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‘Cult mom’ Lori Vallow Daybell was found fit to stand trial by an Idaho judge on Wednesday after her initial January trial date was postponed pending an evaluation — despite having been assessed in a mental institution for 10 months.
Judge Steven Boyce, district judge for Fremont County in Idaho, wrote earlier on Oct. 6 that the case had been “stayed until it is determined whether Ms. Daybell has jurisdiction to stand trial.”
She was previously declared unfit to stand trial in June 2021 and spent 10 months in the care of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Vallow, 48, was arrested in February 2020 for the September 2019 murder of her children Tylee, 16, and seven-year-old JJ
She was arrested along with her husband, Chad Daybell, who will also face trial for the children’s murders.
In June 2020, Tylee and JJ’s remains were found on the Idaho ranch owned by Chad Daybell, Vallow’s fifth husband.
Vallow had become obsessed with the idea that her children were possessed and had become zombies, and needed to be killed in order to “free” them.
Vallow and Daybell are charged with the murders of both children and Chad Daybell’s former wife, and both pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could carry a death sentence.
Lori Vallow pleaded not guilty to the murder of her children at trial in April
Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, left, and Tylee Ryan, right, were last seen in September 2019. Their bodies were eventually found buried on Chad Daybell’s property after a nine-month search.
Lori Vallow (left) and Chad Daybell (right) are said to have extreme religious beliefs. Detectives believe the couple’s “belief system, lust and greed” also led to the deaths of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow
The case has attracted attention from around the world and appeared to be progressing as planned towards a trial in January.
In September, Judge Boyce banned cameras from the courtroom, fearing the footage could interfere with a fair trial.
Law enforcement in Idaho began an investigation into Vallow and Daybell in November 2019 after extended family members reported that her two youngest children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, were missing.
JJ Vallow was 7 years old at the time and Tylee Ryan was approaching her 17th birthday.
The couple were married just two weeks after his previous wife Tammy passed away unexpectedly.
The children’s bodies were later buried on Chad Daybell’s property in rural eastern Idaho.
Tylee disappeared on September 8, 2019, just days before her 17th birthday. Investigators said her body was burned and dismembered before being buried sometime the next day.
JJ was last seen two weeks later on September 23. His body was wrapped in duct tape and plastic and buried the same day, investigators said.
Chad Daybell, Lori’s fifth husband, is on trial for the children’s murders and charged with the murder of his ex-wife, Tammy.
Lori Vallow sits among her attorneys for a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16
JJ and Tylee are seen smiling and cuddling while standing on a boardwalk for a thermal function in Idaho’s Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 8, 2019, with their uncle Alex Cox. It would be the last time Tylee was seen alive
Lori Vallow Daybell sits in a police car after a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Prosecutors say the pair promoted unusual religious beliefs to further the alleged murder plots.
Vallow’s former husband, who died while the two were estranged, said in divorce papers that she believed she was a divine figure responsible for ushering in the apocalyptic end times.
Daybell wrote doomsday-focused fiction books and recorded podcasts about preparing for the apocalypse.
Friends of the couple told law enforcement investigators that the couple believed humans could be taken over by dark spirits, and that Vallow referred to her children as “zombies,” which was a term they used to describe those who were possessed.