ADA COUNTY, Idaho (Court TV) — The trial of a so-called “Doomsday Prophet” facing charges he killed his first wife and the two youngest children of his second wife is underway in Idaho.
Chad Daybell is charged with conspiracy and first-degree murder in the Oct. 2019 death of Tammy Daybell. He’s facing those same charges in the deaths of 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, children of Lori Vallow. Daybell is also charged with one count of grand theft and two counts of insurance fraud.
This March 21, 2024 booking photo provided by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office shows Chad Daybell. (Ada County Sheriff’s Office)
Last year, a jury convicted Lori Vallow on conspiracy and first-degree murder charges in the deaths of her children and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Tammy Daybell. She was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole.
An indictment accuses the couple of espousing religious beliefs to justify the murders. The remains of Vallow’s children were found on Daybell’s property in June 2020, nine months after they were last seen alive. By then, Vallow was sitting in an Idaho jail on charges stemming from the children’s disappearance. She was arrested in Hawaii in Feb. 2020, where she and Daybell had relocated amid a cloud of suspicion.
DAILY TRIAL UPDATES
DAY 24 – 5/15/24
- A never-heard-before jailhouse call played for the jury between Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell while Lori was in the Madison County jail. The call was made the day before investigators located the remains of Lori’s children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow.
- Chad and Lori talked about a “project” and how “the blueprints were still intact” and the timing of when the “project” would be complete.
- Daybell reassured Lori that [Cox] was in the contractor position for a reason and that it was part of the blueprint overall.
- Joshua Jackson Vallow, 7, and his older sister, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan’s remains were located on Chad Daybell’s property on June 9, 2020.
- Detective Hermosillo told jurors, “Through their investigation, interview with witnesses, and through the teachings in his [Daybell’s] books, [Chad] would often talk about his ability to see and speak with people on the other side of the veil,” referring to those who have passed on to heaven.
- Chad Daybell told Lori that he texted someone “he texted Ray.” Detective Ray Hermosillo said, “Ray [Lamar] was an alias for Lori Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox.
- Daybell told Lori that “Ray” [Lori’s brother] “misses you, but he’s not far from contact. We can text him whenever.” Alex Cox died on December 12, 2019, and was deceased before the phone conversation on June 8, 2020.
- Lori Vallow Daybell asked Chad during the phone call if he could ask “Ray” [her brother Alex] if he can make them any guarantees. “I mean, we did make our down payments. I would like a guarantee, just an end date for our project,” Lori said. She continued by asking Chad to remind [Alex] “that at the beginning of the project, he said there’s only a 3% chance there would be trouble.”
- Chad and Lori discussed the “complications” with the project. Chad told Lori, “When I’m going back over it, that could have easily done or been inspired to do to avoid a lot of the issues that would have come up with that they were not aware of.”
- An investigator with the Idaho Office of the Attorney General pieced together a timeline using phone records, witness interviews, and police reports of what happened surrounding the timing of Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. There were multiple phone calls and text messages between Chad, Lori, Alex, and Zulema on the day that someone attempted to shoot Tammy in the driveway of her home on October 9, 2019. Between October 18 through the 19th, there were several communications between Chad, Lori, and Alex before and after Tammy’s passing.
- Prosecutors have one more witness to call before resting their case-in-chief on Thursday.
- As of Wednesday, jurors have heard 24 days of testimony and heard from 67 witnesses.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 24 Recap
DAY 23 – 5/14/24
- Dr. Lily Marsden, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner with the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office, testified that she believes someone else restricted Tammy Daybell’s airway causing her death.
- Dr. Marsden testified that smothering with a pillow, a bag over the head, or applying weight on the chest would not leave any outward signs of asphyxiation on the body.
- The bruises on Tammy Daybell’s chest and arms were “acute” and likely occurred in the hours before or minutes after her death.
- Dr. Lily Marsden and Dr. Erik Christensen concluded that Tammy Daybell died from asphyxia, and the manner of death was a homicide.
- The medical examiners found pulmonary edema, which could be caused by heart failure when breathing is restricted.
- Jurors heard additional testimony regarding Alex Cox’s cell phone data and GEO locations from September through November 2019, the timing when JJ Vallow and his older sister, Tylee Ryan, disappeared.
- Cell phones associated with Alex Cox or his email account placed him on Chad Daybell’s property in Salem, Idaho, seven times, four times in September 2019 and three times in October 2019.
- On September 9, 2019, Alex Cox was on Daybell property between 9:21 a.m. and 10:57 a.m., near the burial site of Tylee Ryan’s remains. After leaving the property, Cox stopped at a fast-food restaurant, Del Taco, before returning to his apartment in Rexburg, Idaho.
- On September 23, 2019, JJ Vallow was absent from school. Cox’s cell phone was behind Chad Daybell’s home between 9:55 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. ET. Near the burial sites for both JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan.
- From September 30 through October 2, 2019, Cox’s cell phone, usually in his apartment during the overnight hours, stayed in Lori Vallow’s Rexburg apartment overnight. Testimony from Investigator Rick Wright, FBI, is that the timeline adds up with the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux in Arizona. Cox’s phone returns to his apartment on October 3, 2019.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 23 Recap
DAY 22 – 5/13/24
- Jurors hear from Tylee Ryan’s friend and experts who examined Tylee’s remains and evidence at the site where she was buried.
- Dr. Angi Christensen, a forensic anthropologist with the FBI, described the condition of Tylee Ryan’s bones and said the trauma to her bones was while they were “biomechanically fresh.” The infractions could have occurred either before Tylee’s death or shortly after. Her bones were bent and broken. Some of Tylee’s bones had marks from sharp trauma, and there were signs of “carnivore scavenging on some of them.
