A jury of 12 people, plus 6 alternates, was set to hear Chad Daybell's trial on murder charges at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho. The trial is expected to be a lengthy one, possibly lasting as long as two months or more. It's being overseen by District Judge Steven Boyce, who also handled Vallow Daybell's trial.
Because of intense interest in the murder case, the trial is being livestreamed on the judge's YouTube channel. Opening arguments were slated to begin on Wednesday. Prosecutors accuse Daybell of making outlandish claims about the end times and people becoming zombies to justify a string of heinous crimes, including the killing of two children.
On June 1, 2024, an Idaho jury sentenced Chad Daybell to death for the 2019 murders of his first wife and his second wife’s two youngest children.
Mr. Daybell pleaded not guilty to multiple first-degree murder, fraud, and conspiracy charges, but after being found guilty, he chose to waive his right to present mitigating evidence during his sentencing hearing. With this decision, Mr. Daybell declined the opportunity to provide the jury with reasons why he should not be sentenced to death. Judge Steven Boyce confirmed with Mr. Daybell that he did not intend to present any mitigation and Mr. Daybell said, “that is my choice.”
John Prior, his only defense attorney, argued in opening and closing statements that Mr. Daybell’s second wife, Lori Daybell, had changed him and “created the person who committed these crimes.”
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Lori Daybell was found guilty in an earlier trial and sentenced to three life sentences. She is currently awaiting trial in Arizona on a separate murder change.
Following their release from jury duty, two jurors spoke with local news and discussed Mr. Daybell’s decision not to present mitigating evidence. One of the jurors, Tracie Bradley, said when it came to determining the sentence, “it’s like there was no mitigating circumstances to not justify the death penalty after what he did.” Ms. Bradley added that “it was very shocking that [Mr. Daybell] wouldn’t say anything.”
Chad Daybell has previously pleaded not guilty. He faces similar murder and conspiracy charges as his wife, Lori Vallow Daybell - who was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison last year, for murdering two of her children and conspiring to murder Daybell's previous wife, Tammy Daybell.
Chad Daybell listens during a court hearing in 2022.
Charges and Accusations
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell were indicted together in May of 2021; their cases were split at Daybell's request. His attorneys cited, in part, the "mutually antagonistic nature of the defendants' positions." Some of the accusations are different.
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Daybell, 55, faces a first-degree murder charge in Tammy Daybell's death in October of 2019. Lori Vallow Daybell was charged with conspiracy in that death. Chad Daybell is also charged with two counts of insurance fraud. Prosecutors say he maxed out his then-wife's life insurance policy the month before she died, with himself as a beneficiary. Less than a month after her death, he married Lori Vallow Daybell in Hawaii.
If found guilty, Daybell could face the death penalty - a punishment that would be up to the jury to decide, prompting attorneys to ask potential jurors their views on the death penalty as well as the case. Vallow Daybell didn't face the prospect of the death penalty - her lawyers successfully argued for removing the death penalty from her case, and the judge agreed, calling it a "discovery sanction" for the prosecution's late sharing of large amounts of evidence shortly before her trial.
Chad Daybell was convicted of conspiracy and first-degree murder in the Oct. 2019 death of Tammy Daybell. On June 1, the jury recommended the death penalty for Daybell. An indictment accused the couple of espousing religious beliefs to justify the murders.
Discovery of the Children's Bodies
A jury found Vallow Daybell guilty of killing her two youngest children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua Jaxon "JJ" Vallow. Tylee was nearly 17 when she and JJ, 7, were last seen alive in September 2019 - the same month they had moved with their mother from Chandler, Ariz., to Rexburg, Idaho.
The children's bodies were found in June 2020, buried on property in Rexburg owned by Chad Daybell. Photos from the scene, shown at last year's trial, were horrific and heart-wrenching. At Vallow Daybell's sentencing, Boyce said she had chosen "the most evil and destructive path possible" in pursuing a new life with Chad Daybell. While the couple honeymooned in Hawaii, the judge said, the two children were left in shallow graves in Idaho - "burned, mutilated and dismembered, and buried like animals."
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Prosecutors said Vallow Daybell didn't report her children missing, and that for months after their deaths, she kept collecting benefit payments on their behalf. Vallow Daybell was also found guilty of conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell, a librarian and educator who was found dead in her home at age 49. Tammy's death was initially attributed to natural causes, but prosecutors said it was later ruled an asphyxiation after her body was exhumed for an autopsy.
Memorial for Tylee Ryan and Joshua Vallow.
Role of Religious Beliefs
The Doomsday Couple: The Unbelievable Case of Lori Vallow And Chad Daybell
"I have found in my own reporting that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell really existed at the fringes, the far right fringes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," journalist and writer Leah Sottile told member station Boise State Public Radio, "and that they ... During Vallow Daybell's trial, Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors that Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell portrayed themselves as religious figures called "James and Elaina."
Vallow Daybell and Daybell met in the fall of 2018 - a time when both of them were married to other people. Melanie Gibb, a confidante of Vallow Daybell's, testified last year that she watched her friend become increasingly involved with Chad Daybell, with the pair telling her that they had been married in a previous life. They spoke of being joined for eternity and leading 144,000 people in the end times, as described in the Book of Revelation, Gibb said.
Gibb said the couple also shared beliefs about people being overtaken by dark, evil energy. The criminal indictment cites text messages between the pair "regarding death percentages for Tammy" Daybell, as well as messages about her being in limbo, and Tammy "being possessed by a spirit named Viola."
