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'Doomsday Prophet' Chad Daybell found guilty of all charges in murders of his 1st wife, stepchildren

Daybell's trial followed that of his wife, Lori Vallow, in which she was also convicted of conspiracy and murder charges in her children's and Daybell's first wife's deaths.
Chad Daybell
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Chad Daybell, the so-called "Doomsday Prophet" charged with killing his first wife and two of his stepchildren, has been convicted of conspiracy and first-degree murder in all three deaths.

The jury reached the verdict Thursday afternoon after less than six hours of deliberation to end a two-month trial, in which the jury members also found Daybell guilty of one count of grand theft and two counts of insurance fraud.

The conviction follows that of Daybell's wife, Lori Vallow, who faced trial last year. Both were charged in the murders of Daybell's first wife, Tammy Daybell, in 2019 as well as that of Vallow's 7-year-old son JJ Vallow and 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan.

Lori Vallow Daybell sits during her sentencing hearing.

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Vallow was convicted on conspiracy and first-degree murder charges in her children's deaths and conspiracy to murder in Tammy's death. She was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole.

The Idaho jury in Daybell's case will now decide his sentence. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty.

An indictment accuses Vallow and Daybell of espousing religious beliefs to justify the murders of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. The children's remains were found on Daybell’s property in June 2020, several months after JJ’s grandmother contacted police looking for him. By then, Vallow was sitting in an Idaho jail on charges stemming from the children's disappearances. She was arrested in Hawaii in February 2020, where she and Daybell had relocated amid a cloud of suspicion.

The couple were initially to be tried together, but a judge severed the cases weeks before Vallow's began and took the death penalty off the table for her.