Who's who in Lori Vallow Daybell's trial in Arizona?

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Who's who in Lori Vallow Daybell's trial in Arizona?

2025-04-07 23:20 Last Updated At：23:32

PHOENIX (AP) — It's a complex case that led investigators from Arizona to Idaho and Hawaii to unravel a twisted plot built on bizarre claims that the victims were possessed by evil spirits and that the defendant — Lori Vallow Daybell — was after money from a life insurance policy and chasing a marriage with a new lover.

Vallow Daybell is already serving three life sentences in Idaho for murdering her two youngest children and conspiring to kill her lover's wife. Now, she's on trial in Arizona — on charges that she conspired to kill her estranged husband in 2019. Prosecutors contend she had help from her brother and that doomsday prophecies peddled by her boyfriend and soon-to-be husband Chad Daybell played a role in the death of Charles Vallow.

Here’s a look at some of the people connected to the case.

Vallow Daybell, 51, a beautician by trade and mother of three, has been married five times.

She married her high school sweetheart when she was 19. It ended quickly, but she married again in her early 20s and had a son. With her third husband, Joseph Ryan, she had a daughter. That ended after a few years, and Ryan later died in his home of a suspected heart attack.

In the summer of 2019, her fourth husband — Charles — was shot to death by her brother. That's when she moved with her daughter, Tylee Ryan, and younger son, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, to southeastern Idaho, where she could be closer to Chad. That September, the children disappeared, and prosecutors said Chad and his wife at the time, Tammy Daybell, applied to increase Tammy’s life insurance benefit.

Tammy died the next month, and Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell got married two weeks later. Authorities grew suspicious about Tammy's death and had her body exhumed for an autopsy, which determined she died of asphyxiation. The children’s bodies were found in 2020, buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.

During her sentencing, Vallow Daybell said “accidental deaths happen.” She claimed the spirits of the three victims visited her regularly and were all happy in the “spirit world.”

Charles Vallow, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, entered the picture several months after Vallow Daybell and Joseph Ryan divorced. Vallow Daybell joined the faith — commonly known as the Mormon church — and the two married in 2006. They later adopted “JJ” Vallow.

The marriage soured by 2019. Charles filed for divorce, contending in court papers that Vallow Daybell believed herself to be a deity tasked with helping usher in the biblical apocalypse.

The two were estranged but still married when Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles outside his suburban Phoenix home. Cox told police the shooting was in self-defense and was never charged in the case. He died months later of a blood clot in his lungs.

Chad Daybell, 56, married Tammy Daybell in 1990. They had five kids and a home in rural southeastern Idaho. He also was a member of the Mormon church and loosely crafted his works of fiction on its teachings.

Prosecutors have said that Chad Daybell met Vallow Daybell at a conference in Utah in 2018. Chad insisted they had been married in several previous lives and that she was a “sexual goddess” who would help him save the world. The couple led a group of friends in trying to cast out evil spirits by praying and doing what they called “energy work," prosecutors said.

They believed a person could become a zombie in some cases, and the only way to banish a zombie was to kill the person, friends said. One friend told police she heard Vallow Daybell call the children zombies before they disappeared.

Idaho jurors convicted Chad in 2024 in the triple-murder plot. They deliberated just over a day before sentencing him to death.

Friends of Cox and Vallow Daybell testified in 2023 that the siblings were very close and that Cox believed he was put on Earth to serve as her protector.

During Vallow Daybell’s trial in Idaho, prosecutors presented witnesses and evidence that appeared to tie Cox to the deaths, including GPS data on his phone that was traced to where the children’s bodies were found.

Cox's wife, Zulema Pastenes, testified that her husband also believed people could be possessed and become zombies. She said Cox called himself the “fall guy” after learning that Tammy's body was being exhumed, but he didn't elaborate.

Kay Woodcock is Vallow's sister and JJ’s grandmother. She's on the prosecution’s witness list.

In 2019, she persuaded police in Idaho to check on JJ after her regular phone calls and visits with the boy stopped. A search for JJ and Tylee ensued, with police asking for the public's help and the Woodcock family creating a website where people could leave tips. A reward also was offered.

Charles Vallow adopted JJ as a baby because the boy's biological parents were unable to care for him.

