Cult mom Lori Vallow smirks and giggles through court hearing ahead of capital murder trial

On Aug 16, 2022

Doomsday cult mother Lori Vallow smirked in court on Tuesday during a procedural hearing ahead of her capital murder trial for killing her two children.

Vallow, 49, grimaced and giggled throughout the hearing in Idaho, turning to her attorneys and at times looking back into the public gallery.

She was far less fresh faced than when her family first grabbed headlines in 2020 after the disappearance of her

She is accused of murdering her two kids, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and seven-year-old JJ Vallow, in September 2019 after becoming obsessed with the end of the world.

Their remains were found in their mother’s husband’s backyard in shallow graves in 2020.

Lori Vallow in court in Idaho on Tuesday. She has been found mentally fit to stand trial for murdering her children, JJ and Tylee, in September 2019

Vallow pulled faces throughout the hearing on Tuesday, laughing at times and turning to her attorney

Something to smile about? Vallow passed mental competency

Vallow even smirked as she was led out of court by police after the hearing

At the time of their deaths, Lori was becoming increasingly involved with Chad Daybell, a doomsday preacher who was married to a different woman at the time.

A web of death and mystery surrounds the pair; Lori’s brother previously died in mysterious circumstances as did Chad’s wife.

In November 2019, two months after JJ and Tylee vanished, Lori and Chad wed in a secret Hawaii beach wedding.

It took months for them to be arrested, during which time Lori and Chad were living in Hawaii.

The pair have refused to confess to police what happened to the kids.

JJ’s body was found near a tree in Chad’s backyard and his sister’s body was discovered nearby in the man’s pet cemetery.

It was near where Lori’s brother’s phone had pinged.

Lori with her daughter Tylee, whose body was found buried in Lori’s husband’s yard in June 2020 in his pet cemetery

Seven-year-old JJ was also found buried in the backyard of Chad Daybell’s

Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, left, and Tylee Ryan, right, were last seen in September 2019. Their bodies were eventually discovered buried on Chad Daybell’s property after a nine-month search

Chad’s children have spoken out previously about their belief that Lori is setting him up, and that she and her dead brother Alex Cox are responsible for the kids’ deaths.

Lori refused to enter a plea on the murder charges so a judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.

Her trial is due to begin in October.

Chad was Lori’s fifth husband. Her fourth husband, Charles, was shot dead in an altercation in her home involving her brother.

Lori’s 26-year-old son from a previous marriage told how she would tell him ominously that ‘everything’s going to be revealed soon’ whenever he asked about what had happened to the two younger kids.

Colby Ryan, 26, said he was still struggling to accept the charges against his mother.

Timeline of Lori Vallow’s and Chad Daybell’s alleged crimes

July 11, 2019: Lori Vallow’s husband, Charles Vallow, is killed by her brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona. Police initially rule that Alex acted in self defense but reopen the case months later after the children are reported missing.

August, 2019: Lori moves children JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho, close to where her future husband Chad Daybell lives with his wife Tammy.

September 8, 2019: Tylee is seen alive for the last time during a trip to Yellowstone National Park with Lori, JJ and Alex. In the following weeks Lori tells people that her daughter is studying at Brigham Young University’s Idaho campus.

September 23, 2019: The last time JJ is seen at his school in Rexburg. Lori emails the school the following day claiming she is moving the family to California for a new job.

October 2, 2019: Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Lori’s niece Melani Pawlowski, is targeted in a drive-by shooting in Arizona. Police identify the vehicle carrying the shooter as a Jeep registered to Charles Vallow, Lori’s late husband.

October 19, 2019: Chad’s wife Tammy, 49, dies at their Idaho home. An obituary states that she passed away peacefully in her sleep. Chad declines an autopsy and her death is listed as due to natural causes.

October 25, 2019: A friend of Tylee receives a vague ‘miss you’ text from her phone but says that it didn’t sound like the teen.

November 5, 2019: Lori and Chad tie the knot on a beach in Kauai. Receipts indicate that Lori purchased her own wedding ring from Amazon nearly three weeks prior to Tammy’s death.

November 26, 2019: Out-of-state relatives ask Idaho police to perform a welfare check on JJ. Lori and Chad claim he is in Arizona with relatives and ask their friend, Melanie Gibb, to lie and say she took the boy there for Thanksgiving. Police soon learn that no one has seen JJ or Tylee, since September.

November 27, 2019: Police execute a search warrant related to the children at Lori’s home and discover that she and Chad have fled Idaho.

December 11, 2019: Tammy’s body is exhumed from a Utah cemetery and her death is reclassified as suspicious.

December 12, 2019: Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, is found dead in a bathroom in his Arizona home. Months later an autopsy determines that he died of natural causes while he had the overdose drug Narcan in his system.

December 21, 2019: Rexburg police issue the first press release about JJ and Tylee, revealing they believe their disappearance could be linked to Tammy’s death and asking the public for information.

December 24, 2019: Lori and Chad issue a statement through an attorney saying they love their son and daughter and look forward to addressing ‘allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor’.

December 30, 2019: Police accuse Lori and Chad of lying to investigators and say they believe the couple know where the kids are or what happened to them.

January 3, 2020: Police search Chad’s home in Salem and remove 43 items, including tech devices and journals. They also comb over sections of the snow-covered yard with rakes and metal detectors.

January 26, 2020: Lori and Chad are seen for the first time in months as police serve them with two search warrants in Kauai. Lori is also served with a court order to produce the children to authorities in Idaho in five days. The couple are approached by the media while officers serve the documents and refuse to say anything about the children.

January 30, 2020: Lori misses the court deadline to produce the children to Idaho authorities.

February 20, 2020: Lori is arrested in Kauai and charged with two felony counts for desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, and one misdemeanor count each for resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime, and contempt of court.

March 5, 2020: Lori is extradited to Idaho, where she is held on $1million bond at Madison County Jail.

March 17, 2020: Lori professes her innocence in a statement through her attorney as two other members of her defense team quit and the judge removes himself from the case.

March 24, 2020: Court documents filed in the divorce of Lori’s niece Melani and her husband Brandon Boudreaux allege that Lori told people she believed her children were zombies before they disappeared.

April 9, 2020: Authorities reveal they are investigating Lori and Chad for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in connection with Tammy’s death.

June 9, 2020: Police search Chad’s home in Salem for the second time and discover human remains in the backyard. Chad is taken into police custody and charged with destruction or concealment of evidence.

May 25, 2021: Lori and Chad are charged with first degree murder in the deaths of the children. Chad is also charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife Tammy.

May 27, 2021: Lori is deemed incompetent to stand trial on the murder charges in Idaho.

August 5, 2021: Prosecution announces it will seek the death penalty for Chad.

April 11, 2022: Lori is restored competency. Criminal proceedings against her in Ohio are ordered to continue.

April 14, 2022: Lori is taken to the Madison County Jail in Rexburg, Idaho, by Fremont County Sheriff officers