Idaho
Idaho mom who killed 2 of her kids goes on trial over death of her husband
PHOENIX — Lori Vallow Daybell, the Idaho mother with doomsday religious beliefs who was convicted of killing her two youngest children and conspiring to murder a romantic rival, is on trial again. This time, she’s accused in Arizona of conspiring to murder her estranged husband.
The case has drawn public attention in part because Vallow Daybell, 51, has doomsday-focused religious beliefs. She isn’t a lawyer but has chosen to represent herself in the six-week trial. Opening statements are scheduled Monday in a Phoenix courtroom.
Prosecutors say she conspired with her brother to kill Charles Vallow, so she could collect money from his life insurance policy and marry her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author who wrote several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world.
Vallow Daybell has pleaded not guilty and has not spoken publicly about the details of Vallow’s death. Here’s what to know about the case.
Vallow was fatally shot in July 2019. Vallow Daybell then moved to Idaho with her children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan. She married Daybell just two weeks after the death of his wife, Tammy Daybell. The children went missing for several months before their bodies were found buried in rural Idaho on Chad Daybell’s property. JJ was 7 and Tylee was 16.
Vallow Daybell is already serving three life sentences in Idaho for the children’s deaths and for conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell. Chad Daybell was sentenced to death in the three killings.
Four months before he died, Charles Vallow filed for divorce from Vallow Daybell, saying she had become infatuated with near-death experiences and had claimed to have lived numerous lives on other planets.
He alleged she threatened to ruin him financially and kill him. He sought a voluntary mental health evaluation of his wife.
Police say Vallow was fatally shot by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, when Vallow went to pick up his son at Vallow Daybell’s home in Chandler, a Phoenix suburb. Vallow Daybell’s daughter, Tylee, told police that she confronted Vallow with a baseball bat after she was awakened by yelling in the house.
Tylee said she was trying to defend her mother, but Vallow took away the bat, according to police records. Cox told police that he fired after Vallow refused to drop the bat and came after him.
Cox told investigators that Vallow Daybell and the children left the house shortly before the shooting. Investigators say she went to get fast food for her son and bought flip-flops at a pharmacy before returning home.
Cox, who claimed he acted in self-defense and wasn’t arrested in Vallow’s death, died five months later from what medical examiners said was a blood clot in his lungs. Cox’s account was later called into question.
Vallow Daybell was a beautician by trade, a mother of three and a wife — five times over.
Her first marriage, to a high school sweetheart when she was 19, ended quickly. She married again in her early 20s and had a son. Then, in 2001, she married Joseph Ryan, and they had Tylee. They divorced a few years later, and Ryan died in 2018 at his home of a suspected heart attack.
Charles Vallow entered the picture several months later. Vallow and Vallow Daybell married in 2006 and later adopted JJ, but by 2019 their marriage had soured. The two were estranged but still married when Cox fatally shot Vallow.
Public interest from around the world only grew as the investigation into the missing children took several unexpected turns, each new revelation seemingly stranger than the last.
Daybell, who was once a contestant on “Wheel of Fortune,” has been the subject of a Netflix documentary and Lifetime movie.
While representing herself, Vallow Daybell has complained about news coverage of her criminal cases, invoked her right to a speedy trial, questioned whether a government witness was truly an expert and engaged in disputes over the pre-trial exchange of evidence.
At a hearing last week, she lost a bid to strike three people from the prosecution’s witness list, including the grandmother of her adopted son. Another witness says Vallow Daybell spoke about Vallow as being “possessed” in the months before his death. When the judge asked her to argue her point, Vallow Daybell lowered her head, sighed and paused a few seconds. “Their information is not firsthand,” Vallow Daybell said. “These witnesses are all coming together. They are watching everything that goes on on TV regarding this.”
If convicted in Arizona of conspiring to kill Vallow, she would face a life sentence.
Vallow Daybell will wear civilian clothing during her trial and will not be handcuffed or shackled when jurors are in the courtroom. She, however, is expected to be wearing a belt-like device under her clothes that will let a jail officer deliver an electric shock by remote control if there’s a disturbance.
The Idaho investigation began at the end of 2019 when Vallow Daybell’s adopted son’s grandmother, worried about his welfare, reached out to police. Vallow Daybell had been evasive when asked about her two youngest children.
Chad Daybell called 911 in October 2019 to report that his wife Tammy Daybell was battling an illness and died in her sleep. Her body was later exhumed, and an autopsy determined she died of asphyxiation.
Idaho police did a welfare check on the kids in November 2019 and discovered they were missing and hadn’t been seen since early September. Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell left town a short time later, eventually turning up in Hawaii without the kids. She was arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 on a warrant out of Idaho.
Defense attorneys told jurors that she was a “kind and loving mother” who happened to be interested in religion and biblical prophesies.
A witness at the Idaho trial said Vallow Daybell believes evil spirits have taken over people in her life and turned them into “zombies.”
The trial over Charles Vallow’s death will mark the first of two criminal trials in Arizona for Vallow Daybell.
She’s scheduled to go on trial again in late May on a charge of conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece, Melani Pawlowski.
Someone in a Jeep fired a gunshot at Boudreaux in 2019 outside his home in a Phoenix suburb, missing him but striking his car. The Jeep matched the description of one registered to Charles Vallow, who was killed nearly three months prior to the shooting outside Boudreaux’s home.
Vallow Daybell has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, she would face a life sentence. ____ Associated Press writer Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.
