Vallow–Daybell doomsday murders

Chad Daybell }} Chad Daybell was born on August 11, 1968, in Provo, Utah, to a Mormon family and grew up in the neighboring city of Springville. He received a B.A. in journalism from Brigham Young University. At various times during and after his studies, he supported himself by working as a gravedigger, then as the cemetery sexton for Springville. After making a deal with a religious press, he started writing full time. which Daybell used to disseminate his beliefs regarding the end times. The press was not initially successful, but eventually found an audience among Mormon preppers who believed the second coming was imminent. In addition to his own work, he published similarly themed works by other authors. Chad became a popular author and speaker in some radical Mormon circles. In a memoir called Living on the Edge of Heaven, he claimed to have had two near-death experiences that allowed him to receive supernatural visions from "beyond the veil". In 2013, he began prophesying there would be earthquakes, war, and destruction in the Americas. In 2015, Chad claimed he heard the "voice" telling him to relocate to Rexburg, Idaho. He and Tammy moved there from Springville that June. Chad said that he had had a vision that Utah would be devastated by an earthquake in 2015. Lori Vallow Daybell • Colby Ryan • Tylee Ryan • Joshua Jaxon "J.J." Vallow}} }} Lori Ryan Daybell, also referred to as Lori Vallow Daybell, was born Lori Cox on June 26, 1973, in Loma Linda, California. She grew up in a Mormon family. Her parents were tax protesters who adhered to sovereign citizen ideology and were in a conflict with the IRS for about two decades. In 1992, at the age of 19, Lori married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended in divorce shortly afterwards. In October 1995, Lori married again and had a son named Colby in 1996, before divorcing in 1998. In 2001, Lori married Joseph Anthony Ryan Jr., who gave his name to Colby. The couple's daughter, Tylee, was born in 2002. Lori and Ryan divorced in 2005, subsequently engaging in a bitter custody battle during which she accused him of sexually assaulting both children. Lori's brother Alex Cox attacked Ryan in 2007, claiming he had been abusive to Lori and the children; Cox served ninety days in jail for the incident. In 2018, Ryan was found dead in his apartment from what was determined to be arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. After Lori's arrest in 2020, and after a recording surfaced in which she mentioned wanting to kill Ryan "like Nephi killed", police reviewed Ryan's death. Nothing was found to suspect foul play. In February 2006, Lori married Leland Charles Anthony Vallow, who commonly went by the name Charles. as the boy's birth parents were unable to care for him. Because of his biological parents' substance abuse, J.J. was born with drugs in his system and spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit. As a baby, he was taken care of for nearly a year by his grandparents, Kay (Charles' sister) and Larry Woodcock, before being adopted by Charles. J.J. was eventually diagnosed with autism. Over the next few years she became increasingly invested in radical religious beliefs, reading books about near-death experiences and listening to podcasts by excommunicated Mormons. In October 2018, together with Melanie Gibb and Zulema Pastenes, whom she had recently befriended, Lori attended a "Preparing a People" event where she met Chad for the first time. Gibb and Pastenes both said that Lori had behaved in a very flirtatious manner with Chad at the conference. Chad claimed to Lori that they had been married in multiple previous lifetimes. They started communicating privately afterwards. beliefs. Lori developed a strong attachment to Chad and his teachings. The two eventually became lovers. On December 5, 2018, Chad and Lori appeared together on the Preparing a People podcast episode "Time to Warrior Up". The two were featured in several other episodes. He and Lori told their followers that they belonged to the "Church of the Firstborn," of which Chad was the leader. The group included Lori's niece, Melani Boudreaux; Gibb; Cox; Lori and Chad's beliefs Reincarnation – a concept which is not accepted by the LDS Church – played a key part in Chad's religious views. According to Chad, past lives were "multiple probations" on Earth. This belief is shared by some Mormon fundamentalist groups who consider that such "probations" are necessary for one to reach exaltation. He and Lori employed a unique "scoring system" for good and evil, assigning every person a rating from "light" to "dark." According to their belief system, "dark" people were possessed by evil spirits. The group often joined in "castings," ceremonies where they would try to cast away evil spirits through prayers and scripture readings. Seven women within the