Lori Vallow trial – live: Cult mom’s uncle becomes emotional outside court as sister’s pained call revealed

The trial of “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow is underway in Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, where the mother-of-three is accused of killing her two youngest children and her new husband Chad Daybell’s first wife.

The 49-year-old is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Mr Daybell’s first wife Tammy, 49.

Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019. In June 2020, their remains were found buried on the Daybell property. Tammy died one month after their disappearance in October 2019.

The string of mysterious deaths and murders, and the bizarre cult beliefs of those involved, have generated huge interest in the case. Ms Vallow allegedly also conspired to murder her fourth husband Charles Vallow and is charged separately in a case in Arizona.

On Tuesday, jurors heard a jailhouse call where Ms Vallow’s sister Summer Shiflet confronted her about not caring that her children were “thrown away like garbage”.

Outside court, Ms Vallow’s uncle choked up with emotion as he said the past four years had been “very difficult” for the families.

Key points

• Lori Vallow’s chilling internet search history

• JJ vanished after ‘knocking over picture of Christ’

• 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 trial hears emotional prison call with surviving son

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

Lori Vallow trial hears devastating call with sister saying she treated children’s bodies ‘like garbage’

12:00 , Rachel Sharp

The trial of “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow has been played a devastating jailhouse call in which her sister accused her of throwing her murdered children “away like garbage.”

An Idaho court heard Summer Shiflet sobbing uncontrollably in audio of a video call she made with her sister as she sat behind bars on 24 June 2020.

In the call, Ms Shiflet told her sister that Tylee and JJ’s bodies had been found in Ms Vallow’s backyard, with Tylee’s being discovered in a pet cemetery.

“Did you know they were there?” Ms Shiflet asked her sister, to which she replied, ”I can’t talk about it.”

Read the story here:

Vallow trial hears devastating call with sister after discovery of children’s bodies

Lori Vallow’s chilling response to question about missing daughter

11:30 , 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

LISTEN: Detective testimony in full

11:10 , Rachel Sharp

Lori Vallow’s uncle chokes up with emotion outside court

10:38 , Rachel Sharp

Lori Vallow’s uncle choked up with emotion outside Ada County Courthouse this week as he said the past four years had been “very difficult” for the families.

Rex Conner told East Idaho News that he was overwhelmed with the support for his family from around the world as they seek to get justice for JJ and Tylee.

“What’s hit me more than anything is an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to see how many people are involved in trying to get justice for Tylee and JJ and Tammy and Charles,” he said.

“I know a lot of people it’s their job but… so many people are going above and beyond just the 9-5 aspect of it so it’s very gratifying.”

‘You ripped my heart out,’ surviving son tells Lori Vallow

09:30 , 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.

Read more...

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

Lori Vallow’s cousin reveals haunting fear about Tylee and JJ’s murders

07:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori Vallow’s estranged cousin has revealed one of her most haunting fears about the murders for which the so-called “cult mom” is currently on trial.

Megan Eyden, whose father is Ms Vallow’s uncle, spoke out about the bombshell case in an interview with NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield aired Friday night.

Megan Sheets reports.

Lori Vallow’s cousin reveals haunting fear about children’s murders

Who are the key players in the Lori Vallow trial?

05:30 , Oliver O'Connell

It’s a sprawling case spanning Idaho, Arizona, and Hawaii. Here’s a who’s who of the key players.

Who are the key players in Lori Vallow’s trial?

Bizarre moments from Lori Vallow’s murder trial

03:30 , Oliver O'Connell

As with many trials, beyond the testimony, there have also been some bizarre happenings taking place inside the courtroom, Rachel Sharp reports.

Bizarre moments from Lori Vallow’s murder trial

Lori Vallow trial hears devastating call with sister saying she treated children’s bodies ‘like garbage’

02:34 , Graeme Massie

‘You threw Tylee in a pet cemetery like a piece of garbage,’ sister Summer Shiflet told murder accused.

Vallow trial hears devastating call with sister after discovery of children’s bodies

Court hears of Vallow’s chilling internet searches and trove of burner phones

01:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Chilling internet searches have revealed that “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow shopped for life insurance policies for her children two months before they were murdered and buried on her new lover Chad Daybell’s property.

Rachel Sharp has the details.

Cult mom Lori Vallow’s chilling internet searches revealed

Key revelations from Lori Vallow’s murder trial so far

Tuesday 25 April 2023 23:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp has compiled this list of some of the key revelations to date in the trial...

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

Court adjourns for the day

Tuesday 25 April 2023 22:29 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Boyce says testimony will conclude for the day and Agent Daniels will return to the stand tomorrow morning.

The trial will resume at 830am MT on Wednesday.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 22:27 , Oliver O'Connell

Agent Daniels now talks about JJ’s burial site. He observed a raised berm near a pond with shorter grass than the surrounding area.

Police went layer by layer to remove the earth from the site. More photos are shown including one of three big rocks that were found under the upper layers of soil.

“This is screaming to me as a team leader that something is odd. Something shouldn’t be here,” Agent Daniels says.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 22:23 , Oliver O'Connell

A search of the barn was then conducted as with a burial, tools are obviously necessary.

They found four shovels and a pick axe, as well as a green bucket and two white buckets. The shovels were dirty and could have been used in and around a fire. They were turned over to Rexburg PD.

The pick axe had “material” on the blade portion. Photos of the tools are shown to the court.

Other equipment of note included pruning shears, a saw, and an axe.

More tools were found in the garage (a shovel, two axes, a hoe, and a posthole digger) and some of those were also seized, as were bricks similar in size to those found with Tylee.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 22:15 , Oliver O'Connell

After all the remains had been collected the backhoe dug deeper and wider into the site to ensure nothing had been missed. For context, the bucket had been found approximately two feet down.

“This was especially important on JJ’s burial. His was the first burial we found and we wanted to make sure Tylee’s remains weren’t in the same area.”

Tuesday 25 April 2023 22:11 , Oliver O'Connell

WARNING: Graphic description

The search continued on 10 June, with a sifting operation set up to try and find more possible remains in the ground.

Eventually, they hit what they realise is “a mass of a human - dismembered, melted”, underneath which were a green bucket and a partial skull.

“It took a while for us as investigators to figure out what happened here — what is this,” Agent Daniels says.

After having documented the scene they tried to lift the remains out and they just fell apart. The anthropologist and coroner conducted an inventory of which body parts they had.

Agent Daniels says an assessment had to be made: “How many pieces are we still looking for or do we think we have everything we need to take?”

More close-up photos are shown as evidence.

Agent Daniels says it was unclear if it was one person or two, so the inventory was especially important.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 21:59 , Oliver O'Connell

WARNING: Graphic description

As the digging continued a hard substance like concrete was uncovered in the dirt and the backhoe was used to remove it.

Beneath that, they discovered charred and pink flesh. An anthropologist on site identified the remains as human. They removed the piece and laid them out on a blue tarp.

Photos are being shown to the court. Lori has reportedly not looked up once.

Another photo shows more pieces of remains.

“You can see the bigger bones sticking out of the ground,” Agent Daniels says and describes her remains as “melted together” in the ground.

The remains were placed in a body bag, given to the coroner, and removed from the scene.

Court resumes following afternoon break

Tuesday 25 April 2023 21:54 , Oliver O'Connell

WARNING: Graphic description

As the excavation of the site where Tylee was discovered continued a backhoe was brought in. They had initially found dog and cat remains using hand tools, but the backhoe allowed them to cover more area.

A photo is shown of a piece of what is described by those in court as a pice of vertebrae that was uncovered. A second bone was also found.

“With the size of the bone being found... I could also smell an odor I could associate with human remains decomposing so between this bone being found and a second bone being found the decision was then made not to use the tractor anymore,” Agent Daniels says.

The odor got stronger the more they dug and some bricks were also uncovered before more bones were found and they knew they had discovered a grave.

It was unclear what the bones were but they were much bigger than those previously discovered.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 21:38 , Oliver O'Connell

Tuesday 25 April 2023 21:19 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Boyce calls for the afternoon recess.

The trial will resume in 15-20 minutes.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 21:16 , Oliver O'Connell

As ash and earth is removed from the fire pit it is sifted for evidence such as bone fragments, organic material, jewelry, etc.

They found a necklace chain as well as cloth and fabric in the firepit.

As the scene was processed, the smell became overpowering. A soil sample was taken.

A charm was also found in the grass near the firepit, not in the pit itself.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 21:06 , Oliver O'Connell

A series of maps, photographs and overhead images of the property are entered into evidence.

Agent Daniels points out the fire pit, burial sites of the children, and other key points.

A photo from Chad’s bedroom window shows that you can see JJ’s burial site from there as well as from the kitchen window.

Photos taken at the firepit show there are disturbances in the earth before any search was undertaken.

Det Daniels says that when he noticed there were impression in the ground at the pet cemetery, he told his team to start processing the area.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:49 , Oliver O'Connell

The ERT was asked to help come up with a search strategy to execute a search warrant on 9-10 June 2020 at the Daybell property. They were looking for human remains and other evidence of crime.

They had prepared for about a week’s work and there were eight team members present who were all given a role.

After an initial walkthrough, areas of priority were established for the search — the firepit, the pet cemetery, the pond, and various sheds and outbuildings. Agent Daniels says they wanted to look at the whole 3-4 acres.

Among the technology used was a drone. Some 500-700 photos were also taken during the serving of the search warrant.

