A “doomsday” murder trial that has gripped the nation for the past week may come to an end much more quickly than expected after Lori Vallow Daybell announced plans to rest her case without providing evidence or witnesses.
Prosecutors on Wednesday rested their case against Vallow Daybell, the 51-year-old “doomsday mom” who is on trial in connection with the July 2019 death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who was fatally shot by her brother, Alex Cox.
Vallow Daybell, who is acting as her own counsel in the case, is accused of conspiring with her brother to kill Charles Vallow at her home in Chandler, Arizona. She has pleaded not guilty and argued that the shooting was in self-defense following a family argument that escalated.
Prosecutors, however, have presented evidence to a Maricopa County Superior Court jury that they say proves Vallow Daybell and her brother wanted the 62-year-old dead.
Mesa-based attorney Adam Ashby of JacksonWhite Law, who is not involved in the case, told NBC affiliate KPNX of Mesa that he would be shocked if Vallow Daybell went ahead with her plan.
“I would be shocked, and I may be proven wrong, if she doesn’t take the stand herself. Her legal advocate would then be asking questions to her,” Ashby said in an interview that aired Thursday. “But I would be shocked if she didn’t want to take that opportunity to speak for herself and say whatever she wanted.”
Vallow Daybell has until Monday to make a final decision. If she does rest, closing arguments would begin that day.
Here are some key moments from the trial:
Vallow Daybell represents herself in murder trial
Vallow Daybell waived her right to an attorney and is representing herself. She does have advising attorneys who can step in if needed, but Vallow Daybell has handled opening statements and cross-examinations on her own.
In an interview with True Crime Arizona before the trial began, she was asked why she chose to represent herself.
“Being pro per is not an easy job. I’m not an attorney. I don’t have training to be an attorney,” she responded. “There’s something I figured out when I got to this jail, you know, this experience has been five years running. I went through a whole trial before in my other state, and then I was brought here to Arizona to face some more serious charges.”
She added: “I’m just gonna do the best that I can. That’s all I can do.”
In March, she told NBC’s “Dateline” that she felt “great” about acting as her own counsel.
But that doesn’t mean Vallow Daybell hasn’t had a few rocky moments in the courtroom. Prosecutors have repeatedly objected to Vallow Daybell’s line of questioning, accusing her of being argumentative.
At one point, she had to apologize to the judge for making what prosecutors deemed as unwarranted side remarks during cross-examination.
She has also had some difficulties lining up witnesses, The Associated Press reported.
Ashby said Vallow Daybell “has done a much better job than I thought.”
“I’ve been very impressed with her legal phraseology, with the words that she’s saying many times,” Ashby told KPNX.
“But then she’ll have a lot of mess-ups where she’s testifying for herself, she’s badgering witnesses, she’s harassing witnesses, things like that,” he said. “And that’s been pretty telling.”
'A family tragedy is not a crime,' Vallow Daybell says
Vallow Daybell suggested that her estranged husband’s anger, as well as an argument with her 16-year-old daughter, sparked the shooting.
“Alex shot Charles in self-defense,” she told the court in her opening statements.
According to Vallow Daybell, her husband got into an argument with her daughter, Tylee Ryan, and threatened the teen with a bat. Charles Vallow, 62, was at his wife’s home in Chandler, Arizona, to take their son, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, to school.
“Charles lifted up the bat to hit Tylee,” Vallow Daybell said. “Alex then intervened.”
Vallow Daybell described a struggle for the bat in which she said Charles Vallow came at her with it.
“At some point” during her effort to flee, “Alex apparently retrieved his gun,” she said.
It wasn’t until Vallow Daybell had returned from taking Joshua to school that she learned from police that her husband had died, she said.
“A family tragedy is not a crime,” Vallow Daybell said to conclude her opening remarks.
Prosecutor Treena Kay, however, said Vallow Daybell had several reasons to want her husband dead.
“Lori Vallow wanted to be Lori Daybell, wife of Chad Daybell. And in July of 2019, Lori Vallow wanted to keep the same lifestyle that she had with Charles. And she could get all of this if Charles was dead,” she said. “She could marry Chad Daybell and become Lori Daybell. She would get a million-dollar life insurance policy from Charles Vallow. She would get Social Security for herself and their son, JJ, as the child of a dead spouse. And all of this would be true if Charles Vallow was dead.”
Kay argued Vallow Daybell would label people who disagreed with her as “dark” or “possessed by evil spirits” and used religion to justify killing her husband.
Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell, a doomsday author, married in November 2019.
In 2023, Vallow Daybell was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after she was convicted of the murders of her children, JJ and Tylee, as well as conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her husband’s first wife, Tammy Daybell.
Vallow Daybell is argumentative and asks irrelevant questions, prosecutor says
Vallow Daybell had a tense exchange with Nancy Jo Hancock, a witness for the prosecution, as Hancock described her brief relationship with Charles Vallow.
Hancock, 61, testified that she met Charles Vallow in early July 2019 on a dating site for members of their church. They met in person for dinner at a restaurant the night before he was killed, she said.
Hancock said the pair exchanged “hundreds” of text messages, and Charles Vallow talked “a lot” about Vallow Daybell and the issues they were allegedly having.
She testified that Charles Vallow said he was in the process of a divorce — a revelation that seemed to frustrate Vallow Daybell.
“You stated that my husband told you that he was going through a divorce,” Vallow Daybell said during cross-examination. “Did you have any way of verifying that?”
“No, I didn’t try and verify that,” Hancock responded.
The tension increased as Vallow Daybell continued to question Hancock, ultimately leading prosecutors to object several times and accuse Vallow Daybell of being argumentative and asking irrelevant questions.
