Lori Vallow Daybell receives additional life sentences in Arizona,
ending legal saga
[July 26, 2025]
By JACQUES BILLEAUD and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
PHOENIX (AP) — Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in prison
Friday on two murder conspiracy convictions in Arizona, marking an end
to a winding legal saga for the mother with doomsday religious beliefs
who claimed people in her life had been possessed by evil spirits.
Vallow Daybell, already serving life sentences in Idaho in the killings
of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, was convicted at
separate trials this spring in Phoenix of conspiring to murder her
estranged husband, Charles Vallow, and her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon
Boudreaux.
Vallow Daybell, who chose to represent herself in both Arizona cases
even though she isn’t a lawyer, used her final testimony to complain
about the legal system and describe her belief that Jesus would free her
from prison.
“If I were accountable for these crimes, I would acknowledge and let you
know how sorry I was,” she said.
Judge says Vallow Daybell should never be released
Judge Justin Beresky said Vallow Daybell has “shown blatant disregard
for humanity,” and he refuted her claim that she didn’t get a fair trial
in Arizona.
“You should never be released from prison,” Beresky said before handing
down the sentence. “Eventually, the camera that you seek out, the media
requests, will lessen over time and you will fade into obscurity.”
Authorities say Vallow Daybell carried out the plots with her brother
Alex Cox, who acknowledged killing Vallow in July 2019 and was
identified by prosecutors as the person who fired at Boudreaux months
later but missed.
Prosecutors said Vallow Daybell conspired to kill Vallow so she could
collect on his $1 million life insurance policy and marry her
then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author of religious novels about
prophecies and the end of the world. They said Boudreaux suspected
Vallow Daybell and Cox were responsible for Vallow’s death.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said the trial was a long but
necessary process to get justice for Vallow, Boudreaux and their
families. Vallow Daybell will return to Idaho “knowing she didn’t get
away with her crimes committed in Maricopa County,” Mitchell told
reporters after the hearing.
Nearly two years ago, Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in an Idaho
prison for killing her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and
16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to murder Daybell’s wife, Tammy.
The children went missing for several months before their bodies were
found buried on Daybell’s property in rural Idaho. Daybell was sentenced
to death for the gruesome murders of his wife, Tylee and JJ.
Victims' family members shed tears during Friday's hearing
Vallow Daybell appeared in court Friday in an orange jail uniform as
family members called her “evil,” “greedy” and a “monster” while
describing their grief. The victims’ family members sat in the jury box,
passing around tissues.
Vallow Daybell’s only surviving child — her adult son Colby Ryan —
described how he “had to fight to stay alive after the pain" of losing
his siblings and Vallow, his stepfather who he referred to as his dad.
Testifying by remote link, Ryan zeroed in on his mother, who has claimed
the Arizona cases were family tragedies that shouldn’t have ended up in
court. “I believe that Lori Vallow herself is the family tragedy,” Ryan
said.
Vallow’s brother, Gerry Vallow, lobbed scathing comments at Vallow
Daybell.
“She wrote her own make-believe story, and she wrote it in blood,” he
said. “And she tried to kill Brandon when he started looking like the
next available dollar sign.”
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In this image taken from video shows Lori Vallow Daybell, left,
speaks to advisory counsel during her sentencing hearing on two
murder conspiracy convictions in Phoenix, AZ., on Friday, July 25,
2025. (AP Photo, Pool)
Charles Vallow was fatally shot in 2019
Vallow filed for divorce four months before he died. He said Vallow
Daybell became infatuated with near-death experiences and claimed to
have lived numerous lives on other planets. He told police she
threatened to kill him and he was concerned for his children.
Vallow was shot when he went to pick up his son at Vallow Daybell's
home outside Phoenix, police said. Vallow Daybell's daughter, Tylee,
told police the sound of yelling woke her up, and she confronted
Vallow with a baseball bat that he managed to take from her. Cox
told police he shot Vallow after he refused to drop the bat and came
after him.
Cox died five months later from a blood clot in his lungs. His
self-defense claim was later called into question, with
investigators saying Cox and Vallow Daybell waited more than 40
minutes before calling 911.
Just before his death, Vallow and his wife’s other brother, Adam
Cox, planned an intervention to try to bring Vallow Daybell back
into the mainstream of their shared faith in the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Adam Cox, a witness for the
prosecution, testified earlier in the trial that his sister told
people Vallow was no longer living and that a zombie was inside her
estranged husband’s body.
Prosecutor Treena Kay said Vallow Daybell twisted religion to
justify her actions and dodged questions from Vallow's sons about
how he died after informing them via text message.
Brandon Boudreaux went into hiding after surviving attack
Almost three months after Vallow died, someone fired a shot at
Boudreaux from an open window of a Jeep as he was driving up to his
home in Gilbert, another Phoenix suburb. It narrowly missed
Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece, Melani
Pawlowski. Pawlowski had been attending religious meetings with her
aunt and suggested to her husband that they stockpile food for the
end of the world, Boudreaux said earlier in the trial.
Boudreaux described in court Friday how the attempt on his life
caused immense stress and made him fear for his family’s safety. His
sisters told the judge that their brother went into hiding with his
children after the attack.
Prosecutors tied the Jeep to Vallow Daybell and said she loaned it
to Cox. The two bought a burner phone used to carry out the attack
and tried to concoct an alibi for Cox to make it seem like he was in
Idaho at the time, prosecutors said.
“No one deserves to live a life of fear and trauma,” Boudreaux said
tearfully. He said he has forgiven Vallow Daybell so he can be a
better person and father but that he wouldn’t feel safe if she had
freedom.
After the sentencing, Boudreaux told reporters he's grateful that
the justice system worked.
___
Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.
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