BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A jury in Idaho unanimously agreed Saturday that convicted killer Chad Daybell deserves the death penalty for the gruesome murders of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children, ending a grim case that began in 2019 with a search for two missing children.
The prosecutors claim the case was fueled by power, sex, money and apocalyptic spiritual beliefs.
The 55-year-old Daybell, wearing a dress shirt and tie, sat with his hands in his lap at the defense table. He showed no emotion when learning he would face the death penalty for the murders of Tammy Daybell, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow.
When asked by the judge whether he wanted to make a statement, Daybell declined.
Judge Steven Boyce on Saturday formally imposed the death sentence after a jury, in a lengthy verdict form read in court earlier, said it found that penalty was appropriate under the law.
Jurors found him guilty Thursday and decided on the death sentence after deliberating for just over a day.
The mother of the children is Lori Vallow Daybell, whom Chad Daybell married shortly after his wife’s death.
Vallow Daybell was convicted last year in the three murders and is now awaiting trial in Arizona, charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Charles Vallow was JJ’s father.
The case began in 2019, when a family member called police.
Investigators soon realized both children were missing, and a multistate search ensued.
Nearly a year later, their remains were found buried on Chad Daybell’s property. Tylee’s DNA was later found on a pickaxe and shovel in a shed on the property, and JJ’s body was wrapped in trash bags and duct tape, prosecutors have said.
Source: The Associated Press, Staff, June 1, 2024
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