- A tool mark analyst with the FBI testified that the markings on Tylee’s remains were consistent with a “stabbing action” and “chopping action.” Douglas Halepaska said he did not have a tool to test, but the tools could have been a single-blade knife, a hatchet, and a pick.
- Detective Chuck Kunsaitis returned to the witness stand to testify about satellite imagery of Chad Daybell’s property. Through photographs, he showed the jurors Daybell’s property before Tylee Ryan’s disappearance and discoloration in an image marking the location where Tylee’s remains were located.
- Ashlyn Rynd, Tylee’s friend from school in Arizona, testified that after Tylee moved to Idaho, she could not contact her for two weeks and then fell out of contact.
- Rynd said Tylee Ryan was “almost maternal” when caring for her younger brother, JJ Vallow.
- Jurors heard more steamy passages from the “James and Elena” story, which is a parallel depiction of Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow’s extramarital affair. Chad Daybell smirked when the witness revealed Lori’s name for Chad’s penis.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 22 Recap
DAY 21 – 5/10/24
- Jurors heard from Tammy Daybell’s sister and brother-in-law on Friday.
- A never-before-heard phone call between Chad Daybell, Lori Daybell, and Jason Gwilliam, Chad’s brother-in-law, in an attempt to locate JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. Lori Daybell said people were “stirring up trouble for no reason.”
- Jason Gwilliam testified that he and Chad Daybell were extremely close and remembered that Chad’s religious beliefs became obsessed with “seeing visions” and “receiving affirmations” regarding the end of times.
- Samantha Gwilliam said her sister, Tammy, did not want to move away from her family in Springville, Utah. Chad asked Samantha and Jason to move to Rexburg, Idaho, because it was a refuge for people after an earthquake in Utah.
- Chad Daybell told Jason Gwilliam during a phone call 30 days after his first wife’s death that he had remarried and asked that he not tell anyone. When asked how his children felt about him remarrying, Chad said, “My kids are good at keeping secrets.”
- Samantha asked her brother-in-law during a phone call about the woman “he replaced my sister with.” Chad Daybell responded in a “spiritual-like tone,” “Samantha, I am telling you now that when I was at the cemetery, Tammy showed herself to me and said that I should move on.” Gwilliam responded to Chad, “When most women say that to their husband, it’s two years from now, not two weeks after I’m dead.”
- Chad Daybell searched for “malachite” wedding rings in March 2019. Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow searched for “malachite” in May 2019.
- Nicole Heideman, an FBI electronic analyst, read from what police call the “James and Elena” story. The passages were written by Chad Daybell about his first meeting with Lori Vallow in October 2018 at a “Preparing the People” conference.
- Cammy Willmore, Deputy Coroner for Fremont County, testified that the foam on Tammy Daybell’s face was something she had not seen before. Willmore searched online to see if poison caused the ‘weird’ foam but did not find anything. When the foam was wiped from Tammy’s face, it came back.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 21 Recap
DAY 20 – 5/9/24
- Jurors watch body-worn video of the moment Kauai Police Officers served Lori Daybell with a legal document to provide information about the whereabouts of her children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow.
- Law enforcement searched Chad and Lori’s rental car in Kauai and recovered social security cards and birth certificates belonging to the children, (17) copies of Charles Vallow’s death certificates, Tylee Ryan’s debit card, and over $10,000 in cash.
- An Intelligence Analyst for the FBI testified Chad Daybell messaged his first wife, Tammy, on September 9, 2019, at 10:53 a.m., that he shot a raccoon in the backyard and buried the animal in the backyard in the family’s pet cemetery. He messaged her again at 10:56 a.m. that he was “going to shower and go to write at BYU.” The messages caught the analyst’s attention because the text exchange from Chad to Tammy was a “longer detailed” message than Chad would normally send to Tammy.
- DNA testing on the hairs found on a black plastic bag that was wrapped around Joshua Vallow’s body confirmed to be that of his mother, Lori Vallow Daybell.
- Chad Daybell’s DNA wasn’t found on the evidence collected in his garage or the children’s remains.
- Blood and human remains found on one of the shovels and pickaxe found on Chad Daybell’s property tested positive for Tylee Ryan’s DNA.
- Jurors heard testimony from colleagues of Tammy Daybell, who all said they were in “shock” to learn of her passing. All consistently testified that Tammy was full of energy, happy, and healthy.
- WATCH: Chad Daybell Reacts In Court To Autopsy Photos, Evidence
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 20 Recap
DAY 19 – 5/8/24
- Some jurors were overwhelmed with emotions as they viewed graphic autopsy photos of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow.
- Chad Daybell shook his head, seeing some of the images of JJ Vallow.
- Dr. Garth Warren, Forensic Pathologist for the Ada County Coroner’s Office, testified that Joshua “JJ” Jackson Vallow died as a result of asphyxia by a plastic bag over the head and duct tape on his mouth. Tylee Ryan’s death was ruled “unspecified homicide” because of the condition in which Tylee’s body was recovered.
- Bruises to JJ Vallow’s right arm and “scratch-like abrasions” on his neck could have been from JJ trying to “get the bag off of his head,” Warren said.
- Tylee Ryan’s remains were delivered to the coroner’s office in multiple bags. The bags contained charred bones and portions of flesh. Most bones and organs were identifiable, but others were broken and charred, including Tylee’s heart and lungs.
- An FBI anthropologist analyzed Tylee Ryan’s skeletal remains and discovered “sharp force cutting” on the bones.
- A toxicology report revealed that Tylee had ibuprofen and caffeine in her system.
- Jurors heard Geo Fence evidence for cell phones belonging to Chad Daybell, Lori Vallow, and Alex Cox on the day of Charles Vallow’s murder on July 11, 2019.
