Chad Daybell’s highly anticipated death penalty trial has officially begun. On Thursday, 57 potential jurors were chosen in a Boise, Idaho courtroom, making the way for “preemptory challenges” to commence next week, meaning we should see his jury finalized soon.

Chad, 55, and his second and current wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, 50, are known for preaching the “doomsday” beliefs of their extreme brand of Mormonism and have been accused of letting those beliefs, and their lust for sex and money, push them to commit multiple atrocious crimes. The end goal, allegedly, being that they could be together and cash in on life insurance payouts and social security payments from their victims.

Idaho prosecutors indicted Chad and Lori in May 2021 on multiple counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of two of Lori’s children – Tylee Ryan, 16, and JJ Vallow, 7 – and Chad’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. 

Chad and Lori became world famous in the fall of 2019, when Tylee and JJ were reported missing by JJ’s grandparents. Chad and Lori were found vacationing in Hawaii, having just gotten married on the beach there. They steadfastly refused to divulge the children’s whereabouts, only saying they were safe.  

Lori was eventually arrested in Hawaii and brought back to Idaho where she sat in jail, refusing to reveal where her children were. 

The children’s bodies were eventually found in a pet cemetery in Chad’s backyard. They had been declared missing while Chad and Lori were honeymooning at Kauai, Hawaii, where they had wed. This was after  Chad’s wife, Tammy, died under  suspicious circumstances and Lori’s former husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox, supposedly in self-defense. Prosecutors believe Alex, who mysteriously died of natural causes before facing any charges, may have carried out all of Lori and Chad’s killings.

In addition, Chad is facing two counts of insurance fraud after signing an application with Tammy to increase her life insurance to the maximum amount just a month before her death.  Chad married Lori in Hawaii just two weeks after Tammy’s death with a wedding ring purchased by Lori on Amazon using her late husband Charles’s account, just days before Tammy died. Chad has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

As of today, Chad’s fate is uncertain with the jury selection process still underway at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho. A local reporter following the case, Nate Eaton, posted that “the judge says enough jurors have been secured for preemptory challenges. That will happen at 10 a.m. Monday.”

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Chad. 

Lori’s fate, on the other hand, has already been sealed. She is currently serving three consecutive life sentences in Idaho for murdering the children and conspiring to murder Tammy. Though she’ll spend the rest of her life behind bars either way, Lori has another trial ahead of her in Arizona for two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in connection to the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux, who was in a nasty divorce with Lori’s niece, Melani Pawlowski, who at the time was active in Lori’s extreme religious circles, . Lori has already pleaded not guilty to both of those charges.

Although Chad – a doomsday author who was eventually excommunicated from the Latter Day Saints church for “apostasy” – faces similar charges, the biggest difference with his case is that he could face the death penalty if convicted, whereas prosecutors did not seek death for Lori. Jury selection this week was complicated by prosecutors looking for so-called “death qualified” jurors who do not oppose the death penalty.

Chad’s trial is expected to be lengthy and last as long as two months or more, according to NPR.  District Judge Steven Boyce, who also presided over Lori’s case, will oversee the case and plans to livestream the trial on his YouTube channel.