The brother of Lori Vallow Daybell, the Idaho mother accused of murdering her two children and conspiring to kill her husband’s ex-wife, allegedly believed his sister was setting him up to be the “fall guy” for unspecified activities.
Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, died on December 12, 2019. His wife, Zulema Pastenes, testified at Vallow Daybell’s trial on Friday. She said the day before he died, Cox was quiet after learning the body of Tammy Daybell would be exhumed. Tammy Daybell was the first wife of Lori’s fifth husband, Chad Daybell, who is also accused of murdering Lori’s children from a previous marriage.
The day before Alex died, Pastenes said she came home from work around 7:30 p.m., People Magazine reported. Alex was on the phone with Lori and Chad, who allegedly told him that Tammy’s wife would be exhumed.
“I was very confused about the reason why they would be exhuming Tammy’s body, and I was asking why would they be exhuming her body if she died of natural causes,” Pastenes testified. “And I asked [Cox] if he was involved in anything to do with Tammy’s death. He said no.”
Pastenes said she kept pushing Alex to talk.
“He was very quiet and unresponsive. He said, ‘I think I am being their fall guy.’ I said, ‘Fall guy for what? What have you done that you would be the fall guy?’ I kept pressuring him because he wasn’t answering me,” she added.
“He passed away the next day,” she continued.
Alex died of a reported blood clot. His death was not investigated further, as the condition ran in the family.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP
Vallow Daybell is currently on trial for murdering her daughter Tylee and her adopted son J.J. On Thursday, her former friend Melanie Gibb testified that Lori believed people fell within a scale ranging from “light” to “dark,” who either “signed contracts” with Jesus Christ or Satan.
Vallow Daybell allegedly told Gibb in September 2019 that her son had become “dark,” Gibb testified, according to People Magazine. Vallow Daybell reportedly told Gibb that Tylee had become “dark” earlier in the year.
“She let me know that J.J. now had an evil spirit in him,” Gibb testified on Thursday. “She learned it the day before.”
Just two months after Vallow Daybell said J.J. had gone “dark,” the children disappeared and were never seen alive again.
Gibb also testified that Vallow Daybell told her J.J., who was autistic, had become more “difficult” and had allegedly said, “I love Satan.”
Lori and Chad are both charged with murdering Vallow Daybell’s children as well as Chad’s ex-wife Tammy.
The pair was charged on May 25, 2021, but the trial is just getting started, 12 News reported. Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake opened the state’s case by saying it was all about “money, power, and sex” for Vallow.
“Lori used money, power and sex or the promise of those things to get what she wanted,” Blake said, according to People Magazine.