Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday for the murders of her two youngest children and conspiring to kill her husband's first wife, bringing a close to the "Doomsday Cult Mom" case. Scripps News reports that her five-week trial ended in May, when a jury unanimously found the Idaho mom guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The case centered on bizarre claims Vallow Daybell made about her two kids, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow. She and her husband, who justified the murders using religious beliefs, claimed the two kids were "dark" and they were "light" and that she was God's vessel to rid the world of their kind.
Before the sentence, Vallow Daybell again used religion in her defense. She quoted Bible verses about how people shouldn't judge others while suggesting her dead kids and Tammy Daybell weren't murdered. "Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case," she said. "Accidental deaths happen. Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medication happen." The two kids were last seen in September 2019, and Tammy Daybell died in October, just weeks before Vallow Daybell married her fifth husband, Chad Daybell. Tammy Daybell's autopsy showed she had been asphyxiated, and her body was bruised. When the children's bodies were found buried in Chad Daybell's yard in the summer of 2020, JJ had also been asphyxiated, and Tylee had been stabbed. Vallow Daybell faces two other cases in Arizona, both with a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
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