group, including Lori and Zulema Pastenes, called themselves the "seven gatherers" and would do "castings" together, sometimes via Zoom. Chad and Lori also scored people on a "vibration" scale, and deemed those having enough "vibrations" to possess special powers, or to be translated. He told his followers that he was guided by angels and could see hidden truths, while Lori claimed to have direct communications with God and Jesus. Lori came to believe that she was an "exalted goddess" with visionary powers, and that she and Chad were destined to lead the 144,000 people who would survive when the world ended. Journalist Leah Sottile, who wrote When the Moon Turns to Blood about the case, said that Chad and Lori had been active "at the fringes, the far right fringes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and were able to meet due to an "ecosystem of extremism" that exists in those circles. == Murder of Charles Vallow ==

By February 2019, Lori reportedly informed Charles that "she no longer cared about him or J.J." She then vanished for 58 days. According to Charles' filing, Lori had told him that he was possessed by a "dark spirit" called "Ned Schneider," that she was "a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ's Second Coming" which would happen in July 2020, and that she would murder him if he got in the way of her mission. Arizona police detectives later retrieved text messages between Chad, Lori and her brother Alex Cox which referred to Charles as "Ned" or "Hiplos", the names of the "spirit" said to possess him. Lori told members of her religious group that her husband had become a "zombie." Several followers repeatedly joined to pray for Charles' demise. On July 1, 2019, Charles informed Lori that he planned to meet Tammy in person. At that point, Lori and Chad were communicating constantly with burner phones. On July 11, 2019, Charles went to pick up J.J. at Lori's home in Chandler, Arizona early in the morning. Alex Cox was present. An altercation occurred, and Cox shot and killed Charles. Tylee told police that she had grabbed a baseball bat after she heard from her room Charles, Lori and Cox arguing, that Charles had taken the bat away from her, and that she had then run away from the house with J.J. before the shooting. Cox claimed self-defense, alleging that he had retrieved his gun after Charles struck him on the head with the bat. Lori did not call 911; it was later determined that Alex Cox had called it about 45 minutes after Charles was killed. Moments after the shooting, Lori took J.J. to school and stopped on her way at Burger King, then at Walgreens to buy flip-flops. No charges were pressed. A police detective later testified that Lori's behavior that day had been oddly "nonchalant" and that she seemed unaffected by the situation. Zulema Pastenes said that Cox had told her he did not feel bad because he had killed a "zombie." Charles' sons had to find on their own the mortuary where their father's body was. They were left to organise a memorial service, which Lori did not attend. == Disappearances of Tylee and J.J. ==

By the end of August, Lori relocated to Rexburg, Idaho with her children. Alex Cox also moved there. While Lori and her children resided in Rexburg, neighbors noticed J.J.'s erratic behavior as Lori often left him outside without adult supervision for long periods of time. When confronted about this, Lori did not mention that J.J. was autistic but told neighbors that he was "her niece's drug baby." On September 23, J.J. had an unexcused absence from school. The next day, Lori informed Rexburg Elementary School that she would now be homeschooling J.J. In the months that followed her children's disappearances, Lori kept collecting the Social Security Survivor benefits that each received after the death of their respective father. In October 2019, two Venmo payments were made from Tylee's account to her older half-brother, Colby Ryan, with love-expressing messages attached. When Colby later expressed concern towards Tylee via text, he received responses from her cell phone indicating she was safe but too busy to talk. Brandon Boudreaux and Melanie Gibb later said that Lori and Chad were convinced Tylee and J.J. were "possessed" and had become "zombies." Zulema Pastenes testified that Chad had told his followers that J.J. would die soon, only to come back as Colby's son. == Attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux ==

