Lori Vallow trial – live: DNA from ‘cult mom’ found on duct tape wrapped around JJ’s corpse, jury hears
Week five of “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow’s trial 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 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.
On Friday, jurors heard more details about Tammy’s sudden death – which was first ruled “natural causes” before her body was exhumed.
Disturbing 911 calls were played in court revealing how Tammy was shot at by a masked man just 10 days before her murder. On 9 October 2019, the mother-of-five had returned from the grocery store and was unloading items from her car when the man shot at her.
Jurors also heard testimony from Tammy’s sister Samantha Gwilliam and the 911 call Mr Daybell made to report his wife’s sudden death.
Key points
Chad Daybell claimed Lori Vallow didn’t have children as police launched search
Chad Daybell says wife Tammy is ‘clearly dead’ in disturbing 911 call
Did Lori Vallow accidentally make a key confession about Tylee and JJ’s deaths in jail call?
JJ vanished after ‘knocking over picture of Christ’
Lori Vallow’s chilling response to question about missing daughter
Jury hears JJ had date rape drug in his system as shocking cause of death revealed
05:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Lori Vallow’s seven-year-old son JJ Vallow had the date rape drug GHB in his system when he was smothered to death with plastic bags around his head, according to harrowing testimony from a pathologist.
Rachel Sharp reports.
Lori Vallow trial told JJ had date rape drug GHB in system as cause of death revealed
Everything we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell ‘doomsday cult’ murder trial
03:30 , 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
Did Lori Vallow accidentally make a key confession?
01:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Lori Vallow’s high-profile trial took an unexpected turn this week when jurors heard a dramatic jailhouse phone call in which the “doomsday cult mom” appeared to make a key confession about her children’s murders.
The distressing call between the accused killer and her sister Summer Shiflet on 20 June 2020 was played in Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on Tuesday.
Rachel Sharp has the details.
Did Lori Vallow make a key confession about children’s deaths in a jail call?
Bizarre moments from Lori Vallow’s murder trial
Tuesday 2 May 2023 00:30 , Oliver O'Connell
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
ICYMI: Jury hears devastating call with sister saying she treated children’s bodies ‘like garbage’
Monday 1 May 2023 23:30 , Oliver O'Connell
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.
Graeme Massie reports.
Vallow trial hears devastating call with sister after discovery of children’s bodies
Court adjourns for the day
Monday 1 May 2023 22:28 , Oliver O'Connell
After further photos of the bruising on Tammy are shown to the jury, Blake has finished direct examination of Dr Christensen.
Lori Vallow’s defence team will begin cross-examination of Dr Christensen in the morning.
Court is adjourned and the trial will resume at 8.30am MT on Tuesday.
Monday 1 May 2023 22:21 , Oliver O'Connell
Dr Christensen says Lividity, rigor mortis, and body temperature can help narrow the window for a time of death but the longer someone is dead it’s harder to get a time frame.
As he was not present the day Tammy died, he says he relies on external information to help determine the time of death.
Based on what Chad Daybell said about Tammy being cold and stiff at 6am, it’s likely she died a couple of hours earlier.
Dr Christensen concludes by saying he looked at other causes of death and did not find them to be likely. He again stresses the cause of death was asphyxia and the manner of death was homicide and that the bruises played a part in establishing the cause of death as they were consistent with being restrained.
Monday 1 May 2023 22:06 , Oliver O'Connell
The bruises occurred around the time of death and more than likely before she died as once circulation stops its much harder for the haemorrhaging to occur that leads to a bruise.
Christensen says the injuries on Tammy's body occurred around the time of death.
— Nate Eaton (@NateNewsNow) May 1, 2023
Monday 1 May 2023 22:04 , Oliver O'Connell
Photos of the bruising are shown to the court.
This is similar to what the chart on the projector looked like showing bruises on Tammy daybell [front view]
We are now seeing closeup photos of the bruises on Tammy’s actual skin. Her right forearm and back forearm are also very bruised! pic.twitter.com/mQK4S0lO0W— Hidden True Crime (@HiddenTrueCrime) May 1, 2023
Monday 1 May 2023 21:49 , Oliver O'Connell
Dr Christensen marks the location of the bruises on Tammy’s body on a diagram.
There were six bruises on the front of her body and four on the back. He notes that they could be indicative of Tammy being restrained.
Court resumes
Monday 1 May 2023 21:43 , Oliver O'Connell
Judge Boyce returns to the bench, the jury is back in, and Lindsey Blake continues direct examination of Dr Christensen.
He tells the court that during the autopsy, when they began looking at Tammy Daybell’s organs they appeared normal except for changes related to embalming, frothy foam in her airway, and fluid in her lungs.
A close photo of Tammy lying in bed is shown to the court with reddish-pink foam coming from her mouth and running down the left side of her cheek.
