Jury convicts Chad Daybell of killing wife and Vallow’s children
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man was convicted Thursday of killing his wife and his new girlfriend's two youngest kids in a strange triple murder case that included claims of apocalyptic prophesies, zombie children and illicit affairs.
The jury deliberated just six hours before finding Chad Daybell guilty on all counts, capping a case that began in 2019 and spanned at least four states. Daybell, standing and wearing a long-sleeve dress shirt, was stoic as the verdicts were read.
Now jurors will be tasked with deciding if Daybell, 55, should die for the murders of Tammy Daybell, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow. Family members of the victims stayed in the courtroom as the trial's penalty phase began Thursday afternoon.
The childrens' mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on the same conspiracy and murder charges last year. She married Chad Daybell just two weeks after Tammy Daybell was killed.
The case drew widespread media attention, and the judge moved the trial from the rural eastern Idaho community where the killings occurred to Boise, Idaho, in an effort to ensure a fair and impartial jury.
The nearly two-month trial quickly entered the penalty phase, with prosecutors attempting to show that the crimes merit a death sentence because they were especially depraved, heinous or cruel or that they meet one of the other “aggravating factors” detailed in state law. Daybell’s defense, meanwhile, will try to provide the jury with mitigating circumstances that could show the panel a lighter sentence is more appropriate.
The case began in September 2019, when extended family members reported the two children missing and law enforcement officials launched a search that spanned several states. The subsequent investigation took several unexpected turns.
Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell were having an affair when both of their spouses died unexpectedly, investigators said. Vallow Daybell’s husband was shot to death by her brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019; the brother told police it was in self-defense. He was not charged.
Vallow Daybell, her kids JJ and Tylee, and Cox subsequently moved to eastern Idaho to be closer to Daybell, a self-published writer of doomsday-focused fiction loosely based on Mormon teachings.
In October 2019, Tammy Daybell died. Chad Daybell initially told police she was battling an illness and died in her sleep, but an autopsy later determined that she died of asphyxiation. Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell married just two weeks after Tammy Daybell died, surprising family members.
Nearly a year after the children went missing, their remains were found buried on Chad Daybell’s property in eastern Idaho. Investigators later determined both children died in September 2019. Prosecutors say Cox conspired with Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell in all three deaths, but Cox died of natural causes during the investigation and was never charged.
Prosecutors called dozens of witnesses to bolster their claims that Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell conspired to kill the two children and Tammy Daybell because they wanted to get rid of any obstacles to their relationship and to obtain money from survivor benefits and life insurance. Prosecutors say the couple justified the killings by creating an apocalyptic belief system that people could be possessed by evil spirits and turned into “zombies,” and that the only way to save a possessed person’s soul was for the possessed body to die.
Fremont County prosecutor Lindsay Blake said Daybell styled himself a leader of what he called “The Church of the Firstborn” and told Vallow Daybell and others that he could determine if someone had become a “zombie.” Daybell also claimed to be able to determine how close a person was to death by reading what he called their “death percentage,” Blake said.
With these elements, Daybell followed a pattern for each of those who were killed, Blake said.
“They would be labeled as ‘dark’ by Chad Daybell. Their ‘death percentage’ would drop. Then they would have to die,” she said in her closing argument.
Blake also said Daybell manipulated Vallow Daybell and her brother, Cox, into helping with the plan, at times bestowing ‘spiritual blessings’ on Cox and warning Vallow Daybell that the angels were angry because she was at times ignoring him.
Daybell’s defense attorney, John Prior, rejected the prosecution’s descriptions of Daybell’s beliefs. He described Daybell as a traditional member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a deeply religious man who talked about his spiritual beliefs every chance he could get.
Prior said police looked only for things they could use against Daybell rather than the actual facts of the case — and he claimed that the children’s late uncle, Cox, committed the crimes. He noted that Cox had previously killed JJ Vallow’s father in Arizona and that the two children were the only witnesses to that shooting. He also said Cox tried to frame Daybell by burying the slain children in Daybell’s yard in eastern Idaho.
Witnesses for both sides agreed that Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell were having an affair that began well before Tammy Daybell died.
Defense witnesses included Dr. Kathy Raven, a forensic pathologist who reviewed reports from Tammy Daybell’s autopsy and said she believed the cause of death should have been classified as “undetermined.”
JJ Vallow’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, were among those watching Thursday's verdict. Kay Woodcock is the person who initially prompted police to investigate after she asked them to perform a welfare check on JJ in 2019. She’d grown increasingly worried after she said Vallow Daybell started refusing to put JJ on the phone, though the child had previously had frequent video and voice phone calls with the Woodcocks.
UPDATE 2:00 P.M.: Chad Daybell has been found guilty by a jury of killing Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.
COUNT 1 : Criminal Conspiracy against Tylee Ryan : GUILTY
COUNT 2: MURDER 1 of Tylee Ryan: GUILTY
COUNT 3: Criminal Conspiracy against JJ Vallow: GUILTY
COUNT 4: MURDER 1 of JJ Vallow: GUILTY
COUNT 5: Conspiracy to Commit Murder Tammy Daybell: GUILTY
COUNT 6: MURDER 1 of Tammy Daybell: GUILTY
COUNT 7: GRAND THEFT: GUILTY
COUNT 8: INSURANCE FRAUD (Lifemap Assurance Company): GUILTY
COUNT 9: INSURANCE FRAUD (Primerica Life Insurance Company): GUILTY
Court will be in recess for an hour and will return.
