Lori Vallow – update: Juror says ‘doomsday cult mom’ case meant he could ‘put a face to evil’

Vallow convicted of the murders of her own children Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow and conspiracy to murder husband’s first wife Tammy Daybell

Lori Vallow trial: ‘Cult mom’ convicted of murders of children and Chad Daybell’s wife

The lone holdout juror in Lori Vallow’s murder trial has revealed why he changed his mind to convict the mother last week.

Saul Hernandez sat down with Good Morning America on Tuesday, four days after Vallow was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, seven, and of conspiracy to murder Tammy Daybell, 49, her new husband Chad Daybell’s first wife, at Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho.

Mr Hernandez said when the jury began deliberating, he was the only one unconvinced that the prosecution had proved its case.

But over the course of just seven hours of deliberation, Mr Hernandez said it became clear to him that Vallow is guilty.

During the trial, he said he found it “hard to look at” Vallow as more and more gruelling evidence emerged.

“Growing up, we’re taught good and bad, God and evil, and I think for the first time in my life, I put a face to evil,” he said.

Mr Hernandez said he was “disgusted” by photos of Vallow and Mr Daybell smiling through their beach wedding just weeks after the kids were killed.

Key points

• Lone holdout juror explains why he changed his mind to convict her: ‘I put a face to evil’
• Lori Daybell trial alternate juror speaks out on ‘doomsday cult mom’ conviction
• Lori Vallow indictment over Brandon Boudreaux murder conspiracy revealed
• ‘Cult mom’ appears to smirk in new mugshot
• Vallow convicted of murders of children and Chad Daybell’s wife

[18 May 2023 09:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Lori Vallow’s indictment over Brandon Boudreaux murder conspiracy revealed

Lori Vallow was indicted by a grand jury in Maricopa County for conspiracy to commit the murder of Brandon Boudreaux more than a year ago, according to a report.

Vallow was charged on 24 February 2022 under the late Allister Adel, who was the county attorney at the time, Justin Lum of Fox 10 Phoenix reports.

Read more...

[18 May 2023 10:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

From mom-of-three and beauty queen to convicted killer

Lori Vallow is a mother of three, a former game show contestant, a Mrs Texas Beauty Pageant queen and a cult follower.

An Idaho court has now determined she is also a killer.

[18 May 2023 12:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Jurors reflect on personal toll taken by Vallow trial

Local news channel KTVB has conducted interviews with jurors Saul Hernandez and Tiffany, the latter preferring not to give her last name.

In the clips, recorded at the jurors’ homes, Tiffany says that, as a mother herself, what she found most incomprehensible about the Vallow case was how any parent could harm their own children, reflecting with horror on the defendant’s lack of emotion in court and remarking: “I had more emotion than she did.”

She characterised Vallow as “inhuman” and called the experience, “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do”, saying there was no way she and her fellow jurors could have prepared themselves for some of the evidence presented, understandably singling out autopsy photographs as especially harrowing to examine.

[18 May 2023 13:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

One of Vallow’s alleged accomplices will never face justice

Was Alex Cox an equal co-conspirator or was he – as he feared – Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s ‘fall guy’?

Rachel Sharp reports.

[18 May 2023 14:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Trial juror says the cult mom couldn’t hide behind Chad Daybell’s ‘manipulation’

An alternate juror on the Lori Vallow trial has spoken out to share her belief that the convicted killer’s husband Chad Daybell and brother Alex Cox are equally guilty in the murders.

Juror Tiffany, who was not on the final panel of 12 who deliberated but served as an alternate and was presented with all of the evidence over the course of the six-week trial, spoke with Jesse Weber of Law & Crime about her experience and what she felt led to the guilty verdict.

Read on...

[18 May 2023 15:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

‘I put a face to evil’: Lone holdout juror explains why he changed his mind to convict her

The last juror to vote to convict Lori Vallow of all charges in her trial for the murders of her children and husband’s late wife has spoken out.

In an ABC News exclusive interview that aired on Good Morning America on Wednesday, Saul Hernandez, one of the 12 jurors out of a panel of 18 including six alternates, gave his account of their deliberations.

Mr Hernandez was the lone holdout on the panel before ultimately switching his stance on day two of deliberations to find Vallow guilty of all charges.

Read on...

[18 May 2023 16:00 · Oliver O’Connell]

Voices: Lori Vallow never tried to convince us she was innocent

Megan Sheets writes:

Having followed this case in near-obsessive detail since police first appealed for the public’s help in finding Tylee and JJ in December 2019, my jaw dropped when the defense rested without a case. Why on earth would someone decline to defend themself at a murder trial, especially when their own children are the victims? But looking back over the case as a whole, I realized the move isn’t surprising at all.

Read on...