This is pulmonary edema which comes from the lungs and out of the mouth and nose. It is not a cause of death but is a manifestation of an underlying cause of death such as an overdose, drowning, or asphyxia.
“Whatever caused the pulmonary edema would be the cause of death,” Dr Christensen explains. He says this played a part in his determining that asphyxia was the cause of death.
Monday 1 May 2023 21:15 , Oliver O'Connell
Judge Boyce calls the afternoon break until 2.30pm MT
Monday 1 May 2023 21:08 , Oliver O'Connell
Dr Christensen reiterates that it would be uncommon for a woman of Tammy’s age to start developing seizures and she had no history of heart tissues.
They tested for hundreds of intoxicants, illicit drugs and over-the-counter medications along with insecticides, cyanide, heavy metals, phosphate positions, nerve agents — none of those were found.
“We did a lot more testing in this case than we normally would and everything came back negative except the medication she was prescribed,” Dr Christensen says.
He adds that this was one of the most extensive autopsies he’s been involved in.
"We did a lot more testing in this case than we normally would and everything came back negative except the medication she was prescribed," Christensen says, adding that it's one of the most extensive autopsies he's been involved in.
— Nate Eaton (@NateNewsNow) May 1, 2023
Monday 1 May 2023 21:01 , Oliver O'Connell
“There are a number of ways people can be asphyxiated with. Suffocation, neck compression, anything that impairs someone’s ability to breathe normally,” Dr Christensen says.
When someone stops breathing, they lose consciousness but their heart can continue to beat for a time, he explains.
There were bruises on Tammy’s arms that happened in the hours around the time of her death,
“They are consistent with someone being restrained and would be consistent with asphyxia being the cause of death as well.”
Monday 1 May 2023 20:59 , Oliver O'Connell
Asked what could have caused Tammy’s asphyxia, Dr Christensen runs through several possibilities.
While seizures can cause asphyxia, Tammy had no history of them. It was relayed to him that she may have had some in days prior to her death but it would be rare for her to develop them at her age.
Tammy’s brain was normal and so a stroke was ruled out as unlikely. Similarly, arrhythmia disorders in the heart can cause sudden death, as can inherited disorders related to the heart, though people usually have a family history of this.
It would also be unusual for that to occur at her age as it usually presents much earlier in life.
Monday 1 May 2023 20:54 , Oliver O'Connell
Dr Christensen explains the autopsy procedure, which is very thorough. Samples are taken and each body part is examined. Bruises, cuts and scrapes are all examined under a microscope which can tell you how long the injury has been on the body.
He concluded that Tammy’s cause of death was asphyxia and the manner in which she died was homicide.
He didn't see any obvious external injuries that would cause her death. Asphyxia is a diagnosis of exclusion. It's a negative autopsy, no disease or injury evident that would explain why she died. #lorivallow @LawCrimeNetwork
— Pretty Lies & Alibis🎙 (@PrettyLiesAlibi) May 1, 2023
Monday 1 May 2023 20:48 , Oliver O'Connell
Dr Christensen gathered together Tammy’s medical records ahead of the exhumation, which he notes is not a common occurrence.
Being exhumed changes how he performs an autopsy on a body. Tammy was embalmed which changes the nature of the tissue — it “fixes” the tissue but also preserves it.
The vault Tammy was in was dry and well maintained with no water damage which can happen. Her embalming was done well and recently which helps. There was mould growth on her body
New witness: Dr Erik Christensen, Utah chief medical examiner
Monday 1 May 2023 20:41 , Oliver O'Connell
The next witness for the state is Utah’s chief medical examiner, Dr Erik Christensen.
Dr Christensen performs autopsies and has worked as a forensic pathologist in Virginia and South Carolina before moving to Utah.
He performed the autopsy on Tammy Daybell.
Utah does not have a coroner system like Idaho does and instead, medical examiners investigate the cause of death of an individual.
He was present for the exhumation of Tammy in November 2019.
Monday 1 May 2023 20:28 , Oliver O'Connell
In redirect, prosecutor Lindsey Blake asks if more than one person could dig the grave in 17 minutes. Agent Wright says yes and reminds the court that 17 minutes is the time the device was there — not necessarily the time to dig or prepare the grave.
Monday 1 May 2023 20:25 , Oliver O'Connell
Asking about the amount of time Alex’s phone was at the Daybell house on 23 September, the day that JJ was murdered and buried, Thomas asks: “Based on your training, your experience, your knowledge working with the FBI — that’s not enough time to dig a hole, dig a grave, chop up roots around the grave, find stones — 17 minutes is not enough time to do all that?”
Agent Wright says he was there when JJ’s body was found and it would have taken more than the 17 minutes the data suggests.
