BOISE, Idaho — On the 15th day of the Chad Daybell trial, the court heard testimony from Kay Woodcock, JJ Vallow's grandmother, as well as from Chad Daybell's sister-in-law Heather Daybell, and from retired Rexburg PD detective David Stubbs. Stubbs will retake the stand at the beginning of trial on Friday, May 3.
During Kay Woodcock's testimony, she recounted details about hiring a private investigator, she also talks about the last time she talked to JJ Vallow. She talked about how Lori Vallow was making it challenging to talk to JJ and seemed controlling.
Heather Daybell also took the stand. Heather is Matt Daybell's wife, Chad's brother. Heather testified about Chad's religious beliefs and how they differed from the church they attended, the LDS church. Chad's beliefs surrounded the end of times, which is different than the traditional LDS belief system.
The day wrapped up with retired Rexburg PD David Stubbs taking the stand. During this testimony, he showed bodycam footage of a welfare check at Lori Vallow's house. The police did not see JJ Vallow or Tylee Ryan during that welfare check.
Stubbs will take the stand again on Friday, starting the day with a continuation of direct examination.
In court on Wednesday, May 1, testimony was given from several witnesses, including a married couple that was neighbors of the Daybell's when they lived here in Idaho.The Gilbert's, Alice and Todd, both testified about Tammy Daybell's health in the weeks leading up to her untimely death. They both thought that Tammy was healthy. There was also testimony given from the state Medical Examiner of Utah. He has retired since he performed the autopsy on Tammy Daybell, but testified about his findings during that autopsy. The medical examiner testified that the cause of death of Tammy Daybell was asphyxiation - or lack of oxygen in the lungs. It was unclear what caused this exactly.
An insurance broker from Rexburg also testified on Wednesday, discussing Chad's quick marriage to Lori Vallow and how he never brought up Lori Vallow's children. It was later that we found out that the children were deceased at that time, but were considered missing.
The court had scheduling issues on Tuesday, resulting in taking the day off.
The trial is expected to last another three to five weeks.
Live Updates:
1:55 p.m.: Court recesses for the afternoon. There will be more testimony from Daniels, as he will elaborate on more evidence. Court will begin again on Monday at 8:30 a.m.
1:48 p.m.: More physical evidence is brought into the courtroom, this time they are not shown to the public via livestream. It's a pick from the Daybell property. The pick was previously shown in court as an image, but now it's being physically presented. They won't identify what the debris is that's on it, but it's hinted to have something important on it.
1:41 p.m.: There was a sidebar to discuss scheduling. Court will wrap up in about 30 minutes, with no more graphic images being displayed. They change the projector over to an image of a tool they took as evidence. There was black markets and debris on the tool. The FBI also took some shovels as evidence from the Daybell property, due to some debris on them as well.
1:16 p.m.: Daniels discusses trying to find Tylee Ryan's body. Photos are shown but not to the public. They are graphic in nature, and show the bodies of the children. They began looking for Tylee with a tractor but after smelling a decomposing body, they began to look by hand. More images of bone matter is shown, at the time the photos were taken, they were unsure if it was human remains or not. But the anthropologist was able to identify that they were human as they continued to excavate.
1:02 p.m.: Physical evidence is brought in and admitted to court. There is some time taken to get the evidence to the right place and people, as Chad Daybell and his attorney whisper back and forth. One of the exhibits is given to the witness on the stand, special agent Daniels. He puts on gloves while taking the evidence out. It's the Pura Vida bracelet chain and charm that belonged to Tylee Ryan. It was found on Chad Daybell's property on June 9, 2020. The bracelet is then put under the projector and shown in court to the public.
12:45 p.m.: More photos are shown in court taken from surveyor-type devices, this time through the kitchen window. In the image, a barn is shown, just to the right of the barn is the firepit in which Tylee's remains were found nearby. A grid of the property is shown in court as well. There was ash on the ground in the area of the firepit. A jewelry charm of Tylee's was found nearby the firepit. The FBI completed some sifting in the firepit, where they found a bracelet of Tylee's.
12:39 p.m.: Judge Boyce asks that the jurors are brought in. The court is shown images of the property taken from scanners and total station devices.
11:46 a.m.: Due to technical issues, they are taking lunch now. They are taking a 45 minutes lunch recess today, due to the technical issues and shortened day they're having. Lunch begins now.
11:23 a.m.: There are photos to be shared in court, but not to the public. The photos are handed to defense, and Chad Daybell looks at them intently. After a few minutes of going over evidence for the court record, direct examination continues. Daniels testifies about scanners and total station devices - which are similar to what a surveyor uses to map out an area.
11:19 a.m.: Daniels testifies about the days leading up to searching the Daybell property. There were several things that had to be done beforehand, including creating priority search areas, creating sign-in sheets, etc. One of the priority areas of the Daybell property was the firepit, the other being the pet cemetery. Through text messages the FBI examined, they identified these two areas as priority, but there were no direct texts about killing the kids. Prosecution asks for a quick sidebar, which Judge Boyce allows.