UPDATE 1:15 p.m.: A verdict has been reached by the jury in the Chad Daybell case. The verdict will be read at 2 p.m. at the Ada County Courthouse. We will be streaming below.
UPDATE: 11:15 a.m.: The jury returned to the courtroom for a time to get a clarification on a jury instruction. It dealt with a jury instruction regarding count six, which is the first-degree murder charge of Tammy Daybell. Judge Steven Boyce provided additional instruction and dismissed them back to deliberations.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Jury deliberations began Wednesday in the case of an Idaho man charged with murdering his wife and his girlfriend's two youngest children in what prosecutors said was a callous scheme for money, power and sex.
"Three dead bodies … and for what?" prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors in the trial of Chad Daybell. "Money, power and sex — that's what the defendant cared about."
Daybell, 55, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit murder and grand theft in connection with the 2019 deaths of Tammy Daybell, 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if Daybell is convicted.
But Daybell's defense attorney, John Prior, told jurors that there wasn't enough evidence to tie Daybell to the deaths. Prior said police looked only for things they could use against Daybell rather than the actual facts of the case — and he claimed that the children's late uncle, Alex Cox, committed the crimes.
"Alex Cox is a murderer, and he is not shy about shooting people," Prior said, noting that Cox had previously killed JJ Vallow's father in Arizona and that the two kids were the only witnesses to that shooting.
He said Cox later tried to frame Daybell by burying the slain children in Daybell's yard in eastern Idaho.
"Folks, if there is reasonable doubt – and there is reasonable doubt – you must, according to the judge's instructions, return a verdict of not guilty," Prior said.
Last year, the children's mother and Daybell's girlfriend, Lori Vallow Daybell, received a life sentence without parole for the killings.
Prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses to bolster their claims that Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell conspired to kill the two children and Tammy Daybell because they wanted to get rid of any obstacles to their relationship and to obtain money from survivor benefits and life insurance. Prosecutors say the couple justified the killings by creating an apocalyptic belief system that people could be possessed by evil spirits and turned into "zombies," and that the only way to save a possessed person's soul was for the possessed body to die.
Blake said Wednesday that Daybell styled himself a leader of what he called "The Church of the Firstborn" and told Vallow Daybell and others that he could determine if someone had become a "zombie." Daybell also claimed to be able to determine how close a person was to death by reading what he called their "death percentage," Blake said.
With these elements, Daybell followed a pattern for each of those who were killed, Blake said.
"They would be labeled as 'dark' by Chad Daybell. Their 'death percentage' would drop. Then they would have to die," she said.
Blake also said Daybell manipulated Vallow Daybell and her brother, Cox, into helping with the plan, at times bestowing 'spiritual blessings' on Cox and warning Vallow Daybell that the angels were angry because she was at times ignoring him.
Prior rejected the prosecution's descriptions of Daybell's beliefs. He described Daybell as a traditional member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a deeply religious man who talked about his spiritual beliefs every chance he could get.
"Whether you agree with light and dark, it doesn't matter. Whether you believe in death percentages, it doesn't matter," Prior said. "He's entitled to his beliefs."
Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell married just two weeks after Tammy Daybell's death in October 2019, raising suspicion among law enforcement officials. Tammy Daybell's body was later exhumed, and officials say an autopsy showed she died of asphyxiation. Chad Daybell had told officials that Tammy Daybell had been sick, and that she died in her sleep.
Witnesses for both sides agreed that Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell were having an affair that began well before Tammy Daybell died, and that the two young children were missing for months before their remains were found buried in Chad Daybell's backyard.
The case began when Lori Vallow Daybell's then-estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot to death in July 2019 by Cox at his home in a Phoenix, Arizona suburb. Cox told police it was in self-defense and he was never charged.
Vallow Daybell, her kids JJ and Tylee, and Cox subsequently moved to eastern Idaho to be closer to Daybell, a self-published writer of doomsday-focused fiction loosely based on Mormon teachings. Soon, extended family reported the two children missing and law enforcement launched a search that spanned several states.
The children's remains were found nearly a year later, buried on Chad Daybell's property. Investigators later determined the children died in September 2019. Prosecutors say Cox conspired with Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell in all three deaths, but Cox died of natural causes during the investigation and was never charged.
Vallow Daybell's niece, Melani Pawlowski, testified at trial that the couple believed that people could be possessed by evil spirits, rendering them "zombies." Her testimony echoed that of Melanie Gibb, a friend of the couple who said during Vallow Daybell's trial that she heard Vallow Daybell call the two kids "zombies" before they vanished.
Defense witnesses included Dr. Kathy Raven, a forensic pathologist who reviewed reports from Tammy Daybell's autopsy and said she believed the cause of death should have been classified as "undetermined."
Chad Daybell's son, Garth Daybell, told jurors he was home the night his mother died and that he heard no disturbance. He said he later felt like police officers and prosecutors were trying to pressure him to change his story, even threatening him with perjury charges at one point.
Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce told the jury panel that they would be sequestered during deliberations. Jurors deliberated for several hours before ending for the day and were to resume on Thursday.
If jurors find Daybell guilty of the murder or conspiracy charges, then they will be tasked with deciding if the death penalty should be imposed.
