The Trial Of Lori Vallow Daybell | Full Courtroom Coverage

You know how the Lori Vallow Daybell case ends. Part 1 of this series goes back to the details that were there all along.

The October 2018 recording where Lori tells friends "I was going to murder him" and says she chose the temple instead. Joseph Ryan's death in Phoenix, ruled heart disease, and the way Lori told police she hadn't heard from him in two years. The 2007 stun gun attack Alex Cox pleaded guilty to, and the jail letter asking Janis Cox to send Joe's address on a postcard. Adam Cox telling detectives years later that his sister had seemed desperate for money.

On Chad's side: the gravedigger profile in the Deseret News, the sexton years, An Errand for Emma, The Celestial City and its 144,000, the 2015 church warning about extreme end-times speculation, Suzanne Freeman's 2017 email warning that his path would lead to death and sorrow, and the memoir dedication that read "To Tammy, my one and only."

And the people who mattered most: Tammy, the publishing partner and librarian; Charles Vallow, the former pitcher who learned everything he could about JJ's autism; Kay and Larry Woodcock, who called JJ their little man.

Tony Brueski connects every piece leading up to October 26, 2018. If you've followed this case from day one, this is the background laid out in full.

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Brandon Boudreaux testified that Melani looked to her aunt Lori Vallow as a mother figure. That matters because this story starts long before a court argument about an attorney. Melani had lost her mother as a child, and Lori occupied an enormous place in the family. When beliefs around Lori began changing, Melani's marriage and her sense of who to trust changed with them.

In testimony at the Chad Daybell trial, Melani Pawlowski described meeting Chad in November 2018. He was presented as someone who could identify light and darkness in people. Brandon told jurors Melani began attending religious gatherings without him and said he was not welcome. Melani testified she eventually began referring to Lori and Chad as Mom and Dad. It is one thing to follow an aunt's advice. It is another when that aunt and her new husband become the people defining what reality looks like.

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and retired FBI behavioral expert Robin Dreeke help Tony Brueski examine the influence, the changing boundaries, and how a familiar family relationship can make extraordinary claims feel trustworthy. That is behavioral analysis, not a diagnosis or proof of criminal involvement. Melani has denied involvement in the shooting at her former husband, Brandon, and has not been charged in that shooting.

Meanwhile Lori's own Idaho murder convictions are now before the state Supreme Court. Her appeal argues that the trial judge improperly removed Mark Means, the lawyer she wanted, after a conflict involving Means's earlier work for Chad Daybell. The state argues the removal was proper. Former prosecutor and defense attorney Eric Faddis joins Robin Dreeke to explain why attorney choice matters, why conflicts matter too, and what a court must decide before any retrial could occur. Oral arguments are scheduled for November 2, 2026. There is no appellate ruling yet.

For anyone following the Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell cases, the name Melani Pawlowski raises questions about loyalty and belief. The November appeal raises a different question: did the Idaho trial judge correctly handle an attorney conflict? We explain the difference and what the record actually supports.

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Melani Boudreaux’s decision to leave Arizona for Rexburg in late 2019 placed her near Lori Vallow at a moment when JJ and Tylee were already missing. She married Ian Pawlowski shortly after meeting him, and Lori’s brother Alex Cox reportedly served as a wedding witness. To understand what happened afterward, you have to look at the way trust, family ties, and extreme beliefs overlapped.

Ian later testified that he sought Lori and Chad Daybell’s approval before marriage because Melani trusted them so much. An account attributed to him described her concerns that disturbing ideas about Brandon Boudreaux could extend to JJ and Tylee. Brandon, Melani’s former husband, also alleged that she knew more about the October 2019 shooting targeting him. Melani denied involvement and disputed his account; no charge has been filed against her in that shooting.

The conflict became public in February 2020. Lori was arrested in Hawaii as police searched for the children. Around the same time, Melani appeared in Arizona court fighting over custody of her four children. Her lawyers rejected claims that she knew where JJ and Tylee were. Their remains were discovered months later, and in 2024 Melani testified for prosecutors at Chad Daybell’s trial.

