Hidden True Crime - BEYOND THE VEIL: LORI VALLOW DAYBELL'S COUSIN MEGAN CONNER MAKES STATEMENT AFTER LORI'S SENTENCING

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

Megan Conner, Lori Vallow Daybell's cousin, took the day off of work to watch and process the sentencing. she shares her feelings and a statement she wrote after hearing her cousin testify in court. Our original Beyond the Veil season continues as a forensic psychologist and journalist (who are husband and wife) explore the inner workings of Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell's minds, as well as the hidden motivations driving a series of inexplicable murders in 2019. Host Lauren Matthias sat each day in court during Lori Vallow Daybell's trial in Boise, Idaho and is in Rexburg during the sentencing. You can get caught up by listeningto our full 'Beyond the Veil" season.as well as our numerous interviews like this one. LAUREN MATTHIAS worked as an anchor and reporter for ABC, NBC, and FOX News in Boise, Idaho Salt Lake City, Utah. She spent a decade reporting on a diverse range of topics from high profile crimes and criminals to Presidential visits. Most recently, she reported for Salt Lake City’s ABC affiliate News4Utah and in 2015 she received the Idaho State Broadcaster’s Association Best Reporter award and reported with News Nation throughout the trial. She is the producer and editor of the Hidden True Crime Podcast along with her husband Dr. John Matthias, a forensic psychologist. Contact them at [e-mail] WEBSITE: https://hiddentruecrime.com/ TO SUPPORT: https://www.patreon.com/hiddentruecrime https://paypal.me/hiddentruecrime https://cash.app/$hiddenTruecrime Our Sponsors:* Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/HIDDENTRUECRIME* Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/HIDDENTRUECRIME* Check out Armoire and use my code HIDDENTRUECRIME for a great deal: https://www.armoire.style* Check out Effecty and use my code HIDDENTRUECRIME for a great deal: https://www.effecty.com* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code HIDDENTRUECRIME for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/hidden-a-true-crime-podcast1836/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Service plan required for watch and tab. Additional terms apply. See Verizon.com for details. Hello, everyone. We're back again. Thank you to everyone that's staying with us today. You never know when we're going live and with who, and we've had continuous coverage here at the Lori Vallaudetabelle trial in Rexburg, Idaho.

We are here now with Megan Connor again, a friend of the program, someone who has been through a lot because the woman sentenced today, Lori Valo Debel, is her cousin. It's her family. Rex, who I interviewed after the sentencing, is your uncle. this was heavy and we heard Lori make a statement in court today, your cousin. You had a lot of heavy feelings after listening to this. You took the day off of work and you wrote something. She sent me, you sent me a statement you wrote and I said, well, do you want to read that?

Will you read that for us? And so we are here to hear from you, Megan, and whatever it is you want to say and whatever it is you're feeling post sentencing of your cousin. Today she received three consecutive life sentences and that's not all plus restitution plus 10 years plus more. Yeah, I mean, first of all, I'm so grateful for that verdict. I'm grateful that the sentences are consecutive and I'm grateful that it's without the possibility of parole because I think for me personally And I know for, I know Rex said this on his podcast too, that there's, there's a huge risk that she would reoffend if she was ever released. And I think that her statements today confirm that she is definitely still a believer in all of these crazy teachings, that she obviously is still, I like the way Judge Boyce put it, that she went down a rabbit hole and she's still there. So I think that had a lot to do with, with, the way that he sentenced her because she obviously has no remorse and is obviously still fully

in this, in this fantasy land. So I'm grateful for the verdicts. I'm glad that you're grateful. Has it been a relief? Has it been any sense of closure? Yeah, it's definitely a relief. It definitely is closure because I think throughout this entire process, I mean, as I said yesterday, when the children were found, that was incredibly difficult. And I felt a lot of grief for a long time that I had a process through. And once I was able to sort of work through that and talking with the mitigation specialist, I really explored a lot of feelings of compassion for Lori and for where she is and was and for the things that she may have suffered in her childhood that led her to this. But I do have to say that after hearing her statement today, any, any, I mean, I'm a compassionate person person by nature,

