An Idaho jury convicted her in May 2023 of murdering two of her children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua "JJ" Vallow, and of conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell. Arizona juries convicted her in 2025 of conspiring to murder her estranged husband and of a second murder conspiracy. The Idaho Supreme Court hears her appeal on Nov. 2, 2026.
On Sept. 1, 2026, East Idaho News reported that the Idaho Supreme Court will hear oral argument in her appeal on Nov. 2, 2026, at 11:15 a.m. in Boise, with 30 minutes for each side.5 Her lawyers ask the court to overturn the convictions and dismiss the charges, or to order a new trial; the state argues the trial judge made no reversible error.675
On Jan. 31, 2019, Charles Vallow, her fourth husband, told police in Arizona, on bodycam video, that she had become “unhinged,” believed she was a “god” and had threatened to kill him, according to a CBS News/AP account of the case.14 He filed for divorce the next month, writing in court papers that he feared for his own and the children’s safety.14 According to the 2021 Idaho indictment as East Idaho News summarized it, the bodycam video also records him saying she had claimed he had been taken over by a spirit.26
On July 11, 2019, Charles Vallow was shot and killed at her home in Chandler, Arizona, when he came to pick up his son.2110 Her brother, Alex Cox, acknowledged shooting him and told police that Vallow had hit him in the head with a baseball bat and that he fired in self-defense.1310 Cox was never charged; he died in December 2019, and his death was determined to be from natural causes.1420 Arizona prosecutors later argued that she conspired with Cox to kill her husband to collect on his $1 million life insurance policy, and to clear the way to marry Chad Daybell.1011
In September 2019 her daughter, Tylee Ryan, was 16, and her son Joshua “JJ” Vallow was 7.820 Tylee was last seen alive on Sept. 8, 2019, after a trip to Yellowstone with her mother, JJ and Cox.1426 The indictment alleged that she was killed the next day.26 According to the CBS/AP account, Cox’s phone placed him at Chad Daybell’s property on Sept. 9.14
JJ was last seen alive in late September 2019; a witness said he saw Cox carry the boy into his mother’s apartment, and Cox’s phone returned to Chad Daybell’s backyard for about 17 minutes the next day, according to the CBS/AP account.14 The indictment alleged that Cox “did take possession” of the boy.26 After the children were dead, prosecutors alleged, she kept collecting their Social Security survivor benefits and moved the money into her own account.2620
On Oct. 2, 2019, someone fired at Brandon Boudreaux, the former husband of her niece, from a Jeep as he drove up to his home in Gilbert, Arizona; the shot missed.2110 Prosecutors identified Cox as the shooter and tied the Jeep to her.10
Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell’s wife since 1990, died in Idaho on Oct. 19, 2019; her family said the coroner indicated natural causes, and they declined an autopsy.1427 On Oct. 9, she had called 911 to report that a masked man shot at her with a paintball gun outside her home; she was not hurt, and the indictment alleged that Cox was the shooter.2627 Investigators exhumed her body in December 2019 after learning that Chad Daybell had increased her life insurance, and an autopsy determined she had been asphyxiated.272014 Vallow Daybell married Chad Daybell in Hawaii on Nov. 5, 2019, about two weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death.1415
In late November 2019, JJ’s grandmother asked police to check on him; on Nov. 26, Rexburg police came to her home, and she told them JJ was safe in Arizona.14 On Jan. 25, 2020, authorities ordered her to produce her children.14 She was arrested in Hawaii on Feb. 20, 2020, and returned to Idaho about two weeks later.14
On June 9, 2020, the FBI, Rexburg police and Fremont County sheriff’s officers searched Chad Daybell’s property and found human remains, later identified as JJ and Tylee; he was arrested.14 Detective Ray Hermosillo testified at trial that JJ’s body was found with a plastic bag around his head, duct tape and a blanket, and witnesses testified that Tylee’s body had been burned and dismembered.22
In May 2021 a Fremont County grand jury indicted her and Chad Daybell.26 The charges against her were conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception and first-degree murder, as to each child; conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of Tammy Daybell; and grand theft of the children’s Social Security benefits, East Idaho News reported.26
In June 2021 she was found not competent to stand trial and placed in the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for restoration treatment; on April 11, 2022, Judge Steven Boyce found her competent and lifted the stay.25 According to the state’s appellate brief as Court TV described it, the case was stayed for competency twice, for 353 days in all: from May 27, 2021, to April 11, 2022, and from Oct. 6 to Nov. 9, 2022.8 Her case was later separated from Chad Daybell’s, and the trial was moved from Fremont County to Ada County.198
Prosecutors sought the death penalty.24 On March 21, 2023, Judge Boyce barred them from seeking it at trial, as a sanction for late disclosure of evidence, including more than 100 hours of recorded jail conversations between her and Chad Daybell; he found the defense “has, in fact, demonstrated a material prejudice resulting from late disclosures.”24
Her trial began April 3, 2023, in Boise.1420 Prosecutors argued that her relationship with Chad Daybell was built on a criminal conspiracy to kill their relatives and to profit from the deaths through insurance and benefits, and cited the couple’s beliefs about “zombies” and the end times as part of the motive, NPR reported.20 Much of the evidence was circumstantial, including text messages from her phone.20
Dr. Garth Warren, the chief forensic pathologist of the Ada County Coroner’s office, testified that JJ died of asphyxiation by a plastic bag.22 A DNA analyst testified that a hair found on the duct tape on JJ’s body matched his mother.2220 An Idaho State Police forensic biologist testified that partial DNA profiles from a shovel and a pickax matched Tylee.22
