Lori Vallow appears in court for the fourth day of jury selection on April 6, 2023; JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan appear inset, on the left, and Lori Vallow appears inset, on the right. (Pool courtroom sketch artist; FBI Wanted poster; screengrab via CBS This Morning)
Jury selection is expected to wrap up relatively early on Friday afternoon in Ada County, Idaho, as the triple murder trial for Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, a “doomsday cult”-connected mother of two dead children and two dead ex-husbands continues into its fifth day.
Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday morning.
Vallow and her fifth and current husband, Chad Daybell, 54, stand accused of murder over the 2019 deaths of Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ashlyn Ryan, 17. The children disappeared on different dates in September of that year. Vallow was initially arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 on charges of child desertion. Daybell was arrested later that year after the children’s bodies were found buried at his property. The two defendants were indicted for the murder of Vallow’s children and Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell, 49, in May 2021. Initially being prosecuted as husband-and-wife co-defendants, the couple’s cases were recently severed and will be tried separately.
The goal for jury selection in the case is to obtain 12 jurors and six alternates. The trial is being overseen by Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce, who explained to would-be jurors on Monday that the case is expected to last as long as eight weeks.
More Law&Crime coverage: ‘A total narcissist’: 7 shocking things about accused killer Lori Vallow – including how she got her ‘garish red lipstick’
On Thursday, the court struggled to finalize the list but the voir dire process moved forward as both the prosecution and defense made strikes and the court removed several potential jurors due to their prior knowledge of the complicated murder-conspiracy case.
Law&Crime correspondent Gigi McKelvey will provide rolling updates as the case progresses Wednesday and throughout the trial:
Feed is up. Lori is flipping through her legal pad. #lorivallow @LawCrimeNetwork
— Pretty Lies & Alibis🎙 (@PrettyLiesAlibi) April 7, 2023
More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Cult mom’ Lori Vallow’s triple murder trial starts soon – here’s what to know
Vanessa Bein contributed to this article.
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Lori Vallow jury selection enters final day