- Detective Ariel Werther, Chandler Police Department (AZ), analyzed the cell phone records and “quickly” realized there was a timing issue with what occurred on the day of Charles Vallow’s death. Alex Cox called 911 at 8:36 a.m., and Lori Vallow returned home at 8:48 a.m. ET. Lori claimed to be home during the time of the shooting but ran “errands” before returning home 12 minutes after the 911 call was made.
- Werther said Charles Vallow arrived at his estranged wife’s home around 7:32 a.m. His phone left the home in the possession of Lori Vallow around 7:50 a.m. Charles Vallow’s cell phone with Lori as she drove to Burger King, JJ Vallow’s school, and Walgreens. There was at least a 45-minute delay between Charles’ phone leaving the home and when 911 was called, with the possibility that Lori and her children were not at the home when Charles was shot.
- On the day of Charles Vallow’s death, Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow communicated through texts and phone calls at 6:00 a.m. and through the night. The only call on Chad Daybell’s phone outside of calling Lori was to Valley of the Sun Mortuary and Cemetery around 7:34 p.m.
- Latent prints analyzed from the black plastic wrappings around JJ Vallow’s body confirmed they matched Alex Cox’s right little finger and upper palm. The analysis found no other fingerprints of either Lori Vallow Daybell or Chad Daybell.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 19 Recap
DAY 18 – 5/7/24
- Dr. Garth Warren, Ada County Forensic Pathologist, performed JJ Vallow’s autopsies and Tylee Ryan’s autopsies. Dr. Warren testified JJ died of asphyxia, and his death was ruled a “homicide.” Tylee’s cause of death was ruled an “unspecified homicide” due to the conditions of her remains.
- Chad Daybell taught Lori and her small group of friends known as the “Seven Gatherers” what happens to a person when they are “deemed dark” and when the spirit leaves the body. The group would share emails and conduct “castings” in person and sometimes virtually.
- The widow of Alex Cox and former follower of the self-proclaimed “Doomsday Prophet” testified Tuesday.
- Zulema Pastenes, who has immunity from prosecution, testified that Chad Daybell claimed to be the head of the “Church of the Firstborn.”
- Pastenes witnessed a “romantic affair” between Daybell and Vallow while Tammy Daybell was alive. When the two met, Pastenes said Lori was “really flirtatious towards [Chad], and it appeared Lori was “putting the moves on him.”
- Chad Daybell claimed to have a “portal” in his house through which he could communicate with the spirit world and receive information and instructions. This is where he learned that his first wife, Tammy, was going to die early. Daybell told others that JJ Vallow “would die young and that he would come back to Earth as Colby’s son.” “Colby” is Lori Vallow’s oldest son.
- Before leaving Arizona for Rexburg, Idaho, Lori told Zulema Pastenes that her daughter, Tylee, was possessed by a dark spirit, and JJ was considered “light.”
- Zulema Pastenes visited Rexburg, Idaho, in mid-September 2019. Pastenes saw JJ at home and asked Lori where Tylee was. Lori responded, “She had to be free.” Lori then placed her hand against Pastenes face and said, “Don’t ask.”
- Pastenes and Lori Vallow conducted a casting for Tammy Daybell on October 9, 2019, the same day a masked man confronted Tammy in her driveway and pointed a paintball gun at her. Following the casting, Lori Daybell was on the phone with someone and was “extremely angry,” and said, “Idiot, can’t you do anything by himself.”
- Alex Cox and Zulema Pastenes married in late November 2019, two weeks before Cox passed away in December 2019.
- According to Pastenes, Chad Daybell said her husband had one mission on earth to be a warrior and protector of his sister Lori Vallow.
- When asked if “Alex truly believed what Chad was telling him?” Pastenes answered, “100%.”
- Alex Cox shot his sister’s fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in July 2019. Cox called Charles Vallow a “zombie: after the shooting.
- Before leaving Arizona for Rexburg, Idaho, Lori told Zulema Pastenes that her daughter, Tylee, was possessed by a dark spirit, and JJ was considered “light.”
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 18 Recap
DAY 17 – 5/6/24
- Melani Pawlowski, Lori Vallow Daybell’s niece, testified Chad Daybell would use a pendant and swing it like a pendulum to get answers from God and share them with Lori and others.
- Chad Daybell told Pawlowski he has a “gift of spiritual discern” and could see light and dark or “see if a person had good intentions.
- Ian Pawlowski became concerned after learning about Melani’s unusual religious beliefs on their wedding night. The “weight and implications” didn’t occur to him until Melani shared her concern about the children. He then shared his concerns with law enforcement in December 2019, who instructed him to record phone conversations with Chad and Lori Daybell.
- Chad Daybell told Pawlowski that her ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, was tracking her using a device on her car. She later discovered that it was true, and “it validated” many things Daybell told her.
- In November 2018, a year before her aunt married Daybell, both Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow talked to her about which people were light and dark.
- Lori Vallow Daybell told her niece that some people considered dark are also called “zombies” but assumed the idea came from Chad Daybell.
- Pawlowski traveled to Rexburg, Idaho, to visit Vallow in September 2019, and did not see Tylee or JJ. Her aunt told her that Tylee was with a college friend from BYU-Idaho, and JJ’s nanny was watching him.
- In October 2019, Vallow and Pawlowski traveled to Missouri and Hawaii. Alex Cox was to travel to Hawaii with them, but Lori Vallow told her, “[Alex] had to stay behind because Chad had something that he needed help with.”
- According to Melani Pawlowski, Lori Vallow “seemed in a state of shock, surprised” after learning Tammy Daybell had died. Vallow quickly returned to Idaho while she stayed behind in Hawaii.
- Ian Pawlowski met Chad and Lori Daybell remotely in November 2019, before his wedding.
