Crime Weekly - S3 Ep284: Crime Weekly News: Lori Vallow's Bizarre Prison Interview

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

In her first televised interview since being convicted for the murders of her two children, Lori Vallow Daybell speaks from prison with Dateline's Keith Morrison. Despite her life sentence, Vallow maintains her innocence, claiming that she and her husband, Chad Daybell, will be exonerated based on divine visions she says were shown to her by Jesus. We're coming to CrimeCon Denver! Use our code CRIMEWEEKLY for 10% off your tickets! https://www.crimecon.com/CC25 Try our coffee!! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod

Bettering your business takes working with the best. With the James Hardy Alliance, you gain access to leads, training, networking, and support from the number one brand of siding in North America. Achieve new levels of success by joining the James Hardy Alliance today. Hey everyone, welcome back to Crime Weekly News. I'm Derek Levasseur. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And last week, we were talking about Casey Anthony and Adnan Syed, two of our favorite people. Interesting to see the comments on that one. People were on both sides of the aisle, but that's how it's expected to be when you're having a constructive conversation.

Well, listen, Lori Vallow didn't want to be showed up by Casey and Adnan. So she's back in the news as well after an interview with the esteemed Keith Morrison. What a great voice, by the way. What a great voice. Keith Morrison's great. And I was saying to Stephanie before we started recording, why do you think she's doing this now? And she hit the nail right on the way. What a great voice. And I was saying to Stephanie before we started recording,

why do you think she's doing this now? And she hit the nail right on the head. What'd you say, Stephanie? As you know, Lori has already been found guilty of murdering her two children. That's right. JJ and Tylee. And she's about to go on trial for the murder of, I believe it was her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. And so I think she's a bananas person. She absolutely has no touch with reality. But I think that she thinks still that she's so much smarter than everybody and she's so charismatic and pretty

that she's just gonna sit in front of a camera that's gonna go out to hundreds and thousands of people and she will convince them somehow that this is all just a misunderstanding. This is all just a misunderstanding. Yeah. To me, I saw, I didn't watch the whole thing, unfortunately, but I was seeing a lot of the clips, especially with Instagram and TikTok. And she just came off very condescending to me as she was using, oh, you think so, Keith? Oh, you're doing this, Keith? And he kept it, obviously, he's a professional, but I thought it was very off-putting. And if she went on to try to help her case, I think she did the exact opposite. I don't even believe that her lawyers allowed

her to do this. It seems like the most dumb move because she never looks good. She never ends up looking less insane. And the more she talks, the more you kind of get it, I guess, a perspective into her crazy brain. And you think to yourself like, oh, this person belongs behind bars for the rest of her life. Right. She's actually telling Keith Morrison, though, that she believes she's going to be exonerated in the rest of her life, right? She's actually telling Keith Morrison, though, that she believes she's going to be exonerated in the deaths of JJ and Tylee, right? She has been sentenced to multiple life sentences for their murders. She's obviously

appealing. But she told Keith Morrison she feels no remorse for what happened to her children. She feels great. And she's acting as her own attorney in the upcoming trial over the fatal shooting of her estranged husband, Charles Vallow. She is acting as her own attorney. And please, can we please televise this trial? Can we please? Because this is something I have to see. Yeah, I think at this point, she's delusional. She clearly is delusional.

We covered her for many hours, unfortunately, on Crime Weekly. You got to go check out that series if you haven't seen it. And she does believe in a lot of what she's saying. I truly believe that in my heart, that she has bought into this whole notion that she's above us, that she's working for a higher purpose. And that she knows things that we don't, right? Because that's what she told Keith Morrison. She's like, that's what I felt what she was doing. She's like, I've seen the future, Keith. Okay. Uh, me and Chad, we're not behind bars. Okay. We're, we're, we're out of prison. I've seen the future. Jesus showed me. And maybe after I get exonerated, I'm going to go on dancing with the stars. And then she told Keith, you can come. She's bananas. She's a banana nut sundae with extra

nuts. Do you think, I'm not trying to give her a defense, but do you think she's even mentally capable or competent enough to stand trial? I mean, I was really questioning that element of this case after watching the parts of the interview that I saw. I just felt like she was not there completely. Well, didn't a judge say she was? I guess so. And I guess a mental health professional also said she was.