On the couple’s beliefs, a close friend of Vallow Daybell’s told a Rexburg detective, according to his affidavit, that Vallow Daybell had called Tylee a zombie and later concluded that JJ had become one too, and that the couple said their mission was to rid the world of “zombies.”20 Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors that the couple presented themselves as religious figures and practiced “casting,” which “involved prayer and energy work.”20
The defense rested without calling witnesses, and she did not testify.20 Judge Boyce denied the defense motion for acquittal.19 In closing, Jim Archibald argued that she had been under the influence of Chad Daybell, whom she regarded as a messiah, and that the state had not directly tied her to the deaths.20 On May 12, 2023, the jury found her guilty on all counts.1920
On July 31, 2023, Judge Boyce sentenced her to life in prison without parole for each of the two murders and for the conspiracy to murder Tammy Daybell, and ordered the three terms served consecutively, saying the deaths occurred at separate times.1617 He imposed two further life terms for the conspiracies relating to the children and 10 years for grand theft, to run concurrently.1617 Prosecutors had asked for life without release on each count; the defense asked for 20 years fixed followed by an indeterminate life term.18
“The most unimaginable type of murder is to have a mother murdering her own children,” Boyce said.17 He found that her motive was to remove the children as obstacles and to profit financially, and told her, “You chose the most evil and destructive path possible.”1716 He said she had gone “down a bizarre, religious rabbit hole.”16
She spoke before the sentence, denied that anyone had been murdered and said she knew “for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world.”1617 She did not apologize.16 JJ’s grandmother, Tammy Daybell’s sister and aunt, and her surviving son, whose statement a prosecutor read, gave victim impact statements.1618
After her Idaho sentencing she was taken to Arizona at the request of Maricopa County prosecutors and arraigned on Dec. 7, 2023, on a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Charles Vallow’s death.215 She represented herself.13 At trial she argued that Cox had acted in self-defense; on April 22, 2025, a unanimous jury found her guilty after deliberating just under three hours.1311
At a second trial, on the attempt on Brandon Boudreaux, prosecutor Treena Kay said she helped Cox remove the back seat and a wheel from her Jeep, and video showed her placing them in a storage unit; prosecutors said Cox left his phone with her in Idaho as an alibi while he drove the Jeep to Arizona.12 Boudreaux testified, and she argued in closing that there was no evidence of a conspiracy.12 On June 12, 2025, the jury found her guilty of conspiracy to commit murder after deliberating less than an hour.12
On July 25, 2025, Judge Justin Beresky sentenced her to life in prison on both conspiracy convictions, saying she “should never be released from prison.”10 Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said the trials were necessary “to get justice for Charles Vallow, his family, and Brandon Boudreaux.”4 She was returned to Idaho in August 2025 to serve her sentences there.6
Her appeal of the Idaho judgment is Idaho Supreme Court No. 51091-2023.1 Appellate lawyer Craig Durham filed her opening brief on May 30, 2025, after six extensions.39 It raises five claims: that the court violated her right to counsel of her choice by disqualifying her retained lawyer, Mark Means; that she was left without counsel at the hearings on that question; that hearings affecting her rights were held while she was absent and found incompetent; that evidence of the Arizona events was wrongly admitted; and that she was denied a speedy trial.95
The state answers, in a brief filed by Deputy Attorney General Jeff Nye, that Means was properly removed because he had earlier represented Chad Daybell, a named co-conspirator; that the Arizona evidence showed a pattern of labeling people “dark spirits” and then having them killed for financial gain; and that the delays came from the competency proceedings, the change of venue and the complexity of the case.85 The court extended the deadline for her reply brief to Jan. 28, 2026.2 Oral argument is set for Nov. 2, 2026.57
She was born Lori Norene Cox on June 26, 1973, in San Bernardino, California, according to People.15 She was the middle of five children; Alex Cox was her older brother, Court TV reported.27 She worked as a beautician, according to Court TV.27
She has been married five times.1527 Her second marriage produced a son, her only surviving child.1527 Tylee was her daughter with her third husband, Joseph Ryan, who died in 2018.15 She and Charles Vallow adopted JJ in 2013 from Charles Vallow’s sister and her husband, JJ’s grandparents.27 She married Chad Daybell, her fifth husband, on Nov. 5, 2019.15
Before 2018, people close to her described her as a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and relatives say her beliefs changed sharply after she met Chad Daybell, a self-published author of fiction about the end times, in 2018, People and Court TV reported.1527 The two began recording religious podcasts together.14 Accounts of what she believed come from witnesses and court papers: her husband’s 2019 statements to police and in court filings, her friend’s statements to a detective, and the prosecutors’ description of “casting.”141520 Her lawyer argued at trial that she was under Chad Daybell’s influence.20 At sentencing she spoke at length of her faith and said she had been visited by her children from the afterlife.1716
The only court findings on her mental state in the sources reviewed are the competency rulings: in June 2021 she was found not competent to stand trial, and after restoration treatment she was found competent on April 11, 2022.25 KIVI reported that she spent 10 months in a mental hospital before trial, and her first appeal notice questioned whether the judge erred in finding her competent and in refusing to send her back for treatment.23 No diagnosis testified to or found by a court appears in the sources reviewed.
