(NewsNation) — A cousin of Lori Vallow Daybell says that the convicted killer is employing the same manipulation tactics in her Arizona trial that she has used throughout her life.
“The tactics that she uses to try and get her way, to try and manipulate, to try and get what she wants, those are the same things that I personally have seen historically,” Megan Conner, Vallow Daybell’s cousin, said Monday on NewsNation’s “Banfield” after attending court proceedings.
“Her fake crying today, I believe it was fake, and her basically trying to endear herself to witnesses and to jurors by sort of making jokes, pretending to laugh along,” Conner said.
Lori Vallow Daybell, ‘Doomsday Mom,’ representing herself in trial
Vallow Daybell, 51, is currently representing herself in an Arizona trial in which she faces charges of conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who was fatally shot by her brother in July 2019. She is already serving three life sentences in Idaho for the deaths of her two youngest children and conspiracy to kill her fifth husband’s previous wife.
FILE – Lori Vallow Daybell stands and listens as the jury’s verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, May 12, 2023. The trial of Chad Daybell, the man charged with the deaths of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children, is set to begin in Idaho on Monday, April 1, 2024, serving as a second act in a bizarre case that has drawn worldwide attention and already resulted in a life sentence for the kids’ mother, Lori Vallow Daybell. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, File) 
FILE – Lori Vallow Daybell sits during her sentencing hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, Monday, July 31, 2023. Vallow Daybell, who was sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for the murders of her two youngest children and another woman, is now in an Arizona jail on charges related to another slaying, authorities said Thursday, Nov. 30. (Tony Blakeslee/EastIdahoNews.com via AP, Pool, File) 
Lori Vallow Daybell sits between her attorneys and looks at notes during her sentencing hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, Monday, July 31, 2023. (Tony Blakeslee/EastIdahoNews.com via AP, Pool) 
Lori Vallow Daybell talks with her lawyers before the jury’s verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho on Friday May 12, 2023. The Idaho jury convicted Daybell of murder in the deaths of her two youngest children and a romantic rival, a verdict that marks the end of a three-year investigation that included bizarre claims of zombie children, apocalyptic prophesies and illicit affairs. (AP Photo/Kyle Green) 
Lori Vallow Daybell sits between attorneys during her sentencing hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, Monday, July 31, 2023. Vallow Daybell has been sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival. The case has included bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and that she was a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse. (Tony Blakeslee/EastIdahoNews.com via AP, Pool) 
New mugshots of “Doomsday Mom” Lori Vallow were released by Madison County Sheriff’s office after she was found guilty of killing her two children and conspiring to kill her husband’s first wife. 
FILE – Lori Vallow Daybell sits in a police car after a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022. The sister of Tammy Daybell, who was killed in what prosecutors say was a doomsday-focused plot, told jurors Friday, April 28, 2023, that her sister’s funeral was held so quickly that some family members couldn’t attend. The testimony came in the triple murder trial of Vallow Daybell, who is accused along with Chad Daybell in Tammy’s death and the deaths of Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children. (Tony Blakeslee/East Idaho News via AP, Pool, File) 
FILE – A boy looks at a memorial for Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, on June 11, 2020. The sister of Tammy Daybell, who was killed in what prosecutors say was a doomsday-focused plot, told jurors Friday, April 28, 2023, that her sister’s funeral was held so quickly that some family members couldn’t attend. The testimony came in the triple murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, who is accused along with Chad Daybell in Tammy’s death and the deaths of Vallow Daybell’s two youngest children. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, File) 
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. Prosecutors have charged Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell, with multiple counts of conspiracy, murder and grand theft in connection with the deaths of Vallow Daybell’s two children: Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan. Both are also charged in connection with the death of Chad Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell. (Lisa C. Cheney via AP)
Conner, who hosts a podcast called “The Midlife Revolution,” attended the trial to seek closure about the circumstances surrounding Charles Vallow’s death. She said that while Vallow Daybell’s “histrionic style, her religious zealotry, her delusion” have evolved in recent years, her manipulative tactics remain consistent.
“She was really trying hard to get people on her side,” Conner said. “However, in a courtroom setting, she has rules, and she can’t use the same tactics that have worked for her before. And I think that’s really frustrating to her.”
Vallow Daybell had previously been found guilty of killing her two children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. She was also found guilty of conspiracy in the death of Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell’s former wife. She was given multiple life sentences.
Lori Vallow Daybell conspired with brother: Prosecutors
Prosecutors allege Vallow Daybell conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, to kill Charles Vallow and collect on a million-dollar life insurance policy while pursuing a relationship with Chad Daybell, an author who wrote about doomsday prophecies.
Cox, who claimed self-defense in the shooting, died five months later from what medical examiners determined was a blood clot in his lungs.
Conner explained that her perspective differs from that of other family members because she distanced herself from the Cox family years ago and is no longer a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I’ve also been through a great deal of therapy and healing, and so I have a hair trigger for manipulation and control. I recognize those tactics, like, right off the bat,” she said.
Lori Vallow Daybell says husband’s death was ‘tragedy but not a crime’
The case has garnered international attention, particularly due to Vallow Daybell’s doomsday-focused religious beliefs and the subsequent killings of her two children, whose bodies were found buried on Chad Daybell’s property in Idaho. Chad Daybell has been sentenced to death for the three Idaho killings.
In her opening statement for the Arizona trial, Vallow Daybell claimed Cox acted in self-defense, describing her husband’s death as “a tragedy but not a crime.”
Testimony in the six-week trial continues Tuesday. Vallow Daybell faces an additional trial in Arizona in late May on charges of conspiring to murder her niece’s ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.