Mum convicted of killing kids in Idaho will be sent to Arizona to face murder conspiracy charges

Lori Vallow Daybell during her sentencing hearing in July. Photo / AP

A woman sentenced to life in an Idaho prison in the murders of her two youngest children and another woman could soon be taken to Arizona to face similar charges.

Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted in Idaho earlier this year of killing her two kids and conspiring to kill a woman she saw as a romantic rival. An extradition warrant signed by Idaho Governor Brad Little today was delivered to other state officials, allowing Arizona officials to temporarily take custody of Vallow Daybell so she can face charges of conspiring to kill her estranged husband as well as her niece’s ex-husband.

The complicated case began in 2019, when Vallow Daybell still lived in a Phoenix suburb with her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and then-16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was estranged from her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, at the time, and he had written in divorce filings that she claimed to be a goddess sent to usher in the biblical apocalypse.

Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, that summer. Cox told police he acted in self-defence, and he was never charged. Cox died later that year of what investigators said were natural causes.

Shortly after Charles Vallow died, Vallow Daybell and her kids moved to Idaho. Prosecutors said she made the move to be closer to her then-boyfriend, Chad Daybell, and that together the two plotted to remove any obstacle to their happiness.

Chad Daybell has also been charged in the murders of the two kids and his late wife. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Over the next several weeks Vallow Daybell’s two children disappeared and Chad Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell, died of what was initially believed to be natural causes. But authorities became suspicious when Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell married just two weeks later, later determining Tammy Daybell had been asphyxiated.

Extended family members had also grown worried about the missing kids, and police began a multi-state investigation looking for the children. Their bodies were later found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.

Meanwhile, another person connected to the family reported an attempted shooting. Brandon Boudreaux, who had recently divorced Vallow Daybell’s niece, said someone driving a Jeep had shot at him outside his home. The Jeep matched the description of one that had been purchased by Charles Vallow before his death.

The Arizona indictment charges Vallow Daybell with conspiring to kill Charles Vallow and Boudreaux.

Jim Archibald, who represented Vallow Daybell in the Idaho trial, said he was not representing her in the Arizona case and that she had not yet been appointed an attorney there.

“I’ve talked to the public defenders in Phoenix, so they’re waiting for her to get there, and when she gets there they’ll assign an attorney,” Archibald said. He declined to comment on the Arizona charges.