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and retired FBI behavioral expert Robin Dreeke join Tony Brueski for a careful look at the contrast between Melani’s life inside Lori’s circle and her attempt to move forward after the arrest. The question is not whether every allegation against her was true. It is what the testimony and documents actually show about influence, trust, and the decisions made while the children were missing.

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In October 2019, someone fired at Brandon Boudreaux outside his home in Gilbert, Arizona. Investigators identified Lori Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, as the suspected gunman. A jury convicted Lori in June 2025 of conspiring to kill Brandon, and she received a life sentence in Arizona. But this combined episode turns to someone who was much closer to Brandon: his then-wife, Lori’s niece Melani Pawlowski. Melani has not been charged in the shooting and has denied any involvement.

At Lori’s trial, prosecutors pointed to Melani’s connections and questions about the timing of communications. An FBI agent testified, according to the episode’s reporting, that Lori’s phone and Melani’s were connected in a 35-minute call around the time of the shooting. The content of that call has not been publicly established. We also examine the address Melani reportedly sought before the attack, the morning park handoff, and phone activity involving Cox. Each detail calls for context; none on its own proves Melani participated in a conspiracy.

Then there is a custody-case document attributed to Melani’s later husband, Ian Pawlowski. It describes Melani recounting a belief that Brandon was no longer himself and might need to die as part of a religious plan. The filing also says she did not expect anyone to act. Melani’s representatives disputed accusations in the custody proceedings. Ian later testified about the influence Lori and Chad Daybell had over Melani, describing what he came to see as manipulation.

Retired FBI agent Robin Dreeke and I compare the phone evidence, the custody filing, and the statements given to investigators. The distinction matters: Lori’s conviction is established; Melani’s alleged knowledge and involvement remain disputed. Gilbert police have said their investigation is active, and Melani has not been charged in the attempted killing. What can the available record actually show about what she knew before Brandon was shot at?

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Lori Vallow Daybell's appeal of her convictions for murdering JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell reaches Idaho's Supreme Court on November 2, 2026. Sandra Birchmore case defendant Matthew Farwell crashed into a utility pole, and police reports say every airbag deployed.

The judge took her lawyer, Mark Means, off the case, ruling he couldn't work for two people charged in the same murders. Her appeal asks for a new trial, saying that broke her right to keep the lawyer she hired.

Farwell's plea is not guilty, and he blamed a deer running under the hood. An expert Sandra's family hired called it a homicide in 2024.

Eric Faddis, a prosecutor turned defense attorney, joins former FBI behavioral program head Robin Dreeke to weigh Lori's odds and Farwell's no-parole future if convicted.

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If the Idaho Supreme Court sends Lori Vallow Daybell back to trial, the families of JJ, Tylee and Tammy relive it all. Her lead claim rests on Mark Means, the attorney she hired and lost.

Chad Daybell funded her defense, and the judge ruled one lawyer couldn't serve two people charged in the same killings. Lori wants a new trial, saying losing Means took away her right to pick who defended her.

Her Idaho jury heard about Charles Vallow's killing and the shot at Brandon Boudreaux, before Arizona juries convicted her in both. Her lawyer says that put her character on trial. The state says it showed a pattern: Chad called someone "dark," her brother Alex went after them, and somebody stood to collect money.

Robin Dreeke, retired chief of the FBI's counterintelligence behavioral program, joins me with ex-prosecutor and defense lawyer Eric Faddis on which argument holds.

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Our full panel on Melani Pawlowski is here in one episode, with psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and retired FBI behavior chief Robin Dreeke, plus a segment on the Sandra Birchmore case. On Melani, we go from how she was pulled in after losing her own mother as a child, to her months next door to Lori Vallow in Rexburg, to the custody fight a week after Lori's arrest. A memo attributed to her new husband says she feared JJ and Tylee "needed to die," and she later testified against Chad Daybell. Shavaun then looks at William Farwell, a Stoughton cop who heard Sandra was 15 when his twin first slept with her and did nothing. Melani has never been charged in the shooting at Brandon Boudreaux and denies any part in it. Matthew Farwell has pleaded not guilty.

