Day 6: ‘A pretty overwhelming task.’ Uncle who ID’d JJ testifies in Vallow Daybell trial
Find live updates on Day 7 of the trial here.
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic language about the deaths of children.
Dozens of people lined the fourth-floor hallway of the Ada County Courthouse early Monday morning waiting to get into the courtroom where Lori Vallow Daybell’s roughly eight-week trial is taking place.
This is the first day that the public, along with reporters, have been allowed in the courtroom. Throughout the five-day jury selection process, family members, reporters and other observers watched through a live stream in the courthouse’s public hearing room.
An 18-person jury panel — 12 jurors and six alternates — will decide whether Vallow Daybell killed her two children: 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. Vallow Daybell is also charged with three counts of conspiring to commit murder in her children’s deaths and the death of Tammy Daybell. Vallow Daybell later married Tammy Daybell’s husband, Chad Daybell.
Chad Daybell — whose trial date has not been set — is also charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the children’s deaths. He is also accused of the first-degree murder of Tammy Daybell. The Daybells have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Vallow Daybell also faces a charge of conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the death of her former husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona.
Roughly 60 people made their way into courtroom 400 about 45 minutes behind schedule. The onlookers, which include family members and reporters, were reminded that no cameras are allowed and audio and video recording is prohibited.
“We had a very serious technical issue that delayed proceedings quite a bit,” 7th District Judge Steven Boyce told the jury as they entered the courtroom at 9:15 a.m.
READ MORE: Who gets to be a juror? Panel selected for Lori Vallow Daybell’s ‘once-in-a-decade’ trial
2 p.m. — ’It’s a pretty overwhelming task to do:’ Uncle who identified JJ testifies
Brandon Boudreaux, the uncle of JJ and Tylee, throughout his hour and a half of testimony, described an October 2019 shooting that occurred in Arizona. But his testimony didn’t come without some pushback from the defense, which argued Boudreaux’s testimony about an Arizona shooting shouldn’t be allowed.
Missouri-based attorney Rachel Smith, who is working with the prosecution, said Boudreaux’s testimony is critical to showing that the Daybells killed and conspired to kill multiple people and that there will be additional witnesses who give similar testimony to Boudreaux’s. Boudreaux was the previous husband of Melani Pawlowski, Lori Vallow Daybell’s niece.
Judge Steven Boyce allowed Boudreaux to continue testifying about the Arizona shooting but warned the prosecution that if they don’t show sufficient evidence to show that the shooting of Boudreaux was all part of the same plan then they will “have an issue with the jury having heard this testimony.”
On Oct. 2, 2019, Boudreaux was driving back from the gym when he noticed a grayish-green Jeep Wrangler with a Texas license plate near his home. He testified that as he was driving up he saw the window open farther and “heard a bang.” The bullet would miss his head by a few inches, Fox10 Phoenix reported. Boudreaux told Thomas during cross-examination that he couldn’t identify the truck’s license plate number.
But, he said he later remembered that Charles Vallow had bought Tylee a Jeep Wrangler and he actually had the VIN number because he was an insurance agent and Charles Vallow had previously asked him to run the prices on his cars.
“Is it possible that that shot came from somewhere else?” Thomas asked Boudreaux during cross-examination.
“No,” Boudreaux responded.
A month after the shooting, the Gilbert Police Department recommend that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office charge the Daybells with attempted murder, but in September 2022 prosecutors said they wouldn’t charge Chad Daybell and were still reviewing charges against Vallow Daybell, Fox10 Phoenix reported.
Smith said the Arizona shooting is what “actively got law enforcement looking for JJ.”
Boudreaux was asked by the Rexburg (Idaho) Police Department to identify JJ’s body, which he did.
“It’s a pretty overwhelming task to do,” Boudreaux said when asked by Thomas during cross-examination why the Woodcocks — JJ’s biological grandparents — didn’t identify the 7-year-old.
Boyce excused the jury for the day at 3:15 p.m. The prosecution is expected to call Rexburg Police Det. Ray Hermosillo at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
1 p.m. — Kay Woodcock finds wedding purchases on dead brother’s Amazon account
Kay Woodcock, JJ’s biological grandmother, told the court Monday that she and her husband, Larry, hired a private investigator in October after they hadn’t heard from Vallow Daybell and didn’t know where JJ was. The Woodcocks put out a $20,000 reward and talked to every news outlet they could to raise awareness about Tylee and JJ’s disappearance.
“We were so worried about JJ,” Woodcock said in her thick Southern accent as she testified from the witness stand Monday. Woodcock was the sister of Charles Vallow, the fourth husband of Vallow Daybell.
Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox, who originally claimed it was self-defense. But Arizona prosecutors would later accuse Vallow Daybell, along with Cox, of conspiring to kill Charles Vallow.
Woodcock said months after her brother died in July 2019, she was trying to set up Charles Vallow’s old printer when his email popped up on her computer’s internet browser. Woodcock said she was able to access his email account and said she noticed an Amazon purchase sent to an apartment complex in Rexburg.
Woodcock testified that she also noticed searches on Charles Vallow’s Amazon account for items including a beach wedding dress, bathing suit and Malakai wedding rings. The Daybells got married on a beach in Hawaii and were seen wearing Malakai wedding rings, East Idaho News reported.
“I was shocked at what I’d found,” Woodcock said.
Vallow Daybell’s attorney John Thomas during cross-examination asked Woodcock how she accessed the email and Woodcock responded that she thought it was “divine intervention” or “God’s hand” helping her.