11:07 a.m.: The state calls their next witness, Agent Steve Daniels. He's a special agent with the FBI and has worked there for roughly 26 years. He was previously assigned to the evidence response team or ERT, they do forensics for the FBI. Daniels has been on and off the ERT team since 2001. He is testifying about human remains, specifically that of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. Daniels was present for the finding of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. Daniels was a supervisor for that search.
11:04 a.m.: When asked about Gibb and Warwick, Stubbs says that the two were never in the search parameters of the properties. They didn't feel the need to track their phones, as they were never in the area. Redirect concludes. Stubbs is "unlikely" to be recalled, said prosecution, but to be safe, they say they may recall him.
10:57 a.m.: Rob Wood, a prosecutor on the case, was present during the search of Lori Vallow's apartment in Nov. of 2019. There are other questions about the wedding photos, and if it's normal to have photos taken together, and if Stubbs knows why malachite rings were chosen. Cross examination is done, and redirect begins.
10:53 a.m.: During one of the bodycam footage videos, there was a statement made by Stubb that is a signal to turn off bodycam footage. Stubbs turned his off, and there is no recording of what was said after Stubb and his team left the Vallow residence in Nov. of 2019. Prior brings up the fact that Lori Vallow had stated that JJ Vallow was with Melanie Gibb and David Warwick. Prior asks Stubbs why the police did not go into Gibb or Warwick's phone records.
10:41 a.m.: John Prior asks a great deal about the garages of the apartments they searched back in November of 2019. Prior then asks about the "abandoned" apartment they searched. They are now talking about Tylee's Jeep. In Alex Cox's search history, he was looking up details about how to remove seats from it, and other things related to the Jeep. That search history happened days before Alex Cox attempted to shoot at Brandon Boudreaux.
10:27 a.m.: Mid-morning recess took a bit longer than anticipated, as jurors are brought back into the courtroom. Stubbs takes the stand again, to continue his testimony. Direct examination continues at this time. Photos are shown in court, one of them being the wedding photo for Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. In another wedding photo shown, the wedding bands of Vallow and Daybell are visible. They are silver, with possible malachite in them. After the images are shown in court, direct examination concludes, and cross examination begins.
9:55 a.m.: The court admits some exhibits into court, then mid-morning break takes place. Court will be back in 20 minutes.
9:48 a.m.: They discuss search history of one of the accounts they obtained warrants for. It's Alex Cox's account, where he looked up some suspicious activities just days before the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux. They then discuss Chad Daybell's search history. On September 8, 2019, on Chad's account, looked up the wind direction for the following day. It was of note to Stubbs because police believe that September 9, 2019 was the day Tylee Ryan was burned and buried on Chad Daybell's property.
9:30 a.m.: There was a similar app on all the phones that police were looking at. There was a music sharing app that also had a text-like messaging service. Police then got a warrant to look at that app further. On June 9, 2020, they found the bodies of the children on the Daybell property. Just before that, they obtained warrants, along with the FBI, to identify devices that were on that property, to see who was coming and going.
9:23 p.m.: Stubbs testimony continues. He is discussing getting warrants for members of Lori's family, such as Alex Cox and Melani Boudreaux. The search for Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow was still on during that point of the investigation. Stubbs met with Melani Boudreaux in early 2020, to ask her some further questions about her locations and involvement.
9:04 a.m.: Stubbs discusses obtaining search warrants for phones and emails of Lori Vallow, in an attempt to find JJ Vallow. Stubbs says that Google is good at keeping track of people, so they looked at Lori's Gmail account, as it was a good tracker of her. Google tracks a great deal of internet activity, such as credit card numbers, passwords and locations. The police looked at four accounts, one of Alex Cox, two for Lori Vallow and one for Chad Daybell. Stubbs continues to testify about Verizon phone records, and how they pinged the phones to help them find locations.
8:54 a.m.: The apartment 174 was a slightly different story than apartment 175. 174 belonged to Melani Boudreaux, Lori Vallow's niece. Within this apartment, it appeared more lived in, with a car in the garage and clothes in the closet. Prosecution admits another bodycam video into evidence, which is the search of apartment 174.
8:42 a.m.: The first line of questioning is about trying to find JJ Vallow. During the welfare check they completed in December of 2019, they did not see JJ Vallow. So the police obtained warrants, and still didn't find JJ in the three homes on the warrant. They show video searching apartment 175, which was Lori Vallow's apartment in 2019. There was no clothing in the closet, they felt the occupants of the apartment left in haste. In the video, Det. Stubbs goes around the apartment, and he finds a lease agreement on the printer. It's for Lori Vallow, but she used a different last name.
8:37 a.m.: The livestream is up, however no image is displayed. It appears that counsel is having a sidebar with Judge Steven Boyce at this time. Judge Boyce and counsel return to the courtroom, as the video is put up and the jurors are brought in. Retired Det. Stubbs is on the stand to continue testimony. Judge Boyce lets the court know that they are planning to end earlier today, around 2 p.m.
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