US extremist mother found guilty of murdering children
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Lori Vallow went on trial in the northern US state of Idaho for the murders of her adoptive seven-year-old son Joshua "JJ" Vallow and her 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan.
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Lori Vallow Daybell in court in Boise, Idaho. (AP)
A mother in the United States with "doomsday" religious views was found guilty Friday of murdering two of her children and plotting to murder her husband's ex-wife. Lori Vallow went on trial in the northern US state of Idaho for the murders of her adoptive seven-year-old son Joshua "JJ" Vallow and her 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan.
Vallow, who allegedly claimed to be preparing humanity for Christ's second coming, faces up to life in jail without the possibility of release. Chad Daybell, her fifth husband and the self-published author of multiple apocalyptic books, will shortly stand trial separately on identical accusations, including regarding the death of his first wife, Tammy.
Prosecutors identified the couple's "religious beliefs" as a part of the killings, and their case was included in the Netflix true-crime documentary series "Sins of Our Mother," which debuted last year.
The disappearance of Vallow's children, originally reported to police by Joshua's grandparents, sparked global attention in late 2019.
The inquisition took a gruesome turn when it was revealed that other persons affiliated with Vallow and Daybell had died in previous years, and she was caught months later in Hawaii.
Tylee's father, Joseph Ryan, Vallow's third spouse, died after a heart attack in 2018.
In July 2019, she was divorcing her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, when he was killed by a bullet fired by her now-deceased brother.
Tammy Daybell, Daybell's wife, died of natural causes in October 2019. Vallow and Daybell married a few weeks later after moving to Hawaii.
The couple never reported the children missing, and their remains were discovered in June 2020 on Daybell's ranch in Idaho.
The judge decided to drop the death penalty for Vallow, whose sentencing date has yet to be determined. Daybell has pled not guilty to all counts and faces the death sentence if convicted.
Vallow, who was reared as a Mormon, gradually became more extreme in her religious beliefs, believing she could converse with angels. At a religious gathering in Utah in 2018, she encountered Daybell, the head of an extremist Mormon group preparing for the end times.
According to her previous husband, Charles Vallow, she claimed to be "a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ's second coming."
Some faiths believe that during the Apocalypse, 144,000 of the faithful will be resurrected to spend eternity in heaven. Prosecutors also argued that the crimes were motivated by money.
Vallow was also found guilty of grand theft for obtaining social security funds meant for her deceased children, while Daybell was accused of insurance fraud.
