So-called "cult mom" Lori Vallow, who is standing trial for the murders of her two children and her husband's first wife, became emotional Tuesday as her sole surviving son took the witness stand.
Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, are accused of killing Vallow's 17-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan; her 7-year-old son, J.J. Vallow; and Chad Daybell's first wife, Tammy Daybell, between September and October of 2019. She is also accused of stealing her children's Social Security benefits while they were considered missing.
The defendant apparently wiped her eyes with a tissue as her firstborn son, Colby Ryan, testified on cross-examination Tuesday afternoon in an Ada County courtroom, according to East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton.
When asked if he loved his mother, Ryan said he did, but when asked if she loved him, Ryan reportedly said, "I don't know," Eaton reported.
LORI VALLOW TRIAL: INSIDE CONTENTIOUS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ‘CULT MOM’ AND HER DECEASED HUSBAND
This courtroom sketch, from left, depicts Madison County prosecutor Rob Wood, Lori Vallow Daybell and defense attorney Jim Archibald during opening statements of Vallow Daybell's murder trial in Boise, Idaho, Monday, April 10, 2023. (Lisa C. Cheney via AP)
He also said the church and his mother taught him that God is good, at which point Vallow wiped her eyes, according to Eaton.
LORI VALLOW TRIAL: ‘CULT MOM’ PHONE CALL WITH BEST FRIEND REVEALED IN COURT
The prosecution later played a phone call between Ryan and Vallow when she was in jail. During the call, Ryan confronts his mother and asks if she thinks she can hide from him. She responds by saying she is not hiding and Ryan just did not want to talk to her.
"Probably because you murdered my siblings," Ryan says in the recording. Judge Steven Boyce interrupted the recording at that moment and asked for a sidebar with attorneys, according to Eaton.
In September 2019, Tylee and J.J. went missing from Idaho for months. Tammy Daybell died of asphyxiation in November 2019, though her death was initially labeled as natural. Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, died later that year of an apparent blood clot in December 2019.
Charles Vallow died in July 2019. Two months later, in September 2019, Tylee and J.J. went missing for months. Tammy Daybell died of asphyxiation in November 2019. Cox died later that year of an apparent blood clot in December 2019. (KASZ/ Facebook/ Post Register/ John Roark, AP POOL)
Lori Vallow purchased wedding rings while her children were still missing and Chad and Tammy were still married. J.J. and Tylee were gone for months when police say the couple lied about the children's whereabouts and then escaped to Hawaii, where they got married in November 2019.
LORI VALLOW, CHAD DAYBELL 'DOOMSDAY' MURDERS: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Authorities eventually found J.J. and Tylee's bodies buried on Daybell's property in rural Idaho in June 2020.
Lori Vallow is accused of killing her two children, J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan; her husband's ex-wife, Tammy Daybell; and her ex-husband, Charles Vallow. (Ada County Sheriff)
Vallow and Daybell allegedly collected Tylee's and J.J.'s Social Security benefits between Oct. 1, 2019, and Jan. 22, 2020, after their murder. Authorities arrested Vallow in February 2020 and Daybell in June 2020.
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Prosecutors said in their opening statements Monday that Vallow was motivated by "money, power and sex" to kill her children and Daybell's first wife nearly four years ago.
Ryan testified Tuesday that his mother frequently told him that they had no money. When he was a teenager, Ryan said, his mother talked to him about her life insurance. He said he was listed as the only beneficiary even though Tylee and J.J. were still alive at the time, Eaton reported.
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