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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Oliver O'Connell and Rachel Sharp

Lori Vallow trial – live: Doomsday mom texts show Chad Daybell likened himself to Harry Potter before murders

The Idaho Post-Register/AP/The Independent

The high-profile trial of “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow is taking a scheduled one-day break in Boise, Idaho, on Monday – after a week of upsetting and shocking revelations and bizarre insights into her beliefs and rituals.

Ms Vallow, 49, is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft over the deaths of daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, seven.

Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019. Their bodies were found buried on Ms Vallow’s new husband Chad Daybell’s property in June 2020.

Ms Vallow is also charged with conspiracy to murder Mr Daybell’s first wife Tammy, who died suddenly in October 2019.

She has pleaded not guilty in a dramatic case spanning multiple murders and unexplained deaths.

In court last week, jurors were shown bombshell emails and text messages between Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell as they embarked on an affair prior to allegedly conspiring to kill people in their way.

In one bizarre message, Mr Daybell compared himself to Harry Potter. “I’m a grown-up version of Harry Potter, who has to live with the Dudleys in his little space under the stairs,” he wrote in July 2019.

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