Monday 1 May 2023 20:19 , Oliver O'Connell
In cross-examination defence attorney John Thomas asks the obligatory questions about Agent Wright’s educational background, before asking how much location data you need from a person to establish a pattern of behaviour.
“If I saw something happen every day for a week at a certain time and place, I would start to think that’s a pattern. In this case, I only had those two months to look at. When I say pattern, it’s based only on that information.”
Monday 1 May 2023 20:17 , Oliver O'Connell
On 16 October the phone linked to Alex Cox left Lori’s apartment and went to the Comfort Inn in Hurricane, Utah, where it stopped there for the night. The next day it continued on its journey to Las Vegas airport.
Lori took a flight from Las Vegas to Hawaii on 17 October. The next day, on 18 October, the phone went back to Rexburg.
The jury is shown a map explaining the device’s movements for the rest of 18 October. It was at Chick-fil-A in Ammon from 7.58-9.32pm, before moving to the Salem LDS Church near Chad’s house from 10.45-11.45pm.
After this period of no activity just a couple of miles from Chad and Tammy Daybell’s home, the next data point is at 11.53pm on US Highway 20 near Rexburg. The device does not go back to Alex’s apartment but instead goes to the Hilton Garden Inn in Idaho Falls.
The next slide is a map that shows where Alex's device lingered at the Salem LDS Church. The distance between Chad's house and the church is around 2.5 miles. Thirty minutes of data points are collected and then there is 1.5 hours of no data.
— Nate Eaton (@NateNewsNow) May 1, 2023
Court resumes after lunch
Monday 1 May 2023 19:55 , Oliver O'Connell
Judge Boyce returns to the bench and the jury is brought back in.
Agent Wright is back on the witness stand.
Monday 1 May 2023 18:55 , Oliver O'Connell
Court breaks for lunch.
Monday 1 May 2023 18:55 , Oliver O'Connell
On 9 October, Alex’s device left the Sportman’s Warehouse store at 4.12pm and traveled north from Ammon to the vicinity of Chad Daybell’s house.
At 4.52pm, his phone is pinged 525 yards from the Daybell residence. The court is shown a map of the area and there is an irrigation canal right where he was parked.
Agent Wright notes: “The road is fairly narrow and there is no shoulder. I was looking for a possible location where this person could have gone or if there was a vehicle nearby where it might have parked. There really was no place for a vehicle...but right here near this canal there’s a little pull-off that would fit one vehicle.”
The driver turns around and drives past the Daybell residence twice before returning to Alex’s apartment 5.16pm. The device remains at the apartment until 11:28am. the next day.
Meanwhile, the phone purchased at Walmart the day before is activated, and between 7.13pm and 10.30pm there are ten messages exchanged with Chad.
Monday 1 May 2023 18:39 , Oliver O'Connell
Of the 60 receipts obtained, one was for a cash purchase of five items including a pair of Frogg Togg rain paints, a camo beanie, fingerless gloves, a thermo three-hole ski mask, and a Dr Pepper drink.
The property manager of the townhomes development found the pants later. Further investigation showed that Alex had also googled Frog Togg pants.
Monday 1 May 2023 18:34 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex also visited a gun range on 12 October, where he spent time around the 50-yard range. He went back on 13 October and spent time at both the rifle range and pistol range.
On 15 October, Alex went to the shooting range twice but between visits, he went to his apartment, Lori’s apartment, Walmart and Chad Daybell’s house.
Alex was also at an Idaho Falls sporting goods store on the afternoon that Tammy Daybell was shot at.
Agent Wright went to the store and obtained receipts for all of the purchases made during the time in which Alex’s phone was at the store.
Monday 1 May 2023 18:26 , Oliver O'Connell
On 7 October Alex visited multiple gun ranges according to the data from his phone. He also went to two on 8 October.
Tammy Daybell was shot at in her drive on 9 October.
Monday 1 May 2023 18:24 , Oliver O'Connell
From 30 September to 2 October, Alex’s device doesn’t move from his home in apartment 175. This is when he was allegedly in Mesa, Arizona for the attempt on Brandon Boudreaux’s life.
The device not moving is abnormal.
There were then multiple occasions when he was at gun ranges.
9/3 at gun range
9/26 unified sportsman’s gun club in Rexburg (again)
9/27 again at gun range
9/28 15/25 to 17:58 at gun range, but Alex’s device goes further into the gun range and it appears the device goes into the rifle range area— Hidden True Crime (@HiddenTrueCrime) May 1, 2023
Monday 1 May 2023 18:21 , Oliver O'Connell
Cross-examination begins with defence attorney John Thomas asking how many receipts Agent Wright has handled in his 20-plus years at the FBI. He says it is a lot.
Thomas objects to having the receipts admitted into evidence as he says the witness cannot say these were the specific receipts for the phones purchased at Walmart.
Judge Boyce overrules the objection and they are admitted as evidence.
