Judge enters not guilty plea for mom in children’s deaths

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho — A mother charged with conspiring to kill her children, her estranged husband and a lover’s wife refused to enter a plea to murder and other charges on Tuesday, prompting an Idaho judge to enter a not guilty plea on her behalf.

Lori Vallow Daybell and her new husband, Chad Daybell, were both at the courthouse in the eastern Idaho town of St. Anthony for separate court proceedings: Lori Daybell for an arraignment and Chad Daybell for a hearing over the trial venue.

The couple face numerous charges, including conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of her children 7-yearold Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. Lori Daybell is also charged in Arizona with conspiring to kill her former husband, Charles Vallow, with the help of her now-deceased brother, Alex Cox.

Chad Daybell pleaded not guilty to the charges, but Lori Daybell was deemed mentally incompetent to aid in her own defense and ordered to undergo treatment. Last week, the judge said Daybell had been made competent and the case could go forward.

The courtroom was mostly full, with JJ Vallow’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, in one of the front rows. They wiped away tears as 7th District Judge Steven Boyce read the murder charge related to the boy’s death.

Lori Daybell, wearing a light blue blouse and glasses, opted to stand silent when she was asked to enter a plea to the charges. Boyce, who told her she could face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted, entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.

Investigators say Chad and Lori Day-bell began espousing an unusual, doomsday-focused system of religious belief involving “zombies,” teleportation and communication with other spiritual realms starting in 2018, when both were still married to other people. The Idaho prosecutors say they used their religious beliefs to justify or encourage the murders.

Lori Daybell’s brother Alex Cox shot and killed her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, in suburban Phoenix, according to an indictment in Arizona. At the time, Charles Vallow was seeking a divorce, and wrote in court filings that his wife believed she had become a godlike figure responsible for ushering in the biblical apocalypse.

Cox told police the shooting was in self-defense, and he was never charged. He later died of an apparent blood clot in his lung.

Shortly after Charles Vallow’s death, Lori Daybell — who then had the last name Vallow — and her children moved to the rural eastern Idaho community of Rexburg, near where Chad Daybell lived. At the time, Chad Daybell was married to Tammy Daybell. She died in October 2019.

Though Tammy Daybell’s obituary said her death was from natural causes, authorities grew suspicious when Chad and Lori Daybell married just two weeks later. Investigators had Tammy Daybell’s body exhumed for an autopsy, though authorities have not formally released her cause of death.

Police began searching for Lori Daybell’s youngest two children a few weeks later in November 2019 after relatives raised concerns. The Daybells quickly left town, and they were found months later in Hawaii without the children.

The children’s bodies were eventually found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard back in Idaho.