On Monday, Lori Vallow Daybell, 50, was sentenced to multiple life terms for killing her children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua Jaxon "JJ" Vallow, 7, and conspiring to kill another woman. The murderous mother addressed the court for the first time and denied that she had murdered her children, claiming their spirits have visited her from the afterlife and that they are happy.
Judge Steven Boyce sentenced Vallow Daybell to serve her sentences consecutively so she would be adequately punished for the heinous crimes she committed. NPR reported that in her moment to speak she didn't confess but told the courtroom that Jesus knows the truth.
More from CafeMom: 15 Times People Swore They Were Communicating With the Dead
Boyce did not mince words when it came to his thoughts about Vallow Daybell’s actions.
The judge condemned Vallow Daybell for honeymooning with Chad Daybell while her children were lying in makeshift graves in Idaho after being subjected to nothing less than torture. The children were "burned, mutilated and dismembered, and buried like animals," Boyce told the courtroom.
According to the judge, Vallow Daybell never showed remorse during the trial.
NPR reported Boyce said that he would never forget the images of Vallow Daybell's children's bodies, and he recalled the horrified looks on the jurors' faces as details of the killings emerged. He added that he didn't feel Vallow Daybell ever showed any signs of remorse.
The disgraced mother reportedly fell deep into a religious cult.
Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell, reportedly belonged to the Church of the Firstborn, a cult consumed with "end times." At one point, they served as prominent figures who used their powers to rate others' dark energy, according to her friend Melanie Gibb, who testified during the trial. Vallow Daybell believed that Tylee and JJ were zombies and needed to die, the East Idaho News reported during the trial.
Vallow Daybell addressed the court with bizarre claims about Jesus.
Vallow Daybell spoke for eight and a half minutes about her life and relationship with Jesus and claimed she did not murder her children, according to NPR. She added they had visited her and were happy with the afterlife.
"Jesus knows me, and Jesus understands me," Vallow Daybell said. "Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case."
She spoke of her victims and claimed they are content "I know for a fact that my children are happy and busy in the spirit world," Vallow Daybell said, per NPR. She added that "friend" Tammy Daybell is "also very happy and extremely busy."
More from CafeMom: PA Parents Dead After Daughter Convinced Them To Follow Through on Murder-Suicide Pact
The defense team attempted to argue that Vallow Daybell was misunderstood and not a calculated murderer.
That defense, however, fell flat. One of Vallow Daybell's attorneys, Bonneville County Public Defender John Thomas, said his client is misunderstood and truly lived her life "about love," NPR reported. He hoped that Boyce would use the sentencing to give Vallow Daybell a sense of hope and to encourage her to be a model inmate.
The convicted killer will never see the outside of a prison again, as Boyce did not give Vallow Daybell an option for parole, NPR reported.
