An Idaho mother in a doomsday cult has been found guilty of murdering her two children and her husband's former wife, in a case that shocked the US.

Lori Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, were charged with murder, conspiracy and grand theft in the killings.

The 49-year-old beautician now faces up to life in prison.

The bodies of Joshua "JJ" Vallow, seven, and Tylee Ryan, 16, were found buried at Mr Daybell's home in 2020.

Vallow, flanked by her lawyers, sat impassively as the jury returned its verdict, finding her guilty on all six counts of murder, conspiracy and grand theft.

Tearful relatives inside court sat arm-in-arm as the judge closed the nearly five-week trial.

Prosecutors produced 60 witnesses over the course of the trial and detailed at times gruesome evidence of how the children were killed and their remains discovered.

Vallow's defence lawyers did not produce witnesses and she did not testify in her own defence.

Chad Daybell's trial is still months away.

Mr Daybell is an author who has written several apocalyptic novels loosely based on Mormon religious teachings.

The couple are thought to have met through their involvement in a movement that promoted preparing for the end of the world.

Vallow's attorney, Jim Archibald, argued that she was a loving mother who had fallen for a "weird" religious cult leader and that there was no evidence tying her to the killings.

But prosecutors said Vallow had joined Mr Daybell to set in motion a chain of disturbing events that led to the deaths of JJ, Tylee and Mr Daybell's late wife, Tammy.

"Remember, the defendant will remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wants, and she wanted Chad Daybell," Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake said during the trial.

"The defendant used money, power and sex to get what she wanted."

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by Chelsea Bailey & Holly Honderich | BBC News, Washington

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