Do you think it's an act? So let me go back to your first question. Do I think she's mentally sound? No, I definitely I definitely don't think this woman should be acting as her own attorney. But at this point, it's like, yes, please do. Please do act as your own attorney. Please continue behaving in the way that you behave so that there is not a shot, any jury in this United States of America could look at you, hear what you're saying, and think, there's a reasonable doubt here.

Okay, continue. I would say she's crazy. But apparently, as we've said, the judges and mental health professionals she has been talked to, she's been evaluated, and they say she's fine. So could it be an act? Yes, it could. But I don't think at this point it really matters if she's fallen into a deep, deep, deep pool of delusion. Because she did what she did. We know what she did. She's already been found guilty of murdering JJ and Tylee. I'm assuming she'll be found guilty of her part

in Charles Vallow's murder. And I believe she also had a part in the murder of Chad Daybell's wife, Tammy. So I think this woman belongs behind bars for the rest of her life. And I don't believe that any jury or any judge in the world would look at her and say, we can see how she didn't do this. Yeah, I mean, I think she's cooked. And even if she's not cooked on this one, she's cooked on the other one. So where's she going? I guess I want to change direction on this. And what do you feel about the decision to interview her, to give her a platform where she just basically spout nonsense the whole time? I know it's entertaining for people to watch, but what's your thoughts on it? Especially from someone who covers true crime every week. And I guess we could be accused of the same thing. So do I think that giving her a platform? So in most cases, I would say giving this person a platform is wrong because we don't need to hear from them. We don't need to muddy the waters. We don't need to have people think, oh, maybe, you know, maybe there's something

going on here that that makes her not guilty. Once again, I don't think that anybody who listens to her talk would find her to be legitimate or to find anything that she's saying to be valid. There is a huge amount of evidence in this case against Lori and against Chad that show pretty much exactly what happened, right? We've got timelines. We've got cell phone records, all sorts of things, text messages, the most cringy text messages that I've ever read. We know what happened here.

So at this point, I think giving her a platform is just continuing to show the world this person's not right. And they are a danger to everyone and anyone because of the fact that they have no clear connection to reality. Yeah, no, I'm with you. I think people want to hear it. And I think Keith did a great job from what I'd seen of him keeping it professional, trying to keep it as authentic as it should be as far as him being a serious journalist, interviewing this person full well knowing that they're just talking out of their ass and that they're responsible for the death of at least two children and maybe more people. So I think he did his part

and I do think there's stuff that can be taken from this interview. As a consumer of true crime, we're looking at it going, yeah, we're spot on about her. She's exactly who we think she is. She is a monster and she doesn't even realize who she is. In her mind, she thinks she's doing God's work. She thinks she's a higher being that has transcended all human conscience. And she's just above us laughing at us internally because we don't understand what's really going on around us. Either that or she realizes that she will soon go the way of Chris Watts, where she's behind bars and nobody's interested in her anymore. And so she's milking it for everything she can right now. She needs attention. We know this woman's been on Wheel

of Fortune. She was in beauty pageants. She loves attention more than anything else. And so either she's legitimately thinks that she's a warrior of Jesus and she's having visions and she thinks everything's going to be okay. Or she's just like, hey, you know, let me make the most of these last months I have before I'm behind bars, the doors are closed and everyone's on to the next. And she actually tried to blame Tylee for JJ's death, right? She claims she wasn't there when her kids were killed. When Keith Morrison asked Lori about whether she and her brother Alex Cox were at the location, she said, quote, what place was that? Do you have any idea? Well, I'm the only one that knows that. Do you know? You're pretending like you know, end quote. And then Keith is like, hey, I'm asking you a question. Did you watch your children die? And then she responded back, quote, that's a really sad question. I was not there, end quote. So she's saying to him, you don't even know what happened. You don't even know where they died. You're just assuming you know. You're pretending you know. I know. I know where they died. And