On October 2, 2019, Brandon Boudreaux, the estranged husband of Lori's niece Melani, was shot at from a Jeep while driving home in Gilbert, Arizona. The bullet missed Boudreaux's head by inches. Boudreaux, who had been close to Charles and Lori Vallow's family, recognized the Jeep as a vehicle used by Tylee Ryan. The Jeep drove away, but Boudreaux could give its license plate number to the police who identified it as being registered to Charles Vallow. Melani had become very involved with her aunt's religious activities during 2018 and had insisted that she and her husband buy food stockpiles for the end of the world. Boudreaux said that he had been blindsided by the divorce request, After it became known that Tylee and J.J. were missing, Boudreaux was convinced that Charles' death, the children's disappearance, and the attempt on his life were all connected to Lori's religious group. Melani denied any knowledge of what had happened to the children. He had also searched "how to load ammunition", "ballistic trajectory calculators" and, after the shooting, "man shot in Gilbert." On the day of the shooting, Cox and Lori had communicated several times. Later on, Lori had also made Internet searches about a shooting in Gilbert, Arizona. == Murder of Tammy Daybell ==

In February 2019, Chad told his neighbors, Todd and Alice Gilbert, that he had had a vision that Tammy would die before her 50th birthday. On October 9, 2019, Tammy reported being shot at in her driveway by a masked man with what she thought was a paintball gun. The man pulled the trigger several times, but the gun was apparently unloaded. Police believed this to be a prank but could not identify the man. He said that Tammy had been experiencing low blood pressure, seizures, and negative reactions with homeopathic medicines, though nothing in her medical records supported this. Jason Gwilliam said that he felt Chad was "not crying but trying to cry." According to police reports, Chad Daybell received life insurance payouts after Tammy's death totaling . At some point, Chad and Lori told their followers that Tammy had become a "zombie." It pinged again in the same area ten days later, on the night Tammy died. Police found at Cox's home an AR-15 that resembled the description Tammy had made of the supposed paintball gun. Cox had made several Internet searches about the use of an AR-15 and on how a Grendel round would impact a Dodge Dakota, which was the car the Daybells owned. Prosecutors later said the "paintball gun" spotted by Tammy on October 9 was a real gun, that may have jammed or misfired, and that the shooter was probably Alex Cox. Zulema Pastenes testified that she had been with Lori and her niece Melani to do a "casting" on the night Tammy was attacked in her driveway. At some point during that night, Lori talked with someone on the phone and became very angry, calling the other person "idiot, moron, stupid." After hanging up, she commented: "idiot can't do anything by himself." == Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow’s marriage and flight ==

Chad introduced Lori to his children the day after Tammy's funeral. One week after Tammy's death, he also told Todd and Alice Gilbert that he had found the woman he would marry. Days later, Chad brought Lori to meet the Gilberts. Alice Gilbert described the situation as "awkward," with Chad and Lori laughing and giggling, and being very affectionate to each other, more than Gilbert had seen Chad be with Tammy. Chad also mentioned that Lori "recently had a daughter who had passed away." He also told Samantha that he and Lori had bonded over their recently dead spouses and that Lori had no children, so they would be "empty nesters." Chad and Lori were married in Hawaii on November 5, 2019, two weeks after the death of Tammy, and two months after Tylee and J.J. (not yet known to be missing) were murdered. On November 26, police visited Lori's townhouse in Rexburg for a welfare check on J.J. at the request of his grandmother, Kay Woodcock. A police detective initially found Chad and Alex Cox at Lori's home. Both men acted suspiciously, with Alex Cox (not knowing that it was Kay who had requested the welfare check) claiming that J.J. was with his grandmother and Chad (whom the detective knew was married to Lori) saying that he was a friend of Alex and that he "hardly knew" Lori. Police later reached Lori, who claimed that J.J. was in Arizona with her friend Melanie Gibb. That night, a neighbor observed Lori and Alex Cox packing a truck outside her home. The following day, when the police and FBI arrived to search the house, it was abandoned. Chad's home was also searched by investigators. Lori and Chad returned to Hawaii, where they resided in a gated community in Princeville on the island of Kauai, living off the money Chad had received from Tammy's life insurance. == Investigations and media coverage ==

Prosecutors in Idaho became involved in the case when police requested a warrant for locating the Jeep from which Brandon Boudreaux had been shot at in Arizona. On December 6, 2019, Melanie Gibb contacted the police, revealing that both Lori and Chad had called her separately on November 26 and had asked her to tell police that J.J. was with her. and a connection was made between the investigations in Idaho and those in Arizona. Also on January 26, the Daybells were confronted over the children's disappearance by East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton; they refused to answer questions. == Death of Alex Cox ==

