‘Cult mom’ Lori Vallow ‘not fit for trial’ as she & Chad Daybell ‘may face execution after kids found buried in yard’
CULT Mom Lori Vallow has been deemed “unfit to stand trial” just days after she and her husband Chad Daybell were charged with the murder of her two kids.
Vallow has been deemed unfit to stand trial following a psychological evaluation, Seventh Judicial District Judge Steven Boyce wrote in a Thursday order pausing the case.
The 47-year-old underwent a competency evaluation on March 8 after her “fitness to proceed” was drawn into question by her attorney.
“The completely assessment determined that at this time the Defendant is not competent to proceed, and recommends restorative treatment,” the documents read.
The prosecution is contesting the results of the report, which were filed under seal.
In the meantime, the judge’s order will remain in effect “pending determination of the issue of competency.”
It comes just two days after Vallow and Daybell, a former pastor, were indicted by a grand jury on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of her children Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16.
The pair were also hit with a slew of other charges, including conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft in connection to the kids’ deaths.
Chad Daybell has also been charged with the death of his ex-wife, Tammy Daybell. Both face charges of conspiracy to commit murder in Tammy’s death.
The couple both appeared in court on Wednesday to be officially indicted on several new charges relating to the murder of Vallow’s two kids and Daybell’s ex.
Daybell heard his murder charges read out in court, while Vallow was given a continence after Judge Boyce paused the case.
If convicted, both Vallow and Daybell face life in prison or the death penalty.
Hours earlier, the Chandler Police Department announced that it has also submitted a new conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charge against Vallow regarding the death of Charles Vallow.
Charles Vallow is Lori’s ex-husband who was shot and killed by her brother in 2019. Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, claimed he shot Charles in self-defense.
Chandler PD recommended that Vallow should be charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
The charge has been filed with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Arizona, which will determine whether to proceed.
Vallow’s two children were last seen alive in September 2019, shortly after she moved from Arizona to Idaho to live with Chad.
The couple fled to Hawaii when cops started pressing Vallow on Tylee and JJ’s whereabouts.
Vallow maintained that her children were safe and living with family members in Arizona.
Police conducted a welfare check but found no trace of her kids.
She was arrested in February 2020 on charges of deserting and abandoning her children.
Just over four months later, JJ and Tylee’s bodies were found buried in Daybell’s backyard in Fremont County, Idaho.
An indictment release on Wednesday claimed that Vallow continued to cash her children’s social security benefits for months after they were killed.
She switched Social Security payments from her daughter’s account to her own in mid-August 2019. She then allegedly continued to wrongly collect Social Security assistance checks worth $1,000 for five months for both JJ and Tylee.
The two kids were receiving “survivor” benefits, which entitle children of a deceased parent up to half of their parent’s retirement benefits.
JJ’s adoptive father – and Lori’s fourth husband – Charles Vallow died in July 2019.
Tylee’s father – Lori’s third husband – Joseph Ryan died in April 2018.
Daybell also increased his first wife’s life insurance benefits to the maximum allowed under the policy weeks before her death and ended up receiving a $430,000 payout, the documents claim.
Tammy Daybell was originally thought to be from natural causes, but investigators reopened the case and her body was later exhumed in December of 2019.
Vallow’s kids, meanwhile, are thought to have been killed on two separate dates in September 2019.
The couple is believed to have planned their murder nearly a year earlier, with the conspiracy charges dating to October 2018.
Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, is named as a co-conspirator in all three deaths, with the indictment indicating there are additional suspected co-conspirators that are “both known and unknown” to prosecutors.
He died suddenly in December 2019, the day after Tammy’s body was exhumed.
The indictment alleges Cox went to Daybell on October 9, 2019 and attempted to shoot Tammy on that day.
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Later that night, Tammy called police to say a “masked man” fired towards her with a “paintball gun.”
Ten days later, Chad Daybell said he found his wife dead in their bed, with the indictment alleging Cox was in “a church parking lot approximately 2.5 miles from the Daybell residence on the night of October 18, 2019.”
The document does not give any details as to how the three victims were killed, however, it claims both Vallow and Daybell “endorse[d] and espouse[d] religious beliefs for the purpose of justifying or encouraging the homicide” of all three victims.