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Opening statements delivered in Lori Vallow trial
The jury selection for the Lori Vallow trial began on April 3 for the so-called doomsday mom who left Arizona for Idaho, and she's accused of killing her two kids. On April 10, we heard opening arguments, marking the official start of the trial.
IDAHO - Idaho prosecutors revealed Chad Daybell's ex-wife's cause of death Monday during Lori Vallow's murder trial, according to local news.
Lori Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, are accused of killing two of Vallow's children, J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and Daybell's ex-wife, Tammy Daybell, who died in 2019.
While authorities have yet to disclose the cause of death for J.J. and Tylee, Idaho prosecutor Lindsey Blake said Monday that Tammy Daybell died of asphyxiation, according to FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum.
Blake also argued that Vallow would have done anything to get Tammy Daybell out of the picture and have Chad Daybell "all to herself."
The couple first met in 2018 at a Preparing a People conference and shared the belief that they had been married in a past life. They also believed people emit light or dark spirits — sometimes so dark that certain people could be considered zombies, Blake said, according to Lum.
"Defendant will move any obstacle in her way to get what she wants and she wanted Chad Daybell," Blake argued.
Chad Daybell (left) and Lori Vallow (right)
J.J. and Tylee went missing in September 2019 — around the time investigators believe they were murdered on Chad Daybell's Idaho property.
On Oct. 9, 2019, a masked gunman appeared outside Tammy Daybell's home as she was getting home from work and fired multiple times, Blake said Monday, according to Lum.
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"He can’t do anything right," Vallow apparently said in a statement after the shooting, Blake said, suggesting Vallow knew the gunman's identity. Investigators believe Lori Vallow's late brother, Alex Cox, was behind the attempted shooting of Tammy Daybell.
Ten days later, on Oct. 19, 2019, Tammy died of asphyxiation, though a medical examiner initially listed her cause of death as natural, resulting from cardiac arrest, according to FOX 10.
Months prior to Tammy's death, in July 2019, Alex Cox allegedly shot Lori Vallow's ex-husband, Charles Vallow, to death in Arizona, claiming self-defense. Two months later, in September 2019, Tylee and J.J. went missing for months. Cox died later that year of an apparent blood clot in December 2019.
Blake said Lori Vallow purchased wedding rings while her children were still missing and Chad and Tammy were still married. J.J. and Tylee were gone for months when police say the couple lied about the children's whereabouts and then slipped away to Hawaii, where they got married in November 2019.
Authorities eventually found J.J. and Tylee's bodies buried on Daybell's property in rural Idaho in June 2020.
Lori and Chad Daybell are accused of killing 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old J.J. Vallow in 2019. (Rexberg Police Department)
Robertson noted that Tylee and J.J.'s cause of death has not been released yet, though he thinks they will be brought up in trial. Investigators found Tylee's remains dismembered and burned while J.J.'s body was wrapped in plastic and tied with duct tape.
Vallow and Daybell allegedly collected J.J.'s and Tylee's Social Security benefits between Oct. 1, 2019, and Jan. 22, 2020, after their murder.
Authorities arrested Vallow in February 2020 and Daybell in June 2020.
The couple was indicted in late May 2021 on multiple counts each of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception, and first-degree murder related to the deaths of Tylee, J.J. and Tammy Daybell, officials announced at the time. Arizona officials in June 2021 also indicted Vallow in the July 2019 murder of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow.