Lori Vallow trial – live: Chad Daybell wired $24k to his own children as police dug for Tylee and JJ’s bodies

The high-profile trial of “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow continues in Boise, Idaho, as the jury hears a seventh day of testimony.

Ms Vallow, 49, is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, seven.

Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019. Their bodies were found buried on the property of Ms Vallow’s new husband Chad Daybell in June 2020.

Ms Vallow is also charged with conspiracy to murder Mr Daybell’s first wife Tammy in October 2019.

She has pleaded not guilty in a dramatic case spanning multiple murders and unexplained deaths, where jurors have heard testimony about Ms Vallow’s concerning cult beliefs.

On Tuesday, the jury heard Ms Vallow’s only surviving child Colby Ryan angrily confront his mother about his siblings’ deaths in a jailhouse phone call, telling her: “You ripped my heart out!”

Wednesday’s testimony outlined how after their murders Ms Vallow stole Social Security payments intended for Tylee and JJ, and how Mr Daybell wired thousands of dollars to his own family as police searched his property for the children’s bodies.

Key points

• Lori Vallow’s chilling response to question about missing daughter

• Cult mom told friend her husband needed to die to prepare for Second Coming

• Lori Vallow confronted by best friend about JJ lies and relationship with Chad Daybell

• Shocked court hears how JJ was found buried in red pyjamas

• Lori Vallow trial hears emotional prison call with surviving son

Court resumes

15:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Steven Boyce is on the bench and both the prosecution team and the defence team have taken their places.

The jury is being brought in.

There are scheduling issues that the court will deal with later today

Court to resume for day eight of testimony momentarily

15:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori appears to be in a good mood and is writing on her notepad (which she does a lot). Her legal team has not yet entered the courtroom.

The bailiff reminds those in attendance about silencing phones and not using them to record audio or video.

He makes a special request about restricting whispering to breaks and to now crinkle candy wrappers.

ICYMI: Colby Ryan confronts mother about deaths of siblings

15:23 , Oliver O'Connell

The only surviving child of a woman charged in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival confronted his mother about his siblings’ deaths in an emotional phone call played for jurors on Tuesday in a trial that has touched on claims of evil spirits, zombie children and an additional murder charge in another state.

Prosecutors played the call shortly after Colby Ryan, Lori Vallow Daybell’s oldest child, took the stand in the bizarre triple murder case in Idaho. The call was made after the bodies of Ryan’s siblings, Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, were found buried in an eastern Idaho yard in 2020, and after Vallow Daybell was jailed in connection with the crime.

It starts with Ryan asking his mom if she thought she could keep hiding from him.

“I’m not hiding, why would you think I’m hiding?” Vallow Daybell responds.

“Probably because you murdered my siblings! Maybe you should understand,” Ryan continued, before his mother interrupted:

“I didn’t. I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said.

The call continued for several minutes, with Vallow Daybell insisting that Ryan can’t know what happened because he wasn’t there, but that JJ and Tylee were happy and all would become clear in the afterlife.

But Ryan said his mother lied to him multiple times while his brother and sister were missing, with someone even sending him texts from his sister’s phone as if they were from Tylee.

“To know that they’re gone, and you knew! And my phone is being texted by my little sister, who’s not even alive!” Ryan said, his voice rising. “My poor brother, who is the sweetest little kid ever — for what purpose? You tell me this is God’s will: For my whole family, including my stepfather, to be dead.”

AP

Lori Vallow confronted by best friend in secret recording

15:01 , Oliver O'Connell

We’ve heard from several former friends of Lori Vallow, but one of the most intriguing was Melanie Gibb.

Andrea Blanco reports on what she told the court.

Lori Vallow confronted by best friend about JJ lies in secret recording

What we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell ‘doomsday cult’ murder trial

14:00 , Rachel Sharp

It looked every inch the fairytale wedding.

Dressed in white with pink flower garlands around their necks, the bride and groom couldn’t have looked happier as they exchanged vows on a paradise beach in Hawaii.

Photos captured the apparently blissful day as they toasted their nuptials, embraced and she danced to him playing the guitar.

But, behind the photos, something much more disturbing was going on.

Her two children had not been seen alive in two months.

His wife of three decades – the mother of his five children – had died suddenly just two weeks earlier.

And her husband had been shot dead by her brother (who would also soon be dead) not long before.

It’s a bizarre and tragic case that has captured the attention of the nation, leaving many with one big unanswered question: how could a woman who for years appeared to be a loving, doting mother allegedly murder her children in the belief that they had turned into “zombies”?

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:

What we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell ‘doomsday cult’ murder trial

Final photos of Lori Vallow’s children

13:30 , Rachel Sharp

The last photo – and known sighting – of Tylee Ryan, seen with JJ and Alex Cox at Yellowstone National Park in September 2019:

Days later, the last photo was taken of JJ Vallow in his red pyjamas on a sofa in his mother’s home:

Key revelations from Lori Vallow’s murder trial so far...

13:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp has compiled the key revelations of the trial to date:

Cult beliefs and charred remains: Key revelations from Lori Vallow’s murder trial

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell were planning new life in Hawaii – without children

12:30 , Rachel Sharp

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell were planning to embark on a new life together in Hawaii – without any children.

This is what jurors heard in court on Wednesday.

Jurors were shown an email sent by Mr Daybell to a realtor in Hawaii in November 2019, just days after the couple wed on a beach there.

In the email he said that they were looking for a home for a couple “with no pets or children”.

“We are interested in seeing this property. Would the owners be interested in leasing this property to a clean couple with no pets or children? Please let us know. Thank you,” he wrote.

Timeline of ‘doomsday cult mom’s’ mystery case

12:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp has compiled a timeline of the tragic and bizarre case:

Timeline of the Lori Vallow Daybell case

Everything we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell trial

10:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp delves into the deeply disturbing tale of suspected murders, unexplained deaths and apocalyptic cult beliefs about killing zombies which surrounds Lori Vallow and her doomsday author husband Chad Daybell.

What we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell ‘doomsday cult’ murder trial

Lori Vallow’s children: Buried in pyjamas and burned beyond recognition

08:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Graphic photos shown at “cult mom” Lori Vallow’s murder trial revealed how her slain son JJ was still wearing his red pyjamas and a nighttime diaper when his remains were found buried in a shallow grave on Chad Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho.

Joshua “JJ” Vallow was last seen alive on 22 September 2019, his sister hadn’t been seen for two weeks.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Lori Vallow’s son JJ was found buried in red pyjamas and diaper

Chad Daybell warned Lori Vallow of police search of his property

06:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A jailhouse phone call captured the moment Chad Daybell warned “cult mom” Lori Vallow that police were closing in on the day that her children’s remains were discovered buried on his property.

In the call, made on 9 June 2020 and played in court during Ms Vallow’s high-profile double murder trial on Wednesday, Mr Daybell is heard telling his new wife that law enforcement were on the scene searching his property in Rexburg, Idaho.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Lori Vallow trial hears jailhouse call with Chad Daybell on day bodies found

Lori Vallow confronted by best friend in secret recording

04:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A phone call between “cult mom” Lori Vallow and her former best friend was played in court during her ongoing trial for the murders of two of her children.

The trial of Ms Vallow, 49, continues at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, almost three years after she was charged with killing her son Joshua “JJ” Vallow and daughter Tylee Ryan and conspiring to murder her doomsday preacher’s husband Chad Daybell’s first wife.

On Thursday, prosecutors played a phone conversation between Mr Daybell, Ms Vallow and her then-best friend Melanie Gibb, who was on the stand testifying for the state.

Andrea Blanco has the story.

Lori Vallow confronted by best friend about JJ lies in secret recording

Lori Vallow’s chilling response to question about missing daughter

02:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A former friend of Lori Vallow has revealed the “cult mom’s” chilling response after being confronted about her missing teen daughter.

Andrea Blanco reports.

Lori Vallow’s chilling response to question about missing Tylee revealed

Colby Ryan’s emotional call with his mother: ‘You ripped my heart out’

Thursday 20 April 2023 00:30 , Oliver O'Connell

On day six of testimony in the trial of “cult mom” Lori Vallow, the jury heard a recording of a phone call between the defendant and her eldest son from the early months of her incarceration.

Colby Ryan, Ms Vallow’s son from her second marriage, was called a witness for the prosecution. He is her only surviving child following the murders of daughter Tylee, 16, and adopted son JJ, 7, in September 2019.

In the emotional call between mother and son, Ms Vallow refused to switch on her camera, while Mr Ryan demanded to know whether Jesus had really told her to murder his siblings.

Lori Vallow trial hears gut-wrenching prison call with surviving son Colby Ryan

Court adjourns for the day

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:31 , Oliver O'Connell

There is a brief redirect regarding if April knew about the hierarchy of the “religion” Lori was involved in — she says she did not but mainly thinks of the group involved in the podcasts (Chad, Zulema, Melanie, etc).

Judge Boyce adjourns the court for the day.

The trial resumes again tomorrow morning at 8.30am MT.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:26 , Oliver O'Connell

April says she had never met Melanie Gibb before the 2019 Hawaii visit and says that both Melanie and Lori were on the same page concerning their new beliefs. She felt they were “subtly grooming” her, and she felt “their ultimate goal was to include me”.