- In December 2019, Chad Daybell urged Ian and Melani to leave their home in Rexburg because Madison County was “cursed,” and they needed to get out of the “conflict.”
- Lori Daybell told Melani during one of the recorded phone conversations after the death of her brother, Alex Cox, that she probably would not be coming back to Arizona for his funeral and that she did not want anything from his home.
- Lori Vallow Daybell no longer trusted her friend, Melanie Gibb, after she decided to talk to the police and confess she lied to them about having JJ in her care.
- Jurors heard testimony about how the FBI ERT located JJ Vallow’s body on Chad Daybell’s property.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 17 Recap
DAY 16 – 5/3/24
- Chilling testimony from FBI Special Agent Steve Daniels, Supervisor of the Evidence Response Team, on how they discovered the remains of Tylee Ryan on Chad Daybell’s property in Salem, Idaho.
- Federal investigators located a Pura Vida silver chain in the fire pit behind Daybell’s home and found a silver charm near the fire pit. Jurors were shown both and then saw a photograph of Tylee Ryan wearing the chain and charm before her death.
- When investigators began sifting through the fire pit area, they started smelling decomposing remains. As they began removing soil layer by layer, they located portions of the vertebrae, followed by the “charred pink flesh” from Tylee’s body.
- Special Agent Daniels said they found JJ buried under stones and cement. They assumed they would find Tylee buried in the same manner but found nothing similar.
- Jurors watch more body camera videos of the “no-knock entry” warrant of Lori Vallow and her niece, Melanie Boudreaux’s apartments in Rexburg, Idaho, the day after conducting a welfare check for her son, JJ, on November 26.
- Detective David Stubbs said it appeared that Lori Vallow Daybell had “abandoned” her unit and left in a “haste.” Stubbs found it “odd” that there was no clothing in the primary bedroom closet.
- The search expanded to Tylee Ryan following a search for seven-year-old JJ Vallow, which returned no results.
- Rexburg Police did not issue a search warrant for Melanie Gibb or David Warwick’s cell phones or cell phone records during the search for JJ Vallow, although they both were at Lori’s apartment in Rexburg at the time of JJ’s disappearance.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 16 Recap
DAY 15 – 5/2/24
- Chad Daybell’s mother and sister-in-law testified on Thursday.
- Jurors heard from Joshua “JJ” Jackson Vallow’s paternal grandmother, Kay Woodcock.
- Shelia Daybell, the defendant’s mother, told jurors about a surprise meeting with Chad’s new wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, on November 13, 2019. The two were wearing rings. Jack Daybell, Chad’s father, asked, “Are you engaged?” Chad and Lori told them, ‘No, we’re married.”
- WATCH: Chad Daybell’s Mother Recalls Meeting Lori Vallow For The First Time
- Lori Vallow Daybell told her new in-laws that her previous husband had died of a heart attack and her daughter had died. She never mentioned her other children.
- Defense attorney John Prior pointed out that Chad and Lori’s personalities differed. Shelia Daybell agreed that Chad was more introverted and less experienced with romantic relationships.
- Heather Daybell told jurors her relationship with her brother-in-law Chad started civil but quickly deteriorated in 2014 when he told the family about the “end of times” and his “visions.”
- Heather said her conversation with Chad Daybell following the death of his wife, Tammy, “felt scripted,” and his demeanor appeared to “turn it on and off” when interacting with people at the funeral.
- WATCH: Sister-In-Law Says Chad Daybell Called Her A ‘Pot Stirrer’
- Daybell told his family, “There would be an earthquake in 2015.” He wanted to make sure everyone was prepared for the “end-of-time events” that would cause a lot of destruction in Salt Lake City.
- Chad Daybell’s visions led him to move his family from Springville, Utah, to Rexburg, Idaho.
- Jurors watched body camera videos of Rexburg Police visit Lori Vallow Daybell’s apartment in November 2019. Investigators were following up on a report for a welfare check for JJ Vallow, reported by his grandmother, Kay Woodcock.
- Woodcock became suspicious when she could not contact her grandson, JJ, and his mother, Lori Vallow. She had FaceTime with JJ in September 2019, which was her last communication.
- Lori Vallow would not allow JJ to attend his father’s funeral, Charles Vallow.
- Kay Woodcock logged into her older brother’s email account and saw that Lori Vallow had a delivery from Amazon, which provided the address where to locate JJ. Woodcock checked the browsing history and saw that Lori had searched for malachite wedding bands, beach Wedding dresses, a yellow one-piece swimsuit, and white linen men’s beachwear in size Large.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 15 Recap
DAY 14 – 5/1/24
- An autopsy of Tamara “Tammy” Daybell determined that her cause of death was asphyxia, and the manner of death was a homicide. She was deceased more than two hours before law enforcement arrived on the scene.
- Bruising to Tammy Daybell’s left and right arms and chest were determined to have hemorrhaging in the soft tissue. The bruising is likely to have occurred an hour or so before her death.
- Chad Daybell’s neighbor, Alice Gilbert, testified that Chad asked her not to “tell” anyone that his wife had passed away, not even the Bishop of the Ward. Gilbert told others despite Chad’s request.
- Alice Gilbert testified that Chad Daybell told her, “He could not live in there [his home] and was moving to a condo in Rexburg.” Chad was asked if he wanted help moving, and he said, “No.”
- Daybell told the Gilberts that “[he] found the woman he was going to marry” and was hesitant to tell the Gilberts the woman’s name but eventually said her name, Lori Vallow.
- Lori Vallow was introduced to the Gilberts in late October. Vallow was asked if she had children, to which Chad Daybell answered and said that Vallow’s daughter had died. Vallow never corrected what Daybell said.
- In November 2019, Chad Daybell was asked about the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. He told Alice Gilbert, “It was a custody battle, and when everything came out, they will see they are fine.”
