'Cult mom' Lori Vallow pleads not guilty to Arizona murder conspiracy charges

A woman sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for murdering her two youngest children and another woman has pleaded not guilty to charges in Arizona of conspiring to kill her estranged husband and her niece’s ex-husband.

Lori Vallow Daybell, dressed in an orange jail uniform, stated her name and birthdate when a judge asked her to do so during a five-minute arraignment hearing Thursday in state court in Phoenix. Her trial is scheduled for April 4.

Keith Terry, Vallow Daybell’s attorney, did not immediately return a phone call and email Thursday morning after the hearing seeking comment on his client’s behalf.

In 2019, Vallow Daybell still lived in a Phoenix suburb with her children, 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and then-16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was estranged from her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, at the time, and he had written in divorce filings that she claimed to be a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, that summer. Cox told police he acted in self-defense and he was never charged. Cox died later that year of what investigators said were natural causes.

Shortly after Charles Vallow died, Vallow Daybell and her kids moved to Idaho. Prosecutors said she made the move to be closer to her then-boyfriend, Chad Daybell, and that together the two plotted to remove any obstacle to their happiness.

Chad Daybell has also been charged in the murders of the two kids and his late wife. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Over the next several weeks, Vallow Daybell’s two children disappeared and Chad Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell, died of what was initially believed to be natural causes. But authorities became suspicious when Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell married just two weeks later, and determined Tammy Daybell had been asphyxiated.

Extended family members had also grown worried about the missing kids and police launched a multi-state investigation looking for the children. Their bodies were later found buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.

Meanwhile, another person connected to the family reported an attempted shooting. Brandon Boudreaux, who had recently divorced Vallow Daybell’s niece, said someone driving a Jeep had shot at him outside his home. The Jeep matched the description of one that had been purchased by Charles Vallow before his death.