Cult mom Lori Vallow ‘hunted money, power and sex’, murder trial hears

Lori Vallow murdered her children as she hunted ‘money, power and sex’ with her husband Chad Daybell, jurors in the doomsday cult mom’s murder trial have heard.

At the start of the cult mom’s murder trial in Boise, Idaho, the court was shown harrowing pictures of the scene where the remains of Vallow’s two children – Tylee Ryan, 16, and JJ Vallow, seven – were found in Salem, Idaho.

The ‘doomsday cult mom allegedly murdered her children after believing the second coming of Christ was imminent and her children were ‘zombies’. 

The 49-year-old is also accused of conspiracy to murder her husband Chad Daybell’s ex-wife Tammy, 49. Daybell – who will also face a separate trial over the killings – was a doomsday ‘prepper’ who forged a reputation through books and talks about the end of the world. 

Tylee’s ‘charred remains’ were discovered in a shallow grave. Investigators also found Tylee’s DNA on a pickaxe and shovel found at Chad Daybell’s property, where the bodies were buried in the yard.

All that was left of Tylee was ‘a mass of bone and tissue’, the court was told. ‘That’s what was left of this beautiful young woman, the defendant’s daughter,’ Fremont country prosecutor Lindsey Blake told the jury.

JJ’s body was found in garbage bags with duct tape around him, including around his head.

Vallow sat emotionless while tragic photos were shown of the ditch where JJ was found. Jurors heard the bodies were found after Vallow referred to her children as ‘dark’ and ‘possessed’.

Blake said Vallow was motivated to by ‘money, power and sex’ to kill JJ, Tylee, and Daybell’s husband’s ex-wife, Tammy Daybell.

‘Lori Vallow Daybell used money, power and sex – or the promise of those things – to get what she wanted. What she wanted was money, power and sex,’ Blake said.

‘It didn’t matter what obstacles she had to remove to get what she wanted.’

Blake said Tylee was a ‘vibrant young woman’ with her ‘whole life ahead of her’. ‘She was just about to enter into adulthood and make her own way in the world,’ Blake said.

She said Tylee would receive social security payments following the death of her father. ‘Tylee had money. Lori wanted it and because of that, Tylee is gone.’

She said JJ was a ‘vibrant, happy-go-lucky’. But caring for JJ, who had autism, required ‘time, effort and energy’.

Caring for JJ ‘took away from the defendant doing what she wanted to do – devoting her time to Chad Daybell,’ said Blake.

After they vanished, Vallow continued to collect benefits to ‘fund her lifestyle’.

Meanwhile, there were ‘no known actions’ by Vallow to find her children. Instead she posed as a ‘likable, energetic’ mom to convince people nothing was wrong.

Daybell and Vallow believed they could rate people ‘light or dark’ and getting ‘rid’ of evil spirits from dark people, jurors heard. They were convinced the second coming of Christ was imminent and only 144,000 people could be saved.

‘She was here on a religious mission to gather the 144,000, so she needed to spend her time and energy there,’ the prosecutor said.

‘What she did on earth no longer counted for her,’ Blake added. Vallow and Daybell used their warped religious ideas to ‘justify’ their actions.

Earlier on Monday, Vallow grinned as the jury was led into  the court house. She had her curled blonde hair down below her shoulders and wore a pair of thick-rimmed glasses and a dark blazer over a white shirt.

She scrawled notes on a pad and exchanged words with her lawyers, John Thomas and Jim Archibold, who were sat either side of her, while the indictment was read.

At points, Vallow smiled while whispering to her legal team. She also looked intently at the jury as Judge Boyce greeted the jurors and warned them of their responsibilities in the case.

Vallow was being closely watched by several relatives of her alleged victims, including JJ’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock.

There was a noticeable tension in the courtroom as nearly 100 people – a mixture of lawyers, officials, security, the public, relatives and media – crammed onto the long wooden benches.  

Her children’s remains were found in shallow graves in the yard of Daybell’s home in Rexburg, Idaho in June 2020. In the months leading up to the grim discovery, Vallow had flatly refused to answer the desperate questions from friends, relatives and law enforcement about Tylee and JJ’s whereabouts.

Her silence triggered nationwide concern and thrust the case into the national spotlight as investigators from several states and the FBI became involved.

Vallow was eventually arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 after she failed to meet a court order that she produce the children. Daybell was arrested after the bodies were found and both were later charged with their murders.

Several other people close to the couple – including Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, and her ex-husband, Charles Vallow – also died in suspicious circumstances in the months and years before the children’s bodies were found.

Vallow and Daybell deny the murders of JJ, Tylee and Tammy Daybell.

Dozens of members of media from across America waiting outside the courthouse on Monday morning from 7am.

Relatives including Charles Vallow’s sister, Kay Woodcock, and her husband, Larry Woodcock, were escorted through the scrum and into the building shortly before proceedings began. The couple were previously carers for JJ – who had autism – before he was adopted by Vallow in 2014.

The Woodcocks were at the forefront of the public campaign to locate the children and demand answers from Vallow.

The judge in the case, Seventh Judicial District Judge Steven Boyce, has already caused controversy by banning cameras in the courtroom. The move has been fiercely criticized by relatives of Vallow’s alleged victims who are otherwise forced to travel hundreds of miles to witness her trial.

Legal experts also say the ban is a threat to open justice.

The court is expected to be packed every day as the media, public and relatives seek a glimpse at the proceedings.

Judge Boyce has also ruled out the death penalty for Vallow if she is convicted – which has angered relatives who say it’s the only appropriate punishment for the murder of her children.