Lori Vallow should be convicted of killing her two children and her husband’s ex-wife in a case centered on “money, power and sex,” prosecutors argued Thursday in an Idaho courtroom.
Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood claimed Vallow plotted to kill 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 49-year-old Tammy Daybell to get what she wanted, namely social security checks and a new husband: Chad Daybell.
“Tylee Ryan. JJ. Tammy. All within a short time frame. Who could’ve killed those people?” Wood said, according to Boise NBC affiliate KTVB. “Who had motive to kill those people? Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell.”
Daybell, 54, will be tried separately at a later date. He also pleaded not guilty to killing Tylee, JJ and Tammy.
Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019, and their bodies were found on Daybell’s east Idaho property in June 2020. Tammy Daybell died in October 2019. Her death was initially ruled a cardiac event, but investigators later conducted an autopsy and determined she died by asphyxiation.
Prosecutors laid out the extensive case against Vallow across a month of testimony in a Boise courtroom. The case was moved from eastern Idaho in an attempt to find unbiased jurors.
Authorities focused on hundreds of text messages that Vallow and Daybell exchanged while they were having an affair throughout 2019.
The messages discussed Tylee, JJ and Tammy being inhabited by evil spirits and turning into “zombies.” In one message, Daybell told Vallow he “turned up the pain to 10″ on Ryan. In another message, Vallow appeared to ask Daybell why JJ and Tammy weren’t dead yet.
Investigators also cited physical evidence, including Vallow’s DNA on a piece of duct tape that covered JJ’s mouth when he was killed by asphyxiation.
Vallow’s defense attorneys continued to argue that the state did not prove its case, KTVB reported. The defense didn’t call a single witness in Vallow’s defense and rested Tuesday, immediately after the prosecution.
“She didn’t have a plan. She wanted to be with Chad, they were obviously having an affair,” lead attorney Jim Archibald said. “But there was no plan by Lori to kill her kids.”