Lori Vallow’s sister says she’s been ‘delusional’ for years – and denies she ever mentioned near-death experience before
The 50-year-old spoke out in court on Monday, moments before she was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of her seven-year-old son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to kill her husband’s Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy.
Lori Vallow’s sister said the “cult mom” who finally broke her silence in court with bizarre claims just moments before she was sentenced to life in prison has been delusional for years.
Summer Shiflet was not in the Idaho courtroom on Monday when her sister learned she would spend the rest of her life behind bars for the murders of her seven-year-old son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan, and Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy.
But she told EastIdahoNews.com that their family had expected the “bittersweet” sentence that was handed down by Judge Steven Boyce after Vallow spoke out for the first time, claiming that Jesus Christ knows no one was murdered and that the children and Tammy were “busy” and “happy” in heaven.
While it came as a shock to many when the emotionless Vallow decided to speak out just months after she chose not to take the stand at her trial, Shiflet said her sister has had delusions since late 2017 or early 2018.
Vallow shockingly claimed that “no one was murdered”, read out a Bible quote, and continued to channel her doomsday cult beliefs while claiming “I have had many communications with Jesus Christ”.
“Jesus Christ knows the truth. Jesus Christ knows no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happened. Suicides happened. Fatal side effects of medications happened,” she said.
She claimed that she has had “many communications” from people in heaven and that “because of these communications I know for a fact that my children are happy” and busy in heaven.
“I have known she’s been in this delusion for a while. It took me a long time to accept that and understand what was going on,” Ms Shiflet said. “I had never seen anybody with a delusion disorder before. I didn’t know how to process that or what it looked like (but) that’s about typical of most conversations with her. It’s about her faith and there’s never any acknowledgment of what actually happened. You can’t ever really get any answers so it leads to frustrating situations.”
Ms Shiftlet also said Vallow “cherry-picked” different religious experiences to share with family members but that she had never shared with Ms Shiflet that she had “died” in childbirth with Tylee.
“She has never once told me that she had a near-death experience when she was giving birth to Tylee and left her body and saw my sister Stacey,” Ms Shiflet says. “That has never been talked about ever by her with us.”
But some parts of Vallow’s statement had some truth, her sister said, such as Tylee having suffered from severe pancreatitis and that she was abused by her biological father Joseph Ryan, who died in April 2018.
Vallow’s bizarre statement came after she was confronted by her victims’ sobbing family members who branded her a “monster” and described her 1,841-day “cruel campaign of terror” in heart-wrenching victim impact statements.
JJ’s grandmother Kay Woodcock broke down in tears as she said she will “never understand” how Vallow – who once appeared to be a caring, loving mother – could have murdered the son she “chose” to adopt.
Kay and her husband Larry led the campaign to find their grandchildren who went missing in September 2019.
But 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.
This bizarre spate of disappearances and deaths came just months after Vallow’s fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by Vallow’s brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019.
Vallow was convicted of her children’s murders in May 2023. She was also found guilty of conspiring to kill her husband Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy, who died in October 2019. A subsequent autopsy revealed that she had died by asphyxiation.
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.
On Monday, Judge Boyce handed down five sentences of life without the possibility of parole for each of the five murder charges. She was sentenced to 10 years for one count of grand theft.
This marks the harshest possible sentence after the death penalty was taken off the table ahead of trial.
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.