PHOENIX — Lori Vallow Daybell is already serving five life sentences on Idaho convictions, but on Friday she was ordered to serve two additional life sentences after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder by two different juries earlier this year in Arizona.

Judge Justin Beresky ordered her to serve two terms of 25 years to life in prison and ordered them to be served consecutive to each other and to the Idaho life sentences, citing the number of people impacted by her actions.

“The amount of contemplation, calculation, planning, manipulation that went into these crimes is unparalleled in my career,” he said. “Your powers of manipulation are profoundly destructive.”

He told her she left a “wake of destruction, stretching from Louisiana, across Texas, Arizona, up to Idaho and back again,” victimizing many.

She was sentenced for conspiring to murder her husband, Charles Vallow, who was shot and killed in her Chandler, Arizona, home, and for conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, her niece’s husband, who was shot at in his car outside his home but was not hit.

Daybell represented herself in both of these cases.

Daybell said her victims are ‘happy and peaceful’

Lori Daybell decided to use her opportunity to address the judge by going on a diatribe against the justice system, claiming she was not allowed to submit documents, ask certain questions, present certain witnesses or tell her side of the story.

Beresky said those claims are simply not true. Daybell decided not to call witnesses or testify herself during her trials.

Daybell warned that God is building an army in the prison systems. “When Jesus is ready, he will call his warriors from the prison and we will walk free and we will serve him,” she said.

But the judge told Daybell she is misinterpreting scripture.

“It will take an act of God for you to go free. In short, you should never be released from prison,” he said.

Daybell also complained about living in the Maricopa County Jail and said being there for years is “inhumane.”

“Whether I’m given five life sentences or seven life sentences I will continue to try to uplift and help and strengthen those around me,” she added.

“I want everyone to know that I mourn with all of you, I am sorry for your pain. Losing those close to you is painful and I acknowledge all of the pain and I do empathize. I feel it, too. If I was accountable for these crimes, I would acknowledge it and I would let you know how sorry I was.”

Daybell said heaven is “a very busy and happy place,” and essentially said that is where the victims of her crimes are currently, though she claims she had no responsibility for any of their deaths.

“None of these people are seeking revenge or justice. … I assure you that they are busy, and happy and peaceful,” she said.

‘Lori, herself, is the family tragedy’

Colby Ryan, Lori Daybell’s older son, said he was told his stepfather died from a heart attack, but learned later that day that Vallow had been shot by Daybell’s brother. He said his life would never be the same, noting that in addition to his family members who were killed, his mother is also gone.

He said he had stopped talking to his stepfather after his mother reported Vallow was having an affair, which will be a “lifelong sorrow” now that he knows it was really his mother who was having an affair.

Ryan talked about the impact of Vallow’s death on his sister, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, who only had 60 days left after Vallow’s murder before she would face the same fate; and his brother, 7-year-old JJ Vallow, who would be murdered 74 days later.

“Each one of my family members was taken from us all in one swoop. My father was gone in an instant, and later my sister and brother disappeared until they were later found in Lori Vallow’s new husband’s backyard,” he said.

Ryan said it must be a sad life for his mother to smile her way through the pain she caused, saying she claims it is a “family tragedy” rather than admitting it is her own evil actions.

“I believe Lori Vallow (Daybell), herself, is the family tragedy,” he said.

Prosecutor Treena Kay cited times Daybell referred to her crimes as a “family tragedy,” but said tragedies don’t involve premeditation, intentional killing or working with an accomplice to commit murder.

“Her actions show her to be a cold-blooded murderer,” she said.

Kay said the way Daybell twisted religion as a justification is disturbing, saying her real motivations are the same as her other murders — money and sex.

“Although this defendant denies it, her text messages and her own actions show that these were her motives,” Kay said.

Charles Vallow’s family

Kay Woodcock, Vallow’s sister, said his family is finally receiving justice. She said Vallow was the backbone of their family and would make others feel safe.

“The very person who should have cherished him the most, his own wife, betrayed him in the cruelest, most calculated way imaginable,” Woodcock said.

She said it seems right that the children and Tammy Daybell received justice first; that is what Charles Vallow, as a southern gentleman, would have wanted.

Woodcock called Lori Daybell “ordinary” and said people only filled the courtroom because she was a “sideshow freak” or “carnival act.” She said people came to “gawk at the monster who thinks she’s divine” and to see justice crush her delusions.

“You call yourself a mother, a wife, a woman of God. You are none of these things. You are a liar, a fraud and a murderer,” Woodcock said. “May this sentence be as permanent as the graves you filled.”

Woodcock read a statement she had written from the perspective of JJ, her grandson, talking about how his world crumbled without his dad there to protect him. The statement talked about how his mother ripped his life apart by taking away Vallow, his dog, his school and his sister before taking his life.

She said it was exactly 13 years ago that JJ’s adoption was finalized and he moved to Hawaii with Lori and Charles Vallow.

“I hope you remember that — I trusted you,” Woodcock shouted at Daybell at the end of her statement.

Larry Woodcock, Kay Woodcock’s husband, repeatedly called Daybell a “murderess” during his comments, telling her she would live the rest of her life in a cell and he would not speak her name again.

“You murdered Charles, the best thing that was ever in your life, for your delusional, narcissistic ways. … You will never get anything out of me again in your life. You are nothing,” he said.

Todd Trahan, JJ’s biological father and Kay Woodcock’s son, said he trusted Daybell with “the only son I had,” because he couldn’t give his son the life he deserved.

“I’ve dealt with the torment of making that choice,” Trahan said.

But Trahan also said he was there to forgive Daybell, explaining that he knows what it is like to be in prison and he hopes she understands God can transform her.

Susan Vallow, Charles Vallow’s older sister, said it still hurts to reflect on when she was told her brother had died through a “vague text” from his sons. She said his death was a “deliberate act of evil.”

Brandon Boudreaux’s family

Boudreaux shared comments after the courtroom heard from his parents, wife and multiple siblings about how much fear entered their lives after a bullet narrowly missed his head. They spoke about always wondering if someone was coming after him and helping care for his children while he tried to keep them safe.

He was emotional in the courtroom as he heard his wife talking about his survivor’s guilt, and saying he would do anything for those he loves.

“To be hunted by people who were supposed to love and protect him, his own family, left scars that go far beyond physical danger,” his wife, Jenny Boudreaux, said.

Brandon Boudreaux said his greatest desire is that his children will see that he created a safe and sacred space in their family — he said the actions of Daybell threatened to take that from them.

“Lori Daybell, someone I considered family, conspired with others to shoot at me. An act that not only endangered my life, but it threatened to destroy the sacred family unit that I cherish for my children,” he said.

He said he chose to forgive Daybell so he can be a better father and husband, but he has not seen any remorse from her or others, and he asked the judge to protect his family.

Friday’s sentences come on top of the convictions and life sentences Daybell was given in 2023 after an Idaho jury convicted her of murder and conspiracy to murder in the deaths of her children, Tylee and JJ , and the death of her current husband’s former wife, Tammy Daybell.

Her husband, Chad Daybell, was given the death penalty for his role in the deaths of Tylee, JJ and his wife after a trial in 2024.

Friday’s sentencing hearing in Arizona can be seen in its entirety here: