NASHVILLE, Tenn. – "Doomsday mom" Lori Vallow's sister, Summer Shiflet, on Saturday spoke out publicly for the first time since an Idaho jury convicted Chad Daybell in his triple murder case on Friday.
Shiflet's comments came at CrimeCon 2024 — a true crime convention that brings victims, law enforcement and other criminal justice experts together to share their stories — in Nashville on Saturday afternoon, just hours after an Idaho judge sentenced Vallow's husband, Chad Daybell, to death following his nine-count conviction.
"I had no expectations … but when I heard those words, it was everything I needed to hear," Shiftleft told East Idaho News Director Nate Eaton of Daybell's death sentence during their panel at CrimeCon, thanking law enforcement and prosecutors for their work in convicting the couple.
Vallow, 50, and Daybell, 55, have both been convicted of three counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, insurance fraud and grand theft. The couple, who shared extreme apocalyptic, cult-like religious views, murdered two of Vallow's children, 7-year-old J.J. Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, as well as Daybell's first wife, Tammy Daybell, in 2019. Vallow was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Daybell may face a firing squad under Idaho law.
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"They did not deserve what happened to them," Shiftlet said of her niece and nephew.
But prosecutors have argued in both Vallow's and Daybell's cases that the desire for "money, power and sex" is what drove the duo to kill Vallow's two children and Daybell's first wife. Vallow and Daybell also stole J.J. and Tylee's Social Security benefits between Oct. 1, 2019, when they disappeared, and Jan. 22, 2020, after they were murdered.
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The two children were found dead in shallow graves on Chad Daybell's Rexburg, Idaho, property in June 2020, months after they disappeared from their home in September 2019. The 16-year-old's remains were burned while the 7-year-old was bound in duct tape.
The Ada County coroner testified that J.J. died of asphyxiation by a plastic bag and Tylee died of homicide by unknown means due to the fact that her remains were dismembered and badly burned before they were buried.
LORI VALLOW TRIAL: ‘CULT MOM’ SENTENCED IN MURDERS OF 2 OF HER CHILDREN, HUSBAND'S FIRST WIFE
After their children disappeared, Vallow and Daybell ran off to Hawaii to get married. Authorities arrested Vallow in February 2020 and Daybell in June 2020.
LISTEN TO LORI VALLOW'S JAIL CALL WITH HER SISTER:
At Vallow's sentencing, Judge Steven Boyce told the so-called "cult mom" that she has "mental health issues," including diagnoses such as "delusional disorder" mixed with "hyper-religiosity" and a "continuous and unspecified personality disorder" with narcissistic features.
LORI VALLOW TRIAL: IDAHO CORONER REVEALS JJ VALLOW AND TYLEE RYAN'S CAUSE OF DEATH
Shiflet said Saturday that she believes her sister is still under the delusion that her children are somehow not missing and in a better place.
"One thing for me, personally, in coming to understand why this happened, which is a huge question, is: how does your sister and this mother … get to this point from a one-year period from meeting Chad Daybell to having your kids murdered," Shiflet said during the CrimeCon panel. "How does that happen? How do you get to that point? So, for me, it's been helpful to understand her diagnosis and to understand that … her reality is as real to her as our reality is to us. And she 100% thinks she is sane. She does not think there is anything wrong with her."
She added that Vallow would rather be in prison than hospitalized for her mental health disorders.
"She doesn't think she's done anything wrong," Shiflet said.
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Shiflet also addressed comments she made in 2020 after her sister's arrest when she and her mother went on national television to defend Vallow. She acknowledged that she was wrong at the time because she simply did not believe her sister to be capable of murdering her own children.
Shiflet described her sister as a loving mother and sister prior to her relationship with Daybell and her delusions. She also mentioned that she and Vallow have experienced a lot of death in their family, and she believes something eventually cracked in Vallow, leading her to believe the deaths were occurring for a specific reason.
During her sentencing in August 2023, Vallow told the courtroom that her deceased children were "happy" and "busy."
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"I have had many communications with Jesus Christ, savior of this world, and our heavenly parents. I have had many angelic visitors have come and communicated with me and even manifested themselves to me because of these communications," Vallow said at the time. "I know for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world. Because of my communications with my friend, Tammy Daybell, I know that she is also very happy and extremely busy."
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She added that she has "always mourned the loss" of her "loved ones" and has "lost many in this mortal world" with whom she believes she is still in communication in the spirit world.
Daybell has written several apocalyptic novels based loosely on Mormon theology. Both he and Vallow were involved in a group that promotes preparedness for the biblical end of times.
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Officials extradited Vallow to Arizona in November 2023 in a separate case, where she faces one first-degree murder charge and one premeditated first-degree murder charge in Maricopa County.
