Heartless mum kills daughter, 17, and son, 7, after falling for sick 'zombie' hoax
Lori Vallow Daybell killed two of her children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, seven, after becoming transfixed by a chilling cult. Her crimes sent shockwaves across the country
A 'Doomsday' cult mum heartlessly killed her two children because she was convinced they were 'zombies'.
Lori Vallow Daybell was found guilty of murdering of her children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, seven, in a trial that shocked the country.
She was also found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband's first wife, Tammy Daybell, 49, and grand theft by a jury.
During the trial, Vallow Daybell sparked public fury over her outlandish beliefs that were preached by her "doomsday" partner, Chad Daybell.
Her fifth husband claimed to have lived 31 different lives on various earth-like planets and that he and Vallow Daybell had been together in several of those previous lives.
READ MORE: Manchester Piccadilly: Boy, 13, stabbed in front of horrified onlookersREAD MORE: Disgraced school caretaker who watched young girls undress on CCTV is cagedHis teachings referred to people as "light" or "dark", with a gradient in between. He believed "dark" individuals were from this earth, but followers of Satan, while those who were "light" were "followers of Jesus Christ".
He also referred to his wife as an "eternal being" of 21 separate lives - seven of which they had been married in. One of Daybell's beliefs was that there were "zombies" - people who had died and whose bodies had been possessed by evil spirits, according to reports.
It is believed that Vallow Daybell and Daybell had become convinced that Tylee and JJ were 'zombies', and that the only way to free their souls was to kill the body that had been taken over by the evil spirit.
In a speech at her conviction in 2023, the Idaho mum said she had been to heaven during childbirth, which she claimed gave her a connection to Jesus and the "spirit world". The killer mum added: "I have had many communications with Jesus Christ, the saviour of this world."
In a sickening final blow to her dead children, she went on to say that "because of these communications [she] knows for a fact" that her children are "happy and busy in the spirit world", and due to her "communications" with her "friend Tammy Daybell", she is certain she is "very happy".
Vallow Daybell's third child, Colby Ryan, who wasn't living at home during the time of the murders, took part in a panel at CrimeCon 2025 in Denver earlier this year.
During his appearance on the panel, hosted by journalist Nate Eaton, Colby was informed that his mother had learned about the panel and his participation, and had sent a message for Nate to relay to him.
The journalist read out the message: "If you talk to Colby, please tell him that 'I love you very much, no matter what,'" and added, "You can ask him about [Bible verse] Matthew 25."
The Bible verse she referred to discusses the parables of the wheat and the tares and the ten virgins, both of which consider the judgment between the righteous and the wicked. Colby interpreted the message as his mother attempting to portray herself as "godly".
He responded: "It's her trying to talk about the wicked and the good being sifted apart, basically. So it's her way of trying to say she is still good and, basically, godly."
According to People, after the statement was read out, he was asked whether he wanted to speak with his mum again, to which he replied quickly with a "No."
Vallow Daybell and Daybell faced separate trials. Vallow Daybell was convicted on all charges on 12 May 2023 and received a life sentence without parole in July of the same year.
On 30 May 2024, Daybell was also found guilty on all counts and was sentenced to death on 1 June. Vallow Daybell was subsequently extradited and convicted for conspiring to murder her ex-husband, Charles Vallow, and Brandon Boudreaux, her niece's ex-husband, in two distinct Arizona trials.