guys are going kindergarten gets out at 12, third grade gets out at 105, fifth grade gets out at 305. and so you're like. i thought that would be great. it's not great. yeah. and so i think that's the i mean, when i was growing up i took muni to school. wow. my parents are like so first day of school routine for us was. so let's take this bus and then you're going to transfer to this bus. yeah. and so i did that, and then i think in suburbs it gets a little easier. yeah it does. i got to leave it there, though. sorry, claudine. i don't mean to interrupt your your story, but we are out of time, fks. th i'm ana garcia right now on true crime news. she's on trial for the murder of her fourth husband, the same woman already convicted of killing two of her own children and another husband's ex-wife. the strange case of lori vallow, the

so-called doomsday mom, as she represents herself in court. >> i have real trial experience. i have participated in three different full trials from beginning to end. >> the bizarre claim she made on a podcast to one of her victims suns. >> you're telling me that tylee took jj's life and then took her own life on accident? >> then 15 year old megan nichols disappears. >> she gave me a hug and told me she loved me, and that's the last time i seen her. >> the investigation uncovers suspicious clues. the note she left for her mother, surveillance video from an atm, and a love triangle that lead to a shocking arrest. thanks for joining us. it is one of the most bizarre true crime cases in recent years, one involving a religious cult, sex, and a string of murders. and now there are new developments in the twisted tale of lori vallow daybell, otherwise known as

doomsday mom. >> can you just tell me a little bit why you want to represent yourself? >> she's been convicted in idaho on murder and conspiracy charges in three deaths, including two of her own children. now, lori vallow daybell is back in court, this time in arizona, where she shockingly now faces yet another set of murder and conspiracy charges and wants to act as her own attorney. yes. >> your honor, for the past five years that i've been incarcerated, i have taken it upon myself to study case law and criminal rules of procedure in the state of idaho and arizona, as well as federally. >> vallow has rejected her court appointed attorneys even after the judge pointed out the risks, given that her high school degree might not be enough to handle such a serious criminal case. >> each have at a minimum, if not more, 14 years of higher education, as well as probably, i'm guessing, between the two of

them, 30 to 40 years in trial experience. do you understand that? >> yes, it's a saga as strange as any we've covered on true crime news. while married to husband number four, lori vallow fell for a guy named chad daybell, an apocalyptic evangelist who predicted the end of the world was coming on july 22nd of 2020. instead, within months, several of lori and chad's relatives started dying. justin lum of our phoenix affiliate, ksaz fox ten, has been covering the bizarre story of the killing spree from the beginning. >> she's accused of her alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of her former husband, charles vallow, and the failed murder attempt on brandon boudreaux, her niece's ex-husband. >> charles vallow, lori's fourth husband, was the first victim. weeks later, two of her kids disappeared. 16 year old daughter tylee ryan and seven year old adopted son jj vallow.

tammy daybell, the ex-wife of her new lover chad, died next. 17 days later, lori and chad married and abruptly moved to hawaii, next to die lori's brother alex cox, who shockingly was the triggerman in charles vallow's fatal shooting. the dark drama finally ended with the discovery of her own children's remains buried on chad daybell's property in rexburg, idaho. prosecutors say lori and chad claimed to be able to identify zombies that would get in the way of their end of times prophecy. eventually, their kids and ex-spouses fell into that category. their real motive money life insurance policies on the ex-spouses and lori's kids. they lived on two of tammy daybell's policies, totaling $430,000 until they were caught guilty of all eight counts against him, including

first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of jj vallow, tylee ryan and tammy daybell. both chad and lori were convicted in those three deaths in idaho. lori was sentenced to life in prison, while chad was sentenced to death row. but lori still had to stand trial in arizona and not under oath. answer to her only surviving child, 28 year old colby. when he interviewed her on the scar wars podcast. how are you doing? >> are you okay? >> it's taking a long process to work through all this stuff. it's been a lot of years, but i've i've definitely found my strength. >> so in an awkward conversation, lori blamed her dead daughter for the deaths. >> you're telling me that tylee took jj's life and then took her own life on accident, and then

