The most damning evidence from Lori Vallow's bombshell murder trial - as cult mom is found GUILTY and now faces life in prison
- 'Cult mom' Lori Vallow was found guilty of killing children JJ, seven, and Tylee, 16
- She was also convicted of conspiracy to murder husband Chad Daybell's ex-wife
- Here Dailymail.com reveals the most damning evidence presented at the blockbuster trial at Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, which began on April 10
Doomsday cult mom Lori Vallow was brought down by a litany of damning evidence that included a strand of her own hair found on duct tape wrapped around her son's battered body and chilling text messages plotting to cause her children pain.
Over six weeks prosecutors in Vallow's triple murder trial called more than 60 witnesses, who gave explosive and harrowing testimony that sent shivers through the courtroom. The defense did not summon a single witness to refute their claims.
On Friday May 12 a jury of seven men and five women found Vallow, 49, guilty of killing her two children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, seven, as part of a sick religious plot.
Vallow was also found guilty of plotting to kill her husband Chad Daybell’s ex-wife, Tammy Daybell, 49. Daybell, who denies murder charges, will be tried separately.
Here Dailymail.com reveals ten of the biggest blows landed by the prosecution in Vallow's blockbuster trial...
The 49-year-old was emotionless as the verdict was read aloud today in Boise, Idaho. Her defense team did not call a single witness nor did they put forward any kind of explanation for how the children died
A strand of Lori Vallow's hair was found on duct tape that was wrapped around her son JJ after he was suffocated inside a plastic bag and buried in a shallow grave on Daybell's property
Vallow's children, Tylee and JJ disappeared in September 2019, but their remains were not discovered until June 2020 - in the backyard of her new husband Chad Daybell
Lori Vallow’s hair found on duct tape around JJ’s body
Perhaps the most significant piece of evidence was a strand of Lori Vallow's hair found on duct tape that was wrapped around her son JJ after he was suffocated inside a plastic bag and buried in a shallow grave on Daybell's property.
Keeley Coleman, a senior DNA analyst at Bode Technology in Virginia, told jurors she was sent genetic profiles for Vallow along with hair that was attached to the piece of tape.
Coleman said she received three DNA profiles from Vallow, Tylee and Melanie Gibb - Vallow's former best friend, as well as several items of evidence.
'The partial DNA profile matched the DNA profile provided for Lori Vallow,' Coleman told jurors. 'The probability of randomly selecting a random individual in relation to that profile is 1 in 71 billion.'
Jurors heard that the boy had tape around his mouth and neck, and binding his arms and ankles. There was also tape around the plastic bags in which he was buried.
JJ's cause of death was 'asphyxia by plastic bag over the head and duct tape over the mouth,' Dr Garth Warren, of the Ada County Coroner's Office, revealed for the first time in court.
The coroner suggested the boy had scratched his own neck as he struggled to break free.
Vallow was accused of killing her kids, seven-year-old Joshua (JJ), left, and 16-year-old Tylee, right
An aerial photograph shows police and FBI investigators search the Daybell property. One of Daybell's daughters now lives at the home with her husband and young children
Horrifying text messages plotting to cause children pain
Prosecutors recovered realms of disturbing text message exchanges between Vallow and Daybell during their year-long murder investigation.
In one exchange, Daybell asked Vallow if she wanted him to 'cause pain' to her niece's children while on a trip with JJ. The pair referred to the kids as '3s' - which was the couple's twisted rating system for 'dark people' they believed were possessed.
Vallow told him to hold off but added if they started acting up again 'we can zap them.' Daybell responded: 'If they are going to act up, we'll at least give them a reason to scream.'
In another exchange between the pair Vallow complained about her teenager daughter Tylee acting weird. Daybell responded by claiming he had 'turned up the pain' on her daughter and 'placed a spiritual virus in her.
The twister couple also had a twisted percentage scale to show how close her kids were to death.
FBI Agent Doug Hart testified that the closer the number was to 100 or zero, the closer they are to death.
When Vallow found out her son JJ was a two, she pressed Daybell: 'Not zero?'
Lori Vallow, 49, was served poolside in Kauai on January 25, 2020, with demands to produce her children to police after they had been missing from Rexburg, Idaho since September 2019
Chad Daybell enters the courtroom during his preliminary hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Monday, August 3, 2020. He is being tried separately
Vallow and Daybell's twisted relationship
The State claimed Vallow and Daybell's relationship was a driving force behind the murders and the jury heard endless evidence regarding their sick religious cult.
The pair married on a beach in Hawaii just two weeks after his ex-wife Tammy was suffocated to death at their home in Rexburg in October 2019. Vallow's husband Charles Vallow had been previously shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in July 2019.
