The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
Prosecutors in Idaho say they will seek the death penalty against a man in the killing of his wife's two youngest children and the husband's previous wife in a convoluted case involving doomsday religious beliefs and another suspicious death in Arizona.
The prosecutors made the announcement in court filings on Thursday, saying that all three murders were especially heinous and cruel, that they were done for financial gain and that Chad Daybell exhibited such a propensity for killing that he is likely to be a continuing threat to society if he is allowed to live.
In Idaho, Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell are each charged with conspiracy, murder and grand theft in connection with the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan. The children were missing for several months, during which police said the couple lied about the children's whereabouts, before their bodies were found buried on Chad Daybell's property in rural Idaho.
They face similar charges in the death of Chad Daybell's previous wife, Tammy Daybell, who died just two weeks before Lori and Chad married.
Chad Daybell will face the death penalty in Idaho; prosecutors have not declared any intent to seek the death penalty for Lori Daybell.
And in Arizona, Lori Daybell is charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of her previous husband. Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Lori Daybell's brother, Alex Cox, who claimed it was self-defense. Cox later died of what police said was natural causes.
Chad Daybell has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and his attorney John Prior declined to comment on the matter. Lori Daybell has not yet entered a plea in the Idaho or Arizona cases, and was ordered to undergo treatment at a mental health facility in Idaho in hopes of making her competent to stand trial. Her attorney Mark Means didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the Idaho indictments, prosecutors said the Daybells promoted their apocalyptical religious beliefs in order to justify the killings.
A friend of Lori Daybell told investigators that the pair believed people could be taken over by dark spirits that turned them into "zombies" and that the only way to free that person's soul was by killing them. Chad Daybell also ran a publishing company and wrote books that were focused on the biblical "end times" and loosely based on the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Idaho law allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty if they can show certain "aggravating factors" for crimes like murder or conspiracy to commit murder.
The Fremont and Madison county prosecutors said that in addition to the killings being especially heinous and cruel, Chad Daybell showed utter disregard for human life and demonstrated a propensity for murder. They also said the killings were done for financial gain, likely because the pair collected the children's Social Security survivor benefits and Tammy Daybell's life insurance money.
Death penalty cases are infrequent but not rare in Idaho. There are currently seven men and one woman on Idaho's death row.
This story has been updated to correct that prosecutors are only seeking the death penalty for Chad Daybell.
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
The Israel-Hamas war has led to a spike in 'violent rhetoric' from 'extremist actors' that could prompt some in Canada to turn to violence, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and went down with the ship as the captain in 'Titanic,' has died.
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
The Israeli army on Monday ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza's southern city of Rafah to start evacuating from the area, signalling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.