Will Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell get death penalty? Prosecutors have 60 days to decide to pursue
ST ANTHONY, IDAHO: After Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, the mother and stepfather of Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan, were indicted on first-degree murder charges on Tuesday, May 25, now speculations are doing the rounds as to if the pair will face the death penalty. The Doomsday couple has been accused of killing seven-year-old Joshua and 16-year-old Tylee as well as Chad’s former wife Tammy Daybell.
Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake said in a statement, “Local, state and federal law enforcement professionals and local and state prosecutors have worked tirelessly for nearly a year and a half to gather the facts and evidence necessary to bring forward charges on behalf of Tylee, JJ, and Tammy. Due to the ongoing safety restrictions imposed by the courts during the pandemic, we just recently were given permission to present information to the Grand Jury for their review. They deliberated and determined there is probable cause to believe that the Daybells willfully and knowingly conspired to commit several crimes that led to the death of three innocent people.” However, Blake did not mention anything about the death penalty.
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Will Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell get the death penalty?
According to Deseret News, it is not clear yet if the prosecutors will pursue the death penalty in Lori and Chad’s case. But they have a time period of two months to decide how they will want to take the case further. KBOI reported that within 60 days, prosecutors will announce their decision. Lori and Chad were expected to appear in court on Wednesday, May 26, to face those charges.
Blake on May 25 stated, “We know many members of the community may feel that progress on this case has been slow. Due to the ongoing safety restrictions imposed by the courts during the pandemic, we just recently were given permission to present information to the grand jury for their review,” before adding, “This investigation is far from over.”
The nine-page indictment mentions that from October 2018, Lori, Chad, and Alex Cox, Lori’s deceased brother, started building up justifications for the killings in the name of religious beliefs. Though court documents did not go into detail about the kids’ deaths, it noted Tylee was last seen on September 8, 2019, at Yellowstone National Park. As per investigators, she was murdered the very next day. Before burying her body in the backyard of her stepfather’s house in Salem, Massachusetts, she was also burned.
A few weeks after Tylee’s death, her younger brother Joshua was last seen with his now-deceased maternal uncle, Cox. And, around a year later, on June 9, 2020, the little boy’s remains were found by investigators while searching Chad’s property. It has been said that even after the children’s death, Lori did not miss collecting the children’s Social Security benefits. She also transferred their deposit into her personal account.
However, Joshua and Tylee were not the only ones who were allegedly killed by Lori and Chad. When the duo met, they were married to different persons at the time. They reportedly planned to kill Tammy who was married to Chad at the time. She died on October 18, 2019. Initially, it was said her death was natural, but later it was classified as suspicious.