and I'm very much an empathic person. And I always want to make room for the feelings of others and for the experience of others. But I'm also a human being. And I think any modicum of compassion that I had for her definitely went out the door when I heard her speak today. That was the end of it. Yeah. Wow. Do you want to read your statement or how are you feeling about that? Yeah. I mean, if we can kind of read it at the end of when we're, when we're done talking with anything about everything. I kind of want to end. Perfect. I like that. Okay. Do you, what was it about her statement where all empathy went out, the window? Well, I think that she is, and I know you said on one of your lives that you don't think that she's delusional, and I'll leave it up to Dr. John to sort of make that distinction because I know it has a specific definition that may not actually fit here. But I think she's using this frame of mind to protect her from having to feel the emotions that one feels when you know that you're guilty of something.

and she's using this belief system as a justification for what happened. And I found it particularly troubling that she tried to obfuscate by saying accidents happen, you know, overdoses happen, things like that. I mean, just I can't remember the exact words. There's so much to unpack there. But by trying to make us think that it was anything other than what it was, which was murder, just, you know, that was infuriating to me. Yeah, I actually agree with you.

And you're right. You and I will both leave it up to Dr. John. We'll be asking him soon, everyone, very soon. He is aware that Lori gave a statement and he is listened and he'll be talking to us soon. But I agree with you. And one thing that they pointed out, I thought it was interesting that never stated a personality disorder, but they said a personality disorder with histrionic and narcissistic traits. and that would be someone that would want to disassociate.

Don't you agree? Like somebody that is so narcissistic that they can't be wrong, that they just want to imagine that they didn't do this. They don't want to be the person that we all know she is. So she's pretending a little bit. That's how I see it too. Right. And having some experience with Cluster B personality disorders in my life, I know that

some of the characteristics tend to be this black and white thinking and this inability to be flexible in your thinking and an inability to accept that there is, it's sort of like this, I'll use this dumb analogy of like, there's one right way to load the dishwasher. And everybody else who loads the dishwasher is just doing it wrong. There's no room for anybody else's way of doing things. And so for her to be, to combine this religious delusion with those personality traits, that make it impossible for her to see that there's any other way to live life or to accomplish her goals or whatever it is. So there's a lot to unpack and deal with in those personality disorders. But I think absolutely you're right that trying to admit, you can't admit that you're wrong

or accept responsibility for your actions. You lived with Lori. You knew her well. Was she sort of that black and white thinking? I didn't notice that so much, but I did notice an inability to take responsibility for your actions. She wanted things to be someone else's fault. There was always a reason why something went wrong and it did not ever land back with Lori. Like, oh, maybe I should have done something differently or said something differently. There was no introspection. There was no just no accountability for herself.

that that goes with the Lori we know. Were you aware of the story of her having a near-death experience when she was giving birth to Tiley? Is that a story you heard? No. No. Thank you for mentioning that because that was just wild to me. And I will make room for the possibility that she kept that story private and kept it to herself and didn't tell anybody about it. However, I will also point out that everything that we know about Lori is that if she,

had some kind of experience like that that gave her special access to the spiritual world, she would have been shouting that from the rooftops to make us all understand that there was a reason why she was special. And it kind of goes back to this whole Visions of Glory thing that we've talked about and we'll continue to talk about because for some reason, she, Chad Daybell, Julie Rowe, they all believed that having a near-death experience gave you special spiritual powers. spiritual gifts. And she mentioned that in her statement. She talked about how she sees things differently than everybody else because she has this special power and this access to the spiritual world. And I can't agree with Larry more than, you know, outside the steps afterwards

with his interview when he said, it's just a bucket of bullshit. There's just no other way to describe it. And I'm, and I was floored that she would bring that up now. at this time. You know, I just, she had never mentioned that to any of the family. I've never heard anybody talk about it before. And that was another one of the things that just really caused me to have a lot of anger because I just, I'm, I feel like she exploited that moment to bring up something that she obviously manufactured. I just don't think that's real. Yeah. It is an interesting thing to bring up now as we've discussed over the past three years of Chad, up near-death experiences as we've discussed this belief system and the near-death experience

