J.J. Vallow, Lori Vallow, Tylee Ryan.Photo: Rexburg Police Department
In a bizarre rantprior to her sentencing, convicted murdererLori Vallow Daybellclaimed that her two children,Joshua “JJ” VallowandTylee Ryan, as well as her husband’s deceased wifeTammy Daybell, visited her from the grave and spoke with her.
Lori, 50, told an Idaho courtroom that her two children visited her from the spirit world and told her she didn’t do anything wrong and that they were happy after their deaths.
J.J., she said, told her after his murder: “You didn’t do anything wrong, Mom. I love you and I know you loved me every minute of my life.”
Lori claimed J.J. was now an “adult spirit” and very tall.
“He is busy," she said in front of the packed courtroom that included victims' family members. “He is engaged. He has jobs he does there. He is happy where he is. His life was short but J.J.’s life was meaningful.”
Lori and Chad Daybell.Eric Grossarth/ EastIdahoNews.com
“Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me,” Lori said. “Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here, Jesus Christ knows no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen. Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medications happen.”
Lori was later sentenced to life without the possibility of parole formurderingJ.J., 7, and Tylee, 15, and for conspiring to murder Tammy, 49, in aplotthat stemmed from the baseless doomsday prophesies she and her husband Chad Daybell believed.
Tylee and J.J.
In her 10-minute rambling speech, Lori claimed that Tylee suffered from pancreatitis and was in pain most of her life.
“I am the only person on this earth who knows how much Tylee suffered in her life,” she claimed. “She had pain every single day.”
Lori also implausibly claimed that when spoke to Tylee from beyond the grave, her daughter “commanded me, ‘Stop worrying about me mom. We are fine.’ She knows how I worry.”
She described Tammy Daybell as her “eternal friend” who, after her murder, came from the spirit world to bring her “peace and comfort.”
Chad and Tammy Daybell.
“I know she is extremely busy helping her family especially her children and grandchildren and I have a great love for Tammy,” she said.
Lori claimed that a purported near-death experience she had in 2002 when she was giving birth to Tylee allowed her to “have access to heaven and the spirit world.”
“I have had many communications with Jesus Christ, the savior of this world,” she said. “I have had many angelic visitors [who] have come and communicated to me and manifested themselves to me. Because of these communications I know for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world.”
“My beautiful children, Tylee and J.J., rest safely this day in the arms of Jesus,” she concluded. “My wonderful friend Tammy Daybell rests safely this day in the arms of Jesus and I look forward to the day we are all reunited and I, too, will rest with them in the arms of my Jesus.”
‘Personality Disorder with Histrionic and Narcissistic Features’
Prior to sentencing her, Judge Boyce said a mental health evaluation showed that Lori suffered from"hyper religiosity” and “unspecified personality disorder with histrionic and narcissistic features.”
Her crimes, he said, were “heinous and egregious,” adding that she hadn’t shown any remorse for her actions.
“You may not believe to this day that you’ve done anything wrong, but I don’t believe a God in any religion would want to have this happened, what happened here.”
Lori was a follower of Chad’s religious doomsday writings and beliefs, which held that Lori’s children were zombies and Lori was a “goddess,” among other outlandish theories. Chad, 54, is charged in connection with the deaths of Tylee, J.J. and Tammy, but will be tried separately. He has pleaded not guilty.
In opening statements of Lori’s weeks-long trial, which concluded in May with her convictions, Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake said the case was about “money, power and sex.”
“Lori used money, power and sex or the promise of those things to get what she wanted,” Blake said.
“After she met Chad Daybell, she changed,” her son testified.
Days after Lori was convicted in Idaho, a grand jury in Maricopa County, Ariz., indicted Lori forallegedly conspiring to kill her niece’s husband Brandon Boudreauxon Feb. 24, 2022. Boudreaux survived the alleged plot. She has pleaded not guilty in that case.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
