Lori Vallow was driven by “money, power and sex” when she murdered her two children and conspired to kill her husband’s ex-wife, prosecutors said Monday.
Fremont County prosecutor Lindsey Blake and defense attorney Jim Archibald both delivered opening statements to kick off the trial in Boise, Idaho.
Vallow, 49, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. She is also charged in the killing of Tammy Daybell, her husband Chad Daybell’s ex-wife. Vallow has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“The defendant used money, power, and sex to get what she wanted. It didn’t matter what it was,” Blake said, according to East Idaho News.
Tylee, 16, and JJ, 7, disappeared in September 2019 and were found dead in June 2020 on Daybell’s ranch property in Rexburg, Idaho. Prosecutors said Monday that Tylee’s DNA was also found on a pickaxe and a shovel that were stored in a shed on the property, East Idaho News reported.
Tylee’s body was dismembered and burned, while JJ was wrapped in plastic and bound by duct tape, according to prosecutors.
Blake also said Monday that Tammy Daybell died by asphyxiation. When she was found dead at home in October 2019, Daybell’s cause of death was initially listed as a “cardiac event.”
However, police reexamined the case and ordered an autopsy. The results were kept under wraps by authorities until Monday’s opening statements. Daybell died “at the hands of another,” Blake said.
Chad Daybell is also charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Tylee, JJ and Tammy. He will be tried separately at a later date.