- Following Lori Daybell’s arrest, Chad told the Gilberts, “Christ sent him to there [Gilberts’ Home] to ask if they would put their house up for bond.” The Gilberts declined to help.
- Chad Daybell told his neighbors, Alice and Todd Gilbert, that Tammy came to him in a vision and was “fine with him getting married, and his children were okay with it.”
- Daybell inquired about getting health insurance for himself and his children, Seth, Leah, and Mark, because Tammy’s policy, which the four were included in, would end in November. He later inquired about adding a new spouse to the policy.
- Taylor Ballard, the insurance broker for Tammy’s insurance policy through the school system, learned that Chad Daybell had married a woman with two missing children. The information made her question how Tammy Daybell died. Ballard was concerned fraud had been committed because Tammy Daybell’s policy had already been cashed out by Chad Daybell.
- On March 11, 2020, Chad Daybell entered the Ballard Insurance Group office “looking thinner and tanner with a black wedding band on his ring finger,” Ballard said. He asked to add his new and incarcerated wife, Lori Ryan Daybell, to his policy. Ballard told Chad there was no need to add her, and the State of Idaho would provide healthcare insurance to Vallow Daybell until she was released from jail.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 14 Recap
DAY 13 – 4/29/24
- Emotional testimony from Tammy Daybell’s first cousin, Patricia Later, on Monday.
- Later testified she was in shock after learning her cousin died. “She [Tammy Daybell] was so young and healthy”, Later said.
- Patricia Later and her daughter, Hannah Park Munoz, told jurors that they “felt” Chad should have been “more sad.” Chad would only cry when he saw others crying.
- Later testified she felt Chad said things that “weren’t nice about his wife.” At Tammy Daybell’s funeral, Chad Daybell allegedly told the congregation that his wife was “difficult to live with and was lazy,” and his wife was depressed.
- Cell phone data shows Chad Daybell’s location when Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow disappeared.
- Tylee Ryan was last seen in a family photo at Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019. Law enforcement using cell phone data believe Tylee was killed on September 9, 2019. Ryan’s uncle’s cell phone was at Lori Vallow’s apartment between 2:42 a.m. and 3:47 a.m. Then, Cox returned to his apartment within the same complex at 4:37 a.m. Around 9:15 a.m., Cox’s cell was tracked just south of Chad Daybell’s home. At 11:45 a.m., Adam Cox’s cell phone moved away from the Daybell’s property. Chad Daybell, who was at home, called Lori Vallow at her apartment just as Cox was leaving the property. Just after noon, Chad Daybell and Alex Cox’s cell phones were in Rexburg near Lori’s apartment.
- JJ Vallow was last seen in a photo taken in his mother’s apartment on September 22, 2019. On September 23, 2019, Chad Daybell sent multiple texts to Lori at 3:59 a.m. She only responded to one of them. Alex Cox’s cell phone was at his apartment between 9:01 a.m. and 9:41 a.m. Chad Daybell called Cox at 9:25 a.m. Alex’s phone was on the Daybell property between 9:55 a.m. and 10:12 a.m. Cox called Lori at 10:12 a.m. and was back home by 10:13 a.m. Chad Daybell communicated with Lori via text and phone between 9:30 a.m. and 10:27 a.m.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 13 Recap
DAY 12 – 4/26/24
- Jurors heard from former neighbors and co-workers of Chad and Tammy Daybell on Friday, who were all “shocked” to learn of Tammy’s passing.
- Steven Schultz, a neighbor and former co-worker of Chad Daybell, testified that Chad contacted him about transporting Tammy’s body to Springville, Utah, for burial.
- WATCH: Friend Testifies About ‘Red Flags’ Surrounding Tammy Daybell’s Funeral
- Schultz questioned Daybell whether he wanted an autopsy before burial, to which he said, “he did not want an autopsy done.” Schultz was concerned about Tammy dying so young. He checked Tammy’s body for broken bones and bruising and found nothing.
- Rich Garner, the principal at Central Elementary School, where Tammy Daybell worked as a librarian, testified that he congratulated Tammy after she finished a 5k race, and she seemed active and healthy. He also testified that Tammy did not call out sick in the almost two years she worked at the school.
- Garner had to convince Chad Daybell and other family members to have a memorial because Tammy’s co-workers would not be able to travel to Utah for the funeral. A memorial was scheduled for the day after the funeral at Central Elementary School. Chad Daybell did not help plan the memorial.
- Chad Daybell told Ron Arnold, his neighbor in Rexburg, that he was going to live with a friend in Rexburg following Tammy’s death because he did not “feel comfortable” in the home. Daybell planned to move to Hawaii to help a friend with a biography.
- Arnold told jurors that he asked Chad Daybell about the missing children, to which he responded, “When everything comes out, things would be fine.”
- Ron Arnold, a real estate agent, met with Chad about splitting his property and adding a home for him and Lori. The parcel of land was too small.
- When questioned on cross-examination, Arnold mentioned that John Prior, the defense attorney, owns Chad Daybell’s home.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 12 Recap
DAY 11 – 4/25/24
- Tammy Daybell regularly emailed her youngest son, Mark, about unusual events at her Rexburg home, and she often wrote about her health. Other emails described Chad Daybell shooting a raccoon and burying it in the compost heap, trapping another raccoon in a trap. She told her son about tripping over a duck gate, injuring her wrist, and being sick in bed the month before she passed away.
- WATCH: Battle Of The Experts: How Did Tammy Daybell Die?
- On the night of the “paintball incident,” Tammy Daybell searched the internet for paintball and airsoft guns. She did not search for rifles or shotguns.
- The day after the “paintball incident,” Tammy Daybell told her son, Mark, that she “did not go to Zumba because she did not want to be out after dark.”
