Doomsday Plot: Idaho Jury Convicts Chad Daybell Of Killing Wife And Girlfriend’s 2 Children

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho man was convicted Thursday of murdering his wife and his new girlfriend’s two youngest children in a bizarre triple murder case that involved allegations of apocalyptic prophecies, zombie offspring, and illicit affairs.

Jurors debated for only six hours before convicting Chad Daybell in a case that began in 2019 and encompassed at least four states. Daybell, standing and dressed in a long-sleeved dress shirt, remained silent while the verdicts were read.

Jurors will now decide whether Daybell, 55, should die for the killings of Tammy Daybell, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow. The sentencing phase of the nearly two-month-long trial resumes on Friday.

Chad Daybell | AP news Image

Idaho Jury Convicts Chad Daybell Of Killing Wife And Girlfriend’s 2 Children

“Everything was addressed, every item was ‘guilty,’ and for that, I’m happy,” JJ’s grandfather, Larry Woodcock, told The Associated Press. “I’m still sad for the loss — there were four lives lost in this for no purpose, no reason — but my wife and I are just so satisfied with the verdict.”

Lori Vallow Daybell, the children’s mother, was sentenced to life in prison without parole last year for the same conspiracy and murder counts. She married Chad Daybell only two weeks after Tammy Daybell was killed. She is currently awaiting trial in Arizona, charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Charles Vallow was JJ’s father.

The court in the case has issued a gag order, banning counsel on both sides from speaking with the media until the trial is completed.

The case received extensive media attention, and the court transferred the trial from the remote Idaho village where the killings took place to Boise to ensure a fair and impartial jury.

During the punishment phase, prosecutors will attempt to demonstrate that the offenses deserve the death penalty because they were extremely wicked, heinous, or cruel or that they fulfill one of the other “aggravating factors” specified in state law. Daybell’s defense, however, will attempt to provide the jury with mitigating factors to demonstrate that a reduced sentence is more suitable.

The investigation began five years ago when JJ’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, got concerned that Vallow Daybell was refusing to let them call the kid. Despite living in different states, JJ and his grandparents had been close, with regular video conversations since he was approximately three years old. Larry Woodcock described JJ as incredibly clever and autistic, and anytime he ran out of things to say, he’d remark, “Mawmaw, Pawpaw, I don’t know.”

“In the last few years of his life, he honed his wit and charisma. Larry Woodcock stated, “If there’s one thing I miss, it’s his wit.” “There’s not a day that goes by now that my wife and I don’t turn to each other and say, ‘Mawmaw, I don’t know,’ or ‘Pawpaw, I don’t know.'”

In 2019, Kay Woodcock requested that police check on the youngster. Investigators quickly recognized both children were gone, and a multistate search began. The investigation quickly took some unexpected directions.

Investigators believe Vallow and Chad Daybell were conducting an affair when both of their spouses died unexpectedly. Vallow Daybell’s husband, Charles, was fatally shot by her brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona in July 2019; the brother claimed self-defense. He wasn’t charged.

Vallow Daybell, her two children, JJ and Tylee, and Cox later relocated to eastern Idaho to be closer to Daybell, a self-published author of doomsday-themed fiction partly based on Mormon beliefs.

Tammy Daybell died in October 2019. Chad Daybell first informed authorities that she had an ailment and died in her sleep, but an examination later revealed that she died from asphyxiation. Chad and Vallow Daybell married just two weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death, which surprised family members.

Nearly a year after going missing, the children’s bones were discovered buried on Chad Daybell’s ranch in eastern Idaho. Investigators discovered that both children died in September 2019. Prosecutors allege that Cox collaborated with Chad and Vallow Daybell in all three deaths. However, Cox died of natural causes during the inquiry and was never charged.

Prosecutors called scores of witnesses to back up their assertions that Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell conspired to murder the children and Tammy Daybell to remove any hurdles to their relationship and collect money from survivor benefits and life insurance policies. Prosecutors said the pair justified the crimes by developing an apocalyptic belief system in which people might be possessed by bad spirits and transformed into “zombies,” and the only way to save a possessed person’s soul was for the possessed body to die.

Chad Daybell | AP news Image

Idaho Jury Convicts Chad Daybell Of Killing Wife And Girlfriend’s 2 Children

According to Fremont County prosecutor Lindsay Blake, Daybell claimed to be the leader of “The Church of the Firstborn” and informed Vallow Daybell and others that he could tell whether someone had turned into a “zombie.” Daybell also claimed to be able to tell how near a person was to death by reading their “death percentage,” Blake said during final arguments on Wednesday.

According to Blake, Daybell used these pieces to create a pattern for each of those killed.

“Chad Daybell would classify them as ‘dark’. Their ‘death percentage’ would decrease. “Then they would have to die,” she explained.

Blake further said Daybell duped Vallow Daybell and her brother, Cox, into assisting with the plot, at times bestowing spiritual blessings’ on Cox and telling Vallow Daybell that the angels were unhappy because she was ignoring him.

Daybell’s defense attorney, John Prior, disputed the prosecution’s representations of Daybell’s beliefs. He described Daybell as a traditional member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a highly pious man who shared his spiritual convictions whenever possible.

Idaho Jury Convicts Chad Daybell Of Killing Wife And Girlfriend’s 2 Children

Prior alleged that authorities looked for evidence against Daybell rather than the facts of the case and that the atrocities were done by the children’s late uncle, Cox. He stated that Cox had killed JJ Vallow’s father in Arizona and that the two children were the only witnesses to the shooting. He further claimed Cox attempted to frame Daybell by burying the deceased children in his yard.

During the sentencing phase, jurors will be asked whether Daybell should be sentenced to death (Idaho law allows for execution by lethal injection or firing squad) or life in prison. Woodcock stated that he would be satisfied with either decision.

“This is what you get for murdering children. This is what you get for murdering your wife. “Chad decided, and he knew it was wrong,” Woodcock explained.

SOURCE – (AP)