The Chad Daybell Trial: Updates and Key Developments

Nov 07, 2025 0

The Chad Daybell case has been a focal point of national attention, intertwined with the story of Lori Vallow Daybell and a series of tragic events. This article provides a detailed overview of the key developments in the Chad Daybell trial, including Lori Daybell's sentencing and the charges against Chad.

Lori Daybell's Sentencing

On Friday, Lori Daybell was sentenced to two life sentences in Arizona for conspiring with her late brother to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and her niece's ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux. Judge Justin Beresky, who presided over both trials in Phoenix, said, "You have not victimized just a single victim but many. You've shattered lives. You've undermined trust."

She was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in two separate trials in Maricopa County this spring. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for each conviction, to be served consecutively, the judge said. "In the face of such profound damage, a long prison sentence is not merely a punishment, it is a necessary affirmation that our society values justice, protection and the sanctity of human life," he said.

The sentencing hearing comes after failed attempts at getting new trials on both counts. After being convicted of conspiring to kill Vallow, she also unsuccessfully tried to remove Judge Beresky from the case, claiming he was biased against her. She frequently clashed with the judge while representing herself during the trials. During the second trial, Beresky at one point removed her from the courtroom after she became combative during discussions about her character. The judge had warned that if she referred to herself as having "great character," that could open the door for the state to introduce evidence to rebut that character, including regarding her previous convictions in Idaho.

Emotional Victim Impact Statements

Several of Lori Daybell's relatives addressed the court ahead of the sentencing. In grief-stricken, at times angry remarks, they touched on the loss of Vallow as well as his nephew JJ, whom he and Lori Daybell had adopted, and Tylee, a child from Lori Daybell's third marriage. Her eldest son, Colby Ryan, remembered Vallow as a generous man.

Read also: The Daybell Case

"My father, Charles Vallow, cared for his family. He took care of our family, and he made sure we had a good life," Ryan said. He said his mother told him Charles Vallow had died from a heart attack, before he learned the truth, and spoke about the pain of losing his father and then his siblings. "I'm here to tell you the effect that this has had on me. In simple terms, each one of my family members was taken from us all in one swoop," Ryan said. Regarding his mother, he said it "must be a very sad life to smile your way through all the pain you've caused."

One of Vallow's sisters, Susan Vallow, said the day her brother died "changed my life forever." Kay Woodcock, another one of Charles Vallow's sisters and JJ's biological grandmother, read a letter she wrote from the perspective of JJ in court. "I can't be here to read this letter, because I am dead. I was murdered by the defendant Lori Daybell, or as I used to call her, mom," she read. "See, there are a whole lot of tragedies that have happened to my family, and all of them are the result of my mom's actions."

Following remarks by several members of his family, including his siblings and current wife, Boudreaux addressed how the attempted murder has impacted him. "The betrayal by someone connected to my family has left me battling overwhelming emotions over the years," he said, his voice shaky. "I felt fear, paranoia. I lived with constant vigilance, loneliness, regret, sadness, depression, anger, heartache and embarrassment." He said he has chosen to forgive Lori Daybell so he can be a better father, husband, son, neighbor and friend.

Background of the Case

The Vallow-Daybell doomsday murders consist of a series of killings committed by Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell. The murders started when Lori's estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox on July 11, 2019, in Chandler, Arizona.

Next, Lori's daughter, Tylee Ryan (16), and adopted son, Joshua Jaxon "J. J." Vallow (7), disappeared from their home in Rexburg, Idaho on September 9 and 23, 2019, respectively. Their remains were found on June 9, 2020. They had been buried on a property owned by Chad, who was Lori's lover at the time of their deaths and had become her husband by the time their bodies were found. On October 2, 2019, Lori's nephew-in-law Brandon Boudreaux survived a murder attempt in Gilbert, Arizona.

At the time of the murders, Chad and Lori were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). However, their beliefs had deviated significantly from mainstream Mormonism. Chad was an apocalyptic author and publisher who claimed to have visions of the future and to have lived through multiple past lives, and prophesied the world would end in July 2020.

The case was set in motion by the children's disappearances. Investigations revealed that Tylee and J.J.'s disappearances had been preceded and followed by the suspicious deaths of Lori and Chad's respective spouses and by the attempt on Brandon Boudreaux's life. Lori and Chad had married two weeks after the death of Chad's first wife Tammy.

On February 20, 2020, Lori was arrested for desertion and non-support of her children. On June 9, police discovered the remains of Tylee and J. J. Lori and Chad were tried separately.

Chad Daybell's Background

Chad Guy Daybell was born on August 11, 1968, in Provo, Utah, to a Mormon family and grew up in the neighboring city of Springville. He was accepted and enrolled at Brigham Young University (BYU) after high school. One year into college, he applied to be a missionary, for which he spent two years in New Jersey.

Chad's novels often depicted apocalyptic situations and dystopian futures, and featured characters based on his own family. In a memoir called Living on the Edge of Heaven, he claimed to have had two near-death experiences that allowed him to receive supernatural visions from "beyond the veil." A recurring theme in Chad's writings was a supernatural voice giving instructions and advice to him or to his characters.

