By LAUREN SILVER and COURT TV STAFF
BOISE, Idaho (Court TV) - After more than eight hours of deliberation over two days, the jury reached a verdict in the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell.
Lori is charged with murdering her two youngest children, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to kill her fifth husband's wife, Tammy Daybell.
Lori Vallow Daybell is seen outside the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022. (Tony Blakeslee/East Idaho News via AP, Pool)
The trial spanned five weeks as 59 witnesses were called to the stand. Prosecutors presented the jury with a narrative that portrayed Lori as a woman greedy for money, power and sex and determined to do whatever she needed to get what she wanted. Prosecutors allege that after meeting her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, at a conference in 2018, Lori plotted with him to kill his wife Tammy and her two youngest children.
LISTEN: ID v. Lori Vallow Daybell Daily Trial Audio
On the stand, FBI analysts testified to text messages sent between Lori and Chad that referred to the children and Tammy as "obstacles," long with a story written by Chad about "James and Elena" that seemed to mirror their own love story.
Prosecutors said that Lori collected Social Security benefits on behalf of her dead children and never reported them missing or tried to look for them when others called attention to their disappearance. Testimony during the trial indicated that Chad rushed to collect Tammy's life insurance policy within days after her death.
Lori's defense attorney described his client in closing arguments as a loving mother and suggested she had fallen prey to a suggestive Chad Daybell who was truly the mastermind of the murders.
Chad was originally charged with Lori, but his trial was severed. He faces the death penalty when his case goes to trial, tentatively scheduled for June 2024.