- The State and Defense were both determined to prove whether Tammy Daybell described the weapon during her 911 call as a paintball gun, a gun or rifle.
- Alex Cox was near Daybell’s home on October 9, 2019, four hours before a man wearing all black and a ski mask was in the Daybell driveway. An additional search showed that a phone connected to the alias Homerjmaximus was near the Daybell home on October 18, 2019, from 10:07 p.m. to 10:47 p.m. The phone was turned off and turned back on at 11:53 p.m., seven miles away.
- Garth Daybell was the last to see his mother on October 18, 2019.
- Chad Daybell told police he was home on the evening of October 18. However, cell phone records did not show his cell phone at home.
- Jurors heard Alex Cox’s web search history under the alias Homerjmaximus. He searched “How to prep your AR for the cold” and “What caliber would penetrate a windshield?”
- Alex Cox visited a gun range five times between October 7 and October 15, 2019. The paintball incident involving Tammy Daybell occurred on October 9. She died ten days later, on October 19, 2019.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 11 Recap
DAY 10 – 4/24/24
- Fremont County Coroner Brenda Dye testified why she changed Tammy Daybell’s death certificate from natural causes to a homicide.
- Chad Daybell filled out a life insurance beneficiary form stating that his wife’s health problems began on October 18, 2019, the day before her death, contradicting his claims that his wife has always had health issues.
- On October 20, 2019, Dye signed the death certificate that Tammy Daybell died of pulmonary edema due to a cardiac event. The death certificate was changed two months later after an autopsy. Tammy’s death was caused by asphyxiation by suffocation, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
- Brenda Dye was contacted by law enforcement in Arizona that Chad Daybell’s name was connected to a homicide and attempted murder they were investigating. If she had the information at the time of Tammy Daybell’s death, “it may have changed her decision regarding an autopsy.”
- Dye described how she observed Tammy Daybell’s body once on scene. Tammy’s body was cold with rigor mortis. There were “old” bruises, pink foam on the side of the mouth and levidity to the back of her arms, lower back, and thighs. There were no other signs that suggested anything of concern.
- Dye said at the time she believed Chad Daybell’s explanation that he could have caused Tammy to fall off the bed by blankets, but “looking back, if someone’s dead, it would have required more force than that to roll a body out of bed.”
- Chad Daybell told responding officers and the coroner that Tammy had been up with a “coughing fit” and had thrown up. He helped her back to bed just after midnight. Daybell said he woke up five hours later because Tammy fell off the bed and pulled the blankets off him. She was dead.
- Chad Daybell had no opinion about an autopsy performed on his wife, but their daughter, Emma Murray, did not want one performed.
- Coworkers of Tammy Daybell testified that they were shocked by her death and that Tammy seemed healthy when interacting with them at work.
- Tammy Daybell owned a Fitbit, which was in one of the evidence photos, and she was seen wearing it in many of her Facebook posts. Police never recovered the device, but business records show that Tammy was very active on her device. Law enforcement were hoping to get heart rate and sleep data to show what happened to her on the night she died.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 10 Recap
DAY 9 – 4/23/24
- Chad Daybell became emotional for the first time during the trial when Prosecutors played his 911 call from October 2019 when Daybell called to report his wife’s death. Chad was wiping his eyes and shaking his head. John Prior patted Daybell on the back and slid him the tissue box.
- Bradon Boudreaux, Lori Vallow Daybell’s former nephew-in-law, testified about the events leading up to Charles Vallow’s death and an incident where someone shot out his driver-side window while he was driving back home from the gym.
- Boudreaux told jurors that his then-wife Melanie stopped going to church, but her religious beliefs changed after a “spiritual awakening.”
- Lori Vallow thought Brandon Boudreaux had hacked into her computer. He said he had never done that when asked about it on the stand.
- Boudreaux tried to attend one of the “alternative firesides,” which was not affiliated with the LDS church, but was told that “he was not welcomed to any of them.”
- Boudreaux became emotional when asked the last time he saw Charles and JJ Vallow.
- Following Charles Vallow’s death, Brandon Boudreaux said he went back to read all of Vallow’s emails sent to the family stating Lori Vallow was not mentally well and shared documents that identified which family members were “light or dark.”
- On cross-examination, David Warwick was asked if he and his wife, Melanie Gibb, married so they would not have to testify against one another, to which he responded, “No.”
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 9 Recap
DAY 8 – 4/22/24
- Colby Ryan, Lori Vallow Daybell’s oldest son, testified Monday. Ryan became emotional when he identified the photographs of his half-sister Tylee Ryan and adoptive brother JJ Vallow.
- Ryan said that he believes his mother was “influenced” by Chad Daybell.
- Colby Ryan told jurors he last saw his siblings on August 30, 2019, when they visited him outside his work in Mesa, Arizona. He said his mother was vague and said they were leaving but would return in a few weeks. Tylee was crying but did not say anything.
- Ryan recounted the moment he found out his stepfather, Charles Vallow, died. Lori Vallow told him that he suffered a heart attack. When he arrived at his mother’s home, he asked his uncle about a bandage on his head. He later learned that his stepfather had been shot to death.
- Lori Vallow’s demeanor following her fourth husband’s death was described as “calm and unrattled.”
- The last time Ryan heard from his mother before her arrest was when she sent an email telling him “Not to worry and that Jesus was on her side.”
- Now-retired Special Agent Doug Hart with the FBI described the text messages between Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow as “manipulative.”
- WATCH: Witness: Text Messages Show Chad Daybell Manipulating Lori Vallow
- Hart told jurors about a text exchange on August 8, 2019, depicting the couple’s “first fight.” Vallow was upset over a family vacation Chad Daybell was taking with his wife and other family members.