Read also: The Chad Daybell Trial

Over time, Chad's religious beliefs became increasingly extreme. Jason Gwilliam, the husband of Tammy's sister, later recalled that Chad's views had started changing around 2006 and 2007, as he became "hyper-focused on preparing for end of times."

Lori Vallow Daybell's Background

Lori Norene Ryan Daybell, also referred to as Lori Vallow Daybell, was born Lori Norene Cox on June 26, 1973, in Loma Linda, California. She grew up in a Mormon family. In 2001, Lori married Joseph Anthony Ryan Jr., who gave his name to Colby. The couple's daughter, Tylee, was born in 2002. In 2018, Ryan was found dead in his apartment from what was determined to be arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

In February 2006, Lori married Leland Charles Anthony Vallow, who commonly went by the name Charles. In 2013 the couple adopted Charles' grandnephew, Joshua Jaxon "J.J." Vallow, as the boy's birth parents were unable to care for him. In October 2018, together with Melanie Gibb and Zulema Pastenes whom she had recently befriended, Lori attended a "Preparing a People" event where she met Chad for the first time.

After their initial meeting, Lori's husband went on a business trip, giving her the opportunity to hold a small overnight gathering at her home. Chad and Gibb were among the attendees, with Chad captivating Lori and the group by sharing his Mormon-influenced, but unique, beliefs. Lori developed a strong attachment to Chad and his teachings.

Lori eventually told Gibb that she and Chad were sealed due to their previous marriages in their past lives, despite their respective spouses still being alive. Chad also claimed to be a reincarnation of James the Less, that Lori had been James' wife under the name "Elena" and that in other past lives Lori had been Mary French, the great-grandmother of Joseph Smith, as well as the wife of the prophet Moroni.

By February 2019, Lori reportedly informed Charles that "she no longer cared about him or J.J.". Charles sought a protective order against Lori at the advice of his attorney. Arizona police detectives later retrieved text messages between Chad, Lori and her brother Alex Cox which referred to Charles as "Ned" or "Hiplos", the names of the "spirit" said to possess him.

Timeline of Events

Here's a chronological breakdown of the key events in the Vallow-Daybell case:

Date	Event
July 11, 2019	Murder of Charles Vallow
September 9, 2019	Tylee Ryan disappears
September 22, 2019	JJ Vallow last confirmed sighting.
September 23, 2019	J. J. Vallow disappears
October 2, 2019	Attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux
October 9, 2019	Tammy Daybell reports being shot at
October 19, 2019	Tammy Daybell found dead
November 5, 2019	Chad and Lori marry in Hawaii
November 26, 2019	Police visit Lori's townhouse for a welfare check on J.J.
December 6, 2019	Melanie Gibb contacts the police
February 20, 2020	Lori is arrested for desertion and non-support of her children
June 9, 2020	Remains of Tylee and J. J. are discovered
June 1, 2024	Chad Daybell sentenced to death
July 25, 2025	Lori Daybell sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

The Murders

Having discovered his wife's affair with Chad Daybell, Charles Vallow confronted Lori about it. On July 11, 2019, Charles went to pick up J.J. at Lori's home in Chandler, Arizona early in the morning. Alex Cox was present. An altercation occurred and Cox shot and killed Charles. Cox claimed self-defense, alleging that he had retrieved his gun after Charles struck him on the head with the bat.

By the end of August, Lori relocated to Rexburg, Idaho with her children. While Lori and her children resided in Rexburg, neighbors noticed J.J.'s erratic behavior as Lori often left him outside without adult supervision for long periods of time. J.J. last attended Rexburg's Kennedy Elementary School on September 20. On September 22, Melanie Gibb and her boyfriend, David Warwick, were staying at Lori's home. This was J.J.'s last confirmed sighting.

On October 2, 2019, Brandon Boudreaux, the estranged husband of Lori's niece Melani, was shot at from a Jeep while driving home in Gilbert, Arizona. The bullet missed Boudreaux's head by inches. By tracking Alex Cox's cell phone data, investigators later found that Cox had searched on the Internet for directions to Boudreaux's address and had been present near Boudreaux's home during the hours before the shooting.

On October 9, 2019, Tammy reported being shot at in her driveway by a masked man with what she thought was a paintball gun. Ten days later, Tammy was found dead in her home, apparently from natural causes. However, after Tammy's body was exhumed and autopsied, it was determined that she had been asphyxiated by someone else.

Chad and Lori were married in Hawaii on November 5, 2019, two weeks after the death of Tammy, and two months after Tylee and J.J. were murdered.

The Search for the Children

On November 26, police visited Lori's townhouse in Rexburg for a welfare check on J.J. at the request of his grandmother, Kay Woodcock. Police later reached Lori, who claimed that J.J. was in Arizona with her friend Melanie Gibb. However, when contacted by police, Gibb stated that J.J. had not been with her for several months. That night, a neighbor observed Lori and Alex Cox packing a truck outside her home. The following day, when the police and FBI arrived to search the house, it was abandoned.

On December 6, 2019, Melanie Gibb contacted the police, revealing that both Lori and Chad had called her separately on November 26 and had asked her to tell police that J.J. was with her. Police efforts to locate J.J. led to the discovery that Tylee was also missing. On December 20, the Rexburg Police Department (RPD) publicly announced that they were searching for the missing children.