Lori Vallow threatened to kill her friend, “cut her up” and then bury her remains “in a place nobody would ever find” one month after her two children disappeared, according to bombshell testimony at the doomsday cult mom’s murder trial.
Ms Vallow’s friend Audrey Barattiero took the stand at Ms Vallow’s trial in Ada County Courthouse on Wednesday, revealing disturbing details about the alleged threat her former friend once made to her life.
Ms Barattiero testified that – one day in October 2019 – she had asked Ms Vallow is there was anything weird going on.
Ms Vallow’s son JJ and daughter Tylee had vanished one month earlier while her husband Charles Vallow had been shot dead by her brother Alex Cox that July.
“Is there anything weird going on that I don’t know about?” Ms Barattiero said she asked her friend.
Ms Vallow allegedly insisted that there wasn’t but then, following the confrontation, burst into laughter and told Ms Barattiero that she was “naive” – before threatening to kill her.
“As soon as I turned to go upstairs, she started laughing – like if you were laughing at someone,” she testified.
“She said: ‘You’re so naive and too trusting. You’re like a little child. You think the world is all unicorns and rainbows. You go around helping people and serving them. Well, I’ve got news for you. Not everyone is a good person and not everyone can be so kind.’”
“Then she threatened to kill me. She said she would cut me up and wasn’t in the mental place to do it but would get herself in a place to do it.”
Ms Vallow then allegedly went into detail about how she would kill Ms Barattiero.
“There would be blood and bleach and something about trash bags. She would bury me in a place nobody would ever find me,” said Ms Barattiero.
The stunning moment caught many in court by surprise with Ms Vallow herself reportedly looking shocked. Her defence attorney Jim Archibald challenged Ms Barattiero, first reminding her she was under oath and stating that none of this testimony had come up in the grand jury proceedings ahead of the trial.
Asked why she had not revealed this exchange with the defendant until now, she said she had been scared.
“Nothing of this sort was talked about. You want the jury to believe that you just didn’t make this last crap up?” he said.
An adamant Ms Barattiero stood by her claims and replied: “I did not make it up.”
Testimony about the chilling alleged encounter comes after jurors have heard more than four weeks of testimony about the horrific killings of her children JJ and Tylee and Mr Daybell’s first wife Tammy – including the attempted dismemberment of Tylee and the burying of both children on the Daybell property.
JJ and Tylee were last seen alive in September 2019 and for months Ms Vallow refused to reveal their whereabouts.
One month later, Tammy died suddenly aged 49 and Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell flew to Hawaii and married on a beach.
In June 2020, JJ and Tylee’s remains were discovered buried in Mr Daybell’s backyard.
JJ died by asphyxiation with multiple layers of plastic bags wrapped around the little boy’s head and duct tape over his mouth, jurors heard at trial.
Tylee’s cause of death was impossible to determine because her remains were so badly burned and mutilated.
Now, Ms Vallow is now on trial charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Tammy, and first-degree murder, conspiracy and grand theft in connection with the deaths of JJ and Tylee. She is also charged with related financial crimes.
In court on Wednesday, Ms Barattiero testified how she first met Ms Vallow in November 2018 when they both attended a religious conference along with Mr Daybell, Ms Vallow’s friend Melanie Gibb and Cox’s future wife Zulema Pastenes.
She said she and Ms Vallow became good friends but in early 2019 she began talking about “zombies” and “possession”.
Prosecutors allege that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with Cox to murder Tammy, JJ and Tylee as part of their doomsday cult beliefs – but also for financial purposes so that they could collect Tammy’s life insurance money and the children’s social security and survivor benefits.
As part of their cult beliefs, the couple believed in a “rating system of light and dark” for how they ranked the spirits of the people around them.
Over time, this evolved into the belief that some people – including the children – were “zombies” and the only way to get rid of the zombies was for the human body to be destroyed.
Mr Daybell is also charged over the murders but is due to stand trial separately at a later date.
Cox, meanwhile, died before he could face charges.
On 11 December 2019, Cox died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was also ruled natural causes, with indications of a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs. However the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.
Ms Vallow is also facing charges in Arizona of conspiring with Cox to murder her fourth husband Charles Vallow.
