Lori Vallow to be sentenced July 31, courthouse says

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Fremont County Courthouse officials in Idaho have announced that Lori Vallow will be sentenced on July 31. The sentencing comes at the heels of Vallow’s murder conviction on May 12 in the deaths of her two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and her husband’s ex-wife, Tammy Daybell. Vallow faces life in prison but was spared the death penalty in late March.

JJ and Tylee were last seen alive in September 2019 and were found on June 9, 2020, in the backyard of Vallow’s husband, Chad Daybell, in Idaho. Prosecutors argued in court that Vallow manipulated her brother, Alex Cox, and Daybell into planning the murders of JJ, Tylee and Tammy. In addition, investigators believed Vallow conspired to murder Tammy, who she saw as a romantic rival, and wanted life insurance money.

However, Vallow’s defense team argued that she fell for the strange religious “doomsday” claims from Daybell. According to Vallow’s defense attorney Jim Archibald, Daybell told Vallow that they were married several times in their previous lives, and she had to help him gather 144,000 followers so Jesus could return. The jury deliberated for over a day and found Vallow guilty.

Proceedings will start that day at 9 a.m., and the court will stream a video of the sentencing hearing live for the public on its YouTube page.