someone cremated her by dismembering her and burning her and throwing her in a pet cemetery. and then somebody bound jj and put him in a trash bag and threw him in the backyard. >> what i'm saying is, is i wasn't aware what happened to them after i left that scene. >> okay, so you gave it to someone else. you you gave the responsibility to someone else, is what you're saying. >> correct? correct. and then i did it. i just ran out. >> lori's story seemed right out of a true crime novel at the time. >> i didn't want anyone to know what tylee had done to jj, and i wanted to continue to protect tylee as her mother, who has been trying to protect her her whole life. >> colby posted the episode,

writing that he interviewed his mom because he had so many unanswered questions. >> it's shocking. and it's really, really hard to put into words what it was like, and it is very hard to listen to. >> now. in arizona, vallow faces conspiracy, murder charges related to the fatal shooting of her fourth husband. >> it's been more than a year since vallow was extradited from idaho to arizona to face these charges. >> so is lori vallow daybell crazy or crazy like a fox? that's what the judge in the arizona cases tried to suss out during recent competency hearings. >> were you ever previously determined to be incompetent at any point? >> not to my understanding. so my understanding was that the judge did the same thing that you did in abundance of caution. let's go ahead and put her in and see. and i came out

competent. >> are you aware of any diagnosis that you were given? yes. and what is that? >> the defense cut her off before she could answer. ultimately, lori vallow daybell was deemed competent to stand trial. >> i have real trial experience. i have participated in three different full trials from beginning to end. >> how will lawyer lori fare in court this time? we'll find out when her trial begins. the date currently is set for march of this year. we'll be following lori's trial and will bring you updates both here and on true crime news.com. coming up next, a teenager goes missing. was she a runaway or was it foul play? >> and i pulled her blanket back and that's when i found her phone. >> my name is brayden. i was five years old when i came to saint jude. i'll try and shorten

down the story. so i've been having these headaches that wouldn't go away. my mom, she was just crying. what? they said your son has brain cancer. >> it was your worst fear coming to life, watching your child grow up is the dream of every parent. >> you can join the battle to save the lives of kids like brayden by supporting saint jude children's research hospital. families never receive a bill from saint jude for treatment, travel, housing or food so they can focus on helping their child live. what they have done for me, my son, my family. i'm sorry. yeah, life is a gift, especially for a child battling cancer. call or go online and help save the lives of children like brayden. >> now i'm 11 years old. we were

actually doing the checkup for my brain and they they saw something in my throat. it's thyroid cancer. >> it was heartbreaking to find out that he has cancer again, but we knew who we had behind us. it just gives me hope you can make a difference. join with your credit or debit card for only $19 a month and we'll send you this saint jude t shirt. without saint jude or its donors, we would have been in a bad place. >> these kids, they've done nothing wrong in the world. finding a cure for childhood cancer. it means everything. >> help saint jude give kids with cancer a chance. >> on the next true crime news. a beloved doctor ambushed and shot to death the ep

welcome back. we now turn to our next story. when 15 year old megan nichols disappeared, her mother began a desperate search, one that involved a possible love triangle, strange atm withdrawals, and a years long quest for answers. a loving mom is about to face her biggest nightmare. >> she gave me a hug and told me she loved me. that's the last

time i seen her. >> after her daughter disappears, i had 1512 armed men show up and say, where is your daughter? >> you are under arrest. >> all the heartbreak will be just too much to bear. it's 4th of july weekend in fairfield, illinois. fireworks, barbecue. and for 15 year old megan nichols, a bicycle ride. >> she said, do you care if i go on a bicycle ride? and i said, i don't care, just don't be doing anything you're not supposed to be doing. >> but kathy jo hutchcraft knew she never had to worry about her well-behaved only child. the high school sophomore was a good student, an avid member of their church who loved to sing, as seen in these home videos. >> my relationship with megan was very close. we did everything together. i was a single mom for a lot of her life and a young mom, so we were very close.

