Lori Vallow claims ‘no one was murdered’ in bizarre sentencing statement

A sobbing Lori Vallow read out a Bible quote at her sentencing hearing as she broke her silence for the first time over the horrific murders of her two children and her lover’s wife. In a bizarre statement, she claimed that ‘no one was murdered in this case’ – including her murdered children Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow and ‘her friend’ Tammy Daybell. ‘Jesus knows that no one was murdered in this case,’ she said. She claimed that she has had ‘many communications’ from people in heaven. ‘Because of these communications I know for a fact that my children are happy,’ she said. The 50-year-old convicted killer appeared in Fremont County Courthouse in Idaho on Monday morning to be sentenced for the murders of her two youngest children Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, 7, and conspiracy to murder her new husband Chad Daybell ‘s first wife Tammy Daybell. Sitting slouched cross-legged at the defence table, Vallow kept her head down and refused to look her victims’ devastated family members in the eyes as they gave heartwrenching impact statements to the court and as prosecutors asked that she spent the rest of her life behind bars with no chance of parole. In a defence statement, Vallow’s attorney John Thomas asked the judge to give her ‘hope’ that the ‘most hated woman in America’ could one day be free from prison. Following the statements, Vallow was asked if she had a statement to make. In a bombshell move, she addressed the court – giving her first comments ever about the murders of the three victims. Vallow claimed that she ‘died’ when she gave birth to her daughter Tylee and from then on, she knew she had been to heaven. Since her children’s deaths, she said that they had both ‘visited’ her. JJ – who was smothered to death with a plastic bag tied around his head with tape – visited her and he told her ‘you didn’t do anything wrong mom’, she said. She went on to claim that Tammy was ‘my friend’ and that the 49-year-old woman – who was murdered in her bed – had visited her since her killing. Vallow was found guilty of first-degree murder , conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, 7, back in May. She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mr Daybell’s first wife Tammy, 49. JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace in September 2019 – sparking fears for their safety from desperate family members all the while Vallow refused to say where they were. One month later, Tammy – an otherwise healthy 49-year-old – also died suddenly. Her death was initially ruled natural causes. This bizarre spate of disappearances and death came just months after Vallow’s fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by Vallow’s brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019. With Vallow’s children and both of their spouses then out of the way, she and Mr Daybell embarked on a new life together – flying to Hawaii to get married in a fairytale wedding on the beach. But, with months passing since the last signs of life of Vallow’s children, concerns continued to grow, prompting authorities to exhume Tammy’s body. A subsequent autopsy revealed that she had died by asphyxiation. In June 2020 – nine months after they were last seen alive – Tylee and JJ’s remains were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho. JJ, who had autism, had been smothered with a plastic bag taped over his face, his little body still dressed in a pair of red pyjamas. Tylee’s cause of death meanwhile has been impossible to establish as the teenager’s dismembered, charred bones and body parts were found scattered in the ground on Mr Daybell’s pet cemetery. Jurors in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, took almost seven hours to find Vallow guilty on all charges over the three murders after a grueling six-week trial where the panel heard harrowing details about the doomsday cult mom’s path of deadly destruction and were shown graphic images of the murdered children’s remains. The state called over 60 witnesses to lay out its case that Vallow was motivated by both her cult beliefs but also lust for Mr Daybell and financial greed when she conspired with him and her brother Cox to kill the three victims. In a bombshell move, Vallow’s attorneys declined to present any defence case or call any witnesses and the ‘cult mom’ chose not to take the stand to give her side of the story. Vallow’s legal troubles and the chilling case are far from over. Following her sentencing, she is expected to be extradited to Arizona where she is awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to murder her fourth husband Charles Vallow and the attempted murder of her niece’s husband Brandon Boudreaux. Meanwhile, Mr Daybell is still awaiting trial for the murders of JJ, Tylee and Tammy – with a scheduled trial start date set for 1 April 2024. But, the third person accused of being a co-conspirator in the case won’t ever have his day in court. On 11 December 2019 – hours after Tammy’s body was exhumed – Cox died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was ruled natural causes, with indications of a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs. However the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.