She was not interested.

Cross-examination concludes.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:24 , Oliver O'Connell

April says she does not believe in multiple lives/probations and their church does not teach that. She did not hear Lori talk about zombies or castings in 2018, but in 2019 she did talk about the light/dark scale.

She describes it as unusual and that Lori had not spoken about it when they lived in Hawaii before.

April asked why she had changed her beliefs and Lori said she had had experiences in the temple that changed her views and she found a group of like-minded people. April told Lori she didn’t share the beliefs — despite Lori saying she was a goddess.

She is asked what they taught their children about Jesus and says they taught that he healed sick people but couldn’t recall specifically if they said he cast out evil spirits.

They did teach the children about the love of God and the need to be good people.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:18 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Archibald begins cross-examination.

He asks if she noticed a change in Lori’s religious beliefs during the time she knew her. April says yes, when she became part of the new group she was involved in.

April says Lori’s beliefs about Jesus started to change a little when she had visited Hawaii in July 2018. By the 2019 visit, those beliefs were more amplified than before.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori told April on the first night she was in Hawaii that she was a leader of the 144,000 and that she was there to gather people including April.

She told her she would need to separate from her kids because she had fulfilled her role in their lives and there was a bigger mission for her. She said to leave the children with their father.

No further questions from the prosecution.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:14 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori told April about Charles going on a business trip and she discovered evidence of him having an affair so she canceled his flight and credit cards and moved his truck from the airport parking lot.

Melanie Gibb backed up her story.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:12 , Oliver O'Connell

Later Lori admitted to April that Charles did not know she was in Hawaii and that if he reached out she was not to tell him where she was.

She said Charles had hired a private investigator to track her down and to throw him off she told Charles she was in Idaho for a conference.

Eventually, Lori moved out of April’s house and went to the Kauai Beach Resort where Melanie Gibb joined her. The three women went out for lunch and a few evenings for dinner. Tylee went back to Arizona to work at her aunt’s chiropractic clinic.

Lori told April that Charles had been reaching out to her family by email and asked if he got in touch with her to not respond.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:07 , Oliver O'Connell

April also got to know Charles Vallow as he worked from home a lot and she would visit Lori several times a week.

They would go on walks and Lori would colour April’s hair.

After the family moved away from Hawaii, April unexpectedly got a call from Lori in February 2019 saying she and Tylee were back and that she was leaving Charles. She asked if they could stay with April and she agreed.

Lori told her Charles was having an affair and he had turned into a demon named Ned Schneider. They would be getting a divorce.

She also told April that she didn’t bring JJ with her as she was “done with him” and Charles and Kay Woodcock would have to figure out what to do with him.

April understood this to mean that after the divorce Charles would have to take care of JJ as Lori no longer would.

Lori added that Charles was already dead and the demon was using his body. When she asked how she knew it wasn’t Charles any longer she replied: “He’s shorter.”

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

April has lived in Hawaii for eighteen years and met Lori through a branch of the LDS church in 2016.

They became friends outside of church and their children spent time together, and they celebrated holidays in one another’s company.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:58 , Oliver O'Connell

Before her testimony begins, April is asked about an interview with Lori’s cousin she saw on Facebook. A friend sent it to her and she started to read it but did not finish and read a handful of comments. She says the article did not involve the proceedings but was more about the LDS influence on the case.

April says she has not spoken to the media for any follow-up interviews and has told anyone enquiring that she cannot talk to them.

Judge Boyce rules that she can testify and the jury is brought back in.

New witness: April Raymond

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Court is back in session following the afternoon recess and the next witness is April Raymond, a friend of Lori’s from Hawaii.

April believed that Lori and Charles had a happy marriage until Lori began talking about a new religious group she was involved with and an author named Chad Daybell.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:44 , Oliver O'Connell

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:24 , Oliver O'Connell

No further questions from Blake and Judge Boyce calls for the mid-afternoon recess.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:21 , Oliver O'Connell

Attorney Lindsey Blake begins redirect questioning of Det Ynclan by trying to introduce the argument that Alex’s actions were not in self defence as has been claimed by Lori, given everything we now know.

“If Alex Cox was still alive, do you believe your agency would have made a recommendation that charges be filed?” she asks.

There is an objection that is sustained.

Instead, she asks if there are usually arrests on the day an investigation begins, to which Det Ynclan replies generally, no, and that it depends on the totality of the investigation and other factors.

There’s a sidebar with Judge Boyce.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Archibald re-asks the question and Ynclan says she did not arrest Alex Cox on 11 July 2019.