During the trial, the jury heard how the couple had previously discussed removing the 'obstacles' of her children and their respective spouses while engaged in an affair.
FBI agent Hart said: 'There were several communications regarding JJ and Tylee that were relevant to their deaths. They discussed their deaths. After the affair began, there began to be communication regarding the deaths of Charles Vallow, Tammy Daybell, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan.'
Their messages were often highly sexualized - Daybell even writing Vallow an erotic novel in the form of chapterized texts.
Jurors also heard from friends and relatives of Vallow that she and Daybell regularly referred to her children as 'dark' and 'zombies' before they disappeared.
'The common theme was the body has to be destroyed,' the State said.
Through the texts, agent Hart established that Daybell was the 'quasi-religious leader' of their cult and that Vallow acted as his conduit through which other members, like her brother Alex Cox, would seek advice.
The last picture of JJ Vallow 7, before he vanished in September 2019. His body was found in June 2020, buried on Chad Daybell's property. A trash bag was duct taped around his head and he was still wearing his red pajamas
The last known photograph of Tylee, center, during a family trip to Yellowstone National Park with JJ, left, her uncle Alex Cox, right, and her mom Lori
Chilling account of last time JJ was seen alive
During the trial Vallow's friend gave a chilling account of the last time her seven-year-old son JJ was seen alive on September 23, 2019.
David Warwick, who recorded a religious podcast with Vallow, spent the weekend at Vallow's home in Rexburg, Idaho, along with Daybell and Vallow's brother, Cox.
JJ had been there for much of the weekend - but the little boy was gone when Warwick left on the Sunday morning, he said.
'We went downstairs to say goodbye and Lori was there and she just said that JJ had an episode,' he said. 'She said he was out of control and she could not control him and so she had Alex come get him… She said that he climbed the cabinets and the fridge and the upper cabinets and pushed over her picture of Christ.'
He added he did not see any of the damage that Vallow claimed her son caused, when he was 'out of control.'
The night before, JJ had spent part of the evening with Vallow's brother Alex Cox, who brought the boy home later that night. Warwick recalled the moment he carried him into the house - one of the last ever sightings of JJ.
A photo of JJ in his red pajamas was shown in court - the last picture of the boy before he was found dead. He had been buried in those same red pajamas, wrapped in duct tape and placed inside a black plastic bag.
Lori Vallow and Colby Ryan. Jurors were played a disturbing phone call between Colby Ryan, 27, and Vallow while she was held in prison following the discovery of Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua Jackon 'JJ' Vallow, seven
Vallow's hysterical jailhouse call with surviving son
Jurors were played a disturbing phone call between Vallow and her son Colby Ryan, 27, while she was held in prison following the discovery of her dead children.
Lori Vallow laughed hysterically as her only surviving son confronted her about the murder of two of her children - and insisted Jesus Christ was 'on her side.'
A distressed Ryan told his mother 'you murdered my siblings' and demanded an explanation after their bodies were found in shallow graves at Daybell's property.
Vallow then utters a high-pitched laugh as Ryan accuses her of 'blasphemy'. He says to his mother: 'Tell me that, that Jesus Christ is on your side right now.' She responds: 'I can tell you that.'
Ryan also tells Vallow during the call: 'I have prayed for you in my worst moments. I have prayed for my siblings who you swore to me were okay. I thought I could trust you. I thought that you were a completely different person.'
He adds: 'You lied to me, specifically to me, more times than I can count. To know that they are gone and you knew, and my phone's been texted by my little sister who's not even alive, my little brother, who's the sweetest little kid ever. For what purpose?'
But Vallow repeatedly says 'you weren't there, you don't know what happened'.
Ryan previously said he'd received messages that purported to be from Tylee but were actually sent after she was murdered.
'The texts I received back were different to the way Tylee would type,' he said.
Audrey Barattiero, who was staying at Vallow's Rexburg, Idaho home, in October 2019, wept on the stand as she recounted how she had threatened to cut her up and bury her in trash bags
Friend testified Vallow threatened to cut her up
Lori Vallow smirked in court during her trial as her distraught former friend testified that she had threatened to cut her up and bury her in trash bags.
'She said she would cut me up ... it would be so messy and there would be so much blood and something about bleach and trash bags. She would bury me in a place nobody would ever find me.'
Audrey Barattiero, who was staying at Vallow's apartment in Rexburg, Idaho, in October 2019, wept on the stand as she recounted how she confronted her about whether there was 'anything weird going on'. Vallow told her, 'No.'
Barattiero told Vallow she was going to pack. 'As soon as I turned to go upstairs, she started laughing – as if at something hilarious,' Barattiero recalled. Vallow told her: 'You're so naïve and too trusting. You're like a little child ... Well I've got news for you. Not everyone is a good person and not everyone can be so kind.'
