Lori Vallow Daybell plans to rest her case at Arizona trial without putting on witnesses, evidence

PHOENIX (AP) — Lori Vallow Daybell plans to rest her case at the Arizona trial where she is charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband.

The case’s prosecutor on Wednesday finished presenting the state’s case against Vallow Daybell, who will have to say for sure on Monday whether she intends to end her case without putting on any evidence or witnesses in her defense.

If she follows through on her plans, closing arguments will be held Monday.

Vallow Daybell, who isn’t an attorney but has still chosen to defend herself, has had difficulties lining up witnesses. Though she has gotten subpoenas served on a few witnesses, two other people were stricken from her witness list by a judge — and at least five others haven’t been located or served with subpoenas to testify.

Prosecutors say she conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, to kill Charles Vallow so she could collect money from his life insurance policy and marry her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author who wrote several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world.

Cox, who claimed he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Vallow, 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 has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, she would face a life sentence without the possibility of release until serving at least 25 years.

She has already been convicted in Idaho of killing her two youngest children and conspiring to murder a romantic rival, for which she was sentenced to life in prison.

Last week at the Arizona trial, Adam Cox, another brother of Vallow Daybell, testified on behalf of the prosecution, telling jurors that he believes his sister is behind the killing of Charles Vallow.

The trial over Vallow’s death will mark the first of two criminal trials in Arizona for Vallow Daybell. She’s scheduled to go on trial again in early June on a charge of conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece, Melani Pawlowski.

FILE - Larry Woodcock, from left, Kay Woodcock and Brandon Boudreaux attend the hearing for Lori Vallow Daybell on Friday, March 6, 2020, in Rexburg, Idaho. Daybell who is charged with felony child abandonment after her two children went missing nearly six months ago had her bond reduced to $1 million by an Idaho judge on Friday. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell's son Colby Ryan addresses the media during the hearing for Daybell on Friday, March 6, 2020, in Rexburg, Idaho. Daybell who is charged with felony child abandonment after her two children went missing nearly six months ago had her bond reduced to $1 million by an Idaho judge on Friday. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool, File)

FILE - Lori Vallow Daybell stands and listens as the jury's verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho on Friday, May 12, 2023. Vallow Daybell faces up to life in prison without parole when she is expected to be sentenced Monday, July 31, in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, 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)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)