(HorizonPost.com) – The “doomsday mom” whose children’s bodies were discovered buried on her husband’s property in Idaho in 2020 was sentenced on Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, CBS News reported.
In May, an Idaho jury convicted Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, of murder and conspiracy in the deaths of Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua Vallow, 7, and the death of her husband Chad Daybell’s first wife Tammy. She was also found guilty of grand theft for stealing Social Security benefits for the children.
Judge Steven Boyce sentenced Vallow Daybell to three life sentences to be served consecutively along with a 10-year sentence for grand theft. Vallow Daybell will also have to pay over $60,000 in civil penalties, fines, and restitution.
During the weekslong trial, witnesses testified about the defendant and her husband Chad Daybell’s fringe religious beliefs and how she claimed that people were being replaced by evil spirits.
While she did not testify in her defense during the trial, Vallow Daybell did address the court during Monday’s sentencing hearing.
Vallow Daybell told the court that Jesus “knows that no one was murdered in this case.” She claimed that she communicated with the spirits of the murdered children and her “eternal friend” Tammy Daybell. She claimed “angelic visitors” had communicated with her and “manifested her.”
She assured the court that her children were “happy and busy in the spirit world” and said Tammy Daybell had communicated with her that she is also “very happy and extremely busy.”
Before imposing the sentence, the judge told Vallow Daybell that she could have gotten a divorce or “found someone else to take care of those kids.” But instead, she “chose the most evil and destructive path possible.”
Judge Boyce told Vallow Daybell that she justified her actions “by going down a bizarre religious rabbit hole” from which she clearly has still not escaped.
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