then she's like, I wasn't there. So she's absolutely lost. I don't know. There's no credit. She's never had any credibility. But if she had hopes that she would somehow garner some support here or somehow twist the narrative before she goes on trial for Charles Vallow's murder, she failed. She failed miserably. Yeah. I also don't think we needed a 90 minute interview. I guess I would love to know what the ratings were behind it. I'm sure they were good. I'm sure they were good. But to have her have this opportunity, 90 minutes from an Arizona prison, I just think it was just multiple parts that I saw where she's laughing and giggling. Winking, she's winking at the camera, you know.

I never would have thought if I didn't know the context of why she was being interviewed, that's what she was being interviewed for, like being responsible. She shows no remorse. She shows no sadness. She shows no like nothing.

There's no regret there. And Keith Morrison said it was unlike any interview he had ever done. He said trying to get her to make sense was a chore. And that's intentionally done, right? She's intentionally doing that. Keith Morrison said that Lori went into their interview with a strategy. She said she wanted to set the record straight because everything people have heard about her is a lie. That should have been your first indication that this interview is going to be a difficult one because obviously not everything that we've heard about her is a lie.

And like I said, Charles Vallow's trial is set to start later this month in March. And to your earlier question when you said, you know, do you think it's even right to give her a platform? Well, Keith Morrison said that he considered that and he said, quote, I felt a little twinge of call it guilt, if you will. Yeah, I can see it. Talking to somebody who was convicted of killing her own children, giving her airtime when airtime was precisely what she wanted. Boom. And he, by the way, Keith doesn't need airtime. He's very respected in the community. What's that saying? He could read a phone book and people would listen.

Keith doesn't need Lori Vallow. So I'm not suggesting that. And I'm glad that he felt that because that was a question I had where he doesn't need the views. He can get them. So I'm sure. He also knows his audience and his, this is what his audience wanted. And,

and if, if anyone was going to do it, I think Keith Morrison was the best person to do it. From what I saw, like I said earlier, he handled it very professionally, as professionally as he could handle it, knowing will be back, but I think it is going to be very interesting to see Lori represent herself in court against a murder charge. And she claims that she's looking forward to it. And Keith says, quote, she clearly has been doing some practicing with the sorts of questions you ask as a defense attorney, end quote. And this is probably where it comes in when these mental health professionals talk to her. And yeah, what she's saying is insane, but she's calculated as well. Like she's getting ready to sit down in front of a defense attorney

and answer questions in her own defense. She's capable of assisting in her own defense. Is she capable of being the only one in charge of her own defense. She's capable of assisting in her own defense. Is she capable of being the only one in charge of her own defense? I don't know. But at this point, I want her to go away forever. So I'm glad that she is because I think it's a bad decision. I don't think it's ever really worked for anybody to defend themselves. Didn't Ted Bundy do that too? I don't remember. Did he? I believe he did. Yes. Yes. Morrison said the doomsday mom's convictions remain strong. Lori claims Chad and their victims, Tammy, JJ, and Tylee, visit her cell along with Jesus.

And Lori told Keith that they all have a lovely time together. Jesus is a funny guy and a wonderful person that loves everybody and especially loves her. According to Lori, she's Jesus's favorite. She's his favorite. Not, you know, Tylee and JJ, the innocent victims, but Lori, she's his favorite. I can't take it. Yeah, no, Keith said something in an NBC interview that I saw where basically he knew that the interview was going to go off the rails because as she was being escorted from her cell to the camera, she was in handcuffs and she winked yeah she was looking at the camera even before the you know like before it was like going and he's like i should have known at that point

and then she did exactly what he assumed she would do which is try and shift blame off of her basically saying that people do not know her she she gave this quote she said i heard that and we all know what the media does and they exaggerate everything and they make stuff up and they twist things around. So, you know, she's basically saying, hey. Yeah, like they do for sure. Yeah, they definitely do. That is true. But you and I, Derek, we didn't listen to the media. We went to the police reports. We went to the body cam footage. We looked at the transcripts of their text messages. We looked at the timeline. We're not listening to the media and we are not the media footage. We looked at the transcripts of their text messages. We looked at the timeline.

