Chad Daybell is sentenced to death for brutal triple murder of his first wife and co-conspirator Lori Vallow’s two young children

‘Doomsday prophet’ Chad Daybell was given the death penalty for killing the two children of his ex-wife and co-conspirator Lori Vallow in a chilling triple murder case that roiled the state of Idaho.

Daybell, 55, was stunned when the Idaho jury unanimously agreed to impose the death penalty on Saturday.

After a nearly two-month trial, he was found guilty of killing Tammy Daybell, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, on Thursday.

Before the jury began deliberating on sentencing, family members made impact statements to the court 12News.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that I have lost everything, but more importantly, we have all lost Tylee and JJ,” said Colby Ryan, brother of Tylee and JJ, Lori’s only living child.

The jury reached a verdict on Thursday in the bizarre and gruesome case of the doomsday author (photo) who was accused of the murder of his ex-wife and her two youngest children.

Last year, Lori Vallow Daybell, pictured here in February 2024, the mother of the deceased children, was given a life sentence without parole for the murders.

“I stand here today motherless, fatherless, sisterless and brotherless.”

Tylee Ryan’s aunt, Annie Cushing, said, “She was intelligent, smart, funny, sarcastic and had the voice of an angel.”

In the summer of 2020, the children’s remains were discovered on Daybell’s property in Fremont County, Idaho.

Police said they believe the bodies were buried by Daybell sometime between September 2019 and June 2020.

Tammy Daybell died in 2019, just weeks before Chad and Lori Vallow’s wedding.

Although her death was initially believed to be from natural causes, her corpse was later exhumed and an autopsy determined that she had asphyxiated.

Daybell and Lori Vallow were indicted in 2021 on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception in the children’s deaths.

The couple faced a handful of additional charges in connection with Tammy’s death.

Last year, Vallow was sentenced to multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.

During his trial, Daybell was accused of creating an alternate reality so he could fulfill “his desire for sex, money and power.”

“When he was given the opportunity for what he considered his rightful destiny, he made sure no person and no law would stand in his way,” prosecutor Rob Wood said.

Prosecutors, who called 67 witnesses during the trial, said the couple justified the three murders by creating an elaborate and apocalyptic belief system, part of an elaborate plan to remove all obstacles to their relationship and obtain money from survivor benefits and life insurance .

Joshua Vallow, 7, left, and Tylee Ryan, 17. They were last seen on September 23, 2019, in Rexburg, Idaho, before their remains were discovered on Daybell’s property nine months later.

Tammy Daybell with a grandchild in a photo from her Facebook page. Tammy Daybell died mysteriously in her sleep in Idaho on October 19, 2019. Her death was initially believed to be from natural causes, but after an autopsy was performed, it was determined that she died of asphyxiation.

Lori Vallow Daybell, center, sits among her attorneys for a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on August 16, 2022. She was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole

In this aerial photo, investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell’s home in Salem, Idaho, on June 9, 2020. They found the remains of Vallow’s two youngest children, JJ and Tylee.

Daybell’s attorney John Prior painted a different picture to jurors. He noted that Chad Daybell was a religious person, but suggested that his belief in things like premonitions was fairly mainstream.

Prior also explained to jurors that Lori Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, had a history of violence. He was previously convicted of assaulting Vallow Daybell’s third husband, and he shot and killed her fourth husband.

“Every time there was a problem with Lori Vallow, Alex Cox came to the rescue,” Prior said in his opening statement.

Daybell’s attorney also argued that his client lived a normal, faith-oriented life before meeting Lori Vallow Daybell, who he said showered Daybell with attention.

His legal team described her as a “beautiful, vibrant person” who drew Daybell into an extramarital relationship.

Daybell’s attorney also said he would present several experts in DNA, forensics and pathology who would testify that it is impossible to determine what caused Tammy Daybell’s death and that there is no DNA of Chad Daybell found near the children’s bodies.