Lori Vallow Daybell convicted in Arizona of conspiring to kill her estranged husband in 2019

PHOENIX (AP) — A woman whose doomsday religious beliefs led her to kill her two youngest children and engage in a plot to kill a romantic rival in Idaho was convicted Tuesday in Arizona for conspiring to murder her estranged husband.

Jurors found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty after deliberating for about three hours, and she faces another possible life sentence on top of the three she is already serving in Idaho. She will not be sentenced in Arizona until after she goes on trial in another alleged murder conspiracy.

Prosecutors said Vallow Daybell had help from her brother, Alex Cox, in the July 2019 shooting death of Charles Vallow at her home in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. They say she was motivated by an opportunity to cash in on Vallow's life insurance policy and a marriage to then-boyfriend Chad Daybell who wrote several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world.

Chad Daybell is also serving life sentences for the deaths of Vallow Daybell's children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and his wife, Tammy. Authorities in Idaho said the case included bizarre claims by Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell that the children were zombies and that Vallow Daybell was a goddess tasked with ushering in an apocalypse.

Vallow Daybell, who isn’t an attorney but chose to defend herself at trial in Arizona, sat mostly still as the verdict was read but glanced occasionally at jurors as they were asked to confirm they found her guilty on the single charge.

One of the jurors, Victoria Lewis, said outside the courthouse that Vallow Daybell didn't do herself any favors by choosing to represent herself.

“Many days she was just smiling and laughing and didn't seem to take anything very seriously,” Lewis told reporters.

Vallow Daybell told the jury that Vallow chased her with a bat inside her home, and her brother shot Vallow in self-defense as she left the house. She told jurors the death was a tragedy, not a crime.

Cox died five months later from what medical examiners said was a blood clot in his lungs.

Vallow's siblings, Kay Woodcock and Gerry Vallow, told reporters outside court that they are grateful for the jury's decision.

“We gotcha, and you're not the smartest person in the room," Woodcock said when asked if she has a message for Vallow Daybell. “Everybody's going to forget about you.”

The Associated Press left email messages seeking comment Tuesday from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, and the lawyers who served as legal advisers to Vallow Daybell during the trial.

Last week Adam Cox, another brother of Vallow Daybell, testified on behalf of the prosecution, telling jurors that he had no doubt that his siblings were behind Vallow’s death.

Adam Cox said the killing happened just before he and Vallow were planning an intervention to bring his sister back into the mainstream of their shared faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He testified that before Vallow’s death, his sister had told people her husband was no longer living and that a zombie was living inside his body.

Four months before he died, Vallow filed for divorce from Vallow Daybell, saying she had become infatuated with near-death experiences and had claimed to have lived numerous lives on other planets. He alleged she threatened to ruin him financially and kill him. He sought a voluntary mental health evaluation of his wife.

Vallow Daybell is scheduled to go on trial again in early June, accused in a plot to kill Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece. Boudreaux survived.

Yamat contributed from Las Vegas.

Colby Ryan arrives at Maricopa County Superior Court for the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, his mother, who's charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Lori Vallow Daybell's uncle Rex Conner stands outside of Maricopa County Courthouse as he attends the Arizona murder trial of Vallow Daybell, who's charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The assembled media are set up for live shots in front of Maricopa County Courthouse where the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, who is charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, is being held Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Maricopa County Superior Court building shown, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix, where the Arizona murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell who's charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, is being held. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Colby Ryan leaves Maricopa County Superior Court for the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, his mother, who is charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Colby Ryan leaves Maricopa County Superior Court for the murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, his mother, who is charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Lori Vallow Daybell's uncle Rex Conner leaves Maricopa County Courthouse after attending the murder trial of Vallow Daybell, who is charged with conspiring to murder her estranged husband, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, File)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)