On November 24, 2019, Chad Daybell gave Alex Cox a "patriarchal blessing," which he had no standing to give in the LDS Church, saying that Alex had assisted him and Lori "in ways that can never be repaid." Chad called Alex a prophet and a hero and predicted he would have a future as a "messenger of the Lord." The recording of this "blessing" was later found by investigators on Lori's iCloud account. His death was attributed to blood clots and high blood pressure. The day before his death, Cox had been informed by Lori and Chad that Tammy Daybell's body was going to be exhumed. Zulema Pastenes later testified that Cox had told her he was worried about being Lori and Chad's "fall guy." == Arrests and criminal charges ==

Lori's arrest On February 20, 2020, Lori was arrested in Hawaii by the Kauai Police Department. On March 5, she was extradited back to Idaho. Lori faced charges in Madison County, Idaho, including two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, as well as three misdemeanors. Her bail was initially set at $5 million, Multiple local bond companies were reportedly unwilling to work with her. After Lori's arrest, Chad returned to Idaho. He tried to convince the Gilberts to put their home up for bond to get Lori out of prison, claiming that Jesus had given him this idea. When Alice Gilbert asked him about the children and confronted him on what he had said about Lori's daughter being dead, Chad answered that it was a custody issue. He added at some point that Tylee "didn't like people" and did not like him, using the past tense. Tylee's remains were located in an area the Daybell family called the pet cemetery, as it had been used to bury their cats and dogs. J.J.'s remains were located in a separate area of the property near a pond. As the property was being searched, Chad phoned Lori in jail to warn her about the situation. After police found and began to unearth the bodies, he tried to drive off from the scene, but was chased down and apprehended. He was arrested for obstruction or concealment of evidence. The next day, his bail was set at $1 million. Authorities had decided to search Daybell's property after tracking Alex Cox's cell phone. On September 9, 2019, the day after Tylee's last verifiable sighting, Cox's phone had pinged in the middle of the night at Lori's home, then in the morning at Daybell's home. In the morning of September 23, the day after J.J. was last seen, Cox's phone had again pinged at Daybell's property. The FBI also intercepted a September 9 text conversation between Chad Daybell and his wife, in which Chad told Tammy he had shot a large raccoon after finding it in their backyard that morning, and buried it in their "pet cemetery." Investigators found that suspicious, as raccoons are normally nocturnal animals. This finding was officially confirmed by Rexburg police three days later. Tylee's body was burned, her hands had been cut off, and her bones were fractured in several places, from which forensic examiners deduced that someone had attempted to dismember her. J.J.'s body was wrapped in plastic. Unlike Tylee, he had been buried with great care, under rocks and wooden planks. It was determined that J.J. had been asphyxiated with a plastic bag and duct tape over his mouth. Due to the state of her remains, Tylee's cause of death could not be determined and was ruled a "homicide by unspecified means." Tylee's DNA was found on a pickaxe and a shovel seized at Chad's home. which the media later described as a "doomsday cult." Charges On July 2, 2020, prosecutors dropped two charges against Lori related to desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, and instead charged her with obstruction or concealment of evidence regarding her children's remains. On July 17, in light of the two felony counts against Lori having been dropped, her bond was lowered by Madison County judge Michelle Mallard. The bond was set at $50,000 for each charge, totaling $150,000. It was further noted that Chad would still need to post $1 million in Fremont County to be released from jail. In June 2021, Lori was indicted by a grand jury in Maricopa County, Arizona, on one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the death of Charles Vallow. Police documents read: the evidence shows that Charles' death was a planned event and necessary to prevent Charles and others from confronting Lori about her extreme religious beliefs when he came to town... The death of Charles Vallow was also necessary in order for Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow to marry and fulfill their religious prophecy. In September 2021, Chad Daybell's children issued a statement defending their father's innocence and claiming he had been "fooled in the worst, most deadly way possible" by Lori Vallow. In 2022, Lori was indicted by a grand jury on one count of first-degree premeditated murder related to the attempt on Brandon Boudreaux's life. == Trials ==

