Chad Daybell sentenced to death for the murders of Tammy Daybell, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan (2024)

BOISE — A jury has decided Chad Daybell deserves the death penalty for murdering his former wife and his new wife's two children.

After deliberating for about eight hours Friday and Saturday, the same 12 jurors who found Daybell guilty of all crimes against him on Thursday determined that his crimes were especially heinous and do merit the death penalty.

He was found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of 7-year-old JJ Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and his former wife, 49-year-old Tammy Daybell on Thursday. The jury also found him guilty of conspiring to murder each of the victims, grand theft and two counts of insurance fraud.

Daybell received the news in the same way he received his conviction — without emotion.

Kay Woodco*ck, JJ's grandmother, broke down in tears when the sentence was read, with her husband Larry Woodco*ck hugging her.

The jury unanimously determined that the murders were "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity," bringing the sentencing to the level of the death, and that "all mitigating circ*mstances are not sufficiently compelling to make imposition of the death penalty unjust."

Judge Steven Boyce, to those in attendance, explained in layman's terms: "The jury has made a finding that it would be appropriate to impose the death penalty."

After a brief recess, Boyce sentenced Daybell to death, following the findings of the jury, and gave two different 15-year sentences for the insurance fraud charges, to run concurrently with his death sentences.

There are currently eight inmates on death row in Idaho. Daybell is now No. 9.

The first execution in Idaho since 2011 was attempted in February, but the medical staff at the state's Department of Corrections was unable to find the vein of 73-year-old Thomas Creech for a lethal injection, according to Idaho Gov. Brad Little. Little signed a bill in 2023 authorizing a firing squad as a method of execution after a nationwide shortage of drugs used in lethal injections. Creech received the death penalty in January 1983.

Reactions to the sentence

"We saw justice. Equal, honest and righteous," Larry Woodco*ck told reporters after the sentencing. "Rexburg is a beautiful town. Boise is a beautiful town. Idaho is a magnificent state. They don't deserve this blemish."

Colby Ryan, Tylee's older brother, is now without a mother, father, sister or brother. Speaking to the media, he said, "You never wish harm on anybody, regardless of what they've done to you. But at the end of the day, it's good that he can't hurt anybody else, and that's what matters."

"We have to live with the fact that we're not going to have the people we love in our lives anymore," Ryan said. "This is the best justice we can possibly get. It doesn't change the outcome, but it is good news and it brings closure for everybody."

Tammy Daybell's family released a statement that was read, saying, "We can all start to heal from the terrible losses we have suffered. We will miss Tammy every single day of our lives, but we have some comfort knowing we will see her again."

The victims of these crimes mentioned the support they received from each other, law enforcement and the prosecution team.

"There's a little bit of sadness in this now," said Vicki Hoban, aunt of Tammy Daybell, "because we built a family together here supporting our families. We love each other like family, our relationship will never end."

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador sent out a press release saying, "I am thankful for the incredibly diligent work of the prosecutors and investigators in this complex case, and I am grateful for the partnerships we have in place to support the pursuit of justice. I hope the conviction of Chad Daybell and the jury's sentence provides a measure of peace to the families of the victims, Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell."

Family members' testimony

On Friday, jurors listened to impact statements from family members of each of the victims. The statements brought some of the jurors to tears after weeks of hearing about the three deaths through witnesses.

Matthew Douglas, Tammy Daybell's brother, said she was "the emotional heart and glue" of his siblings, and these events destroyed their family as they knew it.

He called it a "never-ending nightmare," and said every time he felt some control around the grief of his sister's death, something else would happen — Chad Daybell was remarried, Tammy Daybell's body was exhumed or there were missing children.

He said he felt like he was being tossed in a "cheap holiday snow globe" where everything was loose.

Douglas also said it hurt that some of the children of Chad and Tammy Daybell cut off ties with the Douglas family, choosing to defend their father.

Daybell chose not to present any mitigation evidence during the sentencing phase of his trial and confirmed he understood that his attorney, John Prior, had prepared for such a defense. He also chose not to make an allocution statement. An allocution statement is when a defendant is given a chance to speak before their sentence is decided.

It was unknown whether he made that decision against the advice of Prior, who still argued on behalf of his client.

Prior argued Daybell's new wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, changed who Chad Daybell was and he called her a "bomb" that brought chaos into his life. He said after meeting her was when the "crazy thoughts" and "amplification of these religious beliefs" in Chad Daybell began.

Prior argued that most of the allegations in the charges related to her, and the ones that related to Chad Daybell's actions were all about his extreme religious beliefs. Prior claimed Chad Daybell was not present when the children were killed but that others were.

Fremont County prosecutor Lindsay Blake said each of the deaths occurred shortly after a source of money from them was set up — Social Security payments for Lori Daybell's children and life insurance for Tammy Daybell.

"It didn't matter the age of the victim or who relied on them and loved them. If they were in the way of Chad and his plan … or if there was money to be gained for Lori and Chad, those individuals were marked for death," she said.