Lori Vallow Found Unfit to Stand Trial Days After She's Indicted on Murder Charges

Lori Vallow has been declared mentally unfit to stand trial for concealment of evidence charges she faces in addition to the charges of murdering two of her children filed earlier this week. A psychological assessment conducted in March has determined Vallow is incompetent to stand trial on her initial charges, according to court records obtained Thursday by East Idaho News.

A psychologist performed the assessment, which "determined that at this time, the defendant is not competent to proceed, and recommends restorative treatment," Judge Steven Boyce wrote in the court order. Vallow will be recommended to undergo treatment, but it is not clear what that treatment entails and where it will be administered.

Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, were indicted Tuesday on first-degree murder charges in addition to other counts in the deaths of her two children, 16-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old Joshua, who were last seen in September 2019. In June 2020, Vallow was charged with two concealment of evidence counts after the bodies of the children were found on Daybell's property. While the ruling that Vallow is unfit to stand trial only stands in the concealment charges, it could influence the murder case against her.

Indictments released Tuesday said Vallow and Daybell "did endorse and espouse religious beliefs for the purpose of encouraging and/or justifying the homicides" of Tylee, Joshua and Daybell's wife Tammy Daybell, whom he is accused of killing, according to NBC News. Prosecutors allege Daybell and V allow exchanged texts that they thought Tammy was "possessed by a spirit named Viola" and "in limbo" before she was killed.

The investigation into this case revealed Vallow's ex-husband, Charles Vallow, also claimed in divorce documents that she believed she was a reincarnated god sent to lead people in the second coming of Christ, which she proclaimed was to occur in July 2020, telling her husband at the time that she would kill him if he got in her way. Charles was shot and killed by Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, in 2019, and Cox died later that year.

After Vallow was ruled unfit to stand trial in her initial charges, Boyce noted prosecutors are contesting the findings of the psychological exam, which will result in a hearing scheduled for a later date. Daybell is next scheduled to appear in court on June 9 to enter a plea on the new murder charges, but Vallow's next court date has yet to be scheduled.