experiences. One of my interviewers called it, you know, N-D-E porn, you know, just like everybody's talking about these. Everyone's got to have a near-death experience and to throw that in as the last thing to say was a really interesting moment. What did you think about when she said, she kept referring to Tammy Daybell as her friend? That was disgusting. That was just so disgusting to me. Um, me too. There's no universe in which that is, is the case. You know, it's just it's, and this is why I keep coming back to this word of delusion. It's like she's invented this world where everybody loves her and she can do no wrong, you know. And, you know, going back to the, to the, to the near death experience thing, it's, it's just wild to me that I, I don't know, I can't, I'm still

kind of trying to process and wrap my brain around everything that she said because it just I was baffled and confused and angry and just so many different emotions coming up for me during that whole thing and since then too just trying to work through all that so yeah I thought it was disgusting too when she said that I mean let's let's just talk about how she could be Tammy daybell's friend she's she just got a life sentence for killing or for conspiring to kill Tammy day bell she was with her husband of 30 years i went and visited the track at b yd idao where they would walk around holding hands while they were married where where their one their melany gib got one thing right she said what are you doing you know you know having this affair

um and then yeah to call her in these closing statements a friend just shows such a lack of remorse you know yeah it would be easy to say to lose I get it. It's almost like it's so unfathomable. We would say you're delusional, you know, you're delusional. But I agree with you. We'll see. Somebody asked when Dr. John is going to bring his analysis soon. I want you all to know we're dividing forces. I was actually supposed to fly home tonight to be with my family and I am now going to be here a little bit longer and John is holding down the fort and he knows that everyone wants to hear from him. And so we will do that as soon as we possibly can. I want you all to know. And I will ask too, by the way, if there are people out there who, you know, former avow members or people who listen to the podcasts or people who are involved in that community, if there is anybody who heard Lori talk about her near-death experience, I would love for them to come forward, even if it's anonymously, to just confirm

that for us. Because I would think that with, like you say, with Chad and Julie Roe and other people talking about their near-death experiences and the podcast that she had and the opportunity she had to maybe write a book or something, she would have taken that opportunity to share that with people because that in that community, near-death experience is like it gives you this extra added amount of credibility or power for whatever reason. And she would have wanted to take advantage of that. Correct. Just like Chad, you know, we've talked about him adding these near-death experiences to his life later as well. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for asking.

that. Yes, please do reach out. And tell me, how did you feel about the victim impact statements listening to those? I definitely, that definitely brought up some emotions for me. I was so grateful that they had opportunity to speak. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to hear summers because I think there would have been some good points and some good insight there, but I understand her wanting to keep it private. I thought Kay did an amazing job. She has always just been, I get emotional every single time I hear her and Larry speak

because I think of everything that they've been through, you know, on this super long and horrific journey. And I just think what incredible, strong, wonderful people they are. Just love them. I agree. They are incredibly strong. And they've been going, going, going, you know, just for days. I actually ran across K as I was coming in right before I interviewed the juror,

and she was jumping into car to go debrief with the prosecution. They just haven't had a break. They've been going and they've done an incredible job and have worked so hard for justice and being involved. Some people are mentioning, by the way, that they haven't heard Lori Valo-Daybell's statement. So I am clicking the link to it now. We have it on our channel and putting it in the chat right now. So there it is for those that want to. see her statement.

I did cut that very quickly after so that we could all hear it. And I listened to it again. I had to, you know. It was, wow. I haven't done that yet, but I'm sure I will because I, there are some things I probably still need to unpack and process about that. Yeah. I was so impressed with the victim impact statements.

Even Colby's, who was read by the prosecution. And Vicki Hoban, who again mentioned that she knew Tiley and how, Tyler's friends can't hardly move on. And I was so impressed with Samantha, William. She, you could, I thought, gosh, if, you know, Tammy must have been a good writer and because look at her sister being able to express herself so well and she was so powerful. She was amazing too. What else stood out to at the, at the, at the, at the,

sentencing? I was very confused and baffled by the defense attorney's statements. I started to sort of give him the benefit of the doubt at the beginning mentioning his qualifications because that was real similar to opening statements where, you know, I was sure he was going to say something like, you know, I just, I have to do my job and and all of that kind of. of stuff, but I was really baffled by the route he decided to take of talking about peace and love. I just, I had a really hard time with that. I was, I was thrown off too. It was not, and look, I am, I am not an anti-defense person by any means, and they've done a good job for their client, but it threw me off to. I agreed. It was, it was off to me for those reasons.

