‘Cult mom’ Lori Vallow sentenced to life in prison for murders of two children and Chad Daybell’s wife

“Cult mom” Lori Vallow will now spend the rest of her life behind bars for the murders of her two youngest children and conspiracy to kill her new husband Chad Daybell’s first wife, bringing some sort of conclusion to the disturbing case that shook America to its core.

The 50-year-old convicted killer – who was once seen to be a loving mother – was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in Fremont County Courthouse in Idaho on Monday after her victims’ devastated family members gave heartwrenching victim impact statements to the court and Vallow herself gave a bizarre statement to the court claiming that her victims were “happy” in heaven.

Vallow was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, back in May.

She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mr Daybell’s first wife Tammy, 49.

Judge Steven Boyce handed down five sentences of life without the possibility of parole for each of the five murder charges.

This marks the harshest possible sentence available after the death penalty was taken off the table ahead of trial.

JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to both authorities and the children’s desperate family members.

One month later, Tammy – an otherwise healthy 49-year-old – also died suddenly. Her death was initially ruled natural causes.

This bizarre spate of disappearances and death came just months after Vallow’s fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by Vallow’s brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019.

With Vallow’s children and both of their spouses then out of the way, she and Mr Daybell embarked on a new life together – flying to Hawaii to get married in a fairytale wedding on the beach.

But, with months passing since the last signs of life of Vallow’s children, concerns continued to grow, prompting authorities to exhume Tammy’s body. A subsequent autopsy revealed that she had died by asphyxiation.

In June 2020 – nine months after they were last seen alive – Tylee and JJ’s remains were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho.

JJ, who had autism, had been smothered with a plastic bag taped over his face, his little body still dressed in a pair of red pyjamas. Tylee’s cause of death meanwhile has been impossible to establish as the teenager’s dismembered, charred bones and body parts were found scattered in the ground on Mr Daybell’s pet cemetery.

Jurors in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, took almost seven hours to find Vallow guilty on all charges over the three murders after a grueling six-week trial where the panel heard harrowing details about the doomsday cult mom’s path of deadly destruction and were shown graphic images of the murdered children’s remains.

The state called over 60 witnesses to lay out its case that Vallow was motivated by both her cult beliefs but also lust for Mr Daybell and financial greed when she conspired with him and her brother Cox to kill the three victims.

In a bombshell move, Vallow’s attorneys declined to present any defence case or call any witnesses and the “cult mom” chose not to take the stand to give her side of the story.

While Vallow will now spend the rest of her life behind bars, her legal troubles are far from over.

Following her sentencing, she is expected to be extradited to Arizona where she is awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to murder her fourth husband Charles Vallow and the attempted murder of her niece’s husband Brandon Boudreaux.

Meanwhile, Mr Daybell is still awaiting trial for the murders of JJ, Tylee and Tammy – with a scheduled trial start date set for 1 April 2024.

But, the third person accused of being a co-conspirator in the case won’t ever have his day in court.

On 11 December 2019 – hours after Tammy’s body was exhumed – Cox died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was ruled natural causes, with indications of a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs. However the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.