He asks if Lori’s description of the altercation between Charles and Alex was consistent among all the interviews. She says it was.

No further questions.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:11 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Archibald cross-examines Det Ynclan and asks if she watched the videos of her interviews to help her remember what was said. She replies partially, yes.

He asks if Alex Cox was ever arrested and the prosection calls for a sidebar with Judge Boyce.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:09 , Oliver O'Connell

Det Ynclan continues to describe Lori’s version of events from the morning of Charles’s death by saying that she was told Tylee started to come back toward the house and Lori put JJ in the car and the three of them left to take JJ to school.

After they left the house, Alex called her and she told him that he needed to call 911 as she was taking JJ to school. She said she never called 911 herself.

Det Ynclan also interviewed Tylee and then Det Moffitt interviewed Alex. After that, the three were taken home.

On the car ride home, Det Ynclan said of Lori: “She was very nonchalant about what had happened, not upset, and there was some chatter about Tylee, school and mundane conversation.”

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:04 , Oliver O'Connell

On the morning of the shooting, she told the detective that Charles had been late to pick up JJ and he had been reluctant to go with his father. They got him settled and ready to leave.

She explained how she had asked Alex Cox to stay at the house the night before as she knew Charles was coming.

Charles had then left his phone in the house and had gone back to retrieve it leaving JJ outside. She said when he came in she was holding the phone and he got very upset with her and she made “statements to him about messages on the phone”.

While they argued, Lori says she moved around the kitchen and refused to give the phone back.

Tylee then appeared with a bat, Lori told the detective, and prodded Charles in defence of Lori. Charles seized the bat from her and was increasingly angry.

At this point, she says, Alex interceded and grabbed Charles from behind and a physical altercation ensued.

Lori instructed Tylee to go outside with JJ and she moved back into the kitchen, where she could hear the fight but did not see when Alex fired a gun at Charles. When she went back into the room, Charles was on the floor.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:57 , Oliver O'Connell

During the interview, Lori explained she, Tylee, and JJ had only lived there a few weeks and she had separated from her husband.

She explained that Charles had been living in Houston and Lori had gone out there but had returned to Arizona.

Lori said she had allowed Charles to take JJ back to Houston with him at one point, telling Det Ynclan about his special needs care and how Charles did not have the service available where he lived.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Det Ynclan drove Lori and Tylee to the victim advocacy centre for interviews.

Lori remained calm and not upset, chatting with Tylee about school and her future.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:48 , Oliver O'Connell

The defence again objects about the inclusion of evidence from Arizona and is again overruled by Judge Boyce.

Det Ynclan says she arrived at the scene of the shooting after patrol officers had secured the area. She spoke with Lori and Tylee and moved them outside to the crisis response unit van, learning that Lori was the victim’s wife and the shooter was her brother.

Det Ynclan was with Lori when a sergeant informed her that her husband was dead.

“She didn’t have much of a reaction. When she was informed that Charles was deceased, she responded that she already knew and made statements that she was present when it happened. This was new information to detectives.”

Before being notified of the death, Det Ynclan says: “[Lori] appeared calm, very non-emotional, was kind of hanging out and having general conversations. She was not really upset and at one point she was laughing.”

New witness: Detective Sandra Ynclan, Chandler PD

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:42 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness is Detective Sandra Ynclan of the Chandler Police Department.

She has been with the department for 22 years and is a detective in the robbery and homicide division. She has been with the unit since 2009.

Det Ynclan interviewed Lori and Tylee on the say of the killing of Charles Vallow.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Archibald cross-examines Werther and asks who made the 911 call.

Werther replies that Alex Cox did but it was not he who spoke to him.

Asked about who was in the car with Lori, Werther says JJ was in the front and Tylee was in the back.

No further questions.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:33 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori took Charles’s phone with her when she left the house after he was shot and an analysis of the device data shows she actually went to Walgreens not a CVS store.

According to the data, she was at Walgreens at 8.15am, around the school at 8.30am, and then back at the scene of the shooting at 8.48am.

The 911 call came at 8.36am.

When police arrived at Charles Vallow’s house, they never saw his phone and it was never recovered on his body. Blake has no further questions.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori then dropped JJ at school at Lauren’s Academy some seven to eight miles away.

The 911 call came through at 8.36am with the first officers on the scene at 8.42am.

Lori arrived back at the scene at 8.48am.

Werther says it doesn’t seem plausible that Lori could have driven to and from the school with the stops she says she made in that time.

Lori also says she stopped to buy flip-flops at a branch of CVS for JJ who left the house without shoes. Werther visited several CVS stores and could not find her on CCTV.