When Barattiero was accused by the defense of making it up, she replied: 'I did not make it up.' She said she hadn't mentioned it before because Vallow said: 'If you ever tell anyone, I will find you in the dark of the night.'
An Instagram post from Tylee with her mom dated May 14, 2017, when she was 14 years old
Kay, left, and Larry Woodcock, right, cared for JJ, center, for the first 10 months of his life before he was adopted by Lori Vallow and her fourth husband Charles
Tylee’s credit card found in Vallow’s car
During the trial, prosecutors showed how Vallow drained her children's bank accounts in the days after they were killed, spending the cash at restaurants.
She also continued taking thousands in social security payments meant for her children after they went missing.
The jury heard how a credit card belonging to Tylee was found in Vallow's rental car when it was searched in January 2020 after Vallow and Daybell fled Idaho to live in Hawaii.
Kauai Police Detective Colin Nesbitt testified that they found the credit card in Vallow's purse when the couple was stopped by police after being served the day before with an order to produce her children.
A few days later, a search of the rental car revealed documents and electronic devices, including JJ’s iPad, Social Security cards for both the children.
There were also several alarming items found during the search of Vallow's apartment and garage including guns, army-grade knives, and empty magazines for various weapons.
Police recovered Hazmat-style suits and preparedness bags with emergency kits, a camouflage suit, ammunition, guns, silencers, and black trash bags full of clothes and papers.
Toys and and other items belonging to JJ, including prescription medication, were also found in the search.
The key individuals in Lori Vallow's tangled family tree, including her five husbands, two dead children and killer brother
Couple repeatedly told others they had no children
The court heard how Chad Daybell told his murdered wife's sister that Lori Vallow had no children - nine months before the bodies of her two kids were found buried on his property.
He told Samantha Gwilliam, the sister of Tammy Daybell, that his new wife was called Lori Ryan and her previous husband had recently died of a heart attack - but Gwilliam did her own internet research and discovered he had been lying.
When the couple later inquired about a property in Hawaii they also told the realtor they had 'no kids' and were going to be 'empty nesters'.
The email was sent three days after the pair were married on a beach in Hawaii - six weeks after her kids were last seen alive - but before the cops had been alerted to their disappearance.
Their bodies were found just seven months later, buried on Daybell's property.
Chad and Tammy Daybell pictured before she was murdered in October, 2019
Vallow and Daybell are accused of killing his wife Tammy (left) in October, 2019. Vallow is further accused of plotting the death of her estranged husband Charles who was shot by her brother in Arizona in July of that year. She is facing a separate trial over his killing.
Vallow bought wedding ring before Daybell's wife died
Lori Vallow used the Amazon account of her dead ex-husband Charles Vallow to shop for wedding clothes and a ring for her marriage to Chad Daybell days before the murder of Daybell's wife Tammy in October 2019.
The jury heard how she searched for a 'beach wedding dress', bathing suit, malachite ring and men's clothing.
Vallow and Daybell went on to marry in Hawaii less than two weeks later - in a ceremony that included the malachite ring and other items named in the Amazon searches.
It was deemed at the time that Tammy had died of natural causes, a pulmonary edema due to seizure-like activity. Daybell refused an autopsy.
However, Tammy's body was exhumed in early December, 2019, after cops learned that Vallow's children were missing. Her death was reclassified as suspicious and the murder trial jury learned she had died by asphyxiation.
Summer Shiflet confronted her sister in a jailhouse phone call two weeks after JJ, seven, and Tylee, 16, (right) were found buried in her lover Chad Daybell's backyard in Rexburg, Idaho
Chilling jailhouse call with Vallow's sister
A heated jailhouse call between Vallow and her sister Summer Shiflet caused ripples throughout the courtroom.
Shiflet demanded answers from her sister after she had defended her on TV just weeks before the children were found in shallow graves.
'You were dancing on the beach while your kids were in the ground,' Shiflet sobbed, referring to their wedding pictures in Kauai. 'In the ground like a piece of trash,' she added.
Vallow, who smiled up at her sister as she took the stand, responded by telling her she was just 'trying to be happy'.
Shiflet cried as she told her she would have cared for the children if she was unable to and asked why she had cut her family off - even failing to tell them that their brother Alex Cox, who was part of the cult, had died.
Vallow responded to her inconsolable questioning by telling her that she shouldn't believe the media coverage. 'Nobody knows what I have been through,' she said.
Shiflet, who like Vallow was brought up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, added: 'I don't have one scripture that says it's OK for children to be thrown away like garbage in the ground. There is nothing in the scripture that says it's OK to hurt a child. It's the most selfish thing. I can't think of anything worse.'
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