PHOENIX — Lori Vallow Daybell, the Idaho mother already serving life for the murders of her two youngest children, was found guilty Tuesday of conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in a twisted Arizona case tied to money, religion, and betrayal. The Maricopa County Superior Court jury didn’t take long—just a day after closing arguments on April 21—to deliver the verdict, capping a trial that gripped the nation with its grim details and Vallow Daybell’s bizarre self-defense claims.
The 51-year-old, dubbed the “Doomsday Mom” for her apocalyptic beliefs, sat stone-faced as the guilty verdict for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder was read. She’d represented herself in the six-week trial, a bold move that led to fiery courtroom clashes and a few head-scratching missteps, like trying to call an unsubpoenaed witness on day one. Prosecutors painted a chilling picture: Vallow Daybell, they said, schemed with her brother, Alex Cox, to gun down Charles Vallow in July 2019 at her Chandler home, all to cash in on a $1 million life insurance policy and clear the way for her new life with fifth husband, Chad Daybell, a self-styled doomsday prophet.
The case turned on a deadly morning when Cox, who claimed self-defense and was never charged, shot Vallow, a 62-year-old father, twice in the chest. Cox died of natural causes later that year, leaving Vallow Daybell to face the conspiracy charge alone. Witnesses, including Vallow’s own brother Adam Cox, testified she’d been spouting strange religious rhetoric before the killing, believing Charles was possessed by dark spirits. Another witness, a woman who dated Charles the night before his death, sparred with Vallow Daybell during cross-examination, snapping, “Don’t flatter yourself,” when pressed about their conversation.
Prosecutors argued the motive was cold and calculated. Vallow Daybell, they said, wanted the insurance money and Social Security benefits for herself and her adopted son, JJ, while eyeing a future with Daybell, whom she married months after the shooting. The jury agreed, finding her guilty of orchestrating the plot.
This isn’t Vallow Daybell’s first conviction. In 2023, an Idaho jury sentenced her to life without parole for the 2019 murders of her children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, whose bodies were found buried on Daybell’s rural property—Tylee’s charred, JJ’s bound in duct tape. She was also convicted of conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, Chad’s first wife, who died under suspicious circumstances weeks before Vallow Daybell’s wedding to Daybell. Chad Daybell, tried separately, received the death penalty.
Vallow Daybell’s legal battles aren’t over. She faces another Arizona trial in late May, accused of conspiring to murder her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, who survived a 2019 shooting. She’s pleaded not guilty to that charge, too.
For now, she remains behind bars, her latest conviction adding another chapter to a saga that’s left families shattered and a nation stunned. The jury’s decision came on April 22, 2025, in Maricopa County Superior Court. No sentencing date has been set.