Chad Daybell sentenced to death for “apocalyptic murders”

Chad Daybell, an apocalyptic perpetrator convicted of the 2019 murders of his first wife and two stepchildren he shared with his most recent wife, Lori Vallow, has been sentenced to death by an Idaho jury.

Jurors made their decision Saturday, just two days after Daybell, 55, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the killings of Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7 years old, and Tylee Ryan, 16 years old. , as well as his first wife, Tammy Daybell, with whom he had five children.

Tammy died at their home in October 2019 – just two weeks before her husband married Vallow and about a month after Vallow's children disappeared.

Chad said at the time that the 49-year-old mother had a severe cough and died in her sleep, leading authorities to believe her sudden death was the result of natural causes.

His body was later exhumed, however, and investigators determined his death to be a homicide by asphyxiation.

Authorities said they believe Tylee and JJ were killed in September 2019 — around the same time they were last reportedly seen alive. Authorities discovered their remains on the rural property in Daybell, Idaho, about nine months later.

In the meantime, the couple hid from police in Hawaii, where Vallow was eventually arrested in February 2020. Daybell was taken into custody in June 2020, shortly after the children's remains were found. found outside his home.

They were both charged in 2021 with murder and grand theft by deception in the deaths of Vallow's two youngest children.

During his nearly two-month trial, prosecutors argued that Daybell, who self-published dozens of books about the impending apocalypse, used his spiritual beliefs to justify the killings.

He claimed that the three victims were possessed and had “marked” them for death so that he and Vallow could be together “unhindered by earthly relatives, nor by earthly obstacles.”

To impose the death penalty, jurors had to unanimously conclude that Daybell met at least one of the “aggravating circumstances” that under state law qualify a person for the death penalty.

The victim of #LoriVallow And #ChadDaybell who is often not talked about is Colby Ryan, LV's son.

“I stand here today with no mother, no father, no sister and no brother,” Ryan said. “I lost everything I had ever known. I lost the ability to share my children with them[JJet…[JJand…[JJet…[JJand…

– Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) June 1, 2024

Jurors also heard Friday from the victims' relatives, including Vallow's eldest child, Colby Ryan, who described what it was like to lose his entire family. Her father died years before her siblings were murdered.

“The only way I could describe the impact of their loss of life would be like the launch of a nuclear bomb,” he said. “It’s no exaggeration to say that I lost everything.”

Daybell's sentencing earlier this week came about a year after Vallow was convicted of murdering her children and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She was also convicted of conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell.

With news feed services