Opening arguments begin next week for 'doomsday mom' Lori Vallow
The Lori Vallow trial began on April 3 for the so-called doomsday mom who left Arizona for Idaho, and she's accused of killing her two kids. On April 10, we're expecting to hear opening arguments. The trial is being held four hours away from Fremont County, where the bodies of her kids, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, 7 and 16, were found. The judge on the case decided in order to find a fair and impartial jury, the trial venue should be moved to Boise in Ada County, the largest county in Idaho with about 25% of the state’s population living there. On the third day of jury selections, the pool for potential jurors grew by nine – now at 39. Only a few more are needed before 42 are boiled down to the final 18. Meantime, people with interest in this case have been sitting in on the process due to a courtroom camera ban, including residents, podcasters and even an author who knows a lot about Vallow. About 20 members of the press watched jury selection continue in Ada County, but nearly as many members of the public watched as well. "And that's important for both sides and for all the citizens of Idaho, really, is to make sure that this trial is fair and impartial," Jaime Thompson said. Thompson has lived in Boise for more than a decade. She’s followed the Vallow case since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and knows she would not be a qualified juror. "Whether she's guilty or not doesn't change the fact that she seemed to care about everything else but her children," she said. Investigators say Vallow and Chad Daybell were in the midst of an affair when the deaths occurred. "How these two people with these similar bizarre ideas could meet? And what would be the circumstances that would allow those roads to cross?" said Leah Sottile, author of When The Moon Turns to Blood. Sottile wrote the book about the Vallow Daybell case. Her book dives into the dynamic of religious extremism. Vallow and Daybell met at a conference in 2018 for "preppers." Police say they made it a mission to rid the world of zombies and prepare for the second coming of Christ, identifying the three victims, JJ, Tylee and Tammy Daybell, as dark spirits. "She didn’t write anything specifically, but she was a huge fan of his work and I think that he recognized in her that she was like the perfect acolyte," Sottile said. "Lori is this former beauty queen and this cheerleader, and she's got this sort of like, disarming good looks and I think that even she may have recognized at a certain point what a powerful mask that is." MORE: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/liv... #fox10phoenix Subscribe to FOX 10 Phoenix! https://bit.ly/39zQtv5 Watch FOX 10 Phoenix live: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/live FOX 10 Phoenix delivers breaking news, live events, politics, entertainment, business news and local stories from Phoenix, Arizona and across the nation. Watch more FOX 10 Phoenix on YouTube: Arizona Headlines: • Arizona headlines (Archive 2) Investigations: • Investigations Lori Vallow-Chad Daybell case: • Arizona v. Lori Vallow Daybell trial Download FOX 10 Phoenix News and Weather App: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/apps Follow FOX 10 Phoenix on Facebook: / fox10phoenix Follow FOX 10 Phoenix on Twitter: / fox10phoenix Follow FOX 10 Phoenix on Instagram: / fox10phoenix Subscribe to FOX 10 Phoenix's newsletters: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/email
