Who is Lori Vallow Daybell?
Apr 3, 2023, 9:00 AM | Updated: Apr 20, 2023, 5:27 pm

Lori Vallow Daybell
Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, is on trial for the murder of her children JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. She is also charged and on trial for conspiracy to commit murder for her current husband, Chad Daybell‘s late wife, Tammy Daybell. She faces the same conspiracy charges for her daughter Tylee and adopted son JJ.
Click here for complete coverage of the Lori Vallow Daybell trial
She was also indicted in Arizona for conspiracy to commit murder for the killing of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, though this is not part of her trial in Idaho.
#BREAKING: Lori & Chad Daybell now facing murder charges for deaths of #TyleeRyan & #JJVallow. #ChadDaybell also charged w/ murder of his wife #TammyDaybell. Couple also faces a “conspiracy to commit murder” charge in Tammy’s death. Death penalty is on the table. @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/2Cv9mxuVim
— Garna Mejia (@GarnaMejiaKSL) May 25, 2021
Vallow Daybell was born in San Bernardino, California, in 1973 and was married at age 19 in 1992, then married again in 1996, 2001, and in 2006 to her fourth husband Charles Vallow. She entered that marriage with two children, Colby and Tylee. Tylee’s father and her third husband, Joseph Ryan, died on April 3, 2018, officially of a heart attack. He was cremated.
After Charles Vallow’s death, she married her current husband Chad Daybell in 2019, shortly after the death of Daybell’s wife and while her own children’s well-being and whereabouts were unknown. Daybell is also accused of murder and conspiracy to commit murder but will have a separate trial in Idaho.
In 2015 Vallow Daybell reportedly read a series of books by Daybell and met him in 2018 at a St. George conference called “Preparing A People,” where he was a featured speaker. Both were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and both pursued religious beliefs beyond the teachings of their Church membership.
In 2019 Vallow Daybell’s marriage was troubled. She left the family for a time and went to Hawaii with Charles Vallow filing for divorce in February of that year, later stopping proceedings to work on saving the marriage. Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles Vallow on July 11, 2019, claiming self-defense. Later, but not initially, the death was ruled a homicide.
By August 2019 Vallow Daybell, Tylee, JJ and Cox moved to Rexburg, Idaho. On Sept. 8, 2019, Tylee was last seen alive in Yellowstone National Park on a trip with her brother JJ, Vallow Daybell and Cox. Phone records place Cox on Daybell’s property where the children’s remains are later found. Cox later died, officially of blood clots in his lungs.
Vallow Daybell was initially ruled by a judge as incompetent to stand trial, but in 2022 that competency was restored. She has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against her.
She faces charges of:
- First-degree murder for the death of Tylee Ryan.
- First-degree murder for the death of J.J. Vallow.
- Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception for the death of Tylee Ryan.
- Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception for the death of J.J. Vallow.
- Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the death of Tammy Daybell.
- Grand theft, related to Social Security survivor benefits for JJ and Tylee
In Arizona she is charged with:
- Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception for the death of Charles Vallow.