Money-hungry, or spiritually misguided? Jury weighs fate of slain kids’ mom in triple murder trial

By REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho jury is weighing two theories in the strange triple murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell. Prosecutors say she a power-hungry manipulator who would kill her two youngest children for money, and defense attorneys describe her as a normally protective mother who fell under the romantic sway of a wannabe cult leader. In final arguments Thursday, prosecutors told jurors that Lori Vallow Daybell plotted the deaths because she wanted the victims’ money. The defense countered that there wasn’t enough evidence for a guilty verdict. Vallow Daybell and her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, are both charged in the deaths of the two children and Daybell’s former wife. Chad Daybell will be tried separately. Jury deliberations continue Friday.