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Judge Steven Boyce, the District Judge for Fremont, Madison & Teton Counties, had announced a life sentence without parole as the punishment in the ‘Idaho Murder’ case to the accused Lori Vallow Daybell on July 31, 2024. This punishment deprives the accused of the ability to receive a conditional release before completing their sentence duration.
After a weeks-long trial from April to mid-May of this year, she was found guilty of being involved in the murder of her children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua Vallow; the murder of her husband Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell, along with being accused of theft of social security payments for her children and plotting for their murders. She was also ordered to pay more than $60,000 as a fine along with a sentence of ten years for the grand theft.
A nationwide search had been launched by the police authorities for her children in Idaho who had gone missing in 2019 while Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had travelled back to Hawaii. FBI, Rexburg Police and Fremont County Sheriff’s Office started their search for the children in the backyard of Chad’s property, where the children’s bodies were unfortunately discovered in September 2019. Court had charged both Chad and Lori Daybell with first-degree murder charges. Yet, the judge had put Lori’s case on hold due to reasons about her being incompetent to stand trial due to her mental health.
The horrific details of the investigation involving the search for the two missing kids in Idaho were described by the Rexburg Police Detective present at the time of the search. The human remains of the bodies were discovered by tracking the movements of Alex Cox, Lori’s brother, using his cellphone data. Where the youngest child’s body was buried in a plastic bag covered in duct tape and the daughter’s body was found nearby.
Extreme Religious Beliefs of Chad & Lori Daybell
Various witnesses had testified and given their statements related to the extreme religious beliefs that both Chad Daybell and Lori Daybell held. Lori even claimed to have communicated with the spirits of her children and Tammy Daybell. The couple believed that ‘zombies’ would possess people and that the only way to save a person from these dark spirits was by killing them. Lori’s friend Melanie Gibb had reported that the former had told her of her children becoming zombies. Police began their search after relatives raised concerns before the authorities regarding the children who were last seen in September 2019.
On the day of the sentence hearing, Judge Steven Boyce allowed the immediate family members Chad Daybell and Tammy Daybell to offer victim impact statements.
