Chad Daybell sentenced to death for murdering his wife and girlfriend's two children in jury decision

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho jury unanimously agreed Saturday that convicted killer Chad Daybell deserved the death penalty for the gruesome murders of his wife and his girlfriend's two youngest children — ending a dark affair that began in 2019 with a search for two missing children.

Daybell, 55, dressed in a dress shirt and tie, sat with his hands on his knees at the defense table. He showed no emotion upon learning that he would face the death penalty for the Tammy Daybell murders; Tylee Ryan, 16; and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7.

The children's mother is Lori Vallow Daybell, whom Chad Daybell married shortly after his wife's death. Vallow Daybell was convicted last year of all three murders and is currently awaiting trial in Arizona, charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Charles Vallow was JJ's father.

The case began in 2019, when a family member called the police. Investigators soon realized both children were missing and a multi-state search ensued. Nearly a year later, their remains were found buried on Chad Daybell's property. Tylee's DNA was later found on a pickaxe and shovel in a shed on the property, and JJ's body was wrapped in trash bags and duct tape, prosecutors said.

During a trial that lasted nearly two months, prosecutors said Chad Daybell, a self-published author who wrote apocalyptic novels, promoted unusual spiritual beliefs, including doomsday prophecies and possession stories. by evil spirits, in order to justify the murders.

Daybell's defense attorney, John Prior, argued during the trial that there was insufficient evidence to link Daybell to the murders, and suggested that Vallow Daybell's older brother, Alex Cox, was the culprit. Cox died in late 2019 and was never charged, and Vallow Daybell was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

During the sentencing hearing, Prior asked jurors to judge Daybell on her life before meeting Vallow Daybell, describing her as a bombshell who took him off the trajectory of an otherwise healthy life . But Daybell also refused to present mitigating evidence at the sentencing hearing. Mitigating evidence is often used to encourage jurors to feel sympathy for a defendant, in an attempt to demonstrate that a life sentence would be more appropriate than capital punishment.

Family members of the victims gave emotional statements to jurors. JJ Vallow's grandmother, Kay Woodcock, tearfully described how the 7-year-old showed empathy and compassion to others through gentle touches and frequently asking if those around him were OK. She also said Tylee was a doting big sister and it warmed her heart to see them together.

“I can’t express how much I wish I had more time to make memories,” Woodcock said as she began to cry.

Vallow Daybell's eldest child, Colby Ryan, described what it was like to lose his entire family. His father died years earlier.

“My three children will never know the kindness of Tylee's heart or JJ's goofy, goofy personality…The only way I can describe the impact of losing their lives is like the dropping of a nuclear bomb” , did he declare. “It’s no exaggeration to say that I lost everything.”

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. They also had to agree that these aggravating circumstances were not outweighed by mitigating circumstances that could have lessened his guilt or justified a lesser sentence.

Idaho law allows execution by lethal injection or firing squad, although executions by firing squad have never been used in the state.