PHOENIX ā Lori Vallow Daybell is set to give closing arguments Monday afternoon after officially resting her case in a trial on charges that she conspired to murder her husband, Charles Vallow, in July 2019.
During opening statements, Daybell told jurors her side of the story, claiming she was running away from her husband, a former minor league baseball player wielding a baseball bat, when her brother, Alex Cox, retrieved a gun. She said she was not in the room but heard a shot. She said it was a family tragedy, not a crime.
Witnesses during the trial have said Vallow was shot twice, with one of the shots appearing to have been while he was already on the ground. Officers also evaluated GPS data from Vallow’s phone, which Daybell took with her, showing that she left the house about 45 minutes before 911 was called. Prosecutors argue that means if Daybell was at the home when the first shot was fired, Cox delayed calling emergency services.
Prosecutor Treena Kay argued that Daybell and Cox planned Vallow’s death, and that Daybell took Vallow’s phone to keep him at the home until he could be killed.
Over the last two weeks, Daybell has represented herself, asking questions to witnesses called to the stand by Kay, but she did not call any of her own witnesses or decide to testify in her own defense. She did ask that her full interview with officers following her previous husband’s death be given to the jury, but the judge denied that request.
Following closing arguments, two jurors will be chosen as alternates, and the remaining 12 jurors will be tasked with determining whether Daybell is guilty or not.
Daybell was found guilty in 2023 of the murders of her two children ā 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow ā along with conspiracy to murder them and Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell, before she married him in November 2019. She is currently serving five sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Chad Daybell was found guilty of the murders of each of the three in 2024 and was sentenced to death.
You can watch the closing arguments, following a court-ordered 30-minute delay, here:
This story will be updated.