Mom convicted of killing kids in Idaho taken to Arizona in murder conspiracy case

Lori Vallow Daybell. Photo: Madison County Jail

PHOENIX — A woman sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for murdering her two youngest children and another woman is now in an Arizona jail on charges related to another slaying, authorities said Thursday.

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said deputies arrived in Phoenix with Lori Vallow Daybell late Wednesday night.

The sheriff’s office shared video of Vallow Daybell being brought into the jail in a blue jumpsuit. She is then seen in an orange jailhouse uniform before having her mugshot taken.

She is wanted in Arizona to face charges of conspiring to kill her estranged husband as well as her niece’s ex-husband.

In 2019, Vallow Daybell still lived in a Phoenix suburb with her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and then-16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was estranged from her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, at the time, and he had written in divorce filings that she claimed to be a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, that summer. Cox told police he acted in self-defense, and he was never charged. Cox died later that year of what investigators said were natural causes.

Shortly after Charles Vallow died, Vallow Daybell and her kids moved to Idaho. Prosecutors said she made the move to be closer to her then-boyfriend, Chad Daybell, and that together the two plotted to remove any obstacle to their happiness.

Utah man Chad Daybell has also been charged in the murders of the two kids and his late wife. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Over the next several weeks Vallow Daybell’s two children disappeared and Chad Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell, died of what was initially believed to be natural causes. But authorities became suspicious when Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell married just two weeks later, and determined Tammy Daybell had been asphyxiated.

Extended family members had also grown worried about the missing kids, and police launched a multi-state investigation looking for the children. Their bodies were later found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.

Meanwhile, another person connected to the family reported an attempted shooting. Brandon Boudreaux, who had recently divorced Vallow Daybell’s niece, said someone driving a Jeep had shot at him outside his home. The Jeep matched the description of one that had been purchased by Charles Vallow before his death.

The Arizona indictment charges Vallow Daybell with conspiring to kill Charles Vallow and Boudreaux.

Jim Archibald, who represented Vallow Daybell in the Idaho trial, has said he is not representing her in the Arizona case. But, he spoke with public defenders in Phoenix who will assign her an attorney.