A look at who’s who in the murder trial of slain kids’ mom

Apr 10, 2023, 10:25 PM

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell glances at the camera during her hearing in Rexburg, Idaho., on March 6,...

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell glances at the camera during her hearing in Rexburg, Idaho., on March 6, 2020. The investigation started roughly 29 months ago with two missing children. It soon grew to encompass five states, four suspected murders and claims of an unusual, doomsday-focused religious beliefs involving "dark spirits" and "zombies." On Monday, April 10, 2023, an Idaho jury will begin the difficult task of deciding the veracity of those claims and others in the triple murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Prosecutors say the mother charged in a triple murder case took part in a complex conspiracy that included unusual spiritual beliefs and efforts to kill those who stood in the way of her goals. Here, a look at the defendants and the first witnesses in the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell:

THE DEFENDANT:

Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, is a beautician by trade, a mother of three, and a wife — five times over. She’s pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges in the deaths of her two youngest kids and her new husband’s previous wife.

Vallow Daybell’s first marriage, to a high school sweetheart when she was just 19, ended quickly. She married again in her early 20s, and had a son named Colby before divorcing. In 2001, Vallow Daybell married again, this time to a man named Joseph Ryan. The couple had a baby girl named Tylee in 2002, but divorced just a few years later. Ryan later died in his home of a suspected heart attack.

Charles Vallow, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, entered the picture several months later. Vallow Daybell joined the LDS church and the pair married in 2006. They later adopted Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow.

But by 2019, that marriage had also soured. Charles Vallow filed for divorce, contending in court papers that Vallow Daybell also believed herself to be a deity tasked with helping to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

The two were estranged but still married when Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles Vallow outside his Phoenix suburban home.

Cox told police the shooting was in self defense, and was never charged in the case. Shortly after Charles’ death, Vallow Daybell moved to eastern Idaho with JJ, Tylee and her brother Cox.

Chad Daybell became her fifth husband on November 5, 2019 — roughly two weeks after his previous wife Tammy Daybell died under suspicious circumstances.

Meanwhile, JJ and Tylee were missing. They were last seen in September, and they were declared missing in November after extended family urged police to investigate. Their bodies were found the following year buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.

CHAD DAYBELL:

Daybell, 54, was also a member of the LDS church and a self-published author who wrote doomsday-focused fiction loosely based on church teachings. He married Tammy Daybell in 1990, and they had five kids.

Prosecutors say he met Vallow Daybell at a conference in Utah in 2018. The two purportedly felt an “instant connection” and claimed they had been married to each other in a past life, according to police records. Friends of the couple told investigators that the pair shared the same unusual beliefs, including that they could tell if someone had been taken over by an evil spirit.

Chad and Lori led a group of friends in trying to cast out the supposed evil spirits by praying and doing “energy work,” prosecutors said. Friends told police that in some cases they determined a person had become a “zombie,” fully controlled by the evil spirit. Vallow Daybell claimed the only way to get rid of a “zombie” was to destroy the person’s body, prosecutors say, and one friend told police she heard Vallow Daybell call the children zombies before they disappeared.

Tammy Daybell was initially described as having died in her sleep of natural causes. But an autopsy showed she was asphyxiated to death, Prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors on Monday.

Chad Daybell is also charged in the triple murder case. Like Vallow Daybell, he has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. He is expected to stand trial several months from now.

KAY WOODCOCK:

Woodcock is JJ’s grandmother, and she convinced Idaho police to check up on JJ after her normally regular phone calls and visits with the boy dried up. That “welfare check” in November of 2019 revealed that both kids were missing.

JJ’s father, Charles Vallow, is actually Woodcock’s brother: He adopted JJ as a baby because JJ’s biological parents — including Woodcock’s son — were unable to care for the child.

Woodcock was the first witness called to the stand on Monday. She told jurors that JJ was born with some disabilities and was diagnosed with autism. After Charles died, Woodcock feared Vallow Daybell no longer wanted the boy. She was also worried that JJ may had witnessed his father’s death.

“We were so worried about JJ, and did he see what happened to his dad,” Woodcock told jurors.

BRANDON BOUDREAUX AND MELANI PAWLOWSKI:

Melani Pawlowski is Vallow Daybell’s niece, and was previously married to Brandon Boudreaux, another witness to testify during the trial on Monday.

