Vallow–Daybell doomsday murders

Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell, a married Idaho couple, were convicted of murdering Lori's two children and Chad's first wife in a series of killings that took place between 2019 and 2020. At the time, both were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though their personal religious beliefs had drifted far from mainstream teachings. Chad, an apocalyptic author and publisher, prophesied that the world would end in July 2020, and Lori came to believe she was a deity destined to play a role in the coming apocalypse. Prosecutors said the killings were driven both by these beliefs and by financial motives, including life insurance payouts and the children's Social Security survivor benefits.

The couple met in October 2018 and began a relationship while each was still married to someone else. On July 11, 2019, Lori's estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed during a confrontation at her home in Chandler, Arizona; no charges were filed over the shooting at the time. Lori's daughter, Tylee Ryan, was last seen alive on September 8, 2019, and her adopted son, J.J. Vallow, was last seen alive on September 22, 2019, near the family's home in Rexburg, Idaho. On October 2, 2019, Brandon Boudreaux, the estranged husband of Lori's niece, survived being shot at while driving in Gilbert, Arizona. Chad's wife, Tammy Daybell, was found dead at their Rexburg home on October 19, 2019, in a death initially attributed to natural causes. Chad and Lori married in Hawaii on November 5, 2019, two weeks after Tammy's death.

After Idaho police questioned Lori about J.J.'s whereabouts in November 2019, she and Chad left the state for Hawaii without the children. Lori was arrested in Hawaii on February 20, 2020, initially on charges of deserting her children. On June 9, 2020, the remains of Tylee and J.J. were found buried on Chad's property in Rexburg, and Chad was arrested the same day. Tylee's remains showed signs consistent with an attempt to dismember her body, and J.J. had been asphyxiated. Tammy Daybell's body was later exhumed and found to have been asphyxiated as well, rather than to have died of natural causes as first reported. A relative whom investigators said had helped carry out the killings died in December 2019, before he could be arrested or charged.

On May 25, 2021, Chad and Lori were charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Tylee, J.J., and Tammy. Lori was later separately charged in Arizona with the murder of Charles Vallow and the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux. Lori and Chad were tried separately in Idaho. On May 12, 2023, a jury found Lori guilty of all charges, and on July 31, 2023, she received consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Chad was also found guilty of all charges in his own trial and was sentenced to death. Lori was then extradited to Arizona, where she was convicted at two further trials of murdering Charles Vallow and of the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux, receiving two additional life sentences. Both Chad and Lori have appealed their convictions.