'Doomsday Mom' Lori Daybell found guilty of conspiracy to murder relative

PHOENIX (CN) — An Arizona jury found Lori Vallow Daybell, previously convicted multiple times for a web of 2019 murders, guilty**** of conspiracy to murder her ex-nephew-in-law Brandon Boudreaux.

Prosecutors accused Vallow Daybell — nicknamed “Doomsday Mom” for the cult-like religious beliefs she’s used outside of court to justify murdering her two children, her ex-husband and the wife of her lover and co-conspirator Chad Daybell — of helping her brother Alex Cox to shoot and kill Boudreaux outside his home in Gilbert, Arizona, on Oct. 2, 2019.

Chief of those religious beliefs — espoused by Vallow Daybell in text messages, emails and witness testimony across three criminal trials in just the last two years — is that her family members were possessed by “dark spirits” and turned into zombies hell-bent on thwarting her mission to lead the survivors of the apocalypse.

But prosecutors said her true motive was to collect life insurance and Social Security benefits to fund a new life with Daybell and eliminate anyone in her way.

“The truth is that hatred, selfishness and greed almost led to the end of my life,” Boudreaux said outside a Phoenix courthouse Thursday morning. “Twelve strangers verified that Lori must be held accountable.”

Boudreaux embraced family members and held back tears inside the courtroom as the defendant was escorted out.

She will be sentenced for this conspiracy, and for conspiring to murder her ex-husband for which she was convicted in April, on July 25.

Prosecutors argued at trial that Cox — whom they say did Vallow Daybell’s dirty work but died before he could be charged — waited outside of Boudreaux’s home in a gray Jeep with tinted windows registered to Vallow Daybell.

Boudreaux told the court he saw the muzzle of a rifle aim out of the back window and shoot his car one time, missing him but hitting the frame, leaving a bullet hole and shattered glass.

Cox, who lived with Vallow Daybell in Idaho at the time, left Idaho for Arizona on Sept. 30, leaving his main cellphone with Vallow Daybell. State prosecutor Treena Kay said Vallow Daybell used his phone to fake phone calls between them as an alibi.

A license plate reader in Holbrook, Arizona, captured a photo of the Jeep, notably missing the rear spare tire, on Oct. 1. Police later found a restaurant receipt in the vehicle, also dated Oct. 1.

Throughout the weeklong trial, Vallow Daybell tried to obfuscate evidence by pointing out differences in the color witnesses used to describe the Jeep they saw. But prosecutor Rachel Kay said in her closing that the evidence is clear.

“No matter what she wants to say about color, her Jeep was in Mesa on Oct. 1, 2019,” Kay said Wednesday. “We can stop pretending that didn’t happen.”

“Lori Vallow lived in Texas, and the Jeep used in the shooting was from Texas,” Kay noted.

Later that day, Cox’s phone data showed him mapping a back-road route to Holbrook, while security footage from an Idaho storage facility captured Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell removing the Jeep’s back seats and spare tire — reportedly to give Cox a better shot from the rear of the vehicle.

The two are seen retrieving the tire and the back seats the next day. Both the defendant and Cox searched news about the shooting.

Much like she has in her previous trials, Vallow Daybell painted the ordeal in her own closing argument as a “family tragedy.”

“I am not exempt from tragedy,” she said. “When we experience tragedy, we can grow stronger from our experience.”

The defendant claimed that no evidence had been presented proving she had made an agreement with Cox to kill Boudreaux.

“You did not see an agreement,” she said. “You did not hear an agreement.”

Vallow Daybell called no witnesses, and spent her time cross-examining the state’s witnesses focusing on seemingly inconsequential details, unsuccessfully trying to poke holes in the government’s story. Representing herself, faced objections at every turn for introducing her own testimony, and was chided for asking improper questions and otherwise violating the rules of criminal procedure.

Vallow Daybell was transported back to the Maricopa County Jail after receiving her third guilty verdict in two years. Her legal aids declined to comment as they left the courthouse.

“We owe it to those who are victimized and choose to follow the law to uphold justice,” Boudreaux said. “So many victims never get this day, so I thank the judge and the jury for putting their lives on hold through this process.”

Vallow Daybell asked three times that Maricopa County Judge Justin Beresky recuse himself from the case, citing personal bias against her. Beresky and other judges denied the motions.

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