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The last part of our panel on Melani Pawlowski looks at her life after Lori Vallow's arrest in Hawaii on February 20, 2020. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and retired FBI behavior chief Robin Dreeke join me on the custody fight in Mesa, where Melani asked for joint custody a week later and her attorney told the court where her loyalty still sat. Brandon's side filed a memo attributed to her new husband saying she'd been told Brandon needed to die. By January 2021, her full visitation was set to return. A Gilbert detective had sworn she was a person of interest in the shooting at Brandon, and at Lori's 2025 trial a prosecutor argued she was part of the plot. Melani has never been charged in that shooting and denies any part in it, and she declined to talk to Dateline in October 2026.

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In the second part of our panel on Melani Pawlowski, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and retired FBI behavior chief Robin Dreeke go inside the months she spent living next door to her aunt Lori Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho. Melani testified she was taught some people carried a darkness that couldn't be cast out and would end up killing them. Brandon Boudreaux testified she asked for a divorce after saying God told her he was gay. On a recorded call after Alex Cox's death, she told Lori she wanted Brandon to stay afraid of Alex. A memo attributed to her new husband, Ian, says she feared JJ and Tylee "needed to die." Around the same time, by her own account, Alex stood as a witness at her wedding. Melani has never been charged in the shooting at Brandon and denies any part in it.

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Melani Pawlowski, then Melani Boudreaux, was Lori Vallow's niece and a mother of four in Gilbert, Arizona, when Lori started pulling her into the world she shared with Chad Daybell. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and retired FBI behavior chief Robin Dreeke join me for the first part of a three-part panel on how it happened. Lori was the one who told Melani her mother had died when Melani was a child, and Brandon Boudreaux testified Lori became a mother figure to her. Melani met Chad in November 2018 and testified she'd heard he had a gift for seeing light and dark in people. Brandon says she shut him out of the firesides and wanted a huge food-storage purchase at once. This part covers how the pull began and the small signs that come first. Melani has never been charged in the shooting at Brandon and denies any part in it.

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Lori Vallow Daybell's niece Melani has never been charged in the October 2019 shooting at her then-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, and says she knew nothing. FBI testimony puts her phone on a 35-minute call with Lori's in the hour around the shot, and a filing attributed to Ian Pawlowski says she believed Brandon had to die for the Lord's plan. Robin Dreeke and I set her story beside two more. Gypsy Rose says she's 100 percent certain Ken Urker's death wasn't suicide, three weeks after saying she didn't know. And in the Matthew Farwell trial, Sandra Birchmore's therapist testified Sandra feared something would happen in her apartment the day before she died, while the defense argued suicide.

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Melani Pawlowski called Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell "Mom and Dad," she testified at Chad's 2024 trial. Robin Dreeke and I ask how deep that went. A document attributed to Ian Pawlowski, filed in Brandon Boudreaux's custody case in 2020, says Melani believed Brandon needed to die as part of the Lord's plan, and didn't expect anyone to act. Their lawyer said she didn't believe the religious ideas she passed along. After the October 2019 shot, she told Gilbert police she knew nothing and refused to share Lori's or Alex Cox's phone numbers. Weeks later, Lori kept giving her different answers about where JJ and Tylee were. On a call Ian recorded after Cox's death, Melani told Lori she wanted Brandon to stay afraid.

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An FBI agent testified that on September 25th, 2019, while Alex Cox's phone sat at the Idaho Falls Walmart where a burner was bought, Lori Vallow's phone took a call from her niece Melani's. Weeks later, in the hour around the shot at Brandon Boudreaux in Gilbert, Arizona, Lori's phone was on a 35-minute call to Melani's. Melani, Brandon's wife at the time, has never been charged and denies any role, though Lori's prosecutor told the 2025 jury she was in on it. Robin Dreeke and I look at the address, the morning handoff, the missing money motive, and the 2021 case Gilbert police sent prosecutors on Lori and Chad that left Melani out. The county attorney says she'd review it if Gilbert takes another look.

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Lori Vallow Daybell has told every courtroom, every camera, and every interviewer the same thing: she’s getting out. She told Keith Morrison on Dateline that Jesus showed her the future and she was not in prison. She told an Idaho sentencing judge that Jesus Christ knows no one was murdered. She told Arizona jurors their job was to protect her from the state. She offered to go on Dancing With the Stars after her exoneration.

On November 2, the Idaho Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the legal version of that belief. Her attorney Craig Durham filed five constitutional claims. The strongest: the judge removed her hired lawyer Mark Means over a conflict tied to co-defendant Chad Daybell, and if the removal was wrong, the conviction falls automatically. The state has a recorded jail call where Chad called Means “my attorney” and evidence that Chad arranged and paid for the representation while they were co-conspirators in capital murder charges.

Three juries across Idaho and Arizona have convicted her. She spent 353 days in state hospitals too incompetent to stand trial, then filed a speedy-trial claim over the delay. She represented herself in two Arizona conspiracy trials, picked up two more life sentences, and Judge Beresky told her she should never be released. Even if the Idaho Supreme Court reverses everything, those Arizona sentences don’t move. The cage is sealed. But the woman inside it is still telling everyone who’ll listen that Jesus is coming to open it.

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Lori Vallow Daybell's children were found buried on Chad Daybell's property in Rexburg, Idaho. Their mother was convicted unanimously and is serving seven life sentences across Idaho and Arizona. She told an Arizona judge she believed Jesus would free her from prison. Her appellate attorney Craig Durham has now filed five constitutional claims with the Idaho Supreme Court — and the most aggressive ask on the table is complete dismissal of every charge.

The state's 59-page response systematically dismantles each claim. On speedy trial, Lori was found incompetent twice — 353 days of delay she caused. On due process, the state argues the hearings were in Chad Daybell's case, not hers. On the attorney removal that anchors the entire appeal, the state has a recorded jail call where Chad Daybell called Lori's lawyer "my attorney" and documented evidence that Chad arranged and paid for the representation.

The oral arguments are set for November 2 in Boise. Lori won't be in the room. The hearing is a standard procedural step under Idaho law, not a signal from the court. And even if her attorney wins every argument, she's still serving two consecutive life sentences in Arizona that nothing in Idaho can touch.

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The appeal is fully briefed. The Idaho Supreme Court has the case. And every single argument Lori Vallow Daybell's team has raised collapses under the facts.

Her appellate attorney Craig Durham filed five constitutional claims — removal of her chosen attorney Mark Means, denial of counsel during a disqualification hearing, due process violations during her incompetency, improper admission of Arizona 404(b) evidence, and speedy trial violations. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Nye responded with fifty-nine pages that dismantle each claim methodically. Means had a documented conflict — he represented both Lori and Chad, who paid for the representation and claimed Means as his attorney in a recorded jail call. The competency evaluations consumed 353 days. The venue change she requested required massive logistical coordination. And the Arizona evidence the defense calls prejudicial has now been validated by three separate guilty verdicts.

What makes this appeal impossible to take seriously goes beyond the briefing. While the Idaho appeal was pending, Lori went to Arizona and represented herself in two conspiracy trials. She was convicted of conspiring to kill Charles Vallow and conspiring to kill Brandon Boudreaux. She compared conspiracy to Judas in her opening. She was escorted out of her own courtroom. She called no witnesses and presented no evidence in either trial. The Boudreaux jury deliberated for thirty minutes. Judge Beresky told her at sentencing that her manipulation was unparalleled and that she would fade into obscurity.

She now has seven life sentences across two states. She told the Idaho court that Jesus Christ knows no one was murdered. She told the Arizona court that if she were accountable, she'd say so. The appeal is the same pattern — every choice reframed as persecution, every consequence as injustice. The justices have everything they need.

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Lori Vallow still believes she'll be exonerated.

In a March 2025 Dateline interview, she maintained her innocence. She claimed visions from Jesus. She showed no remorse.

Her son Colby is left to figure out how to live in a world where his mother killed his siblings — and still thinks she was right.

This is Part 5 of "The Chosen Ones" — the conclusion of our psychological examination of spiritual abuse and religious trauma through the Daybell case. Today we focus on the aftermath: how survivors rebuild when the person who harmed them never acknowledges what they did.

