BOISE, Idaho — Prosecutors in Idaho say they will seek the death penalty against a couple in the killings of the wife’s two youngest children and the husband’s previous wife in a convoluted case involving doomsday religious beliefs and another suspicious death in Arizona.
The prosecutors made the announcement in court filings on Thursday, saying that all three murders were especially heinous and cruel, that they were done for financial gain and that the couple exhibited such a propensity for killing that they are likely to be a continuing threat to society if they are allowed to live.
In Idaho, Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell are each charged with conspiracy, murder and grand theft in connection with the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan. The children were missing for several months, during which police said the couple lied about the children’s whereabouts, before their bodies were found buried on Chad Daybell’s property in rural Idaho.
They face similar charges in the death of Chad Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell, who died just two weeks before Lori and Chad married. And in Arizona, Lori Daybell is charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of her previous husband. Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Lori Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, who claimed it was self-defense. Cox later died of what police said was natural causes.
Chad Daybell has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and his attorney John Prior declined to comment on the matter. Lori Daybell has not yet entered a plea in the Idaho or Arizona cases, and was ordered to undergo treatment at a mental health facility in hopes of making her competent to stand trial.