New witness: Steve Daniels, FBI

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:37 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness is Steve Daniels, a special agent with the FBI with 25 years of experience.

He is the senior leader of the evidence response team (ERT).

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney John Thomas begins cross-examination of Det Schmitt by asking about the storage unit surveillance videos. He says he reviewed them most recently one month ago.

Asking about the sport club, Thomas asks how people sign into the club, and Det Schmitt says it is done on an honour system with nobody monitoring it.

Thomas asks whether it is an assumption that C Quint is Alex Cox (it’s also the name on his vehicle registration), he confirms it is. There was no follow-up investigation to ask if anyone saw Alex there.

Det Schmitt confirms he was in the firepit area when the teeth, bone, and flesh were found.

No further questions.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:32 , Oliver O'Connell

After Chad was arrested, he was transferred to the Fremont County Jail. He was released.

Det Schmitt returned to the Daybell property where he was assigned to help search the fireput and pet cemetery.

He found teeth and burned pieces of flesh and bone.

Some of the dirt was pretty hard and it appeared as if concrete or cement had been put in the ground. A backhoe was called in and eventually, officers found a melted green bucket that contained Tylee's remains.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:29 , Oliver O'Connell

On 9 June 2020, as police searched Chad Daybell’s property, Det Schmitt was assigned the task of keeping an eye on Chad in case he decided to try to leave the property.

“At one point in time when the search dogs were on the scene, Chad got out of his vehicle that was parked in the driveway in front of his house. They were searching the area where JJ’s remains were found and Chad was facing toward that direction.”

Lt Ron Ball and Det Ray Hermosillo then came over to talk with Chad.

Det Schmitt recalls: “At some point in time, Chad went back into his house. He came out with a backpack and got into his vehicle. He sat there in his vehicle and then drove across the street to his daughter’s house. After some time, Chad came out of Emma’s house, got in his vehicle and started going south on 1900 East in Fremont County.”

Chad was stopped and arrested.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:26 , Oliver O'Connell

In January 2020, Det Schmitt visited the Unified Sportsman Club - a firing range.

Alex had signed in there under different names including his own and C Quint, as well as just Alex. He used the name C Quint multiple times over the month of October 2019. He also signed in on 3 September but there is no paper record of that.

Court resumes after lunch

Tuesday 25 April 2023 20:13 , Oliver O'Connell

Lunch is over and Judge Boyce is back on the bench.

The jury is brought in and prosecutor Rachel Smith resumes questioning of Det Rick Schmitt, formerly of Rexburg PD, about the self-storage facility visited on multiple occasions by Lori, Chad and Alex.

He says on one occasion Alex took a long rifle case and a bunch of totes to the facility. On 22 October he took out a gun storage case and tote, and on 28 October he took four gun cases. Chad was with him on that visit.

Lori Vallow’s chilling internet search history

Tuesday 25 April 2023 19:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Chilling internet searches have revealed that “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow shopped for life insurance policies for her children two months before they were murdered and buried on her new lover Chad Daybell’s property.

FBI analyst Nicole Heideman took the stand at Ms Vallow’s murder trial in Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Monday to testify about the shocking discoveries on the 49-year-old’s cellphones, email addresses and online search history.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Cult mom Lori Vallow’s chilling internet searches revealed

Timeline of the Lori Vallow case

Tuesday 25 April 2023 19:25 , Oliver O'Connell

Confused by the twists and turns of the case? Here’s a timeline of what happened and when:

Timeline of the Lori Vallow Daybell case

Tuesday 25 April 2023 19:12 , Oliver O'Connell

Court breaks for lunch.

The trial will resume at 1pm MT.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 19:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex was not seen in the video but the following day was when he and Lori came back to pick up the back seat and spare tire.

On 2 October, Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Lori’s niece Melanie Pawlowski, is shot at in a drive-by shooting in Arizona but escapes unscathed.

The assailant is driving a grey Jeep Wrangler with the back tire removed.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 19:07 , Oliver O'Connell

On 2 February 2020, Det Schmitt joined Det Kunsaitis, who testified earlier in the trial, and went to the self-storage facility which Chad, Lori, and Alex had visited many times.

Video surveillance showed the three visiting at different times to pick up things from the unit.

In footage from the beginning of October, he saw Lori putting a box and tote inside the unit. On On 2 October, he saw Lori and Chad going into the unit bringing in the Jeep spare tire and backseat from the Wrangler.

Tuesday 25 April 2023 19:04 , Oliver O'Connell

On 8 January 2020, he received video footage from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office that showed the entrance of Yellowstone National Park on 8 September 2019.

“I was looking for a blue Nissan Rogue, a Silver Ford pickup or a gray Jeep Wrangler.”

He saw a vehicle that looked like the pickup truck. Further video showed Alex, Lori and the children at the park on that day.