Chad Daybell told Vallow Daybell his theories about zombies in early 2019, Gibb said in a 2020 probable cause affidavit from Rexburg, Idaho, police detective Ron Ball. In their eyes, a person who has been taken over by dark spirits could only be released through physical death, Ball stated. Prosecutors say the couple used their fantastical beliefs as pretexts to remove people from their lives - and profit from their deaths.
Alex Cox's Involvement
The indictment's conspiracy murder charges also name Alex Cox, Lori Vallow's late brother. Months after Chad Daybell spoke to Lori Vallow about people becoming zombies, Cox shot and killed his sister's fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona - where Lori Vallow Daybell currently faces charges over the death.
Cox claimed he acted in self-defense after an argument on July 11, 2019. But Maricopa County prosecutors allege that Lori Vallow planned the killing, saying her motive was two-fold: to marry Daybell and get a payout from a $1 million life insurance policy. Charles Vallow had previously told police that his wife threatened to kill him, stating, "I can murder you now, with my powers."
A week after Vallow's death, Lori Vallow Daybell sent a text to Chad Daybell about his insurance policy, expressing her shock that she wasn't the beneficiary, according to police testimony during last year's trial cited by East Idaho News. Three months later, prosecutors allege, Alex Cox tried to shoot Tammy Daybell at her home in eastern Idaho. They also say that on the night Daybell died unexpectedly, Alex was spotted in a parking lot about 2.5 miles away.
In December of 2019, Alex Cox also died; a medical examiner concluded that he died of natural causes.
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell.
Rules Set for Trial
Attorneys for both sides have also told the judge they believe some of their prospective witnesses plan to watch or listen to the trial with the intention of being precluded from testifying in court. In response, Boyce ordered the witnesses not to watch testimony - and he told attorneys to share the names of anyone they suspect might do it anyway.
The defense and prosecution were ordered not to speak about the Chad Daybell case outside of court until opening statements are made. That order came after Daybell's defense attorney, John Prior, recently discussed the case in an interview with local TV station KIVI.
"At this point, we're ready to go forward and he wants to tell his story," Prior said of his client. He also praised the judge for moving the trial to its current location. "One of the main reasons I'm grateful is I know the folks in Ada County," Prior said.
Additional Testimony and Evidence
Closing arguments have been presented and jury deliberations began. Jurors heard from the defense’s final witness, Dr. Tylee Ryan’s remains were mutilated and severely burned. Dr. Bartelink agreed with the State’s witness, Dr. Angi Christensen, a Forensic Anthropologist with the FBI, that there were several signs of blunt force trauma and sharp force trauma to the remains.
Judge Boyce ruled a clerical error on an amended indictment for JJ Vallow’s murder was not grounds for acquittal of the murder charge. Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow texted each other about “death percentages” for Lori’s two children and Chad’s first wife in July and August of 2019. Chad Daybell talked about “giving pain” to people around Lori Vallow. He claimed to have “turned up the pain” and placed a “spiritual virus” inside Tylee Ryan.
On October 5, 2019, Chad Daybell texted Lori that his wife, Tammy Daybell, was in limbo and a demonic entity named Viola had entered Tammy’s body. Jurors were shown two short video clips of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. One showed Tylee Ryan hugging JJ Vallow at Yellowstone National Park with Alex Cox smiling behind them. The second was of JJ sitting on a sofa with a drink.
Never-Heard-Before Jailhouse Call
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. Daybell told Lori that “Ray” [Lori’s brother] “misses you, but he’s not far from contact. 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. Chad and Lori discussed the “complications” with the project.
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.
Timeline and Testimonies
- On September 23, 2019, JJ Vallow was absent from school.
- 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.
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.
Detective Chuck Kunsaitis returned to the witness stand to testify about satellite imagery of Chad Daybell’s property. 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.
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. Samantha Gwilliam said her sister, Tammy, did not want to move away from her family in Springville, 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. Chad Daybell searched for “malachite” wedding rings in March 2019.
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. Jurors heard testimony from colleagues of Tammy Daybell, who all said they were in “shock” to learn of her passing.
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 remains were delivered to the coroner’s office in multiple bags. The bags contained charred bones and portions of flesh.
Chad Daybell's Claims
Dr. 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. Pastenes witnessed a “romantic affair” between Daybell and Vallow while Tammy Daybell was alive.
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.
Zulema Pastenes visited Rexburg, Idaho, in mid-September 2019. Pastenes saw JJ at home and asked Lori where Tylee was. 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.
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.
Chad Daybell told Pawlowski that her ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, was tracking her using a device on her car. Pawlowski traveled to Rexburg, Idaho, to visit Vallow in September 2019, and did not see Tylee or JJ. In October 2019, Vallow and Pawlowski traveled to Missouri and Hawaii. According to Melani Pawlowski, Lori Vallow “seemed in a state of shock, surprised” after learning Tammy Daybell had died.
Discovery of Remains
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. When investigators began sifting through the fire pit area, they started smelling decomposing remains. Special Agent Daniels said they found JJ buried under stones and cement.
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. Lori Vallow Daybell told her new in-laws that her previous husband had died of a heart attack and her daughter had died.
Jurors watched body camera videos of Rexburg Police visit Lori Vallow Daybell’s apartment in November 2019. Woodcock became suspicious when she could not contact her grandson, JJ, and his mother, Lori Vallow.
Autopsy and Findings
An autopsy of Tamara “Tammy” Daybell determined that her cause of death was asphyxia, and the manner of death was a homicide. Bruising to Tammy Daybell’s left and right arms and chest were determined to have hemorrhaging in the soft tissue.
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. 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.
In November 2019, Chad Daybell was asked about the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. 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.
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