An American mother, versed in doomsday theories, was convicted Friday of the murder of her two children. She was also convicted of complicity in the premeditated murder of her new husband's ex-wife. Lori Vallow was, among other things, prosecuted for the murder of her daughter, aged 16, and her adopted son of 7 years, whom she mistook investigators for "zombies".

Adept of theories of reincarnation, she was prosecuted for the three murders alongside her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, author of esoteric books, by the justice of the state of Idaho in the northwest of the United States. The couple, members of a radical Mormon sect preparing for the apocalypse, were also being prosecuted for fraud because they had continued to receive child benefits after the children disappeared.

A series of suspicious deaths

This dark case, which marked Idaho, began in 2019 with the disappearance of the two children, reported by the grandparents of one of them but not reported by their mother. The investigation quickly took a macabre turn when police found a series of deaths in the entourage of Lori Vallow and her new husband, Chad Daybell.

In 2018, her third husband, the father of the slain boy, had died, apparently of a heart attack. In 2019, her fourth husband, whom she was divorcing, was shot and killed by Lori Vallow's brother, who claimed self-defense. The latter himself died after being found unconscious at his home. Also in 2019, Chad Daybell's ex-wife died of so-called "natural" causes.

A Savior of Humanity

Two weeks later, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell left Idaho for Hawaii, where they were married. The bodies of the two children, who were last seen alive in September 2019, were found in June 2020, more than nine months after they disappeared, near Chad Daybell's home in Rexburg.

Lori Vallow, raised Mormon, became increasingly radical over the years and thought she could communicate with angels. According to testimonies, she considered herself a savior of humanity. In 2018, at a religious gathering in western Utah, she met Chad Daybell, who was then leading a radical Mormon sect preparing for the end of the world. Their story inspired a Netflix documentary series, Our Murderous Mother, released last January.


No death penalty for the mother

The mother faces life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, but avoided the death penalty, which was rejected by the judge. Her fifth and last husband Chad Daybell has yet to stand trial and faces the death penalty in the state where it is practiced.

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