Chad Daybell, the so-called “Doomsday Prophet” charged with killing his first wife and two of his stepchildren, has been convicted of conspiracy and first-degree murder in all three deaths.
The jury reached the verdict Thursday afternoon after less than six hours of deliberation to end a two-month trial, in which the jury members also found Daybell guilty of one count of grand theft and two counts of insurance fraud.
The conviction follows that of Daybell’s wife, Lori Vallow, who faced trial last year. Both were charged in the murders of Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell, in 2019 as well as that of Vallow’s 7-year-old son JJ Vallow and 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan.
Vallow was convicted on conspiracy and first-degree murder charges in her children’s deaths and conspiracy to murder in Tammy’s death. She was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole.
The Idaho jury in Daybell’s case will now decide his sentence. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty.
An indictment accuses Vallow and Daybell of espousing religious beliefs to justify the murders of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. The children’s remains were found on Daybells property in June 2020, several months after JJs grandmother contacted police looking for him. By then, Vallow was sitting in an Idaho jail on charges stemming from the children’s disappearances. She was arrested in Hawaii in February 2020, where she and Daybell had relocated amid a cloud of suspicion.
The couple were initially to be tried together, but a judge severed the cases weeks before Vallow’s began and took the death penalty off the table for her.