Lori Vallow Daybell speaks during sentencing hearing
Jul 31, 2023, 12:32 PM | Updated: 7:49 pm
ST. ANTHONY, Idaho — Lori Vallow Daybell chose to address the court during her sentencing hearing on Monday, the first time she has publicly spoken since being convicted of murdering her youngest children, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell.
Vallow Daybell, who was found guilty during a trial in May, chose to execute her right to allocution during the hearing. She was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lori Vallow Daybell speaks
Vallow Daybell began by citing John 8:7 and 8:15, which read, “…He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” and “Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.”
“My judgment is true,” Vallow Daybell said. “Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me. I mourn all of you who mourn with my children and Tammy.”
She then claimed she died in the hospital while pregnant with Tylee in 2002 and felt her “spirit falling to the floor.” She claimed she was standing near her pregnant body and turned to hug her sister, Stacey, and they “went to heaven.”
“I later returned to my body. Because of this experience, I have access to heaven and the spirit world,” Vallow Daybell said in court. She then claimed to have had communication with people in heaven, including her children, sisters, aunts and uncles and grandparents. She additionally said she has communicated with Jesus Christ and angelic visitors.
Vallow Daybell claimed to “know for a fact” that her children are “happy and busy” in the spirit world, and so is her “friend,” Tammy Daybell.
She said she is homesick for heaven, and it is “more wonderful than you can possibly imagine.”
“I do not fear death, but I look forward to it,” Vallow Daybell said. “I did not want to return to my body when I was out of it.” However, she said she was told she needed to return to Earth and “complete things that (she) had covenanted, or promised, to do before I was born.”
Later, Vallow Daybell claimed Tylee had visited her and that Tylee suffered “horrible, physical pain” throughout her life due to pancreatitis. She said JJ Vallow visited him and that he was “an adult spirit” who hugged her and told her “You didn’t do anything wrong. I love you.”
DRAMATIC COMMENTS: Lori Vallow Daybell spoke at her hearing and claimed she's been visited by her two deceased children and others.
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— Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir) July 31, 2023
Vallow Daybell also claimed her “eternal friend” Tammy Daybell has visited her “on several occasions.”
“I look forward to the day when we are all reunited and I too will rest with them in the arms of my Jesus,” Vallow Daybell concluded.
Judge Steven Boyce addressed Vallow Daybell before sentencing her to life in prison.
“It is a loss for everyone,” Boyce said. “…It is the most shocking thing that I can imagine. A mother killed her own children, and you have no remorse for it.
“While you were enjoying your life in Hawaii, countless law enforcement officers, family members and volunteers were searching for your children. I don’t think to this day you have any remorse for the effort or heartache you caused others.
“They were found dead, burned, mutilated, dismembered and buried like animals.”
Case history
An Idaho jury convicted Vallow Daybell in May on all charges, including the murders of her two children JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to murder her husband Chad Daybell’s late wife, Tammy Daybell.
Vallow Daybell was also indicted in Arizona on charges related to the shooting death of her late husband, Charles Vallow.
For the past few years since the children’s disappearance, the search and recovery of their remains, and throughout the trial, Vallow Daybell remained largely silent. During the trial, she was often seen in good spirits and laughing.
Read more on Monday’s sentencing here.
Lori Vallow Daybell sentenced to life in prison without parole
