Lori Vallow appears in a mugshot from the Ada County Jail in March 2023.
A new mugshot of Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, the “doomsday cult”-connected mother of two dead children and two dead ex-husbands, was uploaded by the law enforcement agency where she is being detained in Idaho this week.
A little over a week away from her trial, the Ada County Jail released the latest image of the accused murderess.
In the mugshot, Vallow appears to be wearing makeup and to have curled her hair, causing some online commentators to scratch their heads about prisoners’ access to basic grooming and beauty tools while in confinement. Such access, however, is not uncommon.
Several mugshots of Vallow have been released throughout her detention on various charges over the years.
Vallow and her fifth and current husband, Chad Daybell, 54, are each accused of murder in the 2019 deaths of Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17. The children disappeared on different dates in September of that year. Vallow was initially arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 on charges of child desertion. The two defendants were indicted for the murder of Vallow’s children and Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell, 49, in May 2021. The alleged killer couple’s cases were recently severed and will be tried separately.
Lori Vallow Daybell appears in a mugshot from the Kauai Police Department in February 2020.
The bodies that have piled up around the spouses involved a vertiginous cast of characters and bizarre claims.
More Law&Crime coverage: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell appear in court as defense and prosecutors signal intent to argue about religion during triple murder trial
Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, admittedly shot and killed Vallow’s previous husband, Charles Vallow, in July 2019 and claimed self-defense. Cox also allegedly tried to kill Tammy Daybell days before her ex allegedly killed her. Vallow is also charged with conspiracy in Arizona over her ex-husband’s death.
Lori Vallow appears in a mugshot from the Madison County Jail in March 2020.
Police in Idaho allege that Vallow and her husband believed her fourth husband needed to die to fulfill a religious prophecy.
A court filing in a child custody case peripherally related to the alleged cult killings claims Vallow eventually came to believe her two children “had been possessed by a demon or another dark entity” and were subsequently turned into “zombies.”
Daybell is the author of various novels related to end-times theology. He and his wife met in 2018 after appearing on a podcast to discuss different ways the world might end in eschatological terms.
Earlier this month, at a hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce agreed to a defense request to exclude death as a potential punishment should Vallow be convicted. The court granted the motion to remove the death penalty “to ensure the rights of the defendant to a fair trial are protected.”
More Law&Crime coverage: Death penalty no longer a possibility for accused ‘cult mom’ in upcoming triple murder trial
Lori Vallow appears in a mugshot from the Ada County Jail in April 2022.
Several other pre-trial rulings are expected before the triple murder proceedings begin. The defendant is being held on a non-bailable series of offenses, according to jail records and Idaho law.
Vallow’s trial is slated to start on April 3.
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