as you mentioned, even just quoting Martin Luther King, like it's like taking someone's quote out of context and then, right, peace of love. And one moment that really stuck out to me too is, and I mentioned this on my live after the trial, but Samantha William, her statement was so good, she ended by saying, after today, Lori, I'm going to, and it almost sounded like she was going to say forgive and she didn't. She goes, I'm going to forget you. Like, that's how she was going to heal by forgetting and then to have John Thomas a defense say guys in order to heal we can't forget Lori Valo I was like oh no the victims can do whatever they wanted to if that's how we need to heal by forgetting her you know um I don't know just that contradiction there yeah it was

it was hard for me to listen to with love and peace and and then saying that she's misunderstood oh that was yeah that was the worst part I want to go back real quick to that Martin Luther king quote though because he was very obviously talking about talking about love and hate in a very different, love and hate in a very different context. You know, he was talking about the hate that's been portrayed towards people of color for the entire history of this country. And he was saying to his own people that hate against our oppressors cannot drive out the hate that they have directed at us. Thank you.

This is a very, very different. situation. God bless you. Thank you. Taking it so out of context, just twisting his words of a great leader, of a great world leader, you know, who left a legacy for us and to twist his words, right, and talking about Lori Valadebel. That was, it was a little out of touch. Yeah. And to go, to go from that to saying, you know, that that Lori's misunderstood. And I think just what, I don't have a word for this yet. But I think that is the worst possible way to describe her and the best possible way to ensure that she continues

in her delusional state of thinking that she can do no wrong and that everybody loves her. I just, I had a real problem with using that word, misunderstood, to describe Lori. Because I don't think she's misunderstood. I think we understand her very well, because the best way to understand someone is by their actions, and we've seen her actions, and we know exactly what she's capable of.

So I don't think misunderstood is the proper word in any context when it comes to Lori. I think, if anything, Lori misunderstands everybody else in this world. Lori misunderstands us. Lori misunderstands human beings. Lori doesn't see anyone else for who they are except for being objects. She misunderstands what it means to be human. Yeah, her relationships with people are transactional. Yeah.

And she doesn't have the capacity for compassion and empathy. Yeah. Janine's in something else that she said he couldn't believe John Thomas, the defense attorney said that he had the nerve to say that Lori's motto is love is the key. Did you hear that? Because I did. She said, yeah. I did. And my thought at that time was that love means different things to different people, I guess.

you know, she defines love in a very different way than the rest of the world does. If that's, if that's her motto, if that really is what she lives by. Yeah. Judge Boyce, you know, I actually am learning to really, really appreciate how methodical judge voice is and how he is. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the internet, and then packaging and selling it. usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers,

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And then he brought up, though, that, that according to many people in her life, she has changed. And you, you used to live with her. And you've said some interesting things that there are parts of her that that have always been her but there but you know i don't know if you after hearing today i don't know if you would have lived with someone like this so i guess what i'm trying to i'm what i'm trying to get it is help us understand a little bit has she has she changed or did you do we just not really know who she was or what what's one financial lesson you learned the hard way i'll go first it's not too late to start saving today's episode is sponsored by acorns acorns Acorns is a financial wellness app that makes it easy to start saving and investing for your future.

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that she was a model prisoner or whatever. I just hope people understand that it is his, duty as a judge to first talk about the mitigating circumstances that may allow for leniency in sentencing. He has to do that. He has to go over all of those things and present all of that. Otherwise, there's opening for a mistrial, right, for judicial misconduct. So he has to go through those things before he talks about the negative circumstances that would require more strenuous sentencing. Before making the judgment, right. Right, exactly. And to say that Lori has changed, and I talk about this a little bit in my statement, you know,

