Idaho jury convicts Chad Daybell of three murders. Here’s what happened in court [The Idaho Statesman]

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Investigators for years have believed that Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell — along with her brother — conspired to kill two of her children, along with Chad Daybell’s first wife. The lengthy criminal case is one step closer to ending after an Ada County jury convicted 52-year-old Chad Daybell for the murders Thursday.

Now, that same jury will decide if the Rexburg man should be sentenced to death.

Chad Daybell was convicted on eight felonies, including the first-degree murders of his then-wife Tammy Daybell and Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children: 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. He was also convicted on three counts of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of insurance fraud for increasing Tammy Daybell’s life insurance coverage.

The 12-person jury reached the verdict after roughly six hours of deliberation — shorter than it took the jurors to find Lori Vallow Daybell guilty. Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted on six felony counts in May 2023 and sentenced to life in prison.

The Daybells, who had a monthslong affair before getting married, were expected to be tried together last year, but 7th District Judge Steven Boyce severed their cases because of new DNA evidence.

In August 2019, Vallow Daybell moved to Rexburg, Idaho, from Arizona just months after her fourth husband was shot and killed. In the months that followed, her children went missing, and Tammy Daybell died in her home. Tammy’s death wasn’t initially investigated, but her body was exhumed two months later. Utah Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy and ruled her death a homicide.

Following a lengthy investigation, the Rexburg Police Department discovered the bodies of JJ and Tylee in June 2020. Tylee’s burned and dismembered remains and JJ’s bound body were buried in shallow graves on Chad Daybell’s eastern Idaho property.

Authorities have said they believe Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox — who acted as her “protector” — killed or conspired to kill Tylee, JJ and Tammy Daybell, according to witness testimony. During both trials, evidence presented to the jury showed that Cox’s cellphone was on Chad Daybell’s property on the days the children were killed, and that he attempted to fire a gun at Tammy Daybell.

The jury didn’t have to prove Chad Daybell physically committed the killings to be convicted, Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake said during the prosecution’s closing arguments Wednesday. The jury must only believe he advised, assisted, encouraged, commanded or coerced someone to do it — someone like Cox.

“Alex does what Chad asks of him,” Blake said.

A member of The Church of Latter-day Saints, Daybell believed he received personal revelations from God that told him certain people — including Vallow Daybell’s children and Tammy Daybell — were possessed by dark spirits and would need to be “cast out,” or killed, according to witness testimony. The prosecution has accused the Daybells of using religion as a tool to manipulate others, including Cox, even saying in the indictment that they espoused religious beliefs “for the purpose of justifying” or encouraging the homicides.

“No one here is charged because of their religious beliefs,” Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood said during Vallow Daybell’s trial. “They are charged for using those religious beliefs for the purpose of murder.”

Chad Daybell will now face an additional week or two of additional evidence where the same jurors, who have been sequestered, will decide whether he should be sentenced to death. That phase of the case is expected to begin Thursday afternoon, Boyce said.

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