>> and on this holiday weekend, the close knit pair had plans to shop when megan returns from her bike ride, they head out, but the trip is cut short. >> she told me she didn't feel good and she wanted to go home. >> kathy jo drops the teen off at home and megan says she's going to go to bed, and she gave me a hug and told me she loved me. kathy jo heads back out to finish her shopping and once she returns, all seems normal. >> i didn't check on her right away because i assumed she was asleep, and i just got the sick feeling that i needed to go check on. megan and i went upstairs and she was gone. i just knew i knew it was bad. i immediately called my mom in a panic. >> they head straight to the police station to report megan's disappearance, but they say the police response wasn't what they hoped. >> well, she's not been gone. no time. there's nothing we can do. basically go home and hopefully

she'll show. >> kathy, jo and her mother head back to the house to look for clues. >> we went back upstairs and i pulled her blanket back, and that's when i found her phone. and when i picked it up, my heart sank. i'm like, oh my gosh, you know, this is real. >> but then things get strange. the phone has been wiped clean. all photos, messages, contacts, and any and every sign of megan deleted. >> i just started crying. i'm like, i don't know what to do. and my mom said, well, we're going to pray. so we went into megan's other room and we knelt down to pray and there was a note. >> the writing appears to be megan's, but kathy jo says the words are not. >> this does not sound like my daughter at all. it just it. to me, it was borderline cruel. if knowing my daughter the way i know her, if those were going to

be her last words to me, it wouldn't have been those words. >> as her suspicion grows, kathy gets some good advice. >> a friend had messaged me, have you checked the bank accounts? no, i hadn't, so i got online and i checked the bank accounts and sure enough, money had been withdrawn. on july the 3rd, around 2:00 pm. >> it's the same time megan went on that bike ride, and in an unexpected twist of fate, kathy is about to see megan once again on surveillance cameras. >> we just went and explained to them what was going on and asked them if they had video, and sure enough, megan was at the atm. >> the last images of her were from an atm video at the bank as she rides her bike up to make a withdrawal of hundreds of dollars. >> that's the last time i seen her. >> now megan's mom headsk to

police headquarters, this time with the phone, the note and the bank information. as police begin digging. they don't go very deep to find a promising lead, and it's a shocker. coming up, a gruesom discovery leads to a shocking arrest. >> watch this. it's all 100% real witness what happens to this woman's bags under her eyes in an actual time lapse? in just minutes, nothing has been doctored or tampered with. the very real problem will disappear before your eyes and hers. with a revolutionary topical formulation that works in just minutes. and the effects will last for hours and hours. over 1 million people are using this topical technique to visually reduce puffiness and bags. it works on sagging jowls, even fine lines and wrinkles on the face and forehead. introducing plexaderm in just minutes, you can restore and beautify your face, even look years younger,

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closed captioning and other considerations for true crime news provided by. >> we're in a limestone cave letting extreme residue build up to put finished jet dry to the test. dishwashers are designed to use jet drive to defend against tough residues for a practically spotless shine. >> frustrated with the way you currently file your taxes? switch to turbotax full service.

you'll be matched with a turbotax expert who will do your taxes from start to finish as soon as today, and they'll only sign when they know it's 100% correct. to ensure you get your best outcome guaranteed. plus, with refund advance, get up to $4,000 instantly in as little as 60s fro m irs acceptance. switch to turbotax full service brand power helping you buy better. >> welcome back. we continue now with the disappearance of megan nichols, 15 year old megan nichols is missing. and for police, the strange clues she left behind in the early stages pointed to someone very close to megan's own father. >> megan's father, jackson, had some some warrants out against him. he was of age and the young girl was not. >> at the time, megan's dad had faced accusations of being a sex offender years before they arrested him.

