Lori Vallow, charged with killing her children, ruled mentally fit to stand trial

Lori Vallow, who is charged with murder in the deaths of her two children, was declared mentally fit to stand trial Monday nearly a year after she was committed to an Idaho mental health facility.

Vallow is set to be arraigned on April 19, Judge Steven Boyce wrote in a ruling. He wrote that Vallow is "restored to competency and fit to proceed."

Last May, Vallow was declared mentally unfit to stand trial for separate concealment of evidence charges she faces. The murder case against her was stayed.

Idaho does not allow for an “insanity defense,” but mandates that a defendant must be able to understand the charges they face.

Vallow was committed to the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare “for care and treatment at an appropriate facility," a June court order said. On Monday, Boyce ordered that she be transferred from the department of health and welfare and be remanded to the Fremont County Sheriff.

Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, were indicted last year on first-degree murder charges and other counts in the deaths of her two children, Tylee and Joshua, who were 16 and 7 respectively when they were last seen in September 2019.

The bodies of the children were found on Daybell's property in June 2020.

Multiple people close to Vallow have raised red flags about her bizarre doomsday beliefs and mental state.

Indictments said the couple “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, who he is accused of murdering.

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