Idaho jury condemns Chad Daybell to death for ‘especially heinous’ murders

BOISE, Idaho >> Chad Daybell has been sentenced to death.

The decision to sentence the 55-year-old Rexburg, Idaho, man to death for the murders of his then-wife and two of his new wife’s children came after a nearly two-month trial which saw evidence from over 70 witnesses, many of whom were also called during his wife’s and co-conspirator Lori Vallow Daybell’s criminal trial.

The 50-year-old mother was convicted on similar charges in May 2023 and sentenced to life in prison.

The Daybells, who had a monthslong affair before getting married on Kauai, were initially expected to be tried together in a double capital murder trial. Their cases were ultimately severed because of new DNA evidence and, just before Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial, the judge removed the death penalty as an option after prosecutors filed voluminous amounts of evidence past deadlines — causing concerns about the defense’s ability to prepare for trial.

“The jury has made a finding that it would be appropriate to impose the death penalty,” 7th District Judge Boyce said in court today. “The court is directed that the defendant would be sentenced to death on those counts.”

The 12-person jury deliberated for roughly six hours over two days finding the murders were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity,” according to the verdict form which was read in court by the clerk. The jury found that Chad Daybell “exhibited utter disregard for human life” and has a “propensity to commit murder,” which could threaten society.

The same jurors convicted the 55-year-old father Thursday on all eight felony charges, including the first-degree murders of his then-wife Tammy Daybell and Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children: 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. He also was convicted on three counts of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of insurance fraud for increasing Tammy Daybell’s life insurance coverage.

In August 2019, Vallow Daybell moved from Arizona to Rexburg, just months after her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed. In the months that followed, her children went missing and Tammy Daybell died in her home.

Tammy Daybell’s death wasn’t initially investigated as suspicious but her body was exhumed two months later when Utah’s chief medical examiner performed an autopsy and ruled her death a homicide.

Following a lengthy investigation, the Rexburg Police Department discovered the bodies of JJ and Tylee in June 2020. Tylee’s burned and dismembered remains and JJ’s bound body were buried in shallow graves on Chad Daybell’s eastern Idaho property.

———

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.