by event security,” Ms Smith said.
“Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offence.”
When he was taken into custody, the suspect began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” Police Chief Smith said.
Suspect believed to have been member of revolutionary socialist group
Rodriguez is believed to have been a member of the Party of Socialism and Liberation, which describes itself as a revolutionary socialist party.
An article in the group’s Liberation paper about a protest outside the home of Chicago’s then mayor Rahm Emanuel in October 2017 features a picture of Rodriguez at the demonstration as well as quotes from him. The protest was not linked to Israel or Gaza. The article was taken down from the paper’s website on Thursday.
Since 2024, Rodriguez has worked as an administrative specialist for the American Osteopathic Association, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The picture on Rodriguez’s LinkedIn
Before that he was an oral history researcher at The HistoryMakers, an online archive developed by Carnegie Mellon University to tell the stories of African Americans.
A profile for Rodriguez on the website says he was born and raised in Chicago and has a BA degree in English from the University of Illinois Chicago.
“He enjoys reading and writing fiction, live music, film, and exploring new places,” the profile says.
Rodriguez is also believed to have donated $500 to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in March 2020, when he was running in the Democratic Party presidential primaries.
Israel began its war against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group stormed across the border on 7 October 2023 and killed 1,200 people, taking 250 hostages.
Since then Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 53,000 people, mostly children, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count.
The war has displaced 90% of Gaza’s population of roughly two million people and left much of the territory in ruins.
Reporting by Samuel Osborne, news reporter, and Sam Doak, OSINT producer
A small plane has crashed into a San Diego neighbourhood in what authorities are calling a “direct hit to multiple homes”.
About 15 homes have caught fire as well as vehicles, and people living in several blocks are being evacuated.
“We have jet fuel all over the place,” assistant fire department chief Dan Eddy told reporters. “Our main goal is to search all these homes and get everybody out right now.”
The fire chief said there had been a “direct hit to multiple homes” as he described it as a “a gigantic debris field”.
Pic: AP
Pic: Reuters
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: AP
Pic: NBC San Diego
It is currently unknown if there have been any deaths or injuries.
Describing the scene “like something from a movie”, Mr Eddy told reporters: “This is a worst-case scenario, right, a plane into homes off of a runway.
“So, as of now though, the best thing that I have for you is that no one has been transported from the scene so far.
“We’ll continue to search to find out where the plane came from, and continue to work on that and give you updates.”
It was said to be foggy at the time the private plane crashed. Mr Eddy said: “You could barely see in front of you.”
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: Forrest Gallagher/NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
Christopher Moore, who lives one street over from the crash site, said he and his wife were awakened by a loud bang and saw smoke when they peered out the window.
As they fled the neighbourhood with their two young children, they spotted a car engulfed in flames.
Mr Moore said: “It was definitely horrifying for sure, but sometimes you’ve just got to drop your head and get to safety.”
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Police rescued three husky puppies from one of the homes, while evacuated families were spotted standing in their pyjamas in a parking lot a few blocks away.
Many military service members live in the neighbourhood, which is made up of single family homes and townhomes. It also is heavily populated by small civilian and military aircraft.
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport and Gillespie Field are nearby.
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
San Diego Police Department (SDPD) confirmed the force is responding to the crash in the neighbourhood of Tierrasanta.
Posting on X, a SDPS spokesperson warned people to avoid the area while emergency crews get to work and urged all those who smell jet fuel or find debris to alert the authorities.
Evacuations are taking place in Salmon Street, Sample Street and Sculpin Street. The southbound Santo Road has also been closed at Aero Drive.
An evacuation site has been set up at Miller Elementary School.
Pic: NBC San Diego
Pic: NBC San Diego
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the Cessna 550 crashed near Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.
In a statement, the agency said: “The number of people on board is unknown at this time.
“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate. The NSTB will lead the investigation and provide any updates.”
The plane can carry six to eight people.
US
Donald Trump ambushes South African president at White House meeting by playing video alleging ‘genocide’
Donald Trump has ambushed South Africa’s president during a White House meeting by playing a video purportedly showing evidence of a “genocide” of white farmers in the African country.
The US president, who was hosting leader Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, said the footage showed the graves of more than a thousand white farmers and “it’s a terrible sight… I’ve never seen anything like it. Those people are all killed”.
After an initial friendly chat where Mr Trump complimented South African golfers in the room, a montage of clips was played as Mr Ramaphosa sat quietly and mostly expressionless. He later said: “I’d like to know where that is because this [the alleged burial site in the video] I’ve never seen”.
Donald Trump met Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office. Pic: AP
The lights were dimmed in the Oval Office as the clips were shown, including of South African officials allegedly calling for violence against white farmers.
The scene in the heart of the White House administration was reminiscent of Mr Trump’s ambush of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February.
But later, as he left after around three hours at the White House, Mr Ramaphosa insisted his meeting with Mr Trump went “very well”.
And he told a news conference: “There is just no genocide in South Africa.”
The White House’s official account on X posted the footage that was shown in the Oval Office, saying it was “proof of persecution in South Africa”.
South Africa has rejected the allegation that white people are disproportionately targeted by crime.
The clips included one of communist politician Julius Malema playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that includes lyrics about killing a farmer.
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Mr Trump accused South Africa of failing to address the killing of white farmers.
“We have many people that feel they’re being persecuted, and they’re coming to the United States. So we take from many… locations, if we feel there’s persecution or genocide going on,” the US president said, referring specifically to white farmers.
He added: “People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they’re being killed.”
Alluding to people in the clips, Mr Trump said: “These are people that are officials and they’re saying… kill the white farmer and take their land.”
The US president then displayed printed copies of news articles that he said showed white South Africans who had been killed, saying “death, death” as he flipped through them.
He added of one article: “Here’s burial sites all over the place, these are all white farmers that are being buried.”
Mr Trump held up news articles. Pic: AP
South African leader rejects allegations
Mr Ramaphosa pushed back against Mr Trump’s accusations, by responding: “What you saw, the speeches that were being made, that is not government policy. We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves, political parties to adhere to various policies.
“And in many cases, or in some cases, those policies do not go along with government policy.
“Our government policy is completely, completely against what he [a person in the video montage] was saying, even in the parliament. And they are a small minority party which is allowed to exist in terms of our constitution.”
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Mr Ramaphosa also said of the behaviour alleged by Mr Trump: “We are completely opposed to that.”
The South African leader said there was crime in his country, and the majority of victims were black. Mr Trump cut him off and said: “The farmers are not black.” The South African president responded: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about.”
Mr Trump and Mr Ramaphosa looked towards a screen where a video was played. Pic: Reuters
The video was shown during the White House meeting. Pic: AP
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In February, Mr Trump issued an executive order which cut all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. He also expelled South Africa’s ambassador and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims which Pretoria says are baseless.
Experts in South Africa have said there is no evidence of white people being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
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