I think there was an evolution for sure. I think she got to a point and the way that I sort of see it is she sort of, she started to realize that she could manipulate people to get what she wanted. And I think that she, her inability to accept responsibility for her own choices led her to start manipulating things in order to get what she wanted. And I think that it probably began earlier on than this, but I've talked about how she made everything about herself and about how she kicked me out of the apartment because of circumstances that she sort of invented and whatever. And, you know, and then we get to the custody battle and the divorce that she had with Joe Ryan. And we saw her invent circumstances and invent things against him to try and get the result that she wanted. And later,

the court exonerated Joe of wrongdoing. And so, you know, I think it's pretty obvious that she started manipulating and to get what she wanted. So it was this sort of gradual evolution of making things up and getting away with it. And, you know, causing other people, recruiting other people to her side and having people side with her. And there were many instances when she would say to the family members, don't talk to this person anymore because of X, Y, Z that they did wrong to me. And the family would just jump on board and say, okay, that's right. That person is now cut off from the family. Nobody will talk to them anymore. So I really do think that it was a gradual evolution that, you know, that she changed. But I think she specifically sought out people.

that she could surround herself with who would believe her, agree with her, and, you know, that she could control to get what she wanted. So yeah, there was a change, but I think it happened over a lot of years, not just, not just when she met Chad. To use the frog in boiling water scenario. The core of who she is is there. And then it gradually got worse as people, as she got away with things and, you know, as people allowed her to get away with things. Yeah. One of your wonderful gems commented on one of the live streams that the best way to love someone

is to hold them accountable. And I applaud that and agree with that 100%. And that's one of the things that, you know, Larry was talking about in his interview outside the courtroom was saying that, you know, you have to speak up and you have to say things when people are doing things wrong. And I agree 100%. you know, it is difficult to call people out on their dysfunction. It's difficult to tell your loved ones that they're doing something that's hurting you or someone else. But it's so important

to have those conversations and to dig into those uncomfortable moments because anything else is not reality. And not, and allowing people to get away with things and to not be held accountable for their behavior just continues to let the stone roll downhill until it has some of it. much momentum that it can't be stopped. And I think that's exactly what happened here. Do you feel like her family, your family, her family allowed that to not be held accountable for years and years? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I saw, I saw Lori do a lot of things that, you know, you have murder on one side and you have goodness on the other side and there were a lot of things in between that, that she did that people didn't hold her accountable for. And most of it was

you know, telling lies and just saying things that weren't true and maligning other people's character so that she could be seen as the better person and things like that. But, you know, Janice famously said she's not hurting anybody with these crazy beliefs. And, you know, here we are. It would have been worth a conversation to say, hey, notice that you've really started to, you know, you're going to the temple all the time and you really seem to be devoted to that above everything else. I'm really concerned with how much time you're spending there. And what are you running away from? What are you trying to, you know, protect yourself from or whatever the case is. You know, it's not always easy to know what to say in those circumstances, but just to have the

conversation start somewhere. What do you think about her starting her statement with scripture with John? That's very on brand, you know. And I will say that, you know, I agree where all of us are sinners, but, you know, I haven't murdered my children. So I'm going to go ahead and feel okay about casting a stone in her direction. Well said. Exactly. And then again, just the lack of remorse. I've talked to several jurors who are here. It's really neat to see jurors that have showed up. Again, I want to reiterate, like, Rexberg is not that close to Boise. They had to travel five hours to be here. These jurors. So they're dedicated and for many reasons they want to see this.

And, you know, and the jurors, I can't even remember what I was going to say. You said that it was on brand. Oh, the casting of the stone. So lack of remorse is what you started to talk. Lack of remorse. Thank you. Just that's what they saw in court too. They would look at her the whole time.

And one of the female jurors said just she had no remorse. And we see that now. she's still denying it. Yeah. And I'm glad Judge Boyce made a comment about her wanting to be excused from having to see the autopsy photos and for her not wanting to be in court. And he took her to task for that and said, all the rest of us had to watch it. All the rest of us are scarred by that.

