'Doomsday mum' guilty of conspiring to murder her fourth husband (2025)

A ‘doomsday mum’ who killed two of her children has now been found guilty of conspiring to murder her fourth husband.

Lori Vallow Daybell conspired with her late brother to kill her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, at his home in Chandler, Arizona, in 2019.

He died in July of that year after being shot.

She was hoping to collect money from his life insurance policy before marrying her now-husband, ‘doomsday prophet’ Chad Daybell.

Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, claimed he acted in self defence when he shot and killed Mr Vallow. Cox died five months later after developing a blood clot in his lungs.

The mum, who chose to defend herself at trial, said Mr Vallow had chased her around the house with a bat, but the jury found her guilty after deliberating for just three hours.

This is the second trial Vallow Daybell has faced amid a complex web of cases involving murders and mysterious deaths.

Vallow-Daybell is already serving three consecutive life sentences for killing two of her children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, 7, and conspiring to murder Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell.

Tammy died in her sleep in October 2019.

Vallow Daybell became involved in a cult led by Chad Daybell, and after moving her family to be with him in Idaho they decided the children were ‘zombies’.

They justified the killings by suggesting the children had been taken over by ‘evil spirits’.

Chad Daybell received the death penalty last year after being found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder in the deaths of Tylee, Joshua, and Tammy Daybell. He is awaiting execution at a maximum security facility in Idaho.

Starting with Mr Vallow’s death, the doomsday couple created a wider plot to rid their lives of ‘obstacles’, text messages shown to the 2023 murder trial showed.

The prosecution said Vallow Daybell ‘used money, power, and sex to get what she wanted’.

Vallow Daybell will go on trial again in June, accused of conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of her niece, Melani Pawlowski.

Mr Boudreaux survived the drive-by shooting in Arizona in October 2019 – the assailant was driving Mr Vallow’s car.

Vallow Daybell won’t be sentenced for her most recent conviction until after her next trial is complete.

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