THE murders of Lori Vallow's two youngest children should be a "cautionary tale" that prompts widespread change to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future, says an aunt of one of the victims.
Kresha Kay Easton told The U.S. Sun she will ensure the death of her nephew Joshua "JJ" Vallow will never be in vain during an interview coinciding with the murder and conspiracy trial of the boy's mom, Lori.
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The so-called cult mom was handed five consecutive life sentences by a judge earlier this week for murdering seven-year-old JJ, her 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, her fifth husband's wife, all as part of a depraved doomsday plot.
Lori was found guilty of all counts at the close of a tumultuous five-week trial in May. She will never be eligible for parole.
The 50-year-old declined to take the stand during her trial but issued a bizarre statement during her sentencing hearing on Monday in which she denied anyone was murdered and claimed to have a direct line to the "spirit world", which she has utilized to speak to her victims.
Before the gavel fell on Lori, Kresha told The U.S. Sun in an interview in late April that JJ and Tylee brought such "light to this world" and pledged to carry their torch forward to ensure something good can come from their tragic deaths.
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"When you stop saying their names are when they truly die and so through them, something good can come from this," said Kresha.
"I’ve already seen it, I witness it every day. The people who reach out and are just as hurt or they cry and you’re trying to console them [...] they show that to me.
"I see change, changes in laws, new laws, federal laws, policies. Hopefully a change in humanity.
"The murders, the deaths of these victims should be a cautionary tale now.
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"It should, and if not then their deaths are in vain [...] and we cannot let that happen."
FIVE LIFE SENTENCES
Lori Vallow was observed smirking and smiling during Monday's sentencing hearing as family members of the victims delivered powerful and emotional victim impact statements, urging Ada County Court Judge Steven Boyce to impart a life sentence.
Her only surviving child, Colby Ryan, was not present in the courtroom but provided the judge with a written statement.
"Tylee and J.J. brought so much light into this world," read Ryan's statement.
"I’ve lost my entire family in life. I've watched everything crumble and be shredded to pieces. I have lost my sister, brother, father, and mother. I have lost cousins and family, friends, and everything in between.
"I pray for healing for everyone involved, including those who took the lives of all the ones we loved."
Kresha's mom - and JJ's grandma - Kay Woodcock spoke during the hearing of what she called Vallow's "cruel campaign of terror."
"J.J. and Tylee could have been with us living happy lives," she said through tears.
"Instead she took all that away," added Kay, labeling Lori a "monster."
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"[JJ's] life was expendable to [Vallow Daybell]," Woodcock continued.
"His materialistic, self-centered mother cruelly and brutally stole his life - and him from the world.
"Lori's acts of depravity, cruelty, and betrayal have no limits."
Prosecutor Rob Wood strongly advocated for a life sentence without parole, telling the judge that Lori is beyond rehabilitation.
Wood said: "What is the value of a human life? What is the value of a 16-year-old girl? … A 7-year-old boy with special needs? What is the value of a life of a mother and a grandmother?"
"We are calculating and assigning a value for the lives of Tylee Ryan, J.J. Vallow, and Tammy Daybell," he said, noting that Lori Vallow Daybell "assigned a value of zero."
"This defendant violated the most sacred trust that exists in society - that between a mother and her children. And she did it for gain - she did it for money.
"A defendant who is willing to murder her own children is willing to murder anyone. Society can only be protected from this defendant by a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
"There's no rehabilitation possible."
'NOT STREET-WORTHY'
During her interview in April, Kresha disagreed with the idea that Lori was beyond reform - though she said she hoped and prayed she would never be permitted release from prison.
"She's never going to be street-worthy," said Kresha.
"I don't think she was ever off her rocker. It's the words [of her's and Chad's religious beliefs] that made her off her rocker.
"I do believe she can be rehabilitated inside the prison walls, yeah [...] but only inside the prison walls.
"It's not safe if she's not [in prison]. I don't feel like my family's lives are safe, and if she were to be let out, to walk free [...] I would move. Far.
"I don't know what it will look like for her, or for him [Chad].
"I just think about, like, I bet Chad misses Tammy's cooking, you know?"
Lori Vallow still faces two other cases in Arizona: for conspiring with her brother to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and another conspiracy count for plotting to murder her niece's ex-husband.
Kresha called the deaths of JJ, Tylee, Tammy, and Charles "senseless" but said she's immensely proud of how her surviving family members have dealt with and shouldered their trauma and grief.
With a long road ahead, as Chad's trial and Lori's other conspiracy cases in Arizona linger on the horizon, Kresha said it's her family's collective resilience that will help them all pull through.
"I always think about how different life is now," she said. "I try to go back to pre-Lori or pre-2019 when all this started and now I don't know what a normal life is.
"I've missed just scrolling through Pinterest, or watching regular RV [...] I was so ignorant four years ago, just walking through life popping bubbles and so closed off from the rest of the world.
"But I can't unsee it now or look away [...] that part of your life died too.
"You can never go back. It can never be the same. It will never be the same."
Kresha continued: "But I'm so proud of my family. They picked the wrong family because we are not quitters at all.
"I'm so proud of my mom, I really am. And my stepdad. He's a great guy. I feel so bad for them and us and everything we've lost.
"It's been horrific, it's been a nightmare. [But] this has stolen enough and it continues to be a thief.
"I can't wait to close - even if there is such a thing - this chapter once all this is over."
