April 11 (UPI) -- Lori Norene Vallow, the mother of two slain Idaho children, is competent to stand trial on murder charges and must be transferred from a mental facility to jail, a state judge ruled Monday.
In his one-page order, Judge Steven Boyce ruled that Vallow is "restored to competency and fit to proceed" with an arraignment on murder charges, which he set for April 19.
The order meant that Vallow -- who was indicted along with her husband Chad Daybell last year on first-degree murder charges -- is to be taken from an Idaho Department of Health and Welfare facility and put into the custody of the Fremont County, Idaho, sheriff to await trial.
Her murder trial was delayed in June when she was committed to a mental facility after a judge agreed she could not help in her own defense.
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Vallow and Daybell were indicted by an Idaho grand jury in the deaths of Joshua "J.J." Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17 -- Vallow's children by an earlier marriage and via adoption.
Daybell was also indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of his then-wife Tammy Daybell in 2019. Daybell, who was affiliated with a sect of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, is the author of more than a dozen apocalyptic-themed novels that have been called religiously extreme by former co-workers.
The Rexburg, Idaho, Police Department, FBI and Fremont County Sheriff's Office found the children's remains at Daybell's property in June 2020. They were reported missing in September 2019 by relatives who had not heard from them for months.
The children were last seen together in September at Yellowstone National Park, and J.J. was taken out of school later in the month by his mother, who said she wanted to home-school the child.
In a separate but related case, an Arizona grand jury indicted Lori Vallow last year for conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in 2019.
Police and prosecutors alleged Charles Vallow's death was part of a "master plan" hatched by Lori Vallow to wed Chad Daybell to fulfill a religious prophecy in which they believed they were destined to lead 144,000 people in preparing for the end of the world.
Chandler, Ariz., police stated in an affidavit that Charles Vallow had confronted his wife about her relationship with Chad Daybell and had threatened to expose it to Daybell's then-wife, Tammy Daybell.