The jurors are having to go through therapy because of what they saw. Nobody who is in that courtroom is ever going to forget those photos. And yet the person who caused this to happen didn't want. want to be reminded of it. And I thought that was despicable. And I'm so glad that he pointed that out to her. I'm so glad he did that too. That was so good. I agree. That was such a moment in court when that happened when she she held all of us up because she just didn't want to be in the courtroom to look at the autopsies, even though everybody else was having to look at them, her children. Yeah. And some sick twisted way, I think that she probably believed that that was,

a way to get people to have compassion for her because she was their mother and it was just too much for her, you know, but I just, I thought that was really, it was really horrible of her to ask to be excused that day. I was also very grateful that Judge Boyce brought up, you know, it's not just about her, I mean, the worst thing she did was, was take their lives, but it's not even just about that. Like he said, even if you knew they were dead, the entire world was looking for your children, aching to find your children and you don't even understand or seem to care or understand the heartache that other people have been going through you went to Hawaii yeah while we looked and while we uncovered their mutilated remains not we the law enforcement human beings other people

that they didn't belong to you know um that we had to adopt these children that she wouldn't even help us find I that that was profound to me too like yeah like yeah like yeah she was laying by the pool while everyone else was shedding tears over the missing children and giving hours and hours of volunteer time looking for them and going through the horror of discovering their remains. You know, it just was unbelievable to me. And I also got, I think the time that I got most emotional during the verdict was when Judge Boyce referred to blood money because I had just during the break between the two sessions had just written those same words in my statement. And it just resonated with me.

And it, I think it's just, it's horrific. Yeah. I like this. The judge brought out things a lot of us hadn't even thought of. He read her like a novel and not a day bell novel. You know,

because it was actually well written. Exactly. I shouldn't, I shouldn't say anything because I haven't. actually read the daybell books. I wanted, I wanted to retain brain cells, so I didn't. I have. Someone said, as a nurse, this is interesting. As a nurse, it is so, so common for people, especially those with personality disorders to report NDEs. Interesting. I didn't know that. That is interesting. Yeah. Yeah. What, what, you know, knowing, again, your cousin living with her, knowing her family,

staying with them. What do you think she's thinking right now? She's probably thinking about her appeal. She's probably, you know, wanting to game plan with her attorneys about how to get out of this, you know, and what to do next. She's probably unconcerned. She probably still believes that she's going to be rescued by angels at some point or that the world's going to end at some point and that she won't have to serve her time. So. Yeah. And, that Tammy's her friend who visits her dreams. Yes. Anything else you want to say when it comes to the sentencing? I don't know. I'm sure there will be other things that come up for me that I don't,

I mean, I don't necessarily need to, to share everything. But I know it's going to take me some time to revisit some of what was said and to connect dots in my brain and to unpack into process and everything like that. Yeah, it's just, it's still, it's still pretty fresh. Well, that was my next question, actually, is how are you doing today on this day off from work to how are you doing? I'm doing really well, actually. I, you know, I, I had a little bit of anticipatory anxiety last night, you know, just having trouble quieting my mind so I could go to sleep, but I wasn't worried about today like I was with the verdict. I was with the verdict, I was a little concerned about how that was going to go if she was going to get the guilty on all

of the charges and everything. And I knew that today was just a matter of assigning time. So my only anxiety was that she would serve concurrent sentences or that she would have, you know, the possibility for parole. So I slept pretty well. all things considered. And I, you know, I had a really nice morning and, you know, with my kids and my partner, Samuel. And then I was able to, you know, to watch sort of peacefully in my own little space. And I really appreciated that. I appreciated being able to take the time over the break to write my thoughts because that's always how I process the best is by writing things out. And I was grateful for your lives afterwards that helped me unpack.

process a little bit and I've had lots of people reach out to me and send their love and support and everything and I think, you know, tonight I'm just going to make a nice dinner and have a lovely dinner with my daughter and probably watch Gilmore Girls or something done like that so I can sort of turn my brain off for the first time in a long time. That sounds like a good plan. It means a lot to us that before you do that you'd come unpack here with us. Again, we're your friends here. We care about you. And some of one's even saying that during the sentencing, they were wondering how you were doing. So it means a lot to us that you just come and let us know and share what you're feeling and thinking during all of that.

Like I said, this community has been so wonderful and supportive. And I appreciated being able to jump on and send some comments during the sentencing as well. And it's just been, I couldn't have asked for better circumstances or better people to, you know, to share this hard time with. So I'm really grateful. Yes. Well, we would love if you're still willing to hear what you wrote today, your statement today. Sure. Yeah. Thank you. What does it mean to be a mother? Our first duty as a mother is to provide. Our next assignment is to teach and to guide, but our greatest responsibility and our highest calling as mothers is to protect our children. not from knee scrapes and name-calling, not from every disappointment and bump in the road, but from undue influence, from coercive control, from neglect, from abuse, and certainly from evil.

