A doomsday prophesizer accused of killing his wife and murdering his new partner’s two children is due to stand trial this week in the culmination of a bizarre case that has rocked the U.S.
Chad Daybell is set to arrive for the first day of his trial in Boise, Idaho, on Monday. The 55-year-old, who had self-published books about the end of the world and who witnesses alleged believed in “zombies,” is charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of his wife, Tammy Daybell, and partner Lori Vallow Daybell’s 7-year-old son, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, and 16-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan.
The unusual case gripped the country and sparked headlines worldwide. According to prosecutors, Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell began an affair while they were partof a “doomsday cult” that shared apocalyptic religious beliefs.
Friends of Vallow Daybell testified in court that the couple believed evil spirits could take over human souls and the malignant forces had turned her children into “zombies.” The pair believed the only way to expel a zombie was to kill the possessed person’s physical body, prosecutors claimed.
Madison County Sheriff’s Office
Besides the alleged murders, Chad Daybell also is charged with insurance fraud in connection with Tammy Daybell’s death, and two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception in the children’s deaths. He denies all the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Newsweek reached out to Daybell’s attorney, John Prior, via email for comment.
Lori Vallow Daybell was found guilty last year of murdering her children and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, with the 50-year-old sentenced to life in prison without parole in July.
She was also charged with conspiracy to murder her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, who was fatally shot by her brother, Alex Cox, who claimed at the time that the shooting had been in self-defense. Cox himself later died, apparently of natural causes, and did not face any charges. All four victims were killed in 2019.
Vallow Daybell and her new husband had been slated to face trial for their alleged crimes together, but the case against them was split into individual trials when it became clear they may blame each other as part of their defense.
The children’s bodies were found buried in Chad Daybell’s eastern Idaho yard in the summer of 2020. Authorities ruled Tylee Ryan’s death was a “homicide by unspecified means” while JJ Vallow was bound with duct tape and smothered to death with plastic bags.
It was initially believed Tammy Daybell had died of natural causes in her sleep, but her body was later exhumed by suspicious authorities who alleged she had been asphyxiated.
Following the disappearance of Lori Vallow Daybell’s children and the investigation into the other deaths surrounding the couple, the pair fled to Hawaii where they were eventually apprehended.
When Vallow Daybell was sentenced, she said: “Jesus knows me, and Jesus understands me,” adding that the spirit world regularly contacted her to provide updates on her victims.
“Because of these communications, I know for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world,” she said. Judge Steven Boyce told her that she had fallen down “a bizarre religious rabbit hole, and clearly, you are still down there.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.