Lori Vallow, known as the ‘Cult mom’, expresses sorrow for ‘family tragedy’ in final statements of second murder trial after the death of her 2 children.

Lori Vallow Daybell, who was found guilty in 2023 of the murders of her two children, expressed sorrow over what she termed a “family tragedy” during the final arguments of her second murder trial in Arizona. The trial concluded on Monday, just before the jury began deliberations.

Prosecutors contended that Vallow Daybell collaborated with her deceased brother, Alex Cox, to orchestrate the killing of her late ex-husband, Charles Vallow, in order to collect a $1 million life insurance payout. She then married Chad Daybell in 2019.

The trial in Arizona occurred almost two years subsequent to the convictions of Vallow Daybell and Daybell themselves. The couple, who shared radical apocalyptic religious beliefs and held the conviction that certain individuals harbored dark spirits, were sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2019 homicides of Vallow’s two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, as well as for the 2019 slaying of Chad Daybell’s former wife, Tammy Daybell.

“The state put forth a bunch of evidence in this trial to make you dislike me – to try to attack my character so that you would just say guilty no matter what evidence they showed you,” Vallow Daybell, who is representing herself during her trial, said Monday in her closing statement. “But only you get to decide.”

Lori Vallow Daybell could face another life sentence if convicted.

“She’s calm and good with it because she doesn’t need to repent. She is able to determine who can live and die, and she has done that,” Kay said.

Vallow Daybell could face another life sentence if convicted and is also facing another Arizona trial in May for an alleged plot to kill her niece’s ex-husband after a judge denied her motion to dismiss the case.