ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Amid the violence and overdoses Christian Benford encountered, and countless funerals he attended growing up near one of Baltimore’s toughest neighborhoods, the Buffalo Bills cornerback preferred focusing on two fond childhood memories upon signing what he called a life-changing contract.
The recollections involved dandelions and a Power Rangers watch.
Both sprung to mind Wednesday at a time the 24-year-old further cemented one lifelong dream of an NFL career — Benford’s four-year, $69 million contract extension secures his future in Buffalo through 2029. And he's eagerly looking ahead to achieving another with the upcoming release of a children’s book he wrote.
“What’s them little flowers you pick up and make a wish and blow on it?” Benford said, searching for the word dandelion. “Yeah. Like my sisters would say, ’Make a wish.' And I always wished to make it to the NFL and change my family.”
In three seasons, Benford has made the jump from relative obscurity as a sixth-round draft pick out of Villanova to establishing himself as Buffalo’s long-term starter. And he’s using his higher-profile platform with a 26-page book “Stylish Safari: The Adventures of Being You” due out this month.
The story revolves around the main character, Benny the Bobcat, overcoming being teased for how he’s dressed. Benny, of course, is short for Benford, with the player drawing inspiration from the day he confronted a bully teasing him over his Power Rangers watch.
“I always believed, be you. It’s OK to be different,” Benford said. “So after that happened, I felt good, like, I’m still rocking my Power Rangers watch. Can’t nobody tell me nothing.”
Benny’s tale is far more watered down than what Benford said he encountered as a child, with the bobcat completing a birthday challenge to deliver what Mynd Matters Publishing describes as “an inspiring message about self-expression and kindness.”
And yet, the “be true to yourself” message is ideally the same, and one Benford shares with his son.
“God made you the way you are for a reason. He gave you the name that you got for a reason. He gave you your attributes,” he said. “Be different and stand 10 toes about it. So that’s why I wanted to write that book.”
For a player who spent his first three seasons expressing hardly a peep to reporters, Benford has found his voice. And it comes as a result of validating his self-confidence and his determination to get out of Baltimore, and instilled by his beloved late mother, Christel, and father Jewell.
Through various challenges and setbacks, Benford refused to let up.
He shakes his head at the memory of growing up with his siblings and cousins and scrounging through couch cushions to gather enough change to buy a bag of chips to share for dinner.
There’s the tattoo of a half-empty heart on his right cheek in honor of his mother, who died four years ago, someone who relentlessly pushed Benford to pursue an education through football for a better future.
In Buffalo, Benford established his quiet, determined presence during his 2022 rookie year with five starts in nine games before landing on injured reserve. A year later, Benford won the starting job coming out of training camp ahead of 2022 first-round pick Kaiir Elam, who was traded to Houston last month.
Benford has five interceptions and 25 passes defended while starting 34 of 39 games. And the Bills placed such faith in a player to sign him to the extension with a year still left on his rookie contract.
“I’d probably tell younger me, all those tears at night, it’s going to pay off. All that heavy thought, all that worrying for the family, trying to handle everything,” he said, reflecting back.
“And everybody that didn’t believe in you, all the people that backdoored you, it’s all right, bro. ... just keep your head high. Smile,” Benford said. “And I’d probably give myself a hug.”
Dandelion wishes do come true. And no one is teasing Christian Benford now.
The book became a family affair, with his sister Jewel providing artwork and input — she came up with the name Benny. Benford also credited his father, an avid reader, for inspiring his desire to write.
“He’s got mad books, like he’ll forget the books he’s got,” Benford said, realizing his book will now adorn one of his father’s shelves. “It means a lot. I hope he’s proud.”
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FILE - Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford (47) rushes during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets in Orchard Park, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/ Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)
FILE - Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford (47) reacts after defending a play against New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard (10) during the first half of an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus, File)
PHOENIX (AP) — Lori Vallow Daybell, who was convicted of killing her two youngest children and conspiring to murder a romantic rival, is on trial again Monday. This time, she's accused in Arizona of conspiring to murder her estranged husband.
In opening statements the prosecution said that Vallow Daybell conspired with brother Alex Cox to kill Charles Vallow and cash in on a life insurance policy, while espousing the belief that he was possessed by an evil spirit.
The case has drawn significant public attention in part because Vallow Daybell, 51, has doomsday-focused religious beliefs. She isn’t a lawyer but has chosen to represent herself in the six-week trial.
Vallow Daybell has pleaded not guilty and said in her opening statement that Cox acted in self-defense, describing the death as a tragedy but not a crime.
Here’s what to know about the case.
“Lori Vallow is why Alex was able to shoot Charles,” prosecutor Treena Kay said. “Lori Vallow is why Charles is dead.”
