Larry Woodcock, the grandfather of Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, appeared virtually in court today to give a final message to ‘Doomsday mom’ Lori Vallow Daybell, two years after a jury convicted her of killing his seven-year-old grandson.
“I will never speak your name again, murderess,” Woodcock told Vallow Daybell, just before she was handed two life sentences with the possibility of parole in a pair of Arizona murder conspiracy cases. “You will never get anything out of me again in your life. You are nothing.”
Vallow Daybell was sentenced Friday after she was found guilty of conspiring to kill her fourth husband and her niece’s ex-husband in Arizona six years ago. This comes as she’s already serving three life sentences in Idaho for the murder of her two children: J.J. and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was also convicted of conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, the ex-wife of her fifth husband, Chad Daybell.
An Idaho jury also found Chad Daybell guilty of killing the two children and his ex-wife. He has been sentenced to death.
The two life sentences handed down Friday to Vallow Daybell will be served consecutively, which means one after another. She will serve these two sentences consecutively with her Idaho sentences, as well, ensuring that she will never leave prison.
Vallow Daybell was found guilty of the first conspiracy charge in April. A jury found she conspired with her brother, Alexander Cox, to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Prosecutors say Cox fatally shot him in July 2019.
She was convicted again in June for conspiring with Cox to kill her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux. Prosecutors said Cox attempted to kill Boudreaux in an October 2019 drive-by shooting. Cox died later that year.
If the plot succeeded, Boudreaux said his children “would have been left to face a lifetime of grief, robbed of the love, stability and spiritual guidance I provide as their father.”
“The betrayal by someone connected to my family has left me battling overwhelming emotions over the years,” Boudreaux told the court Friday.
Colby Ryan, the only surviving son of Vallow Daybell, gave a statement honoring his father and siblings.
“I’m the son of Charles Vallow, the brother of Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow,” he said. “I’m here to tell you what I’ve lost. Not only are my father, sister and brother gone, but so is my mother.”
“Rather than being able to acknowledge the pain that she has caused, she would rather say that Charles, Tylee and J.J.’s deaths were a family tragedy and not her evil doing,” he added.
Todd Trahan, J.J.’s father, addressed Vallow Daybell directly in his statement to the court.
“I’m here today to forgive you. I know what it’s like to be in prison,” he said. “I was in prison when you got the rights to my son. I know what it’s like. Once you get done with this court and you go sit in that cell, you have to relive everything that you did.”
Kay Woodcock, Charles Vallow’s sister, read the court a letter she wrote as if it were from J.J.
“I am Joshua Jackson Vallow,” she read. “I am the son of Charles Vallow. I should be 13 years old now, but I am forever seven.”
She ended her letter in tears, shouting at Vallow Daybell: “I trusted you!”
Vallow Daybell, who represented herself, addressed the court before she was handed her sentence.
“If I was accountable for these crimes, I would acknowledge it, and I would let you know how sorry I was, but I have witnessed for myself what it is like to leave this mortal existence…when I died in the hospital giving birth to my daughter, Tylee,” she said.
“When our spirit leaves our body and we return to the pure energy state in the spirit world, we immediately no longer feel hate, anger, envy or resentment,” she added.
Vallow Daybell also argued she was treated unfairly throughout the cases, telling the court she believes “the rules of law do not allow” both parties in a case to tell their side of the story. Judge Justin Beresky intervened, telling her, “Actually, they do.”
Beresky intervened again when Vallow Daybell claimed, without evidence, that only two percent of cases in Maricopa County go to trial. “That is not a correct stat,” Beresky said.
Beresky explained why Maricopa County chose to pursue these trials despite Vallow Daybell’s already existing life sentences in Idaho.
“Trials are not just about seeking accountability or punishment from those who have committed crimes, but to give the victims of crimes, justice, and acknowledgement of the impact of being a victim,” he said.