11:30 a.m. — JJ’s grandmother takes the witness stand
“Gotta go, mama. Gotta go papa.”
Those were the last words JJ told his grandparents, Kay Woodcock told the court Monday afternoon. This was on Aug. 10, 2019, nearly two months before he’d go missing and then later be found dead.
Woodcock, JJ’s biological grandmother, began testifying early Monday afternoon and outlined the details that allowed her brother, Charles Vallow, and Vallow Daybell to adopt JJ. Charles Vallow was Vallow Daybell’s fourth husband and they were married for roughly 13 years.
JJ was born 10 weeks early on May 25, 2017, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Woodcock said he spent six to seven weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit after he was born with drugs in his system. This led the Woodcocks — Kay and Larry — to become JJ’s guardians as JJ was Kay Woodcock’s son’s child.
Woodcock testified Monday that Charles and Lori Vallow Daybell approached the Woodcocks about adopting JJ as they “wanted to have a child of their own.” Tylee and Vallow Daybell’s eldest son, Colby Ryan, were from her second and third marriages.
“She just kind of seemed like (what) every mom wants to be,” Woodcock said about Vallow Daybell. The Woodcocks agreed to let Charles and Lori Vallow Daybell adopt JJ, though they still wanted to be involved in his life. It was part of the adoption agreement that they’d get to see him.
Woodcock, who lives in Louisiana, said that she and Larry Woodcock would try to see JJ every chance they could.
“When he learned to Facetime, he would call us all the time,” Woodcock said.
In February 2019, Charles Vallow reached out to his sister, Woodcock said, informing her that he and Vallow Daybell had split up and he was “distraught.” Woodcock said that from February 2019 to March 2019 they were helping Charles Vallow take care of JJ and she was also helping him with work. Because of this, she had access to his finances and emails.
By July 11, 2019, Charles Vallow had died.
Woodcock testified that in February 2019 Charles Vallow told her he’d like to name her the beneficiary of his $1 million life insurance policy. Woodcock would receive the life insurance police and give $500,000 to Charles Vallow’s two older sons at the request of her brother.
Woodcock said she promised Charles Vallow she’d use the remaining money “to finish raising JJ, because Lori didn’t want him anymore.”
While the Woodcocks would Facetime with JJ a few more times before he’d go missing and eventually be found dead, the last time the Woodcocks saw him in person was in May 2019 roughly a week before his birthday.
10:30 a.m. — Vallow Daybell defense attorney says the jury needs to focus on Lori
Attorneys haven’t been able to agree on the series of events that led to the deaths of Tylee, JJ and Tammy, Vallow Daybell’s attorney Jim Archibald said in his opening statement. This is why they are now asking the 18-person jury panel to decide.
Archibald said that Vallow Daybell was in her apartment in Rexburg when Tylee and JJ died in her brother Alex Cox’s apartment — which was in the same apartment complex.
He also said — which the prosecution confirmed — Vallow Daybell was in Hawaii when Tammy Daybell was killed.
“You are here to focus on what she did, not on what Chad Daybell did or what Alex Cox did,” Archibald said.
Archibald, who stayed behind the podium throughout his statement, also thanked the jurors for giving Vallow Daybell a “clean slate” as all the information that has been publicized about the case isn’t evidence.
“Being a defense lawyer isn’t a popular job,” Archibald said. He mentioned that his law office was bombed a few years ago and said not everyone likes defense attorneys.
He also commented on the indictment, which outlines that Chad Daybell, Vallow Daybell and Cox along with other “co-conspirators, both known and unknown” did “conspire, confederate and agree” to kill JJ and Tylee.
“This charge is saying they’re not sure what happened,” Archibald said, “and yet they want you to be sure.”
9:45 a.m. — ‘Money, power and sex:’ Prosecution lays out case in opening statement
Tylee’s hands were gone. JJ’s hands were bound. Tammy, who was described as a “computer whiz,” would never place her hands on a computer keyboard again.
But Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell joined hands as they got married on a beach in Hawaii.
This was just part of the information that Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake laid out in the prosecution’s 30-minute opening statement. Blake said that it didn’t matter what obstacles — including people — were in Vallow Daybell’s way so long as she got what she wanted.
“Money, power and sex,” Blake said in court. “That’s what this case is about.”
Blake described Tylee and JJ as “vibrant.” Both children received Social Security benefits, and Blake alleged that Vallow Daybell collected their benefits after they were dead.
“Tylee had money, Lori wanted it, Tylee’s gone,” Blake said.
She said that Tylee’s body, which was found on Chad Daybell’s property along with her brother JJ’s body, was a “mass of bone and tissue.” Blake also said that prosecutors will present evidence that shows DNA was found on a pickax and a shovel which were also found on Chad Daybell’s property.
Blake alleged JJ took a lot of time, effort and energy to take care of and that Vallow Daybell didn’t want to take care of him anymore. JJ’s body was found wrapped in a garbage bag on Chad Daybell’s Salem, Idaho, property in Fremont County.
“That’s how the defendant’s little boy was found,” Blake said.
Tammy Daybell died on Oct. 19, 2019, and officials previously believed she died from natural causes. But after her body was exhumed less than two months after her death a medical examiner ruled her death a homicide by asphyxiation, Blake said.
“The defendant will remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wanted,” Blake said, “and she wanted Chad Daybell.”
Check this story for live updates on Vallow Daybell’s trial.