After the Idaho sentencing she was transferred to the Idaho Department of Correction.18 She was held in Arizona for the Maricopa County trials and returned to Idaho in August 2025, where she is serving her sentences.67
After the 2023 verdict, Tammy Daybell’s family called it “a beautiful day to receive the news of Lori’s convictions,” and members of Vallow Daybell’s own family said they “fully accept the determined decision in our justice system.”21 At sentencing her surviving son wrote that “Tylee and JJ brought so much light into this world” and asked that they be remembered for who they were.17 Brandon Boudreaux testified in Arizona, he said, because “I owed it to Charles, to Tylee, to JJ and to Tammy to speak because I could.”12
Prosecutors in Idaho argued that she and Chad Daybell planned to kill their relatives and profited from the deaths through insurance payouts and benefits, and cited the couple's religious beliefs as part of the motive.20 Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake told the jury she "used money, power and sex to get what she wanted."20 On appeal, the state argues the trial judge made no reversible error and the convictions should stand.5
Her lawyers called no witnesses, and she did not testify.20 Defense attorney Jim Archibald argued that she was under the influence of a man she saw as a messiah, that prosecutors had not directly tied her to the children's deaths, and that the hair evidence could be explained by ordinary contact between a parent and child.20 "No one here thinks Lori actually killed anyone, that's why she's being charged with conspiracy," he said.19
At her Idaho sentencing she denied the killings: "Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case," she said, and "Accidental deaths happen, suicides happen, fatal side effects from medications happen."1716 At her Arizona sentencing she said, "If I were accountable for these crimes, I would acknowledge and let you know how sorry I was."10
Her appellate lawyer, Craig Durham, argues that the trial court violated her right to counsel of her choice by disqualifying her retained lawyer, held hearings affecting her rights while she was absent and found incompetent, wrongly admitted evidence of the Arizona events, and denied her a speedy trial.95 She asks the court to reverse and dismiss all charges or, in the alternative, to order a new trial.7
Charles Vallow tells Arizona police on bodycam video that his wife believes she is a "god" and has threatened to kill him.14
Charles Vallow is shot and killed in Chandler, Arizona, by her brother, Alex Cox, who said he acted in self-defense.2114
Tylee Ryan is last seen alive, after a trip to Yellowstone.1426
Shots are fired at Brandon Boudreaux outside his home in Gilbert, Arizona; he is not hurt.2110
Tammy Daybell dies in Idaho.14
She marries Chad Daybell in Hawaii.14
She is arrested in Hawaii and later returned to Idaho.14
Investigators find the remains of JJ and Tylee on Chad Daybell's property; he is arrested.14
A grand jury indicts her and Chad Daybell on murder, conspiracy and theft charges.26
She is found not competent to stand trial and the case is stayed.25
Judge Steven Boyce finds her competent and lifts the stay.25
The judge bars the state from seeking the death penalty, as a sanction for late disclosure of evidence.24
She is sentenced to consecutive life terms without parole.1617
Chad Daybell is convicted of first-degree murder; he is sentenced to death on June 1.14
A Maricopa County jury convicts her of conspiracy to murder Charles Vallow.13
A second Arizona jury convicts her of conspiracy to murder Brandon Boudreaux.12
She is sentenced in Phoenix to life in prison and returned to Idaho.106
The Idaho Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in her appeal.5
The Idaho Supreme Court hears oral argument on Nov. 2, 2026, at 11:15 a.m. in Boise; she is not expected to attend.5 The court rules in a written opinion after argument; the sources reviewed give no expected date. If she prevailed on the speedy-trial claim, her lawyers ask that the charges be dismissed; otherwise they ask for a new trial.7 The sources reviewed do not report the status of any appeal of the Arizona convictions.