Chad Daybell Verdict: Doomsday Author Found GUILTY in Triple-Murder Trial, Could Face Death Penalty
Chad Daybell was found guilty.
May 30 2024, Published 4:34 p.m. ET
Chad Daybell was convicted of murdering his first wife, Tammy Daybell, and his current wife's two youngest children following a nearly two-month trial, RadarOnline.com has learned. He now could face the death penalty at his upcoming sentencing hearing.
He and his current wife, Lori Vallow, were charged in connection with the deaths of Tammy and Lori's kids Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan.
Chad denied wrongdoing after being hit with charges including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit grand theft, and insurance fraud related to the deaths.
The children were found in his backyard in June 2020 after vanishing. Police believe he hid their remains sometime between Sept. 2019 and the time they were discovered.
Tammy was found to have died from asphyxiation in October 2019, weeks before Chad and Lori's wedding. She was initially believed to have died in her sleep. JJ's cause of death was asphyxiation while Tylee's was "homicide by unspecified means," as we previously reported.
JJ's grandparents Kay and Larry Woodcock were deeply disturbed after hearing the details, telling KTVB in a statement, "There are just some things we just can't ... We can't un-see and can't un-hear."
Lori received multiple life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole in 2023.
Chad was "stoic" while learning his fate on Thursday, standing beside his attorney as the judge read out the jury's decision.
Prosecutors believed that Chad and Lori conspired in the three murders for a motive that prosecutor Lindsey Blake described as "money, power and sex." It is believed they justified their killings based on doomsday-focused religious beliefs.
Chad denied wrongdoing after being hit with charges including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit grand theft, and insurance fraud related to the deaths.
"When he had a chance at what he considered his rightful destiny, he made sure no person and no law would stand in his way," prosecutor Rob Wood said.
"Two dead children buried in the defendant Chad Daybell's backyard," Wood told the jury. "The next month his wife is found dead in their marital bed."
"Seventeen days after the death of his wife, Tammy, this defendant is photographed laughing and dancing on a beach in Hawaii at his wedding to Lori, a woman who was his mistress and the mother of the children buried in the graves on his property. Three dead bodies."
Chad and Lori married two weeks after Tammy's funeral.
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Lori was found guilty of murder in 2023. She received multiple life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole.
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"You had so many other options ... You could have found someone to take care of those kids," Judge Steven Boyce said. "You killed those children ... to remove them as obstacles and to profit financially."
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