Mom convicted of killing kids in Idaho taken to Arizona in murder conspiracy case

PHOENIX — A woman has been sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for the murders of her two youngest children and another woman is now in an Arizona prison on charges of another killing, authorities said Thursday.

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said deputies arrived in Phoenix late Wednesday night with Lori Vallow Daybell.

The sheriff’s office shared a video of Vallow Daybell being brought into the jail wearing a blue jumpsuit. She is next seen wearing an orange prison uniform before her mugshot is taken.

She is wanted in Arizona on charges of conspiring to kill her estranged husband and her niece’s ex-husband.

In 2019, Vallow Daybell was still living in suburban Phoenix with her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and then 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was estranged from her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, at the time, and he had written in divorce filings that she claimed to be a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

Charles Vallow was shot and killed that summer by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox. Cox told police he acted in self-defense, but no charges were ever filed against him. Cox died later that year of what investigators said was natural causes.

Shortly after Charles Vallow died, Vallow Daybell and her children moved to Idaho. Prosecutors said she made the move to get closer to her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, and that the two made plans together to remove any obstacle to their happiness.

Chad Daybell has also been charged with the murders of the two children and his late wife. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

In the following weeks, Vallow Daybell’s two children disappeared and Chad Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell, died of what was initially believed to be a natural death. But authorities became suspicious when Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell married just two weeks later and determined that Tammy Daybell had been asphyxiated.

Extended family members had also become concerned about the missing children, and police launched a multi-state investigation in search of the children. Their bodies were later found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.

Meanwhile, another person associated with the family reported an attempted shooting. Brandon Boudreaux, who had recently separated from Vallow Daybell’s niece, said someone driving a Jeep shot at him outside his home. The Jeep matched the description of a Jeep purchased by Charles Vallow before his death.

The Arizona indictment charges Vallow Daybell with conspiring to kill Charles Vallow and Boudreaux.

Jim Archibald, who represented Vallow Daybell in the Idaho trial, has said he is not representing her in the Arizona case. But he spoke to public defenders in Phoenix, who will assign her an attorney.