A jury of 16 took their seats in a Phoenix courtroom, including four alternate jurors. Kay provided a detailed timeline and argued that phone records, witness testimony and forensic evidence will show that Cox’s shooting of Vallow was “not self-defense.”
The prosecution also said Monday that Vallow Daybell conspired in the killing so that she could move forward with marrying her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author who wrote several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world.
“Lori Vallow wanted to be Lori Daybell, wife of Chad Daybell, and in July 2019 Lori Vallow wanted to keep the same lifestyle that she had with Charles. And she could get all of this if Charles was dead,” Kay said. “She could marry Chad Daybell and become Lori Daybell. She would get a million-dollar life insurance policy.”
Vallow Daybell’s voice broke in her opening statement as she detailed the physical altercation with a baseball bat between her daughter Tylee Ryan and Vallow.
“Self-defense is not a crime. Family tragedy is not a crime, it’s a tragedy,” Vallow Daybell said.
Jurors heard from witnesses including police officers who testified that, after the shooting, Vallow Daybell and Cox both displayed calm demeanors.
Vallow was fatally shot in July 2019. Vallow Daybell then moved to Idaho with two of her youngest children and married Daybell two weeks after the death of his wife, Tammy Daybell. The bodies of the children — 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee — were later found buried in rural Idaho on Chad Daybell’s property.
Vallow Daybell is already serving three life sentences in Idaho for the children’s deaths and for conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell. Chad Daybell was sentenced to death in the three killings.
Four months before he died, Charles Vallow filed for divorce from Vallow Daybell, saying she had become infatuated with near-death experiences and had claimed to have lived numerous lives on other planets.
He alleged she threatened to ruin him financially and kill him. He sought a voluntary mental health evaluation of his wife.
Police say Vallow was fatally shot by Cox at a home in a Phoenix suburb. Tylee, told police that she confronted Vallow with a baseball bat after she was awakened by yelling in the house.
Tylee said she was trying to defend her mother, but Vallow took away the bat, according to police records. Cox told police that he fired after Vallow refused to drop the bat and came after him.
Cox told investigators that Vallow Daybell and the children left the house shortly before the shooting.
Cox, who claimed he acted in self-defense and wasn’t arrested in Vallow’s death, died five months later from what medical examiners said was a blood clot in his lungs. Cox’s account was later called into question.
Vallow Daybell was a beautician by trade, a mother of three and a wife — five times over.
She married Vallow in 2006, and later adopted JJ, but by 2019 their marriage had soured. The two were estranged but still married when Cox fatally shot Vallow.
Public interest from around the world only grew as the investigation into the missing children took several unexpected turns, each new revelation seemingly stranger than the last.
Daybell, who was once a contestant on “Wheel of Fortune,” has been the subject of a Netflix documentary and Lifetime movie.
If convicted in Arizona of conspiring to kill Vallow, she would face a life sentence.
During the opening for the trial, Vallow Daybell wore civilian clothing. She won’t be handcuffed or shackled when jurors are in the courtroom. However, she has to wear a belt-like device under her clothes that will let a jail officer deliver an electric shock by remote control if there’s a disturbance.
The Idaho investigation began at the end of 2019 when Vallow Daybell's adopted son's grandmother, worried about his welfare, reached out to police. Vallow Daybell had been evasive when asked about her two youngest children.
Chad Daybell called 911 in October 2019 to report that his wife Tammy Daybell was battling an illness and died in her sleep. Her body was later exhumed, and an autopsy determined she died of asphyxiation.
Idaho police did a welfare check on the kids in November 2019 and discovered they were missing and hadn't been seen since early September. Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell left town a short time later, eventually turning up in Hawaii without the kids. She was arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 on a warrant out of Idaho.
Defense attorneys told jurors that she was a “kind and loving mother” who happened to be interested in religion and biblical prophesies.
A witness at the Idaho trial said Vallow Daybell believes evil spirits have taken over people in her life and turned them into “zombies.”
Testimony resumes Tuesday.
In late May, Vallow Daybell is scheduled to go on trial again in Arizona on a charge of conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux. She has pleaded not guilty.
This story has been updated to correct the attribution to a quote accusing the defendant of being the reason why Charles Vallow is dead. It was Treena Kay who was quoted, not Kay Woodcock.
FILE - A boy looks at a memorial for Tylee Ryan and Joshua "JJ" Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, on June 11, 2020. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, File)
FILE - Larry Woodcock speaks to media members at the Rexburg Standard Journal Newspaper in Rexburg, Idaho on Jan. 7, 2020, while holding a reward flyer for Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, File)
FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell talks with her lawyers before the jury's verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho on May 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, File)
