Lori Vallow could face the death penalty if she is found guilty of murdering her children.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the accused doomsday cult mom if she’s convicted of any of the counts of first degree murder or conspiracy to commit first degree murder, according to a new filing Monday obtained by East Idaho News.
Vallow’s husband, Chad Daybell, will also face the death penalty if convicted.
The murders of JJ Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, were “especially heinous, atrocious, cruel, or manifesting exceptional depravity” and showed “an utter disregard for human life,” according to the filing. Vallow also exhibits “a propensity to commit murder and will probably constitute a continuing threat to society,” making the death penalty an acceptable punishment, prosecutors said.
[ The timeline of mysterious deaths surrounding Lori Vallow ]
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JJ and Tylee were last seen in September 2019 and their bodies were found on Daybell’s property near Rexburg, Idaho, in June 2020. Between the time her children vanished and the time they were found dead, Vallow had disappeared to Hawaii and married Daybell, who she met on a doomsday podcast, in November 2019.
Daybell’s first wife, Tammy, was found dead in October 2019 of what was originally ruled natural causes, despite her family refusing an autopsy. Her body was exhumed last year and the Utah medical examiner announced in February that the autopsy had been completed, but the results have not been made public.
Vallow and Daybell each face multiple counts of first-degree murder of JJ and Tylee and conspiracy to commit murder for Tammy. Daybell has also been charged with Tammy’s murder and Vallow has been indicted for conspiracy to commit murder in Arizona in the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who was fatally shot by her brother, Alex Cox, in July 2019. Cox died in December 2019 from what was ruled a blood clot.
Both have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Vallow’s trial is currently scheduled for October, while Daybell’s is set to begin in January, but prosecutors are pushing to delay Vallow’s so the couple can be tried together.
