“DOOMSDAY cult” dad Chad Daybell’s prosecutors will seek the death penalty over his alleged conspiracy to murder his wife’s two children – and the death of his first wife.
Daybell, 52, is charged alongside alleged “cult mom” Lori Vallow over the deaths of Vallow’s children – who vanished in 2019 and whose burned bodies were found buried in Daybell’s Idaho back yard last year.
In court filing on Thursday, prosecutors gave a list of eight reasons behind their decision, including arguing that the murders were done for financial gain, showed “exceptional depravity” and displayed a murderous intent that would make Daybell a danger to the public.
A spokesperson for Freemont County prosecutors said on Thursday: “Our process in making this determination was lengthy and comprehensive.
“We conferred with those immediate family members of JJ Vallow, Tylee Ryan and Tammy Daybell, who have indicated a willingness to speak with us and allowed them an opportunity to provide their input if they wished to do so.
“The ultimate decision to seek capital punishment rests with the State, and after completing the entire process, we determined that the nature and magnitude of those crimes warrant the possibility of the highest possible punishment.”
The death penalty determination does not apply to Vallow, 47, whose charges have been stayed after she was found unfit to stand trial in May following a psychological evaluation.
Daybell is due for trial at the end of 2021.
Daybell’s murder charges cover the deaths of children, Tylee, 17, JJ, 7, and his first wife Tammy Daybell – whose death was originally ruled as “natural” before her body was exhumed.
Daybell and Vallow married in November 2019 – just days after Tammy died and two months after Tylee and JJ were last seen alive.
Vallow had just moved from Idaho to Arizona to be with Chad when her two children disappeared.
The couple fled to Hawaii when cops started pressing Vallow on Tylee and JJ’s whereabouts.
Vallow maintained that her children were safe and living with family members in Arizona.
Police conducted a welfare check but found no trace of her kids.
She was arrested in February 2020 on charges of deserting and abandoning her children.
Just over four months later, JJ and Tylee’s bodies were found buried in Daybell’s backyard in Fremont County, Idaho.
Vallow allegedly continued to cash her children’s social security benefits for months after they were killed.
She switched Social Security payments from her daughter’s account to her own in mid-August 2019, investigators said.
She then allegedly continued to wrongly collect Social Security assistance checks worth $1,000 for five months for both JJ and Tylee.
The two kids were receiving “survivor” benefits, which entitle children of a deceased parent up to half of their parent’s retirement benefits.
JJ’s adoptive father – and Lori’s fourth husband – Charles Vallow died in July 2019.
Tylee’s father – Lori’s third husband – Joseph Ryan died in April 2018.
Daybell also increased his first wife’s life insurance benefits to the maximum allowed under the policy weeks before her death and ended up receiving a $430,000 payout, the documents claim.
Tammy Daybell was originally thought to be from natural causes, but investigators reopened the case and her body was later exhumed in December of 2019.
Vallow’s kids, meanwhile, are thought to have been killed on two separate dates in September 2019.
The couple is believed to have planned their murder nearly a year earlier, with the conspiracy charges dating to October 2018.
Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, is named as a co-conspirator in all three deaths, with the indictment indicating there are additional suspected co-conspirators that are “both known and unknown” to prosecutors.
He died suddenly in December 2019, the day after Tammy’s body was exhumed.
