Lori Vallow Daybell, already serving life sentence, pleads not guilty on murder conspiracy charges
Lori Vallow Daybell has pleaded not guilty to charges in Arizona of conspiring to kill her husband and a former in-law.
She appeared for arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court on Thursday morning.
Vallow Daybell's brother claimed self defense in 2019 when he shot and killed her estranged husband in their Chandler home.
Prosecutors now say Vallow Daybell conspired with her brother to kill Charles Vallow so that she could move to Idaho to be with another man, Chad Daybell.
Vallow Daybell began a life sentence earlier this year in an Idaho prison for the deaths of her two youngest children and Chad Daybell’s previous wife.
She is also facing charges in Maricopa County related to the attempted murder of her niece's ex-husband. A trial is scheduled for April 4th.
Vallow Daybell's timeline
In 2019, Vallow Daybell still lived in a Phoenix suburb with her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and then-16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was estranged from her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, at the time, and he had written in divorce filings that she claimed to be a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.
Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, that summer. Cox told police he acted in self-defense and he was never charged. Cox died later that year of what investigators said were natural causes.
Shortly after Charles Vallow died, Vallow Daybell and her kids moved to Idaho. Prosecutors said she made the move to be closer to her then-boyfriend, Chad Daybell, and that together the two plotted to remove any obstacle to their happiness.
Chad Daybell has also been charged in the murders of the two kids and his late wife. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Over the next several weeks, Vallow Daybell’s two children disappeared and Chad Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell, died of what was initially believed to be natural causes. But authorities became suspicious when Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell married just two weeks later, and it was determined Tammy Daybell had been asphyxiated.
Extended family members had also grown worried about the missing kids and police launched a multi-state investigation looking for the children. Their bodies were later found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.
Meanwhile, another person connected to the family reported an attempted shooting. Brandon Boudreaux, who had recently divorced Vallow Daybell’s niece, said someone driving a Jeep had shot at him outside his home. The Jeep matched the description of one that had been purchased by Charles Vallow before his death.
