Sins Of Our Mother killer sentenced to life

If you're a fan of true crime, you may be familiar with Netflix's 'Sins Of Our Mother' which came out on 14 September. The three-part series explains on the shocking story of Lori Vallow Daybell, who was just found guilty of murdering two of her children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and JJ Vallow, 7, and sentenced to life in prison.

The Netflix series features her surviving child Colby Ryan, who reveals the alleged details behind the killings. Colby also talks about his relationship with his mother and the extreme beliefs she developed.

Directed by Skye Borgman – the talented documentary maker behind other Netflix true crime films such as Abducted in Plain Sight and The Girl in the Picture – Sins Of Our Mother is a horrifying and fascinating watch.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the documentary series and where Lori Vallow Daybell is today:

Who is Lori Vallow Daybell?

Born in 1973, as Lori Norene Cox, the woman whose story is at the centre of Sins Of Our Mother, grew up in San Bernardino, California. She was known to friends and family as a "devoted mother of three, a loving wife, and a woman of God".

Later on, Lori became known as Lori Vallow after her fourth marriage to Charles Vallow, and was the biological mother to Colby and Tylee, and the adoptive mother of JJ.

A Timeline of Lori Vallow Daybell

In 1992, at the age of 19, she married her high school boyfriend Nelson Yanes which ended soon after.
In 1995, Lori married a second time to 23-year-old William Lagioia in Texas, who she would go on to have a son, Colby, with in 1996. They divorced two years later.
In 2001, Lori found love once more with Joseph Anthony Ryan, who is the biological father of Tylee (born in May 2002).
After another divorce in 2004, Lori entered her longest marriage with her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in 2006. After seven years together, the couple adopted Vallow's grandnephew, Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow.

Netflix

But when Lori met Chad Daybell [a doomsday author] in 2018, everything seemed to take a turn for the worse as she became obsessed with his extreme doomsday ideologies – the pair were allegedly planning for the apocalypse, along with claiming to be able to recognise 'zombies' (people whose souls had been taken and replaced by 'dark spirits').
The following year, Lori's husband, Charles, filed for divorce after becoming concerned about her behaviour, citing fear for his and his children's safety.
After 13 years of marriage, Charles was brutally murdered in July 2019 by Lori's own brother, Alex Cox. He was shot dead when Alex confronted him about 'abusing his sister'. The brawl turned nasty and Alex later claimed he'd acted in self defence when using the gun. Police did not pursue the matter further and Alex was not charged (Lori was indicted in June 2021 for conspiracy to murder Charles).

Netflix

Shortly after the death of Charles, Lori's children Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, went missing in September 2019. During that time, Lori attempted to tell the public her children were fine, going as far to say that her daughter was studying at Brigham Young University's Idaho campus and JJ was being homeschooled. Yet, a friend of Lori's says she heard her refer to Tylee and JJ as a 'zombies' during this time.
Around the same time as the kids went missing, Chad's then-wife, Tammy Daybell 'died in her sleep' in October 2019. But when Lori and Chad secretly married in Hawaii two weeks after her death (on 5 November 2019), police became suspicious that Tammy didn't die of natural causes after all – and that the new couple may have murdered her and skipped town.
In December 2019, Alex was found dead at his home in Arizona.
In January 2020, Lori was ordered by the authorities to prove that her children were safe and well. However, following Lori's utter failure to comply, she was arrested in February 2020.
Months later (in June) the two bodies of JJ and Tylee were found in Idaho, buried in a shallow grave in the Daybell family's back garden.
In May 2021, both Chad and Lori were charged with first-degree murder for the deaths of JJ and Tylee; Chad is also later charged for the death of Tammy. He pleads not guilty.
In June 2021, Lori is also charged with conspiring to murder Charles Vallow, however she is deemed too mentally unwell to stand trial and is referred for treatment.
On 31 July 2023, after finally standing trial, Lori is found guilty of murdering her two children and is sentenced to life in prison.

Where is Lori Vallow Daybell now?

Now aged 50, after a long wait to stand trial (after initially being declared mentally unfit), Lori Vallow Daybell has been found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in relation to both Tylee and JJ's deaths, and guilty of conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, her ex-husband's former wife.

She has now been sentenced to life in prison, with Judge Steven Boyce telling Vallow Daybell in court: "Murder is the most serious offense and the most unimaginable type of murder imaginable is a mother murdering her own children, which is what you did.

"You had so many other options. You chose the most evil and destructive path possible. You killed those children to remove them as obstacles and profit financially. You justified all this to go down a bizarre religious rabbit hole and clearly you are still there."

Judge Boyce added that she showed little to no remorse throughout the trial either.

Where is Chad Daybell now?

Chad Daybell has plead not guilty, and his children have claimed he has been framed for the murders. He is currently still awaiting trial.

Sins Of Our Mother is available to watch on Netflix

Chloe Bowen is Cosmopolitan UK’s former Features Intern. She holds undergraduate and masters degrees in journalism, and ever since joining the Cosmo team, Chloe writes about everything from sex and dating to mental health, culture, body image and books. In her spare time, she’s likely to be cooking up tasty vegan food, in a yoga class, binge-watching crime documentaries or going on long walks with an over-priced oat milk flat white.

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