On Monday,Lori Vallow Daybellwas sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering her two children, 7-year-oldJoshua “J.J.” Vallowand 16-year-oldTylee Ryan, and conspiring to murder her fifth husband’s Chad Daybell’s first wifeTammy Daybell, 49.
The 50-year-old “cult mom” was convicted in Idaho May in aplotthat stemmed from the bizarre doomsday prophesies she and Chad believed, which held that Lori’s children were zombies and Lori was a “goddess.”
Prior to sentencing her, Judge Steven Boyce said a mental health evaluation showed that Lori suffered from"hyper religiosity" and “unspecified personality disorder with histrionic and narcissistic features.”
Tony Blakeslee/EastIdahoNews.com via AP, Pool
Boyce gave Lori the opportunity to make a statement in court. In an outlandish rant, Lori claimed that she spoke to her dead children and Tammy and had a near death experience, which allowed her to communicate with Jesus Christ and angels.
Here are five shocking moments from Lori’s statement.
J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan.
She Claimed Her Children Weren’t Murdered
“Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me,” she said to the crowded Idaho courtroom. “I mourn with all of you who mourn my children and Tammy. Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here. Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen. Suicides happen. Fatal side effects from medications happen.”
Tammy and Chad Daybell.
She Claimed She Died for ‘a Few Minutes’ During Childbirth — and Visited Heaven
Lori told the court she had a “different perspective in life” after she had a near death experience in 2002 while giving birth to Tylee.
“They put something in my IV and I felt my spirit falling to the floor,” she claimed. “I was standing near my pregnant body watching the doctors try to revive me, which took them a few minutes.”
She then said that while she was dead, her sisterStacey Lynn Cox Cope, who died suddenly in 1998 at the age of 31, came to her.
“I turned to hug her and was surprised that her spirit was as tangible as a physical body, because I knew I was in spirit and she was in spirit,” she said. “She said she needed to show me some things, and we went to heaven. I later returned to my body. Because of this experience I have access to heaven and the spirit world."
Lori Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell in Hawaii.Eric Grossarth/ EastIdahoNews.com
She Claimed She’s ‘Homesick’ for Heaven
After her near death experience, Lori told the court that she has the power to communicate with dead Relatives as well as Jesus Christ and angels.
Related:Lori Vallow Daybell: Everything to Know About the Idaho Mom Convicted of Killing Her 2 Kids
“Because of these communications, I know for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world,” she said. “Because of my communications with my friend Tammy Daybell I know she is also very happy and extremely busy.”
“I know that more than most people I know where they are now and what they are doing,” she added. “I know how wonderful heaven is, and I am homesick for it every single day.”
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She Claimed She Wanted to Stay in Heaven — But Jesus Had a Mission for Her on Earth
Lori said Jesus' plan for her caused her “a lot of distress because I knew heaven was my real home."
“I was free from pain, emotional and physical, and then I was shown how I would help my children and others in the future, so ultimately I did agree to go back to my body,” she continued.
Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow.
She Claimed the Victims Visited Her from Grave — and Son Said, ‘You Didn’t Do Anything Wrong’
In one of the more chilling moments, Lori declared that her children had visited her from the grave and told her they were “happy” and didn’t blame her for their deaths.
She went on to claim that Tylee came to her as a spirt after she died. “She commanded me and she said to me, ‘Stop worrying Mom. We are fine.' She knows how I worry.”
Tylee, she claimed, was “happy and very busy” in heaven and free from the physical pain she allegedly endured her entire life.
“I sat with her in the hospital year after year after year, after she screamed in pain when the morphine wasn’t even enough to take away from the pain of her pancreatitis," Lori claimed. “I sat there while she cried and I held back her hair when she threw up. I am the only person on this earth who knows how much Tylee suffered in her life. She had pain every single day.”
“I tried to protect her with my whole life,” she said. “I worried about her every single day. She never felt good. She felt sick. Nobody knows this because Tylee, like myself, tries to put on a good front. … I never stopped worrying about her.”
J.J., she said, told her after his death: “You didn’t do anything wrong, Mom. I love you and I know you loved me every minute of my life.”
Lori claimed J.J. was now an “adult spirit” and was very tall.
“He is busy,” she said in front of the packed courtroom that included other family members of the victims. “He is engaged. He has jobs he does there. He is happy where he is. His life was short, but J.J.’s life was meaningful.”
She described Tammy Daybell as her “eternal friend” who, after her murder, came from the spirit world to bring her “peace and comfort.”
“I know she is extremely busy helping her family, especially her children and grandchildren, and I have a great love for Tammy,” she said.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
