Lori Vallow trial – live: Chad Daybell and ‘cult mom’ texted about making children ‘scream’ from pain

Oliver O'Connell and Rachel Sharp

The trial of “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow continues for another week at the 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.

Friday’s testimony included a detailed look at text messages between Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell that spanned their affair, referred to their spouses and children as “obstacles”, and grew increasingly romantic following her husband’s death as she ignored his son’s pleas for more information.

On Monday even more texts were shown in court as well as the last videos of the two children seen alive which were found on Ms Vallow’s iCloud account.

Meanwhile, the court is eyeing June 2024 as a possible start date for Mr Daybell’s trial.

Key points

Lori Vallow’s friend says she threatened to ‘cut up’ and bury her one month after children disappeared

08:00 , Andrea Blanco

Audrey Barattiero claims Lori Vallow burst into laughter and told her ‘there would be blood and bleach and something about trash bags. She would bury me in a place nobody would ever find me.’

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp and Oliver O’Connell report:

Lori Vallow’s friend Audrey Barattiero says she threatened to kill and bury her

Lori Vallow’s DNA found on duct tape wrapped around son JJ’s corpse, jury hears

07:00 , Andrea Blanco

Lori Vallow‘s hair was found on duct tape wrapped around the corpse of her seven-year-old son, according to new evidence presented at the start of the fifth week of her murder trial.

Prosecutors allege that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox to murder Tammy, JJ and Tylee as part of their doomsday cult beliefs – but also for financial purposes so that they could collect Tammy’s life insurance money and the children’s social security and survivor benefits.

The Independent’s Oliver O’Connell has more:

Lori Vallow’s DNA found on duct tape wrapped around son JJ’s corpse, jury hears

Chad Daybell claimed Lori Vallow didn’t have children as police launched nine-month search for JJ and Tylee

06:00 , Andrea Blanco

Chad Daybell claimed his new wife Lori Vallow didn’t have any children as authorities launched a massive search for her son and daughter that ended with the discovery of their bodies nine months later.

Tammy’s sister Samantha Gwilliam testified for the prosecution about how she got a call from Mr Daybell telling her that her sibling was dead on 19 October 2019– claiming she died in her sleep after being very sick.

A month later, she told how “devastated” she was to learn that Mr Daybell had married Ms Vallow just weeks after Tammy’s death.

“You don’t get married four weeks after you just buried your wife of almost 30 years. You just don’t do that,” she said.

She told the court she confronted Mr Daybell about it and he told her his new wife was named Lori Ryan and that her husband had died recently too – from a heart attack.

He also told her that “there’s no children and they’re going to be empty nesters,” she said.

In reality, Ms Vallow’s fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in July 2019.

And Ms Vallow had two young children – JJ and Tylee – who vanished without a trace in September 2019. Their remains were found months later buried on the Daybell property.

After doing her research about her sister’s husband’s new wife, Ms Gwilliam said that she learned about Charles’ death and also noticed a comment on his obituary from JJ’s grandmother Kay Woodcock saying “we will take care of JJ”.

That’s when she realised that there was in fact children involved, she said.

Who really is Lori Vallow?

05:00 , Andrea Blanco

Lori Vallow is a mother of three, a former game show contestant, a Mrs Texas Beauty Pageant contestant and a cult follower. But is she also a killer?

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:

Lori Vallow: The ‘doomsday cult mom’ on trial for her children’s murders

What do we know about JJ and Tylee’s disappearance and murder?

04:00 , Andrea Blanco

JJ and Tylee were last seen alive in September 2019 – not long after Ms Vallow had moved the two children from Arizona to Idaho, allegedly to be close to Mr Daybell.

Chilling photos captured a smiling JJ, Tylee and Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox on a visit to Yellowstone National Park on 8 September.

The photo is now believed to be the last proof of life of 16-year-old Tylee.

After that day, she was never seen or heard from again.

Days later, on 22 September, JJ was also seen for the last time – at his school in Rexburg and by his mother’s friends at her apartment that night.

By the next morning, the seven-year-old – who had autism – had vanished.

When asked where he was, Ms Vallow allegedly told friends Melanie Gibb and David Warwick that he had to be taken away because he was “being a zombie”.

Cellphone data places Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox in the yard of Mr Daybell’s property in the hours after both of the children’s disappearances. The morning after Tylee was last seen alive, Mr Daybell also sent a text to his wife to say that he had shot a raccoon and buried it in the pet cemetery on the grounds of their property.

It would be many more months before investigators – and the children’s desperate family members – knew what had happened to the two siblings.

JJ’s grandparents raised the alarm after they were unable to get in touch with their grandson but Ms Vallow refused to tell authorities where either of the children were.

According to Ms Vallow’s friends, she had claimed that her children were “zombies” and that the only way to free someone’s soul from evil spirits was to kill them.

In June 2020, the children’s family members’ worst fears were realised when JJ and Tylee’s remains were discovered buried in Mr Daybell’s backyard.

Their causes of deaths have never been released but court documents give a harrowing picture of what may have happened.

JJ’s body was found in a black plastic bag wrapped in duct tape while Tylee’s body had been dismembered and burned in a fire pit, before being buried in the pet cemetery.

The children’s disappearance and deaths brought to light a series of other mysterious deaths connected to the doomsday couple, revealing a pattern of people close to the pair dying suddenly.

Investigators find the remains of the two children at Chad Daybell’s property

Before the search for JJ and Tylee shot to national attention, no connection appears to have been made.

Instead, two deaths that are now alleged to be murders at the hands of the doomsday cult couple, had been written off as self-defence – or even natural causes.

Tylee Ryan, 17, and her seven-year-old brother JJ Ryan, have been missing for months (FBI)
Tylee Ryan, 17, and her seven-year-old brother JJ Ryan, have been missing for months (FBI)

Lori Vallow will not present any defence witnesses in trial for her children’s murders

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

The defence in the murder trial of “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow rested their case on Tuesday without presenting any witnesses.

Shortly after Idaho prosecutors rested the state’s case at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Ms Vallow’s attorney Jim Archibald told the court that after consulting with his client, the defence is ready to proceed with closing arguments. Ms Vallow will not take the stand in her own defence, East Idaho News reports.

“We don’t believe the state has proven its case so the defence rests,” Mr Archibald said.

Ms Vallow 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 her new husband Chad Daybell’s first wife Tammy, 49. The state has called roughly 60 witnesses throughout the five weeks of the trial, while the defence called none, according to CourtTV.

Judge Steven Boyce, state prosecutors and Ms Vallow’s defence attorneys will meet on Wednesday to sort out jury instructions. Meanwhile, jurors were excused until Thursday morning, when closing arguments are set to begin.

Lori Vallow trial hears how killer tried to chop up Tylee’s body as her blood found on pickaxe

02:00 , Andrea Blanco

FBI Agent Douglas Halepaska, a forensic examiner in the firearms and tool marks division, testified at the doomsday cult mom’s murder trial about the injuries found on 16-year-old Tylee Ryan’s skeletal remains.

He described how Tylee’s hip bones and sacrum (the bone at the base of the spine) had injuries and fractures caused by a “chopping-type action”.

Mr Halepaska’s testimony was followed by that of Katie Dace, a forensic psychologist with the Idaho State Police, who revealed Tylee’s blood was found on a pickaxe seized from the Daybell home.

While Mr Halepaska could not say with complete certainty what tool had caused the damage to Tylee’s skeletal remains, he said it looked like a knife, hatchet, cleaver, machete or similar tool.

Some of the chopping and stabbing went all the way down to the hard part of the hip bone, causing it to fracture, he testified.

Charles Vallow’s death: Self-defence or murder?

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

Two months prior to when prosecutors say Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell murdered JJ and Tylee, Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox shot and killed her husband Charles Vallow.

It was the morning 11 July 2019 and Charles had gone to his estranged wife’s home in Chandler, Arizona, to pick up JJ.

Charles and Ms Vallow had been married since 2006 and had adopted JJ – who was the biological grandson of Vallow’s sister.

Cox claimed that Charles attacked him with a baseball bat so he shot him in self-defence.

Police interviews with 16-year-old Tylee and a smiling Ms Vallow gave a similar version of events.

However, Cox did not perform CPR on Vallow and waited 43 minutes to call police. Investigators say that Charles was also already down on the ground when Cox shot him a second time.

Charles’ death came months after he had filed for divorce from Ms Vallow, saying that he feared for the safety of himself and the children and that Ms Vallow had threatened to kill him.

In February, he had pleaded with authorities to stage a mental health intervention for his wife, warning that she believed she was a god preparing for a second coming.

Court documents reveal that he had also learned about Ms Vallow’s relationship with Mr Daybell that June and had emailed Tammy with the information. He and one of Ms Vallow’s other brothers were planning an intervention over her cult beliefs at the time of his death – an intervention she is believed to have been tipped off about.

At the time of Charles’ shooting, the case was ruled self-defence.

Following his death, Ms Vallow became a free agent but Mr Daybell was still married – for a while.

Lori Vallow trial hears JJ had date rape drug in his system as shocking cause of death revealed

00:00 , Andrea Blanco

Forensic pathologist Garth Warren, who conducted the autopsies on the two children, revealed that JJ died by asphyxiation with multiple layers of plastic bags wrapped around the little boy’s head and duct tape over his mouth.

JJ, who had autism, also had scratch marks on his neck suggesting he was awake and fought for his life to get the bag off his head.

“That’s a red flag,” Dr Warren testified about the scratches.

“Was JJ trying to get the bag off his head? It could be scratch marks of him trying to get it off his head.”

The seven-year-old also had bruises on his wrists and ankles from where he had been bound with duct tape, the pathologist said.

In more harrowing details of the little boy’s final moments, jurors heard how he could have been drugged before his murder.

Liver samples showed that JJ had ethanol alcohol, caffeine, theobromine and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in his system when he died.

GHB is a sedative that can be used to treat epilepsy but is commonly referred to as the “date rape drug”.

Despite its presence in the seven-year-old’s body, Mr Warren said he could not say for sure if the boy had been drugged prior to his death because GHB can also appear naturally in the body.

“There was no way for me to tell for sure whether this is naturally occurring product or if JJ had been given GHB,” said the pathologist.

Napping in court, three words and typing too loudly: Bizarre moments from Lori Vallow’s murder trial

23:00 , Andrea Blanco

Bizarre details about the cult beliefs which allegedly led to the murders are coming to light at trial. But, beyond the testimony, there have also been some bizarre happenings taking place inside the courtroom,

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:

Bizarre moments from Lori Vallow’s murder trial

Defence rests case, jury will be dismissed tomorrow

21:46 , Andrea Blanco

Judge Boyce asked Lori whether she understood her fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.

“Yes, your honour,” she answered.

“After consulting with my client, we don’t believe the state has proven its case so the defence rests,” Lori’s attorney told jurors.

Tomorrow, Judge Boyce, prosecutors and the defence will meet to sort jury instructions.

The jury has been dismissed until Thursday, when closing arguments are expected to begin.

Lori and attorneys left alone in courtroom

21:25 , Andrea Blanco

Defence attorney Jim Archibald previously requested time to review evidence that has been submitted.

“Rule 29 provides for a mechanism for the court to review the evidence that’s been submitted and determine if there’s been sufficient evidence on each count to proceed to the jury,” Archibald said, according to East Idaho News.

“Under Rule 29 we are asking the court to review the evidence and determine if there is sufficient evidence on each county, including overt acts, to submit the matter to the jury.”

In the meantime, Lori and her attorneys are discussing a motion out of the presence of the jury.

Prosecution rests its case

20:49 , Andrea Blanco

Five weeks and more than 60 witnesses into the trial, prosecutor Lindsey Blake rested the state’s case.

Defence and prosecution argue over amendment requested two years ago

20:47 , Andrea Blanco

Lori’s defence brought up the issue to Judge Boyce, noting that an indictment states Lori was charged with “grand theft with intent to deprive another rather than deception,” according to East Idaho News.

“The timing is sort of unbelievable for the number of prosecutors who have worked this case for so long,” Judge Boyce told the court. “It’s not something that came up…until the end of the trial. This is the kind of motion that clearly the court doesn’t like having all of our jurors sitting around waiting for us. This could have been done by motion at any point before now.”

Lori will not testify, reports say

20:13 , Andrea Blanco

According to East Idaho News Director Nate Eaton, Lori will not take the stand in her murder trial.

Alex Cox’s cellphone was near Chad Daybell’s property on night Tammy died, jury hears

19:23 , Andrea Blanco

Trial will resume after lunch.

Mr Edwards tells jurors he used his own hands to sift through sport where JJ’s body was found

18:34 , Andrea Blanco

Testifying for the prosecution, Mr Edwards recounted participating in the search for Tylee and JJ at Chad Daybell’s property.

Mr Edwards said that while digging a designated spot, investigators found what appeared to be JJ’s head inside a black bag.

“My experience after that was a flood of emotion that we found him and thoughts of my own son who is the same age,” Mr Edwards told jurors.

Jury hears about Lori and Chad’s texts on the night Tammy died

18:30 , Andrea Blanco

“I am missing you more. I need you desperately. I can’t wait,” Lori texted Chad, a day after Tammy died. “Need you to hold me tight. That would be great.

Chad then told Lori that “the apartment” was haunted and asked her to return to Idaho.

“I know exactly where we should be. I don’t care where we are as long as we’re together,” Lori told Chad.

Mr Edwards told jurors that Chad Daybellw was the recipient of Tammy’s two life insurance policies.

Mr Edwards testifies about timeline of events before Tammy’s attempted shooting

18:25 , Andrea Blanco

Lori, Chad, Alex and Zulema exchanged roughly 90 calls on or around 9 October.

There was also a casting on the night of Tammy’s attempted shooting.

Mr Edwards tells jurors about Lori and Chad’s communication in the days leading up to Tammy’s death

18:15 , Andrea Blanco

Attorney General Investigator Nicholas Edwards told jurors he joined the investigation into Tammy’s death in April 2020. At the time, he knew of all the other out-of-state and federal agencies who were searching for Tylee and JJ.

On 3 October, one day before Chad urged Tammy to visit her parents in Utah, the doomsday preacher texted Lori: “Good night, angel Lili. So excited to go on our date! Fire emoji.”

Mr Edwards said that there was a shooting attempt against Tammy on 9 October, ten days before she was killed.

Jury hears about Chad and Lori’s raunchy texts

17:51 , Andrea Blanco

These are some of the messages Lori and Chad exchanged, courtesy of East Idaho News Senior Editor Nate Eaton.

Chad to Lori:

“Elena’s magic hand has gripped the storm. Barely able to breathe as intense waves watch over them.”

“ ...You are amazing. Please save that segment. I want to read it with you naked and relive it all.”

Lori to Chad:

“I love you more. That’s so hot. I need you now more than ever. (Heart emoji. Heart emoji).”

Chad’s story portrayed real-life interaction between him and Lori, prosecutors say

17:23 , Andrea Blanco

The “James and Elena story” was found on Lori’s iCloud.

Like James searched Elena online, according to the story, Chad Daybell googled Lori before they met in mid-November 2018.

Other similarities between the story and Chad and Lori’s romance include trips and interactions that investigators have determined following analysis of their flight records, and conferences and podcasts they participated in.

The James and Elena Story

16:46 , Andrea Blanco

According to the prosecution, Chad Daybell wrote the story of “James and Elena” to mirror their life events — Lori and Chad referred to themselves as “Elena” and “James,” respectively.

“In the James and Elena story, it beings on October 26 and there are multiple images on October 26 of Chad and Lori at a conference in St. George, Utah. Chad Daybell was a speaker at the conference,” FBI Tactical Specialist Nicole Heiderman told the jury, according to East Idaho News.

Lori Vallow’s trial verdict will be live streamed with video

16:34 , Andrea Blanco

Will Lori Vallow take the stand in her murder trial?

16:21 , Andrea Blanco

Lori’s defence team tell Judge Boyce that they will wait until the prosecution rests their case to make a decision.

Day 25 of trial to begin shortly

15:55 , Andrea Blanco

Today we’re expecting to hear from Attorney General Investigator Nicholas Edwards.

Mr Edwards wrote a report that was not allowed in as evidence by Judge Boyce over concerns that it was too similar to a closing argument.

However, the jury will hear excerpts of the report.

Key revelations from Lori Vallow’s murder trial

15:18 , Andrea Blanco

Lori Vallow is at the centre of a bizarre case involving cults and multiple deaths.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp explains the most crucial moments so far in her high-profile trial:

Key revelations from Lori Vallow’s murder trial

Lori Vallow says she is ‘tired of taking care of demons’ around time of children’s murders

14:35 , Rachel Sharp

On Monday, jurors were shown chilling text messages between Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell around the time of the murders of their spouses and her two children JJ and Tylee.

In one message in August 2019, Ms Vallow wrote: “We r both so tired of taking care of demons. We are weary. Please ask the Lord to take them.”

The following month, Tylee and JJ were killed.

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell discuss inflicting pain on children in disturbing texts revealed at trial

14:23 , Andrea Blanco

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell exchanged texts in which they discussed inflicting pain on children and giving them “a reason to scream”, the jury at her trial for murder heard on Monday.

As another week began of the prosecution building its case against Ms Vallow, the court continued to hear testimony from retired FBI Agent Doug Hart whose role in the investigation was to comb through Ms Vallow’s iCloud accounts.

With more than 4,500 text messages saved to the accounts, he was able to piece together a timeline of the developing relationship between Mr Daybell and Ms Vallow over 2019.

The Independent’s Oliver O’Connell has more:

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s disturbing texts revealed

Key revelations from Lori Vallow’s murder trial so far

14:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp has been keeping track of the key revelations in the case so far...

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

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