>> they asked him if he knew where where megan is. i had 1512 armed men show up and say, where is your daughter? you are under arrest. >> jackson nichols openly recalls the day u.s. marshals picked him up near tulsa, oklahoma. nichols was thrown behind bars, held on a federal warrant, listing him as an unregistered sex offender. but it all turned out to be a strange mix up based on an accusation, and dismissed charges. that's bull. >> that story sucks. you are full of crap. >> and then a clerical error that never cleared him. >> literally. >> within five minutes my case was dismissed and i was escorted out the door. >> jackson was eventually cleared as a suspect in megan's disappearance. >> i can't claim to be a real

parent or a good parent. >> my ex-wife did all of that and she did an amazing job. i didn't know that i could be this angry or dissected. it's. i'm at a loss for words. >> and turns out kathy jo never considered her ex-husband a viable suspect herself. she did have her own suspicions about what happened to her daughter that fateful night. >> fairly soon before her disappearance, megan was seeing a young man, and according to friends and family, there was just one problem he was with another girl. >> the boy was also in a relationship with another girl at the same time. >> was megan the victim of a teenage love triangle? >> she had mentioned going to prom with him and she's like, i didn't want to tell you this, but he is taking and he's taking

this other girl. >> while megan took the news in stride, her mother not so much. >> i'm tired of it. i had had it at that point. he's using her and you, and you're done. you know, you're 15. he's 18. this is over. so i called him from her phone and i said, don't contact my daughter again. this is over. >> but she knew it wasn't over. megan continued to converse with him, and when kathy jo received cell phone records from the day her daughter disappeared, the proof was there in black and white. the last three calls megan made were to her boyfriend. the boy's name is brody murbarger and his father is an illinois state police officer. brody responds to rumors that he was somehow involved in megan's disappearance on his facebook page, writing in part, okay, this has gone on long enough. i had nothing to do with this and

that. i have nothing to hide. i shouldn't even have to defend myself if i am not involved. police agreed at the time, saying he was not considered a suspect. nearly two years would pass when a fairfield resident who happens to know megan's mom, finds the stunning evidence that would turn the case upside down. >> it made me sick to my stomach. i just my stomach turned. >> jackie beck and her boyfriend were out cutting firewood just a few miles south of megan's home when they spotted something. it was a human skull and bones. jackie says. it appears the remains were placed in a shallow grave and wrapped in a blanket. the fbi later confirms it's megan nichols. >> it's hard enough to find something, you know, like that. but turn around that you know the person. it's just ten times worse. >> brody murbarger is arrested after earlier denying on facebook he had anything to do with megan's disappearance. when the case goes to trial, jurors

hear testimony from an fbi agent saying blood and dna from megan were found in brody's car, even though years had passed and the car had been sold to a scrap yard, a forensics team was able to uncover the key evidence. brody is found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison. while justice was delivered, it's little solace for kathy jo, who lost her daughter and her best friend. >> i still look for her, you know. she should still be there. >> brody murbarger was entenced to 5 years in prison. we'll be right back. >> resolve. >> your pet knows if a mess is really gone. >> if not, they may mark the spot. resolve gets rid of pet messes better than the leading competitor. destroying stains, neutralizing odors, and preventing remarking. love the love. resolve the mess.

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>> on the next true crime news. the beloved doctor, loving father, loving husband but not so loving ex attacked by men with baseball bats all months before he was ambushed and fatally shot, a masked man

emerged from hiding around the corner of the clinic. the witnesses. >> you can see everything from the office because it's all glass. >> the long list of suspects and the major clue that led to an arrest. >> the depth of this deceit and violence involved in this case is chilling. >> on the next true crime news. for the latest breaking crime news, go to true crime news.com. to watch more exclusive content on our youtube channel, listen to our podcast and follow us at my true crime news. that's it for today's true crime news, i'm anna garcia. see you next time, everyone . - [caller] we at gwinnett mall, and a lady just got shot. - what caused her to die? - there was a single gunshot wound. the victim had no identifying information on their person. - the vehicle is the crime scene. - we scoured the streets to find this car 'cause without it, i had no evidence.