Lori and Chad's trials in Idaho A jury trial for the Madison County charges against Lori was initially set for January 25–29, 2021. In December 2021, Lori's attorney Mark Means was disqualified from the case because his representation of both Lori and Chad created a conflict. On April 11, 2022, Lori was deemed competent to stand trial after mental health treatment. On October 6, 2022, after Lori's new defense team filed several motions, Judge Steven W. Boyce issued an order indicating the case was suspended until her competency to stand trial could be determined. On November 16, she was once again found competent. Lori and Chad both pleaded not guilty to all charges in Idaho. Their cases were split in March 2023, at Chad's request. The reasons were that Chad had waived his right to a speedy trial and his attorneys said they needed more time to review DNA evidence. Lori's trial began on April 3, 2023, On April 15, pictures of the children's corpses were shown to jurors and audience. Lori asked to be excused from court that day; this was denied, as the defendant in a felony case must be present at all significant proceedings. Melanie Gibb, Audrey Barattiero (another former friend of Lori's who had also participated in her religious group) and Ian Pawlowski (the husband of Lori's niece Melani) testified about Lori's beliefs and her claims that she could cast out Satan and other evil spirits. Barattiero said that when she grew uncomfortable about Lori's beliefs and decided to dissolve their friendship, Lori threatened to murder her and dispose of her body in trash bags. In the light of the evidence that pointed to Alex Cox's direct involvement in the murders, prosecutors stated that Lori Vallow Daybell had "groomed" and "manipulated" her brother to participate in her crimes. Zulema Pastenes said that Alex was entirely under the influence of Chad and Lori, who had convinced him that he was a reincarnated warrior of God and that "the only reason he had come to Earth was to protect Lori." Prosecutor Rob Wood summed up the evidence that showed Lori had participated in the conspiracy to commit all three murders and reminded the jury how Lori had never reported that her children were missing and had lied to multiple people about their whereabouts. On May 12, 2023, Lori was found guilty of all criminal charges. On July 31, 2023, she received three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for, respectively, the murder of Tylee, the murder of J.J., and the conspiracy to murder Tammy, in addition to fines and restitution for the grand theft charges. Before her sentencing, Lori made her first public statement since her arrest. She said that she had been speaking to Jesus, as well as to her children and to Tammy, and that Tylee, J.J. and Tammy were "happy and extremely busy" in heaven. She also stated, "Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen, suicides happen, fatal side effects from medications happen." On May 30, 2025, Lori's attorney filed a notice of appeal for her 2023 conviction, demanding a new trial. The motions were denied in December. Chad Daybell's trial opened on April 10, 2024. In his opening statement, prosecutor Wood depicted him as a man motivated by "sex, money and power" and craving for significance, who saw his spouse and Lori's children as obstacles to his rightful destiny. Chad's attorney John Prior painted him as a religious man who had been "lured" into adultery by Lori Vallow. Prior's statement also focused on Alex Cox's history of violence and his role as "Lori's protector." On the contrary, three former colleagues of Tammy Daybell said that she seemed healthy and energetic up until the day before her death. During the closing arguments, prosecutor Lindsey Blake summarized the evidence that pointed to Chad's crucial role in coordinating and giving a religious justification to the murders. Prior painted Lori and Alex Cox as the true culprits, stating that Lori had been motivated by greed, that she had manipulated Chad all along and that Chad would likely have been her next victim. It was confirmed that the prosecution would seek the death penalty for Chad. At his sentencing hearing, Chad chose not to present any mitigating evidence. On June 1, 2024, he was sentenced to death. For the insurance fraud charges, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, to run concurrent to death, and to the restitution of $130,000 plus $300,000. Since Chad had been deemed indigent, no fines were added to the insurance fraud sentence. Chad was put on death row at Idaho Maximum Security Institution. On June 5, 2024, Chad's attorneys filed notice of appeal to Idaho