Spiritual beliefs dominate day six of Lori Daybell murder trial

PHOENIX (CN) — Witnesses in the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell say the defendant preached “bizarre” spirituality before her ex-husband was murdered.

“Lori told me she was in the process of transferring from a mortal human being to an immortal being,” Vallow Daybell’s brother Adam Cox told 14 jurors Thursday morning. “Becoming a celestial being.”

Vallow Daybell — previously convicted in Idaho in 2023 of murdering her two children and the wife of her lover, Chad Daybell — is accused of conspiring with her now-deceased brother Alex Cox to murder her ex-husband Charles Vallow in Chandler, Arizona, in 2019.

Prosecutors say she collected life insurance and social security payouts while using fringe religious beliefs extrapolated from the teachings of the Mormon Church to justify the killings.

Testifying in a Phoenix courtroom, Adam Cox said his sister began “going a little off the walls,” after meeting Mormon doomsday author and self-proclaimed religious leader Chad Daybell in 2018.

“It was very strange and bizarre,” he said.

He told the jury that Vallow Daybell believed herself to hold more spiritual authority than the priests of the Mormon Church, and that she no longer needed to repent.

The last time he spoke to his sister, Adam Cox said she asked him if he thought she was crazy.

“I don’t know if you’re crazy, but what you’re telling me is not true,” he recalled telling her. “She stopped talking to me.”

Cox said he worried that something was wrong but wasn’t taken seriously by the rest of the family.

Reportedly suspicious of his ex-wife, Vallow planned to hold an intervention for Vallow Daybell, and invited Adam Cox to Arizona to help. Adam Cox planned on staying with their other brother, Alex Cox, but Alex Cox stopped responding to text messages once Adam Cox arrived at the airport.

Adam Cox learned from Vallow the next morning that Alex Cox was at Vallow Daybell’s house.

“Something weird is happening,” he recalled thinking when his brother ghosted him but went to his sister’s house the next morning. “It was really fishy that I hadn’t heard from Charles.”

It wasn’t until two days later Adam Cox learned that his brother shot and killed Vallow. Alex Cox died of a blood clot six months later and was never charged with a crime. The defendant maintains that Alex Cox shot and killed her ex-husband in self-defense.

First responders who testified Tuesday afternoon said that likely wasn’t the case.

On cross-examination, Vallow Daybell, who is representing herself, asked her brother when the last time they spoke was, and whether he remembered her making her famous green chili chicken enchiladas.

He said he didn’t recall.

“Did you see with your eyes, hear with your ears or personally witness me conspire with my brother Alex to murder my husband Charles Vallow?” she asked.

“No,” Adam Cox answered.

Sarena Sharp, a follower of Daybell who met Vallow Daybell at a “preparing the people” conference in 2018, said Vallow Daybell shared with her her belief in demons and zombies that take over humans’ bodies.

“She spoke about her husband being possessed by an evil spirit,” she told the jury. “She named the demon. The name was Ned.”

Sharp said Vallow Daybell asked her and other members to help cast the demon out of Vallow.

On cross, Vallow Daybell challenged Sharp’s six-year recollection.

“I want to know the exact sentence I said to you about zombies,” she said, growing more combative in her questions.

Sharp said she couldn’t recall specifics, and admitted it’s possible that she misremembered what Vallow Daybell told her.

Later, the defendant quizzed the witness on her knowledge of the Book of Mormon, asking if it’s common in Christianity for people to be “translated,” or brought into Heaven without experiencing death. Sharp admitted that it is common in the Christian belief system.

“Did you see or hear or personally witness me conspire with my brother Alex to murder my husband, Charles Vallow?” the defendant asked.

“No, I did not,” Sharp answered.

Sharp said Vallow Daybell shared her beliefs while on a “girls weekend” in March 2019. Sharp said she was uncomfortable with the discussion topics but stayed for the weekend because she was with friends.

“You’re a grown woman, aren’t you?” Vallow Daybell goaded. “With your own ideas?”

“Of course,” the witness replied, lip twitching as she maintained composure.

Vallow’s sister Kay Woodcock testified near the end of the day, describing how Vallow Daybell became angry with Woodcock when she learned she was removed from Vallow’s life insurance policy before she died.

She said she didn’t know that Vallow was dead until days later and knew nothing of Vallow Daybell’s beliefs or odd behaviors at the time.

The trial will reconvene Monday at 10 a.m.

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