A jury convicted Chad Daybell guilty of murdering his first wife and his second wife’s two children in what prosecutors in Idaho described as a conspiracy to pursue “money, power, and sex.”
The decision in the capital murder trial came after seven weeks of testimony and more than a year after Daybell’s second wife, Lori Vallow, was also convicted of murdering her two youngest children, Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, in a so-called doomsday plot.
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The jury began deliberations Wednesday evening, during which they were sequestered, and returned a judgment on Thursday at noon, finding him guilty on all counts.
Prosecutors say they intend to seek the death sentence for the murder charges. Thursday afternoon marks the start of the sentencing phase of the trial.
Prosecutors said that Vallow and Daybell believed the two youngsters were “dark spirits” and “zombies” and conspired with Vallow’s now-deceased brother, Alex Cox, to murder them in 2019, around a year after meeting at a religious conference.
Daybell, 55, faces charges of murder and conspiracy for the death of his former wife, Tamara “Tammy” Daybell, 49, on October 19, 2019. Prosecutors at Vallow’s trial stated that asphyxiation caused her death.
Prosecutors said that Daybell, the author of apocalyptic literature, used spiritual beliefs to explain the three killings, claiming that all three were possessed and “marked” to die.
“Three dead bodies, and for what? Money, power, and sex. ” That’s what the defendant cared about,” prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors during final statements Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Daybell’s contacts revealed he never intended to divorce Tamara Daybell, with whom he had been married for over 30 years and had five children before having an affair with Vallow.
Prosecutors found Tamara Daybell dead in her bed 17 days after Vallow and Daybell married in Hawaii. At that time, Cox also killed Vallow’s former husband, Charles Vallow, and authorities had not yet reported her two youngest children missing. Ryan was a child from Vallow’s third marriage, and J.J. was Charles Vallow’s nephew, whom they adopted.
“Chad said the plan was for he and Lori to be together unencumbered by earthly relatives and earthly obstacles,” Blake stated.
Prosecutors discovered the children’s corpses on Daybell’s Idaho farm in June 2020, following a months-long search after extended family members reported them missing. Blake asserted that a pickaxe and shovel in Daybell’s garage contained Ryan’s DNA.
During closing comments, defense attorney John Prior told jurors that prosecutors produced only a “handful” of text conversations between Daybell and Vallow that discussed “light and dark” and “death percentages” out of thousands in an attempt to infer a murder plot.
“At no time did the prosecuting attorney show you a text message that said, ‘Let’s kill the kids; let’s kill Tammy,'” he stated.
Prior also claimed that prosecutors failed to produce proof that there was any agreement to conduct a crime or evidence linking Daybell to the deaths.
A forensic pathologist, who thought Tamara Daybell’s cause of death should have been “undetermined,” and one of Daybell’s children, who informed jurors that his mother was ill before she died, were among Prior’s witnesses during the trial.
Prosecutors also found Daybell guilty of two charges of insurance fraud involving Tamara Daybell’s life insurance plans, of which he was the beneficiary.
Daybell did not take a stand during the trial. He pleaded not guilty to the accusations.
Judge Steve Boyce, who ruled over Vallow’s trial, is hearing his case.
After the jury found Vallow guilty of all charges, Boyce sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of release. Prior to her trial, the judge approved the defense’s motion to dismiss the death penalty in her case.
Accusations have also surfaced that Vallow plotted to assassinate her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who Cox fatally shot in 2019 following a disagreement at her Arizona home. Police were looking into reports that Cox shot his brother-in-law in self-defense when he died of natural causes months later.
In 2021, a Maricopa County grand jury indicted her on one count of first-degree murder in connection with the deadly shooting.
After allegedly plotting to kill her niece’s ex-husband, she also faced first-degree premeditated murder charges.
She pleaded not guilty to both counts last year. August marks the start of her trial.