- Chad Daybell texted Lori following their argument, “I would happily join you tomorrow if it felt like heaven would not strike us down.”
- Melanie Gibb’s boyfriend at the time, David Warwick, told jurors he confronted Chad Daybell about some of his teachings that did not fit his understanding of the LDS faith.
- Warwick told jurors the affection between Chad and Lori “bothered” him because Chad Daybell was still married to Tammy.
- Chad Daybell told Warwick that Tammy Daybell was a “good wife” but said Lori would be his next wife because they had been married before in another life. Daybell had a dream Tammy was going to pass away by the time she was 50 and 51.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 8 Recap
DAY 7 – 4/19/24
- Melanie Gibb, Lori Vallow’s former best friend, returned to the witness stand for her second day of testimony.
- John Prior, Chad Daybell’s attorney, tried to show jurors that Gibb was not credible and could not remember specific facts about the timeline of Chad and Lori’s relationship.
- Gibb admitted that she spoke with investigators before recording a phone conversation between herself, Chad, and Lori.
- A text message between Gibb and Lori revealed that Gibb wanted to teach Lori about “dark and light” entities.
- Gibb told jurors that Chad Daybell determined which people were dark entities and zombies.
- After Gibb’s testimony, it was revealed that the defense subpoenaed her to come back for further testimony during the defense’s case.
- Jurors heard steamy text messages between Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell sent in 2019, but they described their romantic tryst after meeting in 2018.
- On July 13, 2019, Chad texted Lori that the “Lord” hinted to him that “she,” referring to his wife, Tammy Daybell, “would be gone by July 24, 2019. Tammy was still alive at that time of that message.”
- On July 14, 2019, Chad texted Lori, “Good morning. My most beautiful Lili! (Thanks for joining me in the shower this morning. Wow!) Getting ready to leave for my meetings. Does noon your time look like a time we could talk? I love you so immensely that the whole universe knows it, and very soon, the people on this little blue globe will know it, too.”
- On July 18, 2019, Lori texted Chad, “I just got the letter from the insurance company saying that I am not the beneficiary. It’s a spear thru my heart. Who do you think he changed it to?? Brandon?? Or probably Kay?? He left nothing for JJ.” To which Chad responded, Chad to Lori, “It seems you would have had to agree to the change. Maybe your name was forged. You should have a good paper trail to prove it.”
- On July 21, 2019, Lori texted Chad that “Ned,” referring to Charles Vallow, had changed his insurance policy to “Rhonda,” referring to Charles’ sister Kay Woodcock as the beneficiary. Chad responds that he will begin “working” to see if Woodcock and Brandon Boudreaux are “dark” entities.
- Chad Daybell told Lori he “feels like a grown-up version of Harry Potter living with the Dudleys in his little space under the stairs.”
- Lori Vallow texted Daybell to ask if he was mad or sad, to which he replied that he had “no privacy” when sending her a message.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 7 Recap
DAY 6 – 4/18/24
- The state’s star witness, Melanie Gibb, testified Wednesday.
- Gibb told jurors that in November 2019, Chad Daybell called and asked her not to speak with the police and to say that JJ Vallow, Lori’s youngest son, was with her.
- Melanie Gibb recorded a phone conversation between Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell in which she asked why they asked her to “lie” about JJ Vallow’s whereabouts.
- “It does not sound like God’s plan. I’m getting a gut feeling that this is weird and it does not feel right, and I don’t have peace about it,” Gibb told Lori Vallow Daybell during the audio recording.
- Chad Daybell told Gibb that Tammy was on a “special mission,” and any suspicions about her death were “conspiracy theories.”
- Lori Vallow Daybell told Gibb that JJ was “safe and happy” during the recorded phone conversation.
- Gibb testified about a love affair between Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow, and the two believed they had been married in their past lives.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Witness Served With Papers At Courthouse
- Lori Vallow changed the funding source for Tylee Ryan’s Venmo account to transfer funds from Lori’s personal bank account.
- Chad Daybell’s religious teachings included a “light and dark” scale, identifying enemies as dark spirits and zombies.
- On cross-examination, John Prior questioned Melanie Gibb about her memory and hundreds of text exchanges she had with Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood.
- Before the trial began, Terry Ratliff, an Idaho attorney who was not involved in the trial, attempted to intervene and delay the proceedings for Chad Daybell. A furious Judge Boyce said the filing created an emergency during the Easter weekend amongst court staff, prosecutors, and the defense attorney.
- Judge Boyce said, “I was mad when this was filed, and I may be even more mad now,” speaking to Ratliff concerning the filing that contained “misspellings and typographical error” and referring to himself as Chad Daybell’s defense attorney.
- Ratliff was ordered to pay attorney fees to the prosecuting team and the defense for the “time, effort, and loss” of interrupting the proceedings. He was also ordered to pay all court costs.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 6 Recap
DAY 5 – 4/17/24
- Five days after the funeral service for his wife, Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell booked plane tickets to Hawaii for his wedding and a family trip to California for his adult children and their spouses and Lori Vallow Daybell.
- Detective Check Kunsaitis created timelines to show that Lori Vallow Daybell was traveling without her children and had not filled her children’s prescriptions. Lori purchased travel arrangements for Chad Daybell.
- WATCH: Travel Records Show JJ Vallow Was Not On Flights With Lori
- An FBI forensic accountant testified that he reviewed close to 80 banking accounts and credit cards belonging to Lori Vallow Daybell, Chad and Tammy Daybell, Alex Cox, and Tylee Ryan.
- Following Tylee Ryan’s father’s death, Tylee began receiving monthly stipends from her social security benefits and regularly spent money using her debit card. Detective Kunsaitis testified that Tylee last used her debit card to make two purchases at McDonald’s in St. George, Utah, on September 1, 2019, while moving to Idaho.
