Lori Vallow Daybell Found Guilty in Arizona for Plotting to Murder Estranged Husband

On April 22, an Arizona jury found an Idaho mother guilty of conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, who was shot and killed by her late brother, Alex Cox, in Phoenix on July 11, 2019.

At 51 years old, Lori Vallow Daybell is currently serving three consecutive life sentences in Idaho after being convicted of the murders of her two youngest children, Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, aged 7, and Tylee Ryan, aged 16, as well as Tammy Daybell, her current husband’s first wife, Chad Daybell.

Often referred to by the media as the “Doomsday Mom,” Vallow Daybell now faces an additional life sentence due to the death of Charles Vallow.

Treena Kay, a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Maricopa County, argued on behalf of the state that Vallow Daybell and her brother conspired to kill Charles Vallow so that she could collect life insurance proceeds and marry her then-boyfriend, Chad Daybell.

At the time of the shooting, Cox informed law enforcement that he had shot Vallow in self-defense.

All three individuals—Vallow Daybell, Cox, and Chad Daybell—were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Chad Daybell was an Idaho author known for writing several religious novels focused on prophecies and apocalyptic themes.

Vallow Daybell wed Daybell in November 2019. Her brother, Cox, passed away from a blood clot in December 2019, before he could face prosecution. Following this, Vallow Daybell was arrested in Hawaii on February 20, 2020.

Despite not being a licensed attorney, Vallow Daybell entered a plea of not guilty to conspiring to murder Charles Vallow and represented herself throughout the trial, which commenced two weeks ago on March 31 in Maricopa County.

The jury began its deliberations on the afternoon of April 21 and reconvened on April 22.

During her closing arguments, Vallow Daybell restated her earlier assertion from the April 7 opening statement, claiming that her estranged husband’s demise was a family tragedy rather than a crime.

“The state presented an overwhelming amount of evidence in this trial designed to tarnish my reputation and influence you to render a guilty verdict irrespective of the evidence they put forward,” argued Vallow Daybell.

“They failed to demonstrate any agreement to commit murder. Instead, they presented evidence of a family tragedy and its devastating impact on a family shattered by that tragedy.”

Chad Daybell is currently awaiting the death penalty after being sentenced by an Idaho jury for the murders of his wife, Tammy, and Vallow Daybell’s children, whose remains were discovered buried on his property.

“The execution of Charles Vallow is not a family tragedy,” Kay stated to the jurors on April 21. “There is no way to frame the act of shooting a man while he lay on the ground as a family tragedy.”

This report includes contributions from The Associated Press.