When we become mothers, our interests and desires, our hobbies and projects must necessarily take a second place to the needs of our children. The only time it's reasonable to put ourselves first is to care for our mental and physical health so that we can better care for the lives that have been placed in our hands. Lori was a beautiful child with a bubbly personality, a bright mind, and a quick wit. People were drawn to her beauty and personality, and she learned early in life that she could use these gifts to gain attention and influence over anyone who got sucked into the gravity of orbiting around her. Eventually, attention and influence turned to manipulation and control. The unmet emotional needs of her early life drove her to seek her narcissistic supply everywhere she could find it. Lori's own admission in 2004 that she was a ticking time bomb was one of the only

vulnerably truthful statements that she ever made. Lori made a conscious choice to seek out the most extreme teachings of her faith that supported her desires to continue the delusion that she was more important and more exalted than anyone else. She made a conscious choice to ally herself with others, like-minded zealots, who would agree with her warped interpretation of spirituality. She made a conscious choice to seek out a man who not only could be easily manipulated and controlled, but who would agree with Lori about herself and feed her delusion that she deserved to be treated like a goddess. Lorry made a conscious choice to fail to be a mother by every definition of the word. More than that, she made a conscious

choice to become the monster we all want to protect our children from. She chose undue influence. She chose coercive control. She chose neglect. She chose abuse. Lori chose evil. The way we treat others sends vibrations into the universe. The consequences of our actions for good or evil create ripples that never end. The enormity of evil that Lori sent out into the universe will cause ripples that will accumulate into an unstoppable tsunami, one that will crush her into absolute oblivion. Oblivion. It's the state of being forgotten. It's synonymous with extinction? What if hell is a place where each person must go back and experience all of the moments that they cause someone pain? What if in hell people can feel and fully experience every

negative emotion that they caused others to suffer? If this is the case, it would take a thousand lifetimes for Lori to experience all of the moments of excruciating heartache of everyone untouched by this unimaginable tragedy. It would take millions of years for her to relive the unending ripples of the souls living and dead who have suffered because of her selfishness. Lori threw away her life in the pursuit of a non-existent mission and an unreachable goal. In the process, she took the life of a mother away from the Daybell children, who will have to live the rest of their lives without her love, her support,

her kindness and her affection. She took the life of the honorable man, Charles Vallow, who was a stellar provider, a good husband, and a loving father to her only living son, Colby. She conspired to take the life of Tiley's father and maligned his whole existence and his entire reputation even after a court of law found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Joe Ryan.

Nothing in Lori's life, however, is more damage. than her failures as a mother. She abandoned her oldest son and irreparably scarred his life with the heinous atrocities that were the murders of Tiley and JJ. She used their lives as a means to portray a public image of a doting mother,

obscuring everyone around her to the truth of her evil heart. When she was finished using them, she discarded them like garbage, squeezing out their last value to her in exchange for a pittance of blood money. Now that justice has been served for Tammy,

Tyley, and JJ, my hope is that justice will continue to win over mercy. Justice for Charles, justice for Brandon, and justice for the victims to be served on Chad. I also have a childlike wish.

I wish that as the trials and the coverage continue, that they will do so without alerting Lori. I wish there to be no microphones or cameras in the courtrooms. I wish for there to be no reporters watching her walk in and out of court each morning and travel back to jail each night. Every sound bite, documentary, newspaper article, book, internet forum, and TV broadcast that reaches the jail cells where she will live out her miserable days, continues to supply her sick and demonic greed for attention. My greatest wish is for Lori to walk through the rest of the trials of her life utterly and completely alone. The next time she walks into a courtroom, I wish it would be empty.

I wish that there would be nobody there but her and the servants of justice. Lori, you did not care about your victims, and now nobody cares about you. Thank you, Megan. Thank you. Your old or broken phone can let you down. But at Verizon, trade in any old phone from our top brands and get iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence, with a new line on my plan. And iPad and Apple Watch Series 10. After all, you don't want your old phone to die on you when you're lost.

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