Doomsday Plot: Idaho Jury Convicts Chad Daybell Of Killing Wife And Girlfriend's 2 Children

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho jury has convicted Chad Daybell of murder in the deaths of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children.

Thursday’s verdict marks the end of a years-long investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs.

Now the jury will be tasked with deciding if Daybell should be sentenced to death for the crimes. The penalty phase of the trial was to begin later Thursday.

Prosecutors charged Daybell and his newest wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, with multiple counts of murder, conspiracy and grand theft in connection with the deaths of Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, in September 2019.

Prosecutors also charged the couple in connection with the October 2019 death of Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell.

Prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty if Daybell was convicted.

Daybell’s defense attorney argued there was not enough evidence to tie Daybell to the killings, and suggested Vallow Daybell’s older brother, Alex Cox, was the culprit.

Vallow Daybell was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The verdict, reached after six hours of jury deliberations, capped a complex trial that spanned nearly two months.

The nearly two-month trial now enters the penalty phase, with prosecutors attempting to show that the crimes merit a death sentence because they were especially depraved, heinous or cruel or that they meet one of the other “aggravating factors” detailed in state law. Daybell’s defense, meanwhile, will try to provide the jury with mitigating circumstances that could show the panel a lighter sentence is more appropriate.

The case began in