We examine:

• Colby Ryan's prison calls with his mother
• The March 2025 Dateline interview
• How the AVOW community and conference circuit moved on
• The secondary trauma of systems that don't collapse
• The path to healing for spiritual abuse survivors
•

Religious Trauma Syndrome and what recovery looks like

This episode is for anyone following the Daybell case who wants to understand the human cost beyond the headlines. And it's for anyone who has left a high control religion and is figuring out what comes next.

The apocalypse Chad Daybell predicted never came. The world kept turning. But for the families of Tammy, Charles, Tylee, and JJ — the world ended anyway.

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Everyone around Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow saw something. The question is why they didn't act.

This is Part 4 of "The Chosen Ones" — our deep dive into the psychology of spiritual abuse and religious trauma through the Daybell case. Today we examine the inner circle: the people who participated, enabled, or stayed silent while four people died.

We cover:

ALEX COX — Lori's brother, who shot Charles Vallow, and who investigators believe killed Tylee and JJ. According to testimony, Alex "100% believed" what Chad Daybell taught. He told his wife to shoot him if he ever became a zombie.

MELANIE GIBB — Lori's best friend, the last person to see JJ alive. She participated in castings and heard Chad Daybell's zombie doctrine — but didn't realize she was being used as an alibi until police called.

ZULEMA PASTENES — Who married Alex two weeks before he died. She testified about castings, the failed attempt on Tammy, and Lori's rage when it didn't work.

CHAD DAYBELL'S CHILDREN — Who testified at their father's murder trial. For the defense.

THE WIDER COMMUNITY — The conference circuit, the AVOW network, the families who watched transformations and didn't intervene.

This episode is essential context for understanding how Chad Daybell's belief system sustained itself — and why it took so long to collapse.

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September 8, 2019. Yellowstone National Park. The last known photo of Tylee Ryan.

According to investigators, she was dead within twenty-four hours. Her remains were found nine months later in Chad Daybell's backyard.

This is Part 3 of "The Chosen Ones" — our deep dive into the psychology of spiritual abuse and religious trauma through the Daybell case. Today we examine Chad Daybell's "zombie" doctrine in detail: how it worked, who it targeted, and how it justified the murders of Tylee, JJ, Tammy, and Charles.

According to trial testimony:

• Chad Daybell taught that demons could possess people after death
• Once possessed, the original person was gone — only a "zombie" remained
• Zombies couldn't be saved or cast out — they could only be destroyed
• Chad Daybell assigned "light and dark ratings" to categorize who was possessed
• Everyone rated "dark" ended up dead

We trace how each victim was labeled:

• Charles Vallow: renamed "Ned," killed by Alex Cox
• Tammy Daybell: declared possessed, asphyxiated in her sleep
• Tylee Ryan: called "dark" after questioning her mother, dismembered and burned
• JJ Vallow: declared a "zombie," wrapped in plastic and buried

This episode provides essential context for understanding how Chad Daybell's belief system enabled the murders — and why dehumanization is central to spiritual abuse in high control religion.

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During Chad Daybell's murder trial, prosecutors introduced some of the most chilling evidence in true crime history: spreadsheets.

Documents recovered from Chad Daybell's computer showing lists of names — Tammy Daybell, Charles Vallow, Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and many others — each assigned a "light and dark rating" on a spiritual scale Chad Daybell invented.

Everyone rated "dark" ended up dead.

This is Part 2 of "The Chosen Ones," our deep dive into the psychology of spiritual abuse and religious trauma through the Daybell case. Today we examine how Chad Daybell built his belief system, where it came from, and how it evolved from eccentric theology into a framework that justified murder.

We cover:

• Chad Daybell's background as a gravedigger and cemetery sexton
• His self-published apocalyptic novels and claims they were visions from God
• The fringe LDS conference circuit and AVOW community
• How religious narcissism operates in high control religion
• Testimony about "light and dark ratings" and their escalation
• The "zombie" doctrine — how Chad Daybell taught that possessed people could only be destroyed
• The failed casting on Tammy Daybell and what happened next
•

How the spreadsheets became evidence of premeditation

If you're following the Daybell case closely, this episode provides essential psychological context for understanding how the murders were justified within Chad Daybell's belief system.

Chad Daybell was convicted of first-degree murder in May 2024 and sentenced to death in June 2024.

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