Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
IDAHO FALLS — Summer Shiflet was not surprised when her sister Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced to serve life in prison without parole Monday and believes justice was served for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.
Shiflet has not done any media interviews since her niece and nephew were found buried on Chad Daybell's property, in June 2020, and her sister was charged with killing them and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell.
Shiflet spoke on Zoom with EastIdahoNews.com from her Arizona home hours after Lori Daybell read a statement at her sentencing that said, in part, Jesus Christ "knows that no one was murdered in this case." A pre-sentence investigative report was referenced at the hearing that said Lori Daybell suffers delusional disorder with grandiose features.
"I have known she's been in this delusion for a while. It took me a long time to accept that and understand what was going on," Shiflet explained. "I had never seen anybody with a delusion disorder before. I didn't know how to process that or what it looked like (but) that's about typical of most conversations with her. It's about her faith and there's never any acknowledgment of what actually happened. You can't ever really get any answers, so it leads to frustrating situations."
Shiflet believes her sister started experiencing delusions in late 2017 or early 2018 but she "cherry-picked" different religious experiences to share with certain family members. During her statement Monday, Lori Daybell stated that while giving birth to Tylee, she died, chatted with deceased family members and spoke with Jesus Christ before her spirit returned to her body.
"She has never once told me that she had a near-death experience when she was giving birth to Tylee and left her body and saw my sister Stacey," Shiflet said. "That has never been talked about ever by her with us."
The life sentence was "bittersweet" for Shiflet and her family, but it's what they expected, she said. She did not attend her sister's sentencing but sent a victim impact statement to Judge Steven Boyce.
"I know from my own experience in writing to Lori and talking to Lori — she's not open to hearing what I'm saying. She is not responsive to the things I'm saying. I knew anything I said there would fall on deaf ears to her," Shiflet explains. "I wanted the judge to know how I felt for purposes in doing his sentencing."
During the hearing, Kay Woodcock spoke about her grandson JJ Vallow. Memories and thoughts of Tammy were shared by her sister, Samantha Gwilliam, and aunt, Vicki Hoban.
Shiflet says had she attended, she would have spoken about Tylee and read a statement. The statement is published on EastIdahoNews.com.