Supreme Court asking them to review verdict and death penalty sentence. Lori's trials in Arizona (2025) , where Lori Vallow Daybell stood trial. In November 2023, Lori was extradited to Arizona to face her two conspiracy charges there. She pleaded not guilty to both. In February 2024, her trial was scheduled to begin on August 1 of the same year, though the judge mentioned that it might be moved at a later date due to the amount of evidence to process. In June, Lori's defense team in Arizona filed a motion requesting a delay for the trial. Lori objected and continued to assert her right to a speedy trial. On July 2, the lawyers' request was granted and the trial date was moved to February 24, 2025. In October 2024, Colby Ryan posted on his YouTube channel the recording of a telephone conversation he had had with his mother from her prison. During their exchange, Lori claimed that she received "higher knowledge" directly from Jesus and was on a "divine mission," said that Tylee and J.J. had visited her in spirit, and suggested that Tylee had accidentally killed J.J. and then taken her own life in remorse. Colby commented that his mother was "beyond deceived." Also in October 2024, Lori's attorneys made a request for a competency hearing. One week later, she requested to waive her right to counsel and act as her own attorney. At a December 5, 2024, hearing, Lori was deemed by a doctor to be mentally fit and competent to stand trial. Judge Justin Beresky also granted Lori's request to represent herself. Lori said at the hearing that she had "real trial experience" and had been studying case law since her incarceration. The court decided that the Charles Vallow case and the Brandon Boudreaux case would be tried separately. The judge moved again the trial date for the Charles Vallow conspiracy case, this time to March 31, 2025. Her trial over the murder attempt on Brandon Boudreaux was eventually scheduled to begin in late May. In both Arizona trials, members of the jury had to be unaware of Lori and her previous convictions. Charles Vallow case Lori's trial over Charles' death began on March 31 with jury selection. Lori told jurors that their role was to "protect" her from the state. On April 7, during her opening statement, Lori maintained that Alex Cox had shot Charles in self-defense and announced that she would provide proof of this. She used the phrase "The evidence will show..." over 70 times during her statement. The prosecution said that Lori had conspired to murder Charles so she could access his life insurance policy and marry Chad, that Cox had staged the home to make it look like Charles had attacked him and Lori, and that there was no evidence Cox had been hit with a baseball bat like he claimed. At one point, Lori "aggressively" cross-examined a witness who had gone on a date with Charles the day before he was killed: Lori asked the woman if she went on dates with married men. Adam Cox, Lori's surviving brother, testified for the prosecution, saying that he had "no doubt" Lori had conspired with Alex to murder Charles. When Charles was killed, he and Adam had been planning to confront Lori together about her beliefs. Charles had been hit by two bullets: evidence showed that he was lying on the floor when he was shot the second time. Lori ultimately did not call any witnesses or present evidence, nor did she testify in her own defense. She made a verbal motion for a Rule 20 judgment of acquittal, arguing that no evidence had been presented that would allow a jury to find her guilty. The judge denied her motion. On April 22, 2025, Lori was found guilty of conspiring to murder Charles. After the verdict, she agreed to several aggravating factors. One of the jurors told reporters that Lori hadn't done herself any favors by choosing to represent herself in court: "Many days she was just smiling and laughing and didn’t seem to take anything very seriously." When asked by reporters if she had a message for Lori, Kay Woodcock said, "We gotcha, and you're not the smartest person in the room. Everybody's going to forget about you." On May 1, Lori filed a motion demanding a new trial for the Charles Vallow murder case, claiming that a juror had been aware of her prior murder convictions. She also claimed there had been discovery violations, prosecutorial misconduct, and a lack of impartiality by the court, and that her rights had been violated under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Her motion was denied on May 23. Brandon Boudreaux case After Lori was found guilty of conspiring to murder Charles Vallow, Maricopa County attorney Rachel Mitchell confirmed that despite Lori's multiple convictions, she fully intended to prosecute her for the murder attempt on Brandon Boudreaux, as it was important for Boudreaux "to be able to have his story vindicated." Lori filed a motion to cancel her trial in the Brandon Boudreaux case, claiming that her constitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated. The judge rejected that motion on May 9. During the hearing, Lori argued with Judge Beresky over jury selection and witnesses. After her motion was denied, she demanded that the judge recuse himself, claiming that he demonstrated bias against her by rejecting all her motions. The judge answered that he would grant a motion by Lori if she filed one that had legal merit. On May 28, Lori filed a motion for the judge to recuse himself, alleging "personal bias or prejudice" and religious discrimination against her. Her motion was denied the next day. She filed three motions for recusal against Judge Beresky during the proceedings. Lori's second Arizona trial began on May 29 with jury selection. The next day, jury selection had to be halted On June 2, Lori appeared in court in a wheelchair, saying she was suffering from nausea, chills and headache, and crying loudly. The trial was postponed for two days. On June 4, Lori appeared again in court, not using a wheelchair but insisting that she was still sick. The judge said that based on an examination that showed Lori had no medical condition preventing her from appearing, the trial would proceed. During her opening statement, on June 5, Lori claimed her innocence, disputing that the event was not a crime at all or that a shooting had actually occurred. She discussed the meaning of the word 'conspiracy' by comparing her own case to Judas conspiring against Jesus and Cain against Abel, and stated that she had no malice towards anyone and was "all about spreading love." Brandon Boudreaux took the stand, telling the court that Lori had contributed to the breakup of his marriage and recounting the moment he was shot. Prosecutor Treena Kay showed the evidence, including cellphone location data, that pointed to Lori's involvement in the preparations for the murder. On June 6, Lori cross-examined Boudreaux and the private investigator he had hired after being shot. She cast suspicion on her niece Melani by asking if she had a financial gain at Boudreaux's death. The prosecutor mentioned that Melani was under investigation. Also on June 6, Lori was briefly removed from the courtroom after failing to comply with the court's instructions and disregarding sustained objections. The judge threatened to revoke her self-representation. On June 9, Lori filed a motion to recuse Chief Judge Jennifer Green, who had denied her multiple motions to recuse Judge Beresky. She also filed a motion to "dismiss abuse of discretion." Both were denied. Once again, Lori did not testify in her defense or call witnesses. She instead tried to cast doubt on nearly every piece of evidence, also suggesting that data could have been tampered with. On June 12, Lori was found guilty of conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, after the jury had deliberated for less than 30 minutes. Brandon Boudreaux, standing with Kay Woodcock and Colby Ryan, stated that though facing Lori at the trial had been difficult for him, he had owed it to Charles, Tylee, J.J. and Tammy to speak, "because [he] could." On June 25, Lori filed a motion requesting a new trial, citing her own health condition during the trial and lack of impartiality by the court. On June 26, she granted an interview to East Idaho News, in which she said that she still loved Chad, reaffirmed her innocence, and predicted that she and Chad would be exonerated. Her motion asking for a new trial was denied on July 22. Sentencing Prosecutors requested a life sentence without parole for each case, to run concurrently with the convictions in Idaho. Sentencing for both cases took place on July 25. During her final testimony, Lori claimed that she had been denied a fair trial and said God would set prisoners free. Judge Beresky said Lori had "shown blatant disregard for humanity" and should never be released from prison. Lori was given two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole before 25 years. ==Media depictions==

In 2020, Investigation Discovery released a three-episode documentary series entitled Doomsday: The Missing Children, which contained first-hand accounts of J.J.'s grandparents Larry and Kay Woodcock, Lori's brother Adam Cox, and former KPHO-TV reporter Kim Powell. In 2021, Lifetime released a dramatization of the Lori Vallow story as a made-for-TV film titled Doomsday Mom, also marketed with the subtitle The Lori Vallow Story, starring Lauren Lee Smith as Lori, Marc Blucas as Chad, Linda Purl as Kay, and Patrick Duffy as Larry. In 2022, Netflix released the three-episode documentary series entitled Sins of Our Mother, primarily centered from the perspective of her surviving child and Tylee's older brother, Colby Ryan. The story of the case was the subject of investigative journalist Leah Sottile's 2022 book When the Moon Turns to Blood. == See also ==