Jurors on Wednesday heard a recording of a phone call between Lori Vallow Daybell, who is currently on trial for allegedly murdering her two children from a previous marriage, and her husband Chad, who faces trial later this year.
The call occurred on the day police arrived at Chad Daybell’s property to search for the remains of Vallow Daybell’s daughter Tylee and her adopted son J.J. As they searched, the couple spoke on the phone, People Magazine reported, and the call was recorded and played for the jury.
“They are searching the property,” Chad told Lori over the phone that day. “There was a search warrant.”
Later in the phone call, Lori asked if investigators were searching inside Chad’s house.
“No, they are out on the property,” Chad replied.
“Are they seizing stuff again?’ Lori then asked.
“They are searching… We’ll see what transpires,” Chad responded.
Lori then asked if she could do anything for him, but Chad said he was “feeling pretty calm” and told Lori he loved her.
Shortly after the phone call was played, the court was abruptly ended due to what was later reported to be a death in Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake’s family, the Independent reported. The trial resumed Thursday morning.
On Tuesday, Rexburg, Idaho, police detective Ray Hermosillo provided graphic details about the day authorities discovered the bodies of Vallow Daybell’s children. Vallow Daybell’s defense team then asked if she could be dismissed from the courtroom, but the request was denied.
Tylee’s body was found to be burned, while J.J.’s was wrapped in plastic and placed in a shallow grave, the Daily Beast reported.
Following Hermosillo’s testimony, Vallow Daybell’s attorneys asked if the accused mother could be excused from the courtroom, but Judge Steven Boyce denied the request after prosecutors objected.
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Hermosillo also revealed an odd detail about the investigation into the disappearance and murder of Vallow Daybell’s children. He said that he had approached Chad in 2019 and asked him about Lori, to which he said Chad replied that he “hardly knew” her. At the time of the interview, Chad and Lori had been married for two weeks.
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.
Prosecutors used their opening statements to show jurors photos of the grave where the bodies of Vallow’s children were found.
“What was left of Tylee was found. Charred remains. A mass of bone and tissues. That was what was left of this beautiful young woman,” Blake said. “Her DNA was discovered on a pickaxe and shovel and later found in