BOISE, Idaho – Prosecutors will make their closing arguments to jurors Wednesday in the case of an Idaho man accused of killing his wife and his new girlfriend’s two youngest children.
Chad Daybell’s trial has now lasted about two months, featuring testimony from dozens of witnesses that has at times turned strange and horrific.
Prosecutors say Daybell, 55, promoted unusual and apocalyptic spiritual beliefs to justify the murders, all so he could fulfill his desire for money, sex and power. They said they will seek the death penalty if Daybell is convicted.
Daybell’s defense attorney, John Prior, claims there simply isn’t enough evidence to conclusively link Daybell to the deaths, or even to prove that his late wife, Tammy Daybell, was killed rather than dying of natural causes. Several witnesses, including Chad and Tammy Daybell’s adult children, testified for the defense.
Daybell is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit murder and robbery in connection with the deaths of Tammy Daybell, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. .
Last year, the children’s mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders.
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell married just two weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death in October 2019, raising suspicions among local authorities. Tammy Daybell’s body was later exhumed and authorities say an autopsy showed she died from asphyxiation. Chad Daybell told authorities that Tammy Daybell was sick and that she died in her sleep.
However, witnesses on both sides seem to agree on a few things: Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell were having an affair that began well before Tammy Daybell’s death, and both children were missing for months before their remains were found buried. at Chad Daybell’s house. yard.
The case began in the fall of 2019, when Lori Vallow Daybell’s then-ex-husband, Charles Vallow, was shot to death in his home in a Phoenix, Arizona suburb. Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, committed the shooting but told police it was in self-defense. Cox was never charged.
Lori Vallow Daybell, her children JJ and Tylee, and her brother Cox moved to eastern Idaho, settling in a town not far from the rural area where Chad Daybell lived. A few months later, relatives reported the two children missing and law enforcement authorities launched a multi-state search.
The children’s remains were found almost a year later, buried on Chad Daybell’s property. Investigators later determined that both children died in September 2019. Prosecutors say Cox conspired with Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell in the three deaths, but Cox died of natural causes during the investigation and was never charged.
During the trial, prosecutors presented testimony from Lori Vallow Daybell’s niece, who said the couple believed people could be possessed by evil spirits, making the person a “zombie.” They said the zombies would eventually be taken over by the dark spirit and die, Melani Pawlowski told jurors. Her testimony echoed that given last year by another friend of the couple, Melanie Gibb. Gibb testified during Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial that she heard Vallow Daybell call the two children “zombies” before they disappeared.
Jurors heard grim testimony from police officers who described discovering the children’s bodies in Daybell’s backyard. They were also presented with dozens of cellphone records and messages between Daybell and Vallow Daybell, including some that showed she called him the day Charles Vallow died. Daybell allegedly told Vallow Daybell in a text that JJ was “barely attached to the body” and that “there is a plan being orchestrated for the kids.”
Defense witnesses included Dr. Kathy Raven, a forensic pathologist who reviewed Tammy Daybell’s autopsy reports and said she believed the cause of death should have been classified as “undetermined.”
Chad Daybell’s son, Garth Daybell, testified that his mother was tired and sick before she died. He told jurors that he was home the night his mother died and that he did not hear any noise coming from his room next to his parents’ room. He said he later felt that police and prosecutors were trying to pressure him into changing his story, even threatening him with perjury charges.
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