In the Idaho proceedings, Woodcock told jurors that JJ was born with some disabilities and was diagnosed with autism. After Charles died, Woodcock feared Vallow Daybell no longer wanted the boy. She also worried that JJ may had witnessed his father’s death.

Asia shares jump after US stocks soared to historic gains when Trump paused most of his tariffs

2025-04-10 15:32 Last Updated At：15:41

TOKYO (AP) — World markets soared on Thursday, with Japan’s benchmark jumping more than 9%, as investors welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to put his sharp tariff hikes on hold for 90 days, though he excluded China from the reprieve.

In early trading, Germany’s DAX initially gained more than 8%. It was up 7.5% at 21,141.53 a bit later, while the CAC 40 in Paris gained 7.2% to 7,360.23. Britain's FTSE 100 surged 5.4% to 8,090.02.

However, U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices also declined. Chinese shares saw more moderate gains, given yet another jump in the tariffs each side is imposing on each others’ exports.

The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.2% lower.

Analysts had expected the global comeback given that U.S. stocks had one of their best days in history on Wednesday as investors registered their relief over Trump’s decision.

On Thursday, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 9.1% to finish at 34,609.00, zooming upward as soon as trading began.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 soared 4.5% to 7,709.60. South Korea’s Kospi gained 6.6% to 2,445.06. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 2.4% to 20,750.65. The Shanghai Composite rose 1.2% to 3,223.64.

Investors went “from fear to euphoria,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a commentary.

“It’s now a manageable risk, especially as global recession tail bets get unwound, and most of Asia’s exporters breathe a massive sigh of relief,” he said, referring to the tariffs on China, which Trump has kept.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 surged 9.5%, an amount that would count as a good year for the market. It had been sinking earlier in the day on worries that Trump’s trade war could drag the global economy into a recession. But then came the words investors worldwide had been waiting and wishing for.

“I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE,” Trump said, saying more than 75 countries are negotiating on trade and not retaliating against his latest increases in tariffs.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later told reporters that Trump was pausing his so-called ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on most of the country’s biggest trading partners, but maintaining his 10% tariff on nearly all global imports.

China was a huge exception, though, with Trump saying tariffs are going up to 125% against its products. The trade war is not over, and an escalating battle between the world’s two largest economies can create plenty of damage.

U.S. stocks are also still below where they were just a week ago, when Trump announced worldwide tariffs on what he called “Liberation Day.”

But on Wednesday, at least, the focus on Wall Street was on the positive. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot to a gain of 2,962 points, or 7.9%. The Nasdaq composite leaped 12.2%. The S&P 500 had its third-best day since 1940.

The relief came after doubts had crept in about whether Trump cared about the financial pain the U.S. stock market was taking because of his tariffs. The S&P 500, the index that sits at the center of many 401(k) accounts, came into the day nearly 19% below its record set less than two months ago.

That surprised many professional investors who had long thought that a president who used to crow about records for the Dow under his watch would pull back on policies if they sent markets reeling.

Wednesday’s rally pulled the S&P 500 index away from the edge of what’s called a “bear market.” That’s what professionals call it when a run-of-the-mill drop of 10% for U.S. stocks, which happens every year or so, graduates into a more vicious fall of 20%. The index is now down 11.2% from its record.

Wall Street also got a boost from a relatively smooth auction of U.S. Treasurys on Wednesday. Earlier jumps in Treasury yields had rattled the market, indicating increasing levels of stress. Trump said he had been watching the bond market “getting a little queasy.”

Higher yields on Treasurys put pressure on the stock market and push upward on rates for mortgages and other loans for U.S. households and businesses.

U.S. Treasury yields historically have dropped — not risen — during scary times for the market because the bonds are usually seen as some of the safest possible investments. This week’s sharp rise had brought the yield on the 10-year Treasury back to where it was in late February.

After approaching 4.50% in the morning, the 10-year yield pulled back to 4.34% following Trump’s pause and the Treasury’s auction. That’s still up from 4.26% late Tuesday and from just 4.01% at the end of last week.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 81 cents to $61.54 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 93 cents to $64.55 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 146.77 Japanese yen from 147.38 yen. The euro cost $1.0986, up from $1.0954.