We're not listening to the media and we are not the media. We're looking at the evidence presented in this case and we still know you are a shitty person, Lori. It's not the media making us think that. It's the facts. There was one good thing that Morrison said during the interview to see the part where he goes, you know, you are the most hated mom in America. It's like, all right, at least he's throwing a little bit out there. He knows what he's doing. He's throwing a couple little jabs in there. And that's kind of when she followed up with like, oh, they don't know who I am. And, you know, I don't know how this came to be today, but it's amazing to me that they don't really know me, but they're assuming all this stuff about me. No, Lori, we're assuming it based on the piles and piles of evidence that

incriminated you and Chad Daybell and your brother and basically prove that you did exactly what we think you did and you tried to cover it up. And to this day, you still take no accountability. So like, yes, the media does twist things. And yes, the media does rely on sensationalism and they kind of, you know, like mess with the narrative a little bit. But you, Lori, you have twisted things far beyond what the media is capable of. Okay. The media is looking at you and they're like, damn, we need to take some notes from Lori Vallow because this woman is able to twist things right into a pretzel and still continue and somehow keep track of her own lies and the twists and turns that she threw in there. So no, if anybody's twisting anything here, it's you, Lori. And I think we're all set. only what did you think of the interview? Did you take anything from it? I'm assuming you didn't, but I want to pose the same question to you that I posed to Stephanie.

We basically know who Lori is at this point. We know what she's going to do. We know she's not going to take accountability. We know that she's going to use this interview for her benefit. She's not doing it because she wants to tell the truth or she wants to clear her conscience. There's an agenda. There's a motive. She's representing herself. She's going to basically say she had nothing to do with it and that it was all her brother and Chad. So she's using Dateline as much as Dateline's using her.

But it didn't end up to be in her benefit. It did. Of course it didn't. It just confirmed everything we thought. But as you sit here after having an opportunity to watch the interview or watch the clips, do you feel big shows like Dateline and big personalities like Keith Morrison should be platforming her, should give her an opportunity to have the privilege to sit there with Keith and spew her bullshit? Is there anything informative that we take from it where you say,

I get it. This is why we're doing it. And I think we should continue to do it. Or do you think it incentivizes people like this to maybe go out there and commit a crime like this in the future by knowing they may get the opportunity to sit down with Keith Morrison and tell their sob story and see who believes them. I want to hear your thoughts on it. We want to hear what you guys think. Every opinion is welcomed. Any final words from you, Stephanie Harlow? No, basically, I really don't think this is like one of those cases like with Adnan Syed that we talked about last week on Crime Weekly News. It is really split.

And there is a lot of people who have given him the benefit of the doubt. But in this case, I don't know of anyone, not even Casey Anthony has a handful of weirdo supporters out there. But in this case, I don't know of anyone who's like Lori Vallow legit could possibly be innocent. There is not one single person. Remember, we were at CrimeCon last year when they announced that Chad was getting the death penalty and everyone cheered. It was like this collective uprise of voices for Tylee and JJ where it was like, yes, this man is getting some punishment

for what he did to these kids. Okay? And even Chad has the presence of mind to shut up and go away now. Which even further makes me believe

that Lori was always the driving force and she was always the one wearing the pants and she was always the one in control here. At the end of the day, I'm glad that we get to see more of her craziness. I hope that the trial is publicized.

And I would love to see her stumble around in her own defense and try winking at the judge. Yeah. And you know that Dateline came to her. So that's my question. Well, I guess Keith said she's been wanting to go on Dateline forever. Yeah, of course she did. She wants all of it. Yeah. So way down in the comments below, let us know what you think about this case. We're going to be back later this week with part two, the final part of our JC McGee case. This case is fascinating. We had the opportunity to talk to Madison after part one. We're going to give you all that. We'll see you for audio

on Friday and YouTube on Sunday. Everyone stay safe out there. We'll talk to you soon.