- Lori Vallow Daybell closed and took the remaining money from her daughter’s bank account a month after Tylee Ryan was last seen alive.
- Lori Vallow Daybell called the Social Security Administration on August 16, 2019, to change the direct deposit for her daughter and son to be deposited in her bank accounts.
- After the children disappeared, Lori’s oldest son asked for money through Venmo. Lori told her son, Colby, that she had given the money to Tylee to send it, but it was Lori who had transferred the money from Tylee’s bank account.
- Lori Vallow Daybell changed her $2 million life insurance policy so that her oldest son, Colby Ryan, was the sole benefactor, and no money would be given to her two youngest children.
- Alex Cox quit his job to move to Rexburg, Idaho, with Lori Vallow and her children. No money was deposited into his account after August 2019. Before leaving his job, Cox applied for a $21,000 loan and began purchasing firearms and knives.
- WATCH: The Attempted Shootings Of Tammy Daybell And Brandon Boudreaux
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 5 Recap
DAY 4 – 4/16/24
- Jurors heard Chad Daybell’s text messages and web searches in the months before JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan disappeared.
- Chad Daybell searches included “Ned Schneider” and “Hiplos.” Daybell and Lori Vallow believed Charles Vallow, Lori’s husband, was possessed by a dark spirit or demon.
- Daybell and Lori Vallow searched for malachite jewelry, specifically wedding bands, while Tammy Daybell was still alive. Vallow Daybell searched for wedding dresses in Kauai on the day of Tammy Daybell’s funeral.
- WATCH: Google Searches Show Wedding Bands, Possession In Chad Daybell’s Trial
- Detective Nathan Duncan, Chandler Police Department in Arizona, testified about his investigation into Charles Vallow’s death.
- WATCH: Detective: Charles Vallow Was Shot While Lying Down
- Detective Duncan said that although investigators recommended criminal charges against Daybell, the Maricopa County prosecutor decided there was “no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
- Jurors heard a recorded phone call of Chad Daybell calling an Arizona mortuary inquiring about the cost of burying his “uncle” shortly after Charles Vallow’s death.
- Charles Vallow confronted his wife about a letter that appeared to be from him inviting Chad Daybell to stay with their family a second time to help him write a book.
- Charles Vallow reached out to Tammy Daybell the week before his death, telling her he had “definitive proof” their spouses were having an affair. He then confronted Chad Daybell about the email he found on Lori’s computer.
- Chad Daybell messages Lori Vallow before Charles Vallow’s death that he “feels like Harry Potter living under the Dursley’s stairs” and that he “can escape and have amazing adventures with his goddess lover.” Adding, “I sense permanent change is coming.”
- Detective Duncan testified about a “patriarchal blessing” given by Chad Daybell to Alex Cox on November 24, 2019. Daybell tells Cox that he is a prophet and a hero. “You have already assisted us in ways that can never be repaid,” Daybell said. The blessing was given two weeks before Cox’s death in December 2019.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: The Genesis Of Killing Spree
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 4 Recap
DAY 3 – 4/15/24
- Jurors watched body camera video of Chad Daybell during the search of his property and heard a jailhouse call between Daybell and his wife, Lori Vallow Daybell.
- Daybell told his daughter, “He was not coming back” after his arrest.
- Investigators with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office obtained an exhumation order to exhume Tammy Daybell’s body for autopsy following a phone call from detectives in Arizona.
- Patrol Sgt. Eric Wheeler testified that Chad Daybell was looking awkwardly over his right shoulder toward the pond on his property as investigators searched his property for missing children JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan.
- READ MORE: Doomsday Cult: Who’s who in the world of Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 3 Recap
DAY 2 – 4/11/24
- Detective Ray Hermosillo, Rexburg Police Department, returned to the witness stand on Thursday.
- Hermosillo was initially assigned to locate a missing Jeep Wrangler in Arizona. The case evolved into a welfare check for Joshua “JJ” Vallow, which led to a larger investigation, including the search for “JJ’s” older sister, Tylee Ryan.
- Jurors heard graphic details in the manner that “JJ” Vallow and his sister, Tylee Ryan’s remains were located on the 4-acre property of Chad Daybell on June 9, 2019.
- WATCH: Detective Recalls Horrific Discovery While Excavating Daybell Property
- Tammy Daybell posted a message to her church group on social media about a man wearing a ski shot at her using a paint gun. She then searched the internet for paint guns.
- Alex Cox searched for “bullets that can go through a Dodge Dakota’s windshield” three days after Tammy Daybell was shot at with a paintball gun. Other searches were for the “best tactical knives and sharpening swords” in late October 2019.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 2 Recap
DAY 1 – 4/10/24
- Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors that Chad Daybell was motivated by “money, power, and sex.”
- Defense attorney John Prior told jurors that they will hear from their expert witnesses that there is no evidence connecting his client, Chad Daybell, to the murders of his wife’s children, Tylee and “JJ.” Also, another expert will say that Daybell’s first wife, Tamara “Tammy” Daybell, died of natural causes.
- Jurors heard from the state’s first witness, Detective Ray Hermosillo.
- Detective Hermosillo was tasked with conducting a welfare check for seven-year-old Joshua Jackson “JJ” Vallow.
- Proof of life photos of Tylee Ryan and “JJ” Vallow were found in Lori Vallow’s iCloud account. Tylee was last photographed with her little brother, “JJ,” and her uncle, Alex Cox, at Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019. “JJ” Vallow was last photographed wearing red pajamas on September 22, 2019, in his mother’s apartment in Rexburg, Idaho.
- Jurors will hear more testimony Thursday on what was found on the 4-acre property of Chad Daybell.
- WATCH: Doomsday Prophet Murder Trial: Day 1 Recap
