Major Lori Vallow update as ‘cult mom’ makes bold testimony decision in sixth week of murder trial
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ALLEGED cult mom Lori Vallow will not testify in her ongoing trial as closing arguments have been set for Thursday.
Vallow, 49, is on trial for first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7.
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She’s also accused of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Tammy Daybell, the late wife of her fifth-husband Chad.
Vallow’s trial began more than five weeks ago and has included testimony from more than 60 witnesses, according to East Idaho News.
She will not testify in her trial and her team will not call any witnesses.
While the trial has been closed to the press, the verdict will be live streamed.
TEXT MESSAGE EVIDENCE
The bodies of JJ and Tylee were discovered on Chad’s Idaho property in 2020 after they went missing in September 2019.
Earlier in 2019, Lori went on a trip with her niece, Melani Boudreaux, and her two children to California.
During the July trip, Lori and Chad exchanged violent texts about hurting Boudreaux’s kids, a jury heard.
The messages were brought up as evidence in court on Monday as Former FBI Special Agent Doug Hart testified.
One text exchange began when Chad rated the children Lori was with as a “three” on a scale that he developed for his doomsday cult to categorize people from “light” to “dark.”
The couple reportedly believed that the world would end in July 2020 and that they would lead a select group of survivors to salvation.
At one point, Chad asked Lori if she wanted him to “cause pain” to the children.
They thought that they could use their minds to “work on” people by casting out their demons, prosecutors have alleged.
“One question: Do you want me to cause pain yet to those two 3s you’re riding with?” Chad asked Lori in the texts shown at trial.
Lori responded: “Probably hold off on then till we arrive.
“I’ll text you if they start acting up and we can zap them.”
“If they are going to act up, we’ll at least give them a reason to scream,” Chad allegedly responded.
JJ was on the trip with his mother but it’s not clear if Tylee was present.
‘SNITCH’ NEPHEW-IN-LAW
During last week’s testimony, Vallow’s lawyer Jim Archibald called her nephew-in-law Ian Pawlowski a snitch and claimed that he wore a wire during conversations with Vallow.
Pawlowski dated Vallow’s niece, Melani, for 10 days before marrying her and had met Vallow briefly.
“He dated Melani Boudreaux for a couple of weeks, got married in Vegas and then contacted law enforcement a week later and, at the direction of law enforcement, he became a snitch,” Archibald said, per Daily Mail.
However, prosecutor Lindsey Blake objected and said that Pawlowski was trying to help find Vallow’s two missing children.
Pawlowski told jurors that Vallow and Chad Daybell had an “arrogant, flippant attitude toward law enforcement” during the recorded conversations.
“They asked me to listen and observe and report back. They also asked me to make recordings for them,” Pawlowski said of police.
The nephew also said that Vallow had expressed “bizarre” religious beliefs.
“She discussed beliefs about possession, about locking Satan away – those are the two that stand out the most,” he told the jury.
He said that Vallow and Daybell claimed that her two children and Chad’s ex-wife, Tammy, were “dark” and may have been possessed by evil spirits.
‘DARK BEINGS’
Pawlowski also shared a turning point in his relationship with Vallow.
“The point where it really turned for me was the morning after I married Melani. Melani dumped everything on me and shared everything,” he said.
“We were staying at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and my two children were with me. The next morning I got up and my daughter was gone.
“She was gone for about 15 minutes. She was nowhere. Finally, I hear some giggling from behind the curtain.
“After hearing everything I had from the night before, that was terrifying. At that point, I decided I wasn’t going to give this a chance, I’m not going to mess with it.”
He had also heard conversations about “casting,” which he shared with the jury.
“My understanding is with casting you are trying to expel a possession or ‘bug’ type of possession where something would crawl into your ear or brain. During casting, you would pray to force the possession out of the body,” he said.
Pawlowski also shared his belief that Vallow had taken advantage of Melani.
“In the two weeks I was meeting with them, there were a lot of things that came about,” he said.
“She was telling her that Brandon is dark. That law enforcement officers Melani should have been cooperating with were dark beings when in reality, these officers were trying to find two missing children and what happened with the shooting of Brandon Boudreaux,” he said, referencing Melani’s ex-husband who was shot at in October 2019.
Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, who died months after, was suspected of carrying out that shooting.
VALLOW’S CHILDREN VANISH
On September 8, 2019, Tylee and JJ went on a trip to Yellowstone National Park.
This was the last time anyone saw Tylee, according to police.
Vallow withdrew JJ from elementary school, claiming to officials that she would be homeschooling him.
JJ was last seen on September 22, 2019.
While Vallow’s children were missing, the mom maintained that Tylee and JJ were safe and living with family members in Arizona.
The children’s bodies were found on June 9, 2020, in the backyard of Chad Daybell‘s home in Salem, Idaho.
Daybell, 54, is Vallow’s fifth husband and author of over two dozen books about near-death and doomsday events.
Vallow and Daybell were officially indicted on May 25, 2021, on first-degree murder charges over the death and disappearance of Tylee and JJ.
Daybell was also charged with the murder of his former wife Tammy, who died under suspicious circumstances in October 2019.
Vallow and Daybell pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Daybell will have a separate trial, but the date has yet to be scheduled.
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