'Doomsday mom' Lori Daybell delivers opening statement in her latest murder trial

The trial began Monday for Lori Daybell, the mother convicted of murdering two of her children in a so-called doomsday plot, who is accused of conspiring to also kill her fourth husband.

The 51-year-old is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with the killing of her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, who was fatally shot by her brother in July 2019 during a confrontation at her home in Chandler, Arizona. Her brother, Alex Cox, told police he shot his brother-in-law in self-defense.

In opening statements on Monday, Maricopa County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Treena Kay told jurors they will hear evidence that shows the shooting was not, in fact, self-defense, but a ploy for Lori Daybell to get rid of her fourth husband so that she could get his $1 million life insurance policy and marry her current husband, Chad Daybell.

"As we go through this trial, you'll be provided with phone calls, emails, text messages and hear testimony that lays out the motive for this murder: money and Chad Daybell," Kay said during her opening statement.

Kay said Lori Daybell further invoked their religious beliefs as justification for the murder and gave her brother "religious authority" to kill Vallow, whom she said they believed was possessed by an evil spirit they referred to as "Ned."

Lori Daybell is representing herself in the trial and has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. During her own brief opening statement, she maintained that the evidence will show that the shooting was self-defense, and that she and Vallow had a "happy marriage for 13 years."

"As the state has mentioned, they are alleging that insurance money was my motive," she said. "Spouses having insurance policies is not a crime."

"Self-defense is not a crime," she continued. "A family tragedy is not a crime, it's a tragedy."

Dubbed the "doomsday mom," Lori Daybell was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the 2019 deaths of her children, Joshua "J.J." Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16.

J.J. and Tylee were last seen in September 2019 and, following a monthslong search, their remains were found on an Idaho property belonging to Chad Daybell in June 2020.

She was also found guilty of conspiring to kill her children and her husband's first wife, Tamara Daybell, in the high-profile case.

She and Chad Daybell, the author of religious fiction books, both reportedly adhered to a doomsday ideology. She once claimed she was "a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ's second coming in July 2020" and didn't want anything to do with her family "because she had a more important mission to carry out," according to court documents obtained by ABC News.

Friends have said Lori Daybell's 13-year marriage to Vallow started to deteriorate after she became a fan of Chad Daybell's books, with the two separating in 2019. Their blended family had included Tylee from Lori Daybell's third marriage, and Vallow's nephew J.J., whom they adopted.

Vallow, who was visiting from Texas at the time, was shot after going to Lori Daybell's home to take J.J. to school, Kay said. He was shot twice -- first in the chest, then in the abdomen -- and lay dead on the floor for 47 minutes before Cox called 911, according to Kay.

Kay said the evidence -- and the lack thereof -- will show that Cox staged the home to make it look like Vallow attacked him with a baseball bat, but also said Cox made "mistakes." Those included leaving the bat on the right side of Vallow, who was left-handed, instead of his left, and that there was a lack of physical evidence to show that Cox was hit with the bat before firing the gun, Kay said.

In her opening statement, Lori Daybell told a different version of events in the shooting, at times getting emotional. She told jurors that the evidence will show that Vallow was "screaming" at her because she would not give him his cellphone, and that Tylee came out of her room with a bat "to protect me, her mother, from her stepfather, Charles Vallow."

She claimed that her daughter and Vallow -- whom she said had a strained relationship -- fought over the bat, and that after Tylee fell to the ground, "Charles lifted up the bat to hit Tylee with the bat."

Her brother and Vallow then struggled over the bat, she said.

"The evidence will show that after this struggle on the ground between Charles and Alex, that Charles prevailed with the bat and began to come toward me with the bat as I ran away from him into the kitchen," she said. "Evidence will show that at some point while I was running away from Charles, who is chasing me with the bat, that Alex apparently retrieved his gun."

Lori Daybell noted during her opening statement that the evidence will show that Vallow, a semi-professional baseball player, pitched left-handed but batted right-handed.

The prosecution objected several times to her opening statement, including when she said the evidence will show that Chandler police "treated the incident as self-defense." The judge advised the jurors to disregard that statement.

Police were investigating the shooting when Cox himself died from natural causes months later.

Months before he was killed, Vallow changed his life insurance beneficiary from Lori Daybell to his sister -- unbeknownst to Lori Daybell, Kay said. Following his death, she learned from the insurance company that she was no longer the beneficiary, Kay said. She messaged Chad Daybell that "Ned" probably changed it "before we got rid of him," but that she would still get $4,000 a month from Social Security, Kay said.

"In this text message, Lori tells Chad that it was probably Ned, that evil spirit inhabiting Charles' body, that changed the life insurance policy before they got rid of him -- before they killed him," Kay said.

Lori Daybell is currently serving life in prison without parole after an Idaho jury found her guilty in the murders of J.J. and Tylee.

She has denied murdering her children, saying in court at her sentencing in July 2023: "Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here. … No one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen. Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medications happen."

Chad Daybell was also convicted of murdering the two children, and his first wife, in a separate trial last year. He was sentenced to death and now awaits execution on Idaho's death row.

In Arizona, Lori Daybell is further accused of scheming with her brother to kill Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of her niece.

She will stand trial in that case in Maricopa County following the murder trial. She has pleaded not guilty.

Lori Daybell sought to call Boudreaux as a potential witness during the ongoing trial.

Prior to opening statements on Monday, the judge struck Boudreaux from the witness list, saying he couldn't find that he had any relevant information, and said Boudreaux could remain in the courtroom for the ongoing trial.

The trial is scheduled to run through mid-May.