International- The murder trial of Idaho mom Lori Vallow started with jury selection on Monday.
- Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell are accused of killing their former spouses and two of her kids.
The long-awaited murder trial for Idaho cult mom Lori Vallow began Monday, garnering national attention with the first day of jury selection.
Lori Vallow and her husband, the apocalyptic novelist Chad Daybell, have been accused by prosecutors of killing their former spouses and Lori Vallow's two children in 2019, before fleeing to vacation in Hawaii, where they were caught.
The complicated web of crimes connected to the couple, as well as Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell's "doomsday" religious beliefs, have developed a widespread following among true crime sleuths and are the subject of the Netflix series "Sins of Our Mother."
The 49-year-old mother of three, who was briefly declared unfit to stand trial before a judge reversed that ruling, appeared in court today as prospective jurors were interviewed by prosecution and defense attorneys. While District Judge Steven Boyce ruled in November that she and Chad Daybell could be tried together, East Idaho News reported, the two will be facing separate trials after the judge granted a motion to split them earlier this month.
Before Lori Vallow's anticipated 8-week-long trial can begin, 12 trial jurors and six alternates must be selected in a process that may take several days to complete, East Idaho News reported.
Lindsey Anne Blake and Rob Wood, prosecutors for the state of Idaho, and Jim Archibald, a defense attorney for Vallow, did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
Deaths of Charles Vallow and Tammy Daybell
Lori Vallow's ex-husband, Charles Vallow, was shot dead by Lori Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, on July 11, 2019. Cox alleged he interrupted a domestic dispute between the couple over visitation of their child, and shot Charles Vallow after he attacked him with a bat.
Following her ex-husband's death — for which she was charged in June 2021 with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in a separate case — Lori Vallow moved from Arizona to Idaho, where she married Chad Daybell.
The pair had been in communication online since 2017 or 2018, while Lori Vallow was still married to her husband, Charles. She began to claim she and Chad Daybell had been "married in a previous life and were meant to be together again," Insider previously reported.
According to court documents, the two believed they had "extraordinary abilities," such as teleportation, and the ability to harm others or conjure natural disasters.
Their marriage began a month after the death of Chad Daybell's wife, Tammy Daybell.
Court documents say Cox also attempted to shoot Tammy Daybell less than two weeks before she died, Fox 10 Pheonix reported. Ten days later, on October 19, 2019, she was found dead in her bedroom in the Daybell family home outside of Rexburg, Idaho, CBS reported.
The coroner initially told the Daybell children it appeared their mother had died of natural causes, CBS reported, but — following the disappearance of Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow in later months — her death was treated as suspicious. Her body was exhumed and an autopsy was performed. Her cause of death has not been revealed publicly, though her children told CBS they had been told by officials it was asphyxiation.
Chad Daybell has since been charged in the case investigating Tammy Daybell's death. The Daybell children believe their father had nothing to do with the death of their mother or Lori Vallow's children, per CBS.
Documents presented in the Netflix series based on her death show that Lori Vallow bought Chad Daybell's wedding ring using her slain former husband's Amazon account while Chad Daybell's wife was still living. The two were wed just 13 days after Chad Daybell attended a memorial service for Tammy Daybell.
The disappearances of Tylee Ryan and J.J.
Lori Vallow's daughter, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan Vallow, and son, 7-year-old Joshua "J.J." Vallow, were last seen in September 2019 and were reported missing that winter by their grandmother after she told police she hadn't seen or heard from them in months.
People close to Lori Vallow told officials she believed her two children, like her ex-husband, were "possessed and had become zombies," Insider previously reported.
On December 12, 2019 — five months after the shooting of Charles Vallow and after the children had been reported missing — Lori Vallow's brother, Cox, was found dead at his home in Arizona, a spokesperson for the Gilbert Police Department, told Insider at the time. His autopsy determined that he died of natural causes, from blood clots and heart failure.
After local authorities found the couple's home empty when conducting a welfare check on Lori Vallow's children on November 26, 2019, police began a months-long search for the couple. The pair were found vacationing at a Hawaiian resort on January 24, 2020, without the children.
Lori Vallow was arrested that February on child-abandonment charges after Idaho authorities said she refused to bring in her missing children.
Following several searches of the Daybell property, the children's remains were located in June 2020, buried in his yard.
A highly anticipated trial
Lori Vallow's trial over charges of conspiracy and murder in connection with the deaths of her two children and Daybell's late wife began Monday. Last month, a judge ruled she will not face the death penalty, even if convicted, CBS reported.
The death penalty still applies to Daybell's case, though his trial has not yet been scheduled.
Both Lori Vallow and Daybell have pleaded not guilty to the murder, conspiracy, and grand theft charges facing them related to the children's and Tammy's deaths.
Lori Vallow is also awaiting trial out of Arizona for her involvement in the shooting death of her former husband.
There is a pending motion that would keep J.J. Vallow's grandparents, who reported the children missing, out of the courtroom. As they're witnesses in the case, they will likely be excluded from hearing testimony under a ruling by the judge released late last month.
During day one of jury selection, 45 prospective jurors were questioned by the defense and prosecution, East Idaho News reported. Seventeen were kept in the jury pool. The court needs 42 previously-vetted jurors to choose from before the defense and prosecution begin eliminating jurors until 18 — 12 trial jurors and six alternates — remain.
Day two of jury selection begins Tuesday.