CULT MOM'S BIZARRE RAMBLINGS
Vallow appeared unmoved by the weight of testimony heard Monday morning.
Throughout the statements, she was seen turning and glancing away, muttering with her lawyers, and smirking.
She then took the opportunity to issue her own statement and bizarrely claim that nobody was murdered during the course of her rampage - which prosecutors said had been fueled by a lust for "money, sex, and power."
"Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me. I mourn with all of you who mourn my children and Tammy," Lori said.
"Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here. … No one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen. Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medications happen."
Vallow then oddly claimed to have died herself while giving birth to Tylee and has since had "access to heaven and the spirit world."
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"I have had many communications with people now living in heaven," she said, including Tylee and JJ.
"I know for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world. Because of my communication with my friend Tammy Daybell, I know she is also very happy and extremely busy.
"Tylee is free now from all the pains of her life. Tylee suffered horrible physical pain her whole life ... I am the only person on this earth who knows how much Tylee suffered. ... Her body did not work right.
"[JJ] is busy, he is engaged, he has jobs that he does there and he is happy where he is."
Vallow's callous and peculiar statement was preceded by a hopeful monologue from her defense attorney, John Thomas, who pleaded for the court to show mercy.
"Lori, if she could speak to each one of those people who have been hurt by this case […] her message would be one of love," he said.
"Lori's a very misunderstood person [...] she was a great mother to her kids. She has redeeming values."
Thomas asked the court to sentence Vallow Daybell to a 20-year fixed term with an indeterminate term of life.
"We believe that meets all the goals of sentencing with an added bonus of hope," he said.
"If you give her fixed life, you will have essentially thrown her away.
"If we give her hope [...] she has the incentive to be a model prisoner [...] and over time she changes her behavior."
"We ask the court to show mercy and look to the future," Thomas concluded.
TWISTED PLOT
Lori's sentencing brought an end to a surreal and tumultuous trial that included bizarre testimony about demon "zombies", an impending rapture, and religious extremism.
Vallow was found guilty of murdering JJ and Tylee and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell in May.
Despite her protestations of innocence, Lori Vallow declined to take the stand during the five-week blockbuster and her attorneys failed to mount any real defense to otherwise explain how the trio ended up dead.
The twisted Lori Vallow-Chad Daybell saga began in July 2019 when Lori's fourth husband, Charles Vallow, was shot dead by her brother, Alex Cox.
While Cox initially claimed self-defense, telling police Charles had attacked him with a baseball bat, investigators now believe Charles was murdered by Cox at the direction of Lori, who by this time was already having an affair with her soon-to-be fifth husband, Chad Daybell.
A string of strange happenings and sudden deaths would follow in the wake of Charles's.
On September 8, JJ's older half-sister Tylee Ryan would vanish after a family trip to Yellowstone National Park.
JJ's disappearance would follow two weeks later on September 22. He was last seen by friends of the family sleeping in the arms of his uncle Alex in Rexburg, Idaho.
When the friends asked to see the boy the next morning, Lori reportedly told them that JJ was "being a zombie" and that Cox had to take him away.
Then, by mid-October, Chad Daybell's wife of 30 years, Tammy Daybell, died suddenly in her sleep. Her death was first thought to be from natural causes but after exhuming her body investigators determined she had been asphyxiated.
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Within two weeks, Lori and Chad tied the knot in Hawaii - and there was no sign of JJ or Tylee.
Kay Woodcock reported JJ missing on November 26. Police soon discovered that Tylee was missing too.
As the search to find them continued, investigators grew increasingly suspicious of Tammy's death and decided to exhume her body that December.
Days later, Alex Cox was found dead at his home in Arizona. His death was deemed to be from natural causes, however, the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.
'IT P**SES ME OFF'
Months would pass without answers as to where JJ and Tylee were.
Then, on June 9, 2020, a horrific discovery would be made in the backyard of Daybell's home in Rexburg, Idaho.
JJ's body was found in a shallow grave wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape.
During the trial, jurors heard how the seven-year-old - who had autism - was suffocated to death by a plastic bag that was taped around his head.
Marks on the boy's fingers and neck implied that he had attempted to fight back during his last gasps of life, witness experts testified.
Tylee, meanwhile, had been dismembered and burned. Her remains were barely recognizable.
Parts of the 16-year-old were packed in a melted green bucket and disbursed at various different locations on Daybell's property. She's believed to have been dismembered with a pickaxe.
During Lori's trial, jurors were told that Vallow and Daybell were both members of a radical cult and believed in a "rating system of light and dark” to judge the purity of the spirits of the people around them.
Over time, the pair apparently became convinced that JJ, Tylee, and Tammy had all been possessed by dark spirits, and the only way to rid them of their "demons" was to kill them.
Hearing of the horrific circumstances in which her nephew's young life was brought to a tragic and abrupt end was soul-shattering for Kresha and her family.
She told The U.S. Sun in April: "It’s absolutely devastating to hear these things, especially when it’s my nephew, an innocent child who loved his mama and depended on her for his life and for his safety.
"Thank God he had Tylee and Tylee had him to cling onto. I’ve never doubted my nephew fought for his life.
"JJ fought to come into this world being 10 weeks premature and with drugs in his body and I can guarantee that he fought to stay in this world.
"It both p**ses me off and breaks my heart when I see and hear how JJ and his beautiful sister were snuffed out of this world."
Lori Vallow will never be released from prison.
Her husband Chad Daybell's trial is set to go ahead in June 2024.
