A court in Idaho has postponed the trial of a woman accused of conspiring to murder her two youngest children and the wife of her fifth husband until it can be determined whether she is mentally competent.
A few days after Lori Vallow Daybell’s defense attorneys requested a delay in the proceedings, Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce issued a ruling on Thursday. The request’s documentation was sealed, and a brief hearing on the topic was closed to the public.
The trial was scheduled for January of next year.
Vallow Daybell and her husband Chad Daybell have both entered not-guilty pleas. The bizarre aspects of the case have attracted worldwide notice.
In November 2019, law enforcement officials in Idaho began investigating the couple when extended family members reported her two youngest children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, as missing. JJ Vallow was 7 years old and Tylee Ryan was approaching her 17th birthday at the time.
Daybell as well as Vallow Daybell remarried just two weeks after the untimely death of his first wife, Tammy Daybell. Later, the bodies of the children were discovered buried on his ranch in rural eastern Idaho.
In relation to the murders of the children and Daybell’s wife, the pair was subsequently charged with murder, conspiracy, and grand theft. They have entered not guilty pleas and, if convicted, may face the death penalty.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020, Lori Vallow is due in court in Lihue, Hawaii. Dennis Fujimoto The Garden Island as reported by AP, Pool
According to prosecutors, the pair exploited strange religious beliefs to advance the claimed murder plots. Charles Vallow, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell, died while the two were estranged, but divorce papers revealed that Vallow Daybell felt she was a god-like person responsible for bringing in the end times. Daybell wrote fiction books about the end of the world and recorded podcasts about preparing for the end of the world.
According to the couple’s friends, they thought that people might be possessed by evil spirits, and Vallow Daybell referred to her children as “zombies,” which was the name they used to describe those who were possessed.
In Arizona, Vallow Daybell is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in relation to Vallow’s death. Alex Cox, the brother of Vallow Daybell, shot and killed her prior spouse in self-defense. According to the authorities, Cox later died of natural causes.
Vallow Daybell has not been scheduled to enter a plea in the Arizona case, and the legal proceedings in Arizona remain on pause while the Idaho case is ongoing.
The Idaho case against Vallow Daybell has been put on hold for the second time. After she was deemed incompetent to face trial in 2021 and committed to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for treatment, the criminal prosecution was suspended. She was deemed competent after 10 months.