{"id":27865,"date":"2024-05-30T22:21:40","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T03:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=27865"},"modified":"2024-05-30T22:21:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T03:21:47","slug":"doomsday-plot-idaho-jury-convicts-chad-daybell-of-killing-wife-and-girlfriends-2-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=27865","title":{"rendered":"Doomsday plot: Idaho jury convicts Chad Daybell of killing wife and girlfriend\u2019s 2 children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BOISE, Idaho (AP) \u2014 An Idaho man was convicted Thursday of killing his wife and his new girlfriend\u2019s two youngest kids in a strange triple murder case<\/a> that included claims of apocalyptic prophesies, zombie children and illicit affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jurors deliberated just six hours before finding Chad Daybell guilty, capping a case that began in 2019 and spanned at least four states. Daybell, standing and wearing a long-sleeve dress shirt, was stoic as the verdicts were read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now jurors will be tasked with deciding if Daybell, 55, should die for the murders of Tammy Daybell, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua \u201cJJ\u201d Vallow. The nearly two-month trial\u2019s penalty phase resumes Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything was addressed, every item was \u2018guilty,\u2019 and for that, I\u2019m happy,\u201d JJ\u2019s grandfather Larry Woodcock told The Associated Press. \u201cI\u2019m still sad for the loss \u2014 there were four lives lost in this for no purpose, no reason \u2014 but my wife and I are just so satisfied with the verdict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AP correspondent Ed Donahue reports on a verdict in an Idaho triple murder trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The childrens\u2019 mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, was sentenced to life in prison without parole<\/a> on the same conspiracy and murder charges last year. She married Chad Daybell just two weeks after Tammy Daybell was killed. She\u2019s now awaiting trial in Arizona, charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Charles Vallow was JJ\u2019s father.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge in the case has issued a gag order prohibiting attorneys on both sides from talking to the media until the trial is complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case drew widespread media attention, and the judge moved the trial from the rural Idaho community where the killings occurred to Boise in an effort to ensure a fair and impartial jury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the penalty phase, prosecutors will attempt to show that the crimes merit a death sentence because they were especially depraved, heinous or cruel or that they meet one of other \u201caggravating factors\u201d detailed in state law. Daybell\u2019s defense, meanwhile, will try to provide the jury with mitigating circumstances to show a lighter sentence is more appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation began five years ago, after JJ\u2019s grandparents Kay and Larry Woodcock became concerned that Vallow Daybell was refusing to let them have phone calls with the boy. Though they lived in different states, JJ and his grandparents had always been close, sharing regular video calls since he was about three years old. JJ was very bright and also autistic, Larry Woodcock said, and whenever he ran out of things to say he\u2019d tell them, \u201cMawmaw, Pawpaw, I don\u2019t know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the last couple of years of his life, he was developing his wit and his personality. If there\u2019s anything that I miss, it\u2019s his wit,\u201d Larry Woodcock said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a day that goes by now that my wife and I don\u2019t turn to each other and say, \u2018Mawmaw, I don\u2019t know,\u2019 or \u2018Pawpaw, I don\u2019t know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Kay Woodcock asked police to check on the child<\/a>. Investigators soon realized both children were missing, and a multistate search ensued. The investigation soon took several unexpected turns<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell were having an affair when both of their spouses died unexpectedly, investigators said. Vallow Daybell\u2019s husband, Charles, was shot to death by her brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019; the brother told police it was in self-defense. He was not charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vallow Daybell, her kids JJ and Tylee, and Cox subsequently moved to eastern Idaho to be closer to Daybell, a self-published writer of doomsday-focused fiction loosely based on Mormon teachings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2019, Tammy Daybell died. Chad Daybell initially told police she was battling an illness and died in her sleep, but an autopsy later determined that she died of asphyxiation. Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell married just two weeks after Tammy Daybell\u2019s death, surprising family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly a year after the children went missing, their remains were found buried on Chad Daybell\u2019s property in eastern Idaho. Investigators determined both children died in September 2019. Prosecutors say Cox conspired with Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell in all three deaths, but Cox died of natural causes during the investigation and was never charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors called dozens of witnesses to bolster their claims that Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell conspired to kill the children and Tammy Daybell because they wanted to get rid of any obstacles to their relationship and obtain money from survivor benefits and life insurance. Prosecutors say the couple justified the killings by creating an apocalyptic belief system that people could be possessed by evil spirits and turned into \u201czombies,\u201d and that the only way to save a possessed person\u2019s soul was for the possessed body to die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fremont County prosecutor Lindsay Blake said Daybell styled himself a leader of what he called \u201cThe Church of the Firstborn\u201d and told Vallow Daybell and others that he could determine if someone had become a \u201czombie.\u201d Daybell also claimed to be able to determine how close a person was to death by reading what he called their \u201cdeath percentage,\u201d Blake said during closing arguments on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these elements, Daybell followed a pattern for each of those who were killed, Blake said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey would be labeled as \u2018dark\u2019 by Chad Daybell. Their \u2018death percentage\u2019 would drop. Then they would have to die,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blake also said Daybell manipulated Vallow Daybell and her brother, Cox, into helping with the plan, at times bestowing \u2018spiritual blessings\u2019 on Cox and warning Vallow Daybell that the angels were angry because she was at times ignoring him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daybell\u2019s defense attorney, John Prior, rejected the prosecution\u2019s descriptions of Daybell\u2019s beliefs. He described Daybell as a traditional member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a deeply religious man who talked about his spiritual beliefs every chance he could get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior said police looked only for things they could use against Daybell rather than the actual facts of the case \u2014 and he claimed that the children\u2019s late uncle, Cox, committed the crimes. He noted that Cox had killed JJ Vallow\u2019s father in Arizona and that the two children were the only witnesses to that shooting. He also said Cox tried to frame Daybell by burying the slain children in Daybell\u2019s yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the sentencing phase, jurors will be asked to decide if Daybell should receive a death sentence \u2014 Idaho law allows execution by lethal injection or firing squad \u2014 or life in prison. Woodcock said he will be satisfied with either option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what you get for murdering children. That\u2019s what you get for murdering your wife. Chad made his decision \u2014 he knew it was wrong,\u201d Woodcock said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOISE, Idaho (AP) \u2014 An Idaho man was convicted Thursday of killing his wife and his new girlfriend\u2019s two youngest kids in a strange triple murder case that included claims of apocalyptic prophesies, zombie children and illicit affairs. Jurors deliberated just six hours before finding Chad Daybell guilty, capping a case that began in 2019 and spanned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":27866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[28746,28745],"class_list":["post-27865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-doomsday-plot","tag-idaho-jury-convicts-chad-daybell-of-killing-his-wife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27867,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27865\/revisions\/27867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}