Idaho
Idaho lawmakers introduce bill to phase out state funding for Hispanic Affairs commission
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho lawmakers have introduced legislation that would phase out state funding for the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs while keeping the commission in place.
The proposal, introduced by Rep. Jeff Ehlers, would gradually eliminate general fund support for the commission by July 1, 2028. The commission would continue to operate but would need to rely on private funding.
Rep. Ehlers told the House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Thursday that the proposal came from recommendations by Idaho’s DOGE Task Force, which reviewed government programs and spending.
READ MORE | Idaho DOGE Task Force recommends defunding Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs
The bill would also eliminate the commission from a list of organizations eligible for a state income tax charitable contribution credit.
Rep. Steve Berch questioned why the legislation would remove both state funding and the tax credit option, saying it could make it more difficult for the commission to raise money.
“I hate to use this word, but I’m really offended by this specific effort to make it that much more difficult for private citizens to be able to contribute to the Hispanic commission,” Rep. Berch said in committee. “I don’t think this can be justified from a financial point of view, and quite frankly, I don’t think it can be justified from a moral point of view.”
In response, Rep. Jason Monks said that it would be more “offensive” to not allow further discussion of the bill before a final decision is made.
The proposal comes after an earlier attempt this session to eliminate the commission entirely. In January, Rep. Heather Scott presented a draft bill that would have removed all references to the commission from Idaho law and dissolved it by July 1, but that measure failed to advance out of committee.
The committee ultimately voted on Thursday to introduce the legislation, allowing it to be printed and advanced for further debate.
This story has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Idaho
Local woman having ‘closet revival’ with new consignment store – East Idaho News
Shanea Fulks is the owner of Seven Sisters Closet Revival, a new consignment store at 260 South Woodruff in Idaho Falls. Take a look inside in the video above. | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com
Do you want to know what’s happening in the eastern Idaho business scene? We’ve got you covered. Here is a rundown of this week’s business news across the valley.
BIZ BUZZ
IDAHO FALLS
New consignment shop in Idaho Falls offers vintage clothes for customers and booth space for sellers
IDAHO FALLS – Curating vintage clothing is Shanea Fulks’s passion, and she’s sharing it with the community through a new business venture.
Seven Sisters Closet Revival opens Saturday at 260 South Woodruff inside Parkwood Plaza in Idaho Falls. It offers racks of vintage clothes for customers and booth space for others to sell their items.
“You get a rack with shelves, and you can come in throughout the week and sell things,” Fulks tells EastIdahoNews.com. “The things you’ll see in the middle of the store are pieces that I have curated. I hand-pick all the things I bring to the store.”
See some of the items in the video above.
Fulks says she’s had multiple people walk in already who are excited about the shop.
The store will have a grand opening this weekend. Fulks is partnering with the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce for a ribbon-cutting and open house at noon on Friday. A local band will be performing during the event.
Then on Saturday, a grand opening celebration will begin at 2 p.m. Several vendors and live entertainment will be available. Fulks says she’s looking forward to interacting with the community.
Fulks has been selling items from her personal collection online for years. After helping a mother and daughter find a formal dress during an interaction at another shop in town several years ago, Fulks says she realized there was a need for a store like this.
After about a year of working with real estate agents, Fulks says the Parkwood Plaza space formerly occupied by a beauty salon called Blush became available, and it was an ideal fit.
“It’s just been a whirlwind and we’re just trying to get it going,” says Fulks.
Fulks’ interest in fashion stems back to childhood. She lost her dad and stepdad to suicide at a young age and grew up in a household that struggled to make ends meet. As a result, she says they bought clothes at Goodwill and other secondhand stores.
She remembers being made fun of because of the clothes she wore. In time, she learned to embrace her uniqueness and developed an interest in vintage clothes.
“I’ve just always been attracted to old sweaters, military jackets (her dad served in Vietnam),” Fulks says. “I like to help people feel confident wearing something unique, even if it’s not trendy. Be bold and wear whatever you want.”
The idea of making the most of your circumstances and embracing who you are is inspired by her experience with suicide, and it’s reflected in the art that’s on display in her store.
“Part of the theme in my store is ‘Stay. We need you,’” she says.
The business name refers to her family. She comes from a blended family of six girls and four boys. When she and her husband were married, they had a daughter — the seventh sister.
Fulks says she’s looking forward to offering great deals to customers. She has two sons with autism who love art, and she wants to host art-themed events for people with special needs. She’d also like to host tea parties and other events in the future.
“I want people to come and feel like they belong,” she says. “I’m going to allow people to do karaoke. When you’re here, I want you to feel like you can have fun.”
Seven Sisters Closet Revival will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…
Women’s-only gym offers ‘unintimidating and beginner-friendly’ atmosphere
New surgeon at Idaho Falls clinic does oral, jaw and facial work
Elsie’s Closet in downtown Idaho Falls is a ‘whole vibe’ and tells a story
Pocatello-based transportation company acquires competitor Yellowstone Transportation
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Idaho
Gov. Little signs bill ending license plate registration stickers in Idaho
Gov. Brad Little has signed House Bill 533, which would remove the need for license plate stickers on Idaho vehicles.
The legislation, introduced earlier this session by Rep. Jon Weber (R) of Boise, eliminates the requirement for registration stickers on Idaho license plates. Weber stated during the bills intorduction that officers can verify the status of license plates without the stickers, potentially saving the state around $300,000.
During the bill’s introduction, some lawmakers argued that it could increase the workload for law enforcement.
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The new law is set to take effect in July.
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