The couple was very close to Lori and Charles Vallow, Boudreaux said, even living with the Vallow family for a time. Boudreaux baptized Tylee into the LDS church when she was 8 years old, and the families spent many holidays together.

Melani aspired to be like her aunt, Boudreaux said. The two began attending religious meetings together in 2018, Boudreaux said, and soon Melani was insisting on visiting the LDS temple on a near-daily basis and arguing that they should spend $10,000 on food stockpiles for the end of the world.

In 2019 — after 10 years of marriage — the couple divorced. Boudreaux had only been living in his new rental home for two days in October of that year when someone driving a Jeep Wrangler shot at him outside the home. The bullet shattered a window but missed Boudreaux. He told police the vehicle looked just like one Charles Vallow had given Tylee.

Police were not yet investigating Tylee’s disappearance, but they would later reveal that she was last seen in early September — nearly a month before the shooting attempt on Boudreaux.

Prosecutors told the judge that they intend to prove the shooting attempt was part of a conspiracy advanced by Vallow Daybell — that if Boudreaux died, Vallow Daybell would have access to his money through her niece, Melani.

United States News

FILE - Mohamed, a 19-year-old fleeing political persecution in the northwest African country of Mau...

Associated Press

New York City sues 30 counties over ‘xenophobic’ orders banning migrant relocations

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City sued nearly half the state’s counties Wednesday over their attempts to keep out international migrants, the latest escalation in an ongoing battle between city officials and local leaders. The suit, filed in state court Wednesday, accuses at least 30 New York counties of seeking to “wall off their […]

16 hours ago

FILE - This screengrab shows the arrest in Raleigh, N.C., of Darryl Tyree Williams, who died after ...

Associated Press

Autopsy finds North Carolina man died of ‘sudden cardiac arrest’ during police confrontation

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A man who died after police officers in North Carolina’s capital city repeatedly used stun guns on him died from “sudden cardiac arrest” related to cocaine intoxication and the police confrontation, according to the state’s autopsy released on Wednesday. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also labeled the Jan. 17 […]

16 hours ago

The sun rises over a hazy New York City skyline as seen from Jersey City, N.J., Wednesday, June 7, ...

Associated Press

AP PHOTOS: From NYC’s skyline to Washington DC’s monuments, wildfire haze envelopes familiar sites

As firefighters in Canada battled hundreds of wildfires, the smoke spreading south engulfed New York City, Washington D.C. and beyond in a yellowish haze on Wednesday as people, many wearing masks, passed by familiar landmarks obscured by the smoky fog. The New York City skyline could barely be seen across the Hudson River from New […]

16 hours ago

In this photo provided by Michael Pierson, an unusually large group of killer whales was spotted of...

Associated Press

In unusual orca sighting, tour spots at least 20 killer whales off San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An uncommonly large grouping of orcas for Northern California — roughly two dozen killer whales — were spotted off by a whale watching tour the coast of San Francisco last month, likely gathered together to celebrate a successful hunt for sea lions or seals. “I screamed ‘orca!’” recalled Michael Pierson, a […]

16 hours ago

Associated Press

Workers at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan’s Union Square vote to unionize, continuing trend

NEW YORK (AP) — Workers at the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan’s Union Square, one of the retail chain’s signature stores and home to its corporate offices, have voted to unionize. They join employees at a handful of other Barnes & Noble stores in the Northeast who have affiliated with unions in recent weeks, following […]

16 hours ago

Associated Press

Ohio: Charity settles false claims to help those impacted by train derailment

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Thousands of dollars raised by a charity that falsely claimed it would help residents affected by a train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border earlier this year will be turned over to a food bank serving the area, Ohio’s attorney general announced Wednesday. The Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine spilled hazardous […]

16 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

5 mental health myths you didn’t know were made up

Helping individuals understand mental health diagnoses like obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder or generalized anxiety disorder isn’t always an easy undertaking. After all, our society tends to spread misconceptions about mental health like wildfire. This is why being mindful about how we talk about mental health is so important. We can either perpetuate misinformation about already […]

...

re:vitalize

Why drug-free weight loss still matters

Wanting to lose weight is a common goal for many people as they progress throughout life, but choosing between a holistic approach or to take medicine can be a tough decision.

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...

Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.

A look at who’s who in the murder trial of slain kids’ mom