Watch: Lori Vallow Daybell is sentenced for killing her children in ‘zombie’ murders

The sentencing hearing for Lori Vallow Daybell began in Idaho at 9 a.m. MT (11 a.m. ET) Monday, as she faces punishment for murdering two of her children and conspiring to murder a romantic rival — crimes of which she was found guilty in May.

Vallow Daybell, 50, faces a punishment ranging up to life in prison without parole. The sentencing hearing is being livestreamed from the Fremont County Courthouse — you can watch video of the hearing below (The court returned from a 30-minute recess just after 1:30 p.m. ET).

The lengthy trial was full of strange and shocking moments. Prosecutors say Vallow Daybell was motivated by arcane religious beliefs about “dark energy” and the “end times,” and by her desire to pursue a life with her new husband, Chad Daybell — including conspiring to kill his late wife.

The sentencing hearing includes four main phases: five victim impact statements; the prosecution’s sentencing recommendation; the defense’s sentencing recommendation; and the chance for Vallow to address the court.

“Ms. Vallow may speak,” her defense team said in court on Monday.

Judge Steven Boyce will hand down his sentence after the court heard victim impact statements from relatives of Tylee Ryan and Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow, Vallow Daybell’s children, whose bodies were found in 2020; and from relatives of Tammy Daybell, the previous wife of Chad Daybell — who also faces charges in all three deaths.

Thomas urged Boyce to impose on his client a 20-year fixed term with an “indeterminate” life sentence.

Prosecutor Rob Wood asked for the maximum sentence — several fixed life terms without the possibility of parole — saying Vallow Daybell had betrayed her children’s trust in a horrific manner.

The children’s bodies were found in 2020

A jury found Vallow Daybell guilty of killing her two youngest children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow. Tylee was nearly 17 when she and JJ, 7, were last seen alive in September 2019. The children’s bodies were found in June 2020, buried on property in Rexburg, Idaho, owned by Chad Daybell.

Even before the remains were found, Vallow Daybell was charged with felony desertion of a child and obstruction. Prosecutors said she didn’t report her children missing so she could keep collecting benefit payments.

Vallow Daybell was also found guilty of conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell, Chad’s then-wife, who was found dead in her home in October 2019 — less than one month before he and Vallow got married in Hawaii. He is Vallow Daybell’s fifth husband.

‘Zombie’ beliefs arose during trial

In court documents, Vallow Daybell’s close friend Melanie Gibb described hearing her say that Tylee had become a zombie — a concept Vallow Daybell had picked up from Daybell.

Gibb said she heard Vallow Daybell call Tylee a zombie after Tylee had refused to babysit JJ — to which Tylee replied, “Not me, mom,” according to a police affidavit. Gibb said Vallow Daybell later concluded that JJ had also become a zombie.

Prosecutors also said Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell portrayed themselves as religious figures called “James and Elaina.” And they purported to be able to “rate” people, detecting whether they might be under the thrall of an evil spirit’s dark energy.

Tammy Daybell’s family speaks out

In a victim impact statement, Samantha Gwilliam, Tammy Daybell’s sister, said her family has been “ripped apart,” thrust into grief, suspicion and sadness by Tammy’s unexpected death at 49. It deepened, she said, when the family learned Chad Daybell was remarrying just weeks later, in a Hawaii ceremony with Lori Vallow.

The more she learned about Vallow, Gwilliam said, she found only “lies” — from Vallow Daybell’s claim that her most recent husband had died of a heart attack to her saying she and Chad would be “empty nesters,” with no young children.

It was only when Tammy Daybell was disinterred and an autopsy was performed, Gwilliam said, that the family began to “get some answers and some truth, after so many lies.” That truth, she added, was that Tammy Daybell was both an obstacle for Vallow Daybell and a way to profit from her death, through an insurance policy.

Weeping in court, Gwilliam described how her family’s relationships with Chad and Tammy Daybell’s children has become strained. She also read a statement from Tammy’s father, recounting the toll Vallow Daybell’s actions took on his wife, who died earlier this year.

At one point, Gwilliam compared her sister, a librarian and educator, to Vallow Daybell.

“Because of the choices you made, my family lost a beloved mother, sister, aunt and daughter. She is irreplaceable,” she said. “She was 1,000 times the woman you will ever dream of being.”

Defense team says Vallow Daybell is ‘misunderstood’

“I think Lori Daybell is probably the most hated person in America right now,” said Bonneville County Public Defender John Thomas, who is one of Vallow Daybell’s attorneys.

But, he said, she is a “very misunderstood person” who is truly “about love” and has been defined by complicated circumstances.

He asked the judge to use his sentence to impart a sense of “hope” that would both punish Vallow Daybell and encourage her to become a model inmate and grow as a person and become “a better version of Lori Daybell.”

Thomas urged Boyce to impose on his client a 20-year fixed term with an “indeterminate” life sentence, and make her eligible for parole when she is in her 70s.

The case depicted a love affair that turned deadly

Prosecutors say Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell’s relationship was entwined in a deadly criminal conspiracy they sought to justify with fantastical beliefs. Rather than simply starting a new life together after they met in October 2018, the prosecution said, the couple plotted to kill their closest relatives and benefit from their deaths through insurance payouts and Social Security benefits.

Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney, James Archibald, has said his client was in the thrall of a man she sees as a messiah and her eternal soulmate. He has also argued that the prosecution has produced little direct evidence to tie Vallow Daybell to her children’s deaths.

Other criminal cases are still pending

Chad Daybell is expected to undergo his own murder trial for the same three deaths in the spring of 2024.

Other criminal cases are also pending for Vallow Daybell in Arizona, where she previously lived.

She’s under indictment there on conspiracy murder charges for allegedly arranging for one of her brothers to shoot and kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in July 2019. That brother, Alex Cox, died in December 2019, of what was determined to be natural causes. She’s also accused of conspiring with Alex to murder her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, who was shot at in 2019 but who survived.