“Would you have gone on a date with him if he would have said he was married?” Vallow Daybell asked, telling Hancock that they weren’t in the process of divorcing.
“Um, if I would have realized how married he still was, maybe not,” Hancock answered. “But I just met for dinner. I wasn’t sleeping with him or anything.”
“Do you go on dates with married men?” Vallow Daybell shot back.
The prosecution objected, saying Vallow Daybell was being argumentative. The judge sustained the objection.
The prosecution objected again after Vallow Daybell asked whether Charles Vallow had responded to a text message from Hancock asking if he was a good kisser. Kay said the question was irrelevant and the judge sustained the objection.
Hancock was also asked whether Charles Vallow had opened up about his rocky relationship with Tylee. Hancock said she didn’t recall their having that conversation.
“I’m sure you don’t,” Vallow Daybell mumbled.
The prosecution objected to her making side remarks. The judge sustained the objection.
At one point, Vallow Daybell apologized to the judge for making comments after her questioning.
“I’m sorry, your honor. I won’t do that again,” she said.
“Please stop,” the judge said.
Adam Cox says 'no doubt' she conspired to kill Charles Vallow
Adam Cox, a witness for the prosecution, testified that shortly before the shooting, he had flown to Arizona because he and Charles Vallow wanted to hold an intervention for Vallow Daybell over what he described as odd religious comments.
He told the court that his sister had previously revealed that “she was in the process of translating from a mortal human being to an immortal human being.”
Cox, 56, said those remarks did not align with what they believed as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He testified that he was supposed to stay at Alex Cox’s Arizona home during that 2019 trip, but his brother did not respond to his text messages. On the day of the shooting, Charles Vallow texted Adam Cox and told him that Alex was at Vallow Daybell’s home.
“Alex being at Lori’s house that morning felt like something was really off,” he testified.
After learning days later that Charles Vallow had died, Cox said he told his family that he believed his sister and brother had conspired to kill him.
“Lori had told people that Charles was no longer living, that some guy named ‘Ned’ was inside of his body, that there was a zombie living inside of him. And Alex didn’t respond to any of my text messages when I was supposed to be with him, and he was at that house that morning,” he told the court. “Lori talking crazy about how she’s a translated being — all these things all added up into that moment and that morning, once I found out on Saturday that Charles was shot and killed, no doubt in my mind that they killed him. That’s a feeling that I got.”
Medical examiner testifies about bullet wounds
Derek Bumgarner, the medical examiner who performed Charles Vallow’s autopsy, testified that the first shot came at a range of 2 to 4 feet, and the second shot had a “shored” exit wound, meaning Charles Vallow could have been lying on a firm surface like a floor when he was shot.
The second wound was to the abdomen and upward, Bumgarner said. The fatal wound went through his heart.
Charles Vallow also had abrasions on his knees, Bumgarner said, that could have been caused when he fell to the ground after he was shot.
Cassandra Ynclan testimony
Cassandra Ynclan, who was one of the Chandler police officers who arrived at the home when Charles Vallow was shot, testified to how calm Vallow Daybell was that day.
“[She] just seemed very kind of ordinary and kind of nonchalant,” she told the court.
A recording of Vallow Daybell’s interview with police was played for the court. It showed her laughing at times as she casually told Ynclan about the moments leading up to the fatal shooting.
During cross-examination, Vallow Daybell suggested that Ynclan could not determine how she was supposed to act.
“Do you have a degree in psychology?” Vallow Daybell asked. “Do you know what a person should act like if they’re in a stressful situation?”
“There isn’t one way to act, there’s just behavior that is striking,” Ynclan said.
Vallow Daybell said her daughter needed her “panic attack medicine” and asked Ynclan if her “nonemotional” demeanor was because she was trying to stay calm for Tylee. The prosecution objected to speculation. The judge sustained the objection.
Kay Woodcock says her brother was 'absolutely concerned for his safety'
Kay Woodcock, the sister of Charles Vallow, testified that she had concerns about his marriage to Vallow Daybell and that he had fears for his safety.
“Charles was absolutely concerned for his safety,” she told the court.
Woodcock testified that she learned of her brother’s death from “Google that my husband found.” She broke down in tears as she recalled finding out the news.
“It was horrible. I had to call my siblings and let them know,” she said through tears. “And everybody was freaking out. I didn’t know what to do.”
Woodcock said she reached out to Vallow Daybell at the time, but that her sister-in-law was “too busy to even call his family to say that he was dead by her brother killing him.”
Vallow Daybell only asked Woodcock four questions during cross-examination: where she was on the day of Charles Vallow’s death; if she knew about his relationship with Tylee; if she was aware of the events that happened on the morning Charles Vallow was killed; and if she personally saw or heard Vallow Daybell conspire with Alex Cox to kill Charles Vallow.
Vallow Daybell has difficulty finding witnesses and rests her case without presenting evidence
The state concluded its presentation and rested on Wednesday. After the jury left the room, Vallow Daybell told the judge she plans to rest her case. It was initially believed that she would testify.
She must confirm on Monday whether she intends to proceed with closing her case without witnesses or presenting evidence.
The Associated Press reported that Vallow Daybell had issues lining up witnesses. A few witnesses were served subpoenas, but two were stricken from the witness list by the judge, according to the AP. At least five others could not be located or served with subpoenas.
Before telling the judge her plans to rest, Vallow Daybell had said the state failed to show substantial evidence that she conspired to commit murder.
She said there was a “lack of evidence to show any evidence of a conspiracy to commit murder. There was no plan to murder Charles. No evidence has shown that.”
“In fact, evidence suggested self-defense on the part of Alex,” Vallow Daybell added.
Prosecutor Kay, however, argued that there is sufficient evidence for the jury to find Vallow Daybell guilty. The judge agreed.
