Lori Vallow Daybell sentencing updates: 'Doomsday' mom gets life in prison without parole

Lori Vallow Daybell said in court, "No one was murdered in this case."

Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for the killing of two of her children in what prosecutors argued was a doomsday plot.

The judge had previously granted the defense's motion to dismiss the death penalty in the case.

Vallow Daybell, 50, 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, whose remains were found on an Idaho property belonging to her husband, Chad Daybell, following a monthslong search.

She was also found guilty of conspiring to kill her children and her husband's first wife, Tamara Daybell, who died on Oct. 19, 2019, less than a month before Lori and Chad married in Hawaii.


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Vallow Daybell's son: 'I pray for healing'

A statement was read in court on behalf of Vallow Daybell's only surviving child, Colby Ryan.

"Tylee and J.J. brought so much light into this world," Ryan said. "My girls will never have a chance to know them."

"I want them to be remembered for who they were," he said.

"Tylee was sweet and kind, funny and bold," Ryan said, while J.J. was "the most fun, sweet and silly kid I've ever known."

"I pray for healing for everyone involved, including those who took the lives of all the ones we loved," he said.


JJ's grandmother speaks of 'depravity, cruelty and betrayal'

J.J. Vallow’s grandmother, Kay Woodcock, spoke in court Monday about what she called Lori Vallow Daybell's "cruel campaign of terror."

"J.J. and Tylee could have been with us living happy lives," she said as she started to cry.

"Instead she took all that away," she said, calling Vallow Daybell a "monster."

"Today I take the power back by standing here, speaking out loud about all the pain and loss she's caused," Woodcock said.

Woodcock recalled the birth of J.J., who was born premature and with illicit substances in his system. "As soon as I laid my eyes on him I knew he was my grandson," she said.

"He was a champion and oh so very special," she said through tears.

Lori Vallow Daybell and her then-husband, Charles Vallow, later adopted J.J.

Woodcock and her husband would still often visit, and she noted that her "incredibly smart," compassionate and empathetic grandson "had an innate and unbroken attachment to us."

Woodcock, choked up, said, "That same mother murdered that same child she expressed deep appreciation for. It is mind-boggling."

"What did Lori deprive the world of?" she said.

"I will only have the precious memories to cling to," she said through tears.

Lori Vallow Daybell's daughter, Tylee, was 9 when J.J. became her little brother. "She doted on him and J.J. loved every minute of attention," Woodcock said.

Vallow Daybell was found guilty of the first-degree murders of J.J., 7, and Tylee, 16, who were killed in 2019.

J.J.'s "life was expendable to [Vallow Daybell]," Woodcock said. "His materialistic, self-centered mother cruelly and brutally stole his life -- and him from the world. Lori's acts of depravity, cruelty and betrayal have no limits."

When J.J. and Tylee were missing, "fears continued to mount daily," Woodcock said.

When she learned J.J. and Tylee had been "buried like animals" in Chad Daybell's backyard, Woodcock said she let out a "guttural" sound.

"We were destroyed," she said.

Woodcock called Vallow Daybell "a danger to society."

"She is driven by her greed and her need to be the center of attention," she said.

She said she believes Vallow Daybell should be sentenced to life in prison.


Tammy Daybell 'taken from us by murdering thieves'

Vicki Hoban, the aunt of Chad Daybell's wife Tammy Daybell, who died of asphyxiation in 2019 less than one month before Chad and Lori Daybell married, gave a victim impact statement through tears on Monday.

"Tammy was a most excellent person and she led her life with the utmost dignity," Hoban said. "There will be a huge void."

Her niece was "brutally executed in her own bed," Hoban said as she wept, "taken from us by murdering thieves."

Tammy Daybell was "robbed of her entire life," she said, and "all her family robbed of ever seeing her again."

"Heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, unbearable is not a big enough statement," she said. "The most innocent of lives was simply discarded like it meant nothing."

Hoban said Vallow Daybell turned her niece's "home into a cemetery," adding, "Tammy would have been horrified to know what you have done -- and it's broken us as a family."

Chad Daybell is charged with Tammy Daybell's murder and conspiracy to commit murder and pleaded not guilty. Vallow Daybell was found guilty of conspiracy to commit Tammy Daybell's murder.


Tammy Daybell's sister: 'My family has been ripped apart'

Samantha Gwilliam, the sister of Chad Daybell's wife Tammy Daybell, who died of asphyxiation in 2019 less than one month before Chad and Lori Daybell married, took the stand to give a victim impact statement.

Gwilliam testified that Chad Daybell told her that he'd married Vallow Daybell two weeks after her "beloved sister," Tammy Daybell, was buried, and claimed the new couple then told lie after lie.

"Because of you and your desire to get what you want at any cost, my family has been ripped apart. I helped raise Tammy's children and because of you they no longer have their mother or grandmother," Gwilliam said.

Choked up, she said her relationship with Tammy and Chad Daybell's children is "strained and most contact with them is gone" she said.

"Your trial is the last thing my ailing mother had to live through," she said, adding that her death in June "was marred by the fact that Tammy's children chose not to participate in her funeral by fear of causing more drama."

"We blame you and Chad for all the lies you told in ripping apart this family," she said.

"I choose to forget you … I choose to never think of you again," she said.

Gwilliam also read a statement on behalf of her father, Ronald Douglas.

"Tammy's death was unexpected and had a profound impact on all of us," Douglas' statement said, adding "we were barely into our recovery process" when learning that Chad Daybell had remarried weeks later.

"The emotional stress" accelerated Tammy Daybell's mother's declining health, he noted.

"The eternal ramifications of [Vallow Daybell's] actions are yet to be calculated. Lori needs to pay," he said.

Chad Daybell is charged with Tammy Daybell's murder and conspiracy to commit murder and pleaded not guilty. Vallow Daybell was found guilty of conspiracy to commit Tammy Daybell's murder.


Vallow Daybell sentenced to life in prison without parole

Judge Steven Boyce sentenced Lori Vallow Daybell to life in prison without parole.

Boyce mentioned several times that Vallow Daybell "lived a law-abiding life" until this case.

Boyce said Vallow Daybell suffers from mental health issues, adding, "Something radically changed in you that led you to where you are today."

A mother killing her children is the most "unimaginable type of murder," he said.

"You had so many other options. ... You could have found someone to take care of those kids," he said. "You killed those children ... to remove them as obstacles and to profit financially."

The judge noted, although Vallow Daybell was convicted, she in court on Monday denied committing the murders.

The judge said he doesn't think she's shown any remorse for the crimes or for those who searched for her children while they were missing.