Chad Daybell was sentenced to the death penalty Saturday for the murders of his first wife and his second wife’s two children in 2019, culminating a long Idaho case that drew national attention. A jury convicted Daybell of killing Tammy Daybell, then his wife and the children of Lori Vallow Daybell, Chad Daybell's second wife: “J.J.” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16. Lori Daybell was sentenced to life in prison last year, reports the Washington Post. When the children were reported missing, authorities focused on Daybell, an author of apocalyptic novels for Mormon audiences, and Vallow Daybell, a former beauty pageant contestant.
Prosecutors alleged that the couple had doomsday beliefs and justified the killings through bizarre ideas about cleansing “zombie” spirits. The case spanned multiple years and states. After the sentencing, the prosecutors described a complex investigation that involved several agencies and hundreds of people. Fremont County, Id., Prosecutor Lindsey Blake said it had been a challenge to present the story uncovered by the sprawling investigation. The case began in July 2019, when Vallow’s estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was killed by her brother in Arizona. Vallow then moved to Idaho with her two children, and she met Daybell.
The children were reported missing in September 2019, and Tammy Daybell was killed in October 2019. Her death was attributed to natural causes, but her body was later exhumed for an autopsy that determined she had been asphyxiated. When relatives of the children reported that they hadn’t heard from them, Vallow told authorities that the children were with a friend in Arizona, then she fled to Hawaii and married Daybell.
The children’s remains were found on Daybell’s property.