Chad Daybell, the self-proclaimed “Doomsday prophet,” was given the death penalty for killing his ex-wife and co-conspirator Lori Vallow’s two children in a chilling triple murder case that rattled the state of Idaho. Daybell, 55, remained stone-faced as the sentence was handed down on Saturday, with the Idaho jury unanimously agreeing on imposing the death penalty.
After a nearly two-month trial, Daybell was found guilty on Thursday of killing Tammy Daybell, Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16. He declined to make a statement after becoming the ninth person on Idaho’s death row.
Before the jury began deliberating on sentencing, family members gave impact statements to the court, reported 12News. Colby Ryan, Tylee and JJ’s brother and Lori’s only living child, said, “It’s not an overstatement to say that I lost everything, but more importantly we all lost Tylee and JJ. I stand here today motherless, fatherless, sisterless and brotherless.”
Tylee Ryan’s aunt, Annie Cushing, described her as “intelligent, clever, funny, sarcastic and had the voice of an angel.”
During the summer of 2020, the remains of the children were discovered on Daybell’s Fremont County, Idaho property. Police believe the bodies were buried by Daybell sometime between September of 2019 and June of 2020. Tammy Daybell died in 2019, mere weeks ahead of Chad and Lori Vallow’s wedding. Though her death was initially believed to be due to natural causes, her corpse was later exhumed and, following an autopsy, it was determined that she had been suffocated to death.
Daybell and Lori Vallow were indicted in 2021 on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and grand theft by deception in the children’s deaths. The pair were slapped with a handful of additional charges relating to Tammy’s death. Last year, Vallow was convicted and handed a sentence of multiple life sentences behind bars without the possibility of parole.
During his trial, Daybell was accused of crafting an alternate reality so that he could fulfill “his desire for sex, money and power.” Prosecutor Rob Wood said, “When he had a chance at what he considered his rightful destiny, he made sure no person and no law would stand in his way.”
Prosecutors, who called 67 witnesses throughout the trial, said the couple justified the three killings by creating a detailed and apocalyptic belief system, part of an elaborate scheme to eliminate any obstacles to their relationship and to obtain money from survivor benefits and life insurance.
Daybell’s defense attorney John Prior presented a different picture to jurors, noting that Chad Daybell was a religious person but suggested that his belief in things like premonitions were fairly mainstream. Prior also explained to jurors that Lori Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, had a violent history, having previously been convicted of attacking Vallow Daybell’s third husband and shooting and killing her fourth husband.
Daybell’s attorney argued that his client lived a normal, faith-focused life before he met Lori Vallow Daybell, who he said showered Daybell with attention. His legal team described her as a “beautiful, vivacious person” who drew Daybell into an extramarital relationship. They also said he would present several experts in DNA, forensics and pathology who would testify that it’s impossible to determine what caused Tammy Daybell’s death and that none of Chad Daybell’s DNA was found with the children’s bodies.
