Chad Daybell, the fifth husband of convicted murderer Lori Vallow Daybell, was found guilty of murder and conspiracy charges Thursday in the deaths of his first wife and the two children of his second wife.
Chad had pleaded not guilty to the death of his first wife, Tammy Daybell, and the children of Lori – Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7.
He could face the death penalty for his crimes.
Lori has already been sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering her two youngest kids. She was also charged with conspiracy to murder Tammy and has been accused of arranging her fourth husband’s murder so that she and Chad could be together.
Lori Vallow Daybell stands and listens as the jury’s verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho on Friday May 12, 2023. The Idaho jury convicted Daybell of murder in the deaths of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs.
AP Photo/Kyle Green
The investigation into Chad and Lori began in late 2019 when several family members reported concerns to police that they hadn’t seen or spoken to JJ and Tylee in months. Their bodies were eventually found buried in Chad’s yard in eastern Idaho in 2020.
Friends of the couple would go on to tell police, and testify in court, that Lori and Chad held fringe religious beliefs, including that they had been reincarnated in order to gather people before a biblical apocalypse.
Before Lori’s two youngest children disappeared, she referred to them as “zombies,” former friend Melanie Gibb testified in court. The couple claimed that zombies were people who had been possessed by dark spirits, and the only way to free the person’s trapped soul was to destroy their body by killing them.
FILE – This combination of undated file photos released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children show missing children Joshua Vallow, left, and Tylee Ryan.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children via AP, File
Authorities believe the two children were killed in September 2019. Tammy was found dead on Oct. 19, 2019, a few weeks before Chad and Lori married, although it was initially believed she died in her sleep.
Thursday’s verdict marks the end of a years-long investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs.
Now, the Idaho jury will be tasked with deciding if Chad should be sentenced to death for the crimes.
— with files from Global News’ Kathryn Mannie
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