Lori Vallow is a woman who has been in the news due to her involvement in the deaths of her two youngest children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow.
She had been married four times and had five children. She was recently widowed when she married Chad Daybell in Hawaii in November 2019.
According to friends, Vallow’s long-held beliefs in the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints changed dramatically after meeting Daybell.
She became involved in a group of people who shared her beliefs, which some have described as a “doomsday cult”.
Vallow was arrested in February 2020 and charged with desertion and nonsupport of dependent children.
Her children, Tylee and JJ, were missing at the time but after an investigation, their remains were found on Daybell’s property in Idaho.
Vallow was later charged with murder in their deaths.
On July 31, 2023, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of Tylee and JJ.
During the sentencing hearing, victim impact statements were read, with one person describing Vallow as a danger to society driven by greed and a need for attention.
Lori Vallow children’s autopsy and cause of death
Vallow’s children, Tylee and JJ, went missing in September 2019 and their remains were later found in Daybell’s backyard.
The official cause of death for JJ was asphyxia from a plastic bag being put over his head and duct tape over his mouth.
On the other hand, Tylee’s cause of death was homicide by unspecified means.
Homicide by unspecified means is a term used when a forensic pathologist examines a case and determines it was a homicide, but can’t pinpoint exactly what caused it.
JJ had scratch marks on his neck and bruises on his wrists and ankles where he was bound with duct tape.
Tylee’s autopsy proved to be a grisly challenge as her remains were received in three separate sealed bags.
Her cause of death was undetermined, and her body was so dismembered and burned that investigators weren’t initially sure they had found a body, until they uncovered a skull under a melted plastic bucket.
The forensic pathologist searched Tylee’s remains as best he could for bullets and knife fragments but didn’t find any, and ultimately ruled her cause of death as undetermined.
The examinations revealed that the children suffered brutal injuries. JJ fought for his life until the end.
Lori Vallow sentencing
The mother from Idaho, was found guilty of murdering her two children as well as conspiracy to murder her husband’s first wife.
She was sentenced to life in prison without parole on July 31, 2023 following a hearing held at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho.
Vallow was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and two counts of conspiracy to commit grand theft.
Prosecutors argued that Vallow believed her children were “zombies” and that killing them was necessary to protect the world from dark forces.
Her husband, Chad, was also charged in connection with the case.
He was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and two counts of conspiracy to commit grand theft.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in August 2023.