Here’s how MCSO extradited ‘Doomsday Mom’ Lori Vallow Daybell to Phoenix

PHOENIX — “Doomsday Mom” Lori Vallow Daybell was extradited from Idaho to Phoenix this week, a task Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said Thursday required meticulous planning and was purposely kept away from the public eye.

Vallow Daybell, facing charges in two Maricopa County murder cases, was officially arrested late Wednesday night and is being held at the Estrella Jail in Phoenix while awaiting trial.

“We did it very quietly,” Penzone told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Gaydos and Chad Show. “We’re not looking for sensationalism. We’re looking at getting the job done.”

How did MCSO move Vallow Daybell from Idaho to Phoenix?

Typically, MCSO will extradite suspects via airplane, but weather conditions made the process tenuous, according to Penzone.

The sheriff’s office instead sent four deputies to Pocatello on Monday to pick up Vallow, who was found guilty earlier this year in Idaho of killing two of her children and a romantic rival.

The deputies stayed in Idaho for a day before embarking on the 18-hour road trip to Phoenix, Penzone said.

Vallow Daybell wasn’t quiet on the drive back, Penzone added.

“My understanding is she was chatty the whole ride,” Penzone said. “She talked from bell to bell. I don’t know if she slept at any time, but she was very comfortable, according to the deputies.”

Penzone said MCSO does about 250 extraditions annually, but the popularity of the case had his office on high alert.

“They left nothing for chance,” Penzone said. “Nothing for error. Everything was planned out.”

Penzone said he had no contact with Vallow Daybell upon her arrival at the MCSO jail and doesn’t plan to speak with her during her time in Phoenix.

“We have a job to do,” Penzone said. “Me having any conversation or dialogue with her does nothing to further pursuing justice.”

What are the charges against Lori Vallow Daybell in Arizona?

A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Vallow Daybell in 2021 on a charge of conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Police said Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox shot and killed Vallow on July 11, 2019, in Chandler.

A second Valley indictment unsealed in May of this year charged Vallow Daybell with conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, her niece’s ex-husband. Police say Cox shot at Boudreaux in Gilbert on Oct. 2, 2019, but missed.

Cox was never charged and died later that year of what authorities determined were natural causes.

During Vallow Daybell’s initial court appearance, a judge said she would be assigned an attorney before her arraignment, which was scheduled for next Thursday in Phoenix.

What happened in Lori Vallow Daybell’s Idaho case?

In May, Vallow Daybell was found guilty in Idaho of killing her two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, as well as conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, her fifth husband’s previous wife. She was sentenced to life in prison in late July.

The case drew national and international attention due to Vallow Daybell’s bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and that she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse. As a result, the media started calling her the “Doomsday Mom.”

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