Lori Vallow, the 48-year-old Idaho mother accused of murdering her two children, was declared mentally fit to stand trial on Monday.
Vallow was committed to an Idaho mental health facility in 2021 after she said that she murdered her children because she believed they were zombies.
What are the details?
In his ruling, District Judge Steven Boyce said that Vallow was “restored to competency and fit to proceed” to trial in the murder of her two children, 16-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old JJ, the East Idaho News reported on Monday.
Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, were indicted in 2021 on first-degree murder charges and other charges related to the children’s disappearance and murders. 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old JJ Vallow were last seen in September 2019. Their bodies were later located on Daybell’s property in 2020 after they were reported missing. Vallow and Daybell are also accused of murdering Daybell’s first first wife, Tammy Daybell.
Court documents state that she and Daybell expressed beliefs that certain people — including her two children and Daybell’s ex-wife — were zombies that had been possessed by evil spirits.
Boyce’s ruling stated that Daybell will be released from a Department of Health and Welfare facility and transferred to the custody of the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office for transport to a correctional facility.
Vallow is set to be arraigned on April 19.
Daybell is in prison awaiting trial, which has been scheduled for January 2023.
A deeper look
Vallow also faces charges in Arizona for reportedly conspiring to kill her ex-husband, Charles Vallow, with the help of her now-deceased brother, Alex Cox, who died in 2019 from natural causes while he had Narcan in his system.
According to the Daily Mail, “A police investigation in Arizona uncovered computer documents that indicated Charles Vallow discovered his wife was having an affair with Chad Daybell just weeks before [Charles’] death. Charles Vallow confronted Lori Vallow in a text message, and then reached out to Tammy Daybell to let her know that their spouses were cheating.”
Cox reportedly gunned Charles down just 11 days after Charles reached out to Tammy.
Following Charles’ death, Vallow relocated to Idaho with her children in a purported bid to be closer to Daybell, who was still married to Tammy at the time.
Approximately one month after the move, Vallow’s children went missing, though she is said to have tried to conceal the fact that they were gone.
A month after the children were last seen, Tammy was said to have inexplicably died in her sleep. Daybell at the time said that her death was due to natural causes and declined an autopsy.
Just two weeks after Tammy’s death, Vallow and Daybell married on the beach in Kauai, Hawaii. Vallow’s wedding ring, according to investigators, was purchased three weeks before Tammy’s death.
Family and friends quickly began to grow more and more suspicious over the children’s absences and Vallow’s excuses, prompting authorities to perform a welfare check on the children at Vallow’s Idaho home. Police learned that the children were nowhere to be found, and discovered that Vallow and Daybell had remained in Hawaii after their wedding.
Tammy’s body was soon exhumed and authorities determined that her death was classified as suspicious. Authorities then announced that they believed the kids’ disappearance may have something to do with Tammy’s death.
Following an investigation into the children’s whereabouts, authorities arrested Vallow and charged her with two felony counts for desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, and one misdemeanor count each of resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime, and contempt of court. She was extradited to Idaho and held on a $1 million bond. At the time, she insisted that she was innocent of all charges.
Authorities soon discovered the children’s bodies on Daybell’s property, prompting them to arrest him on charges of destruction or concealment of evidence.
The two were later charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of the children. Daybell was also charged with first-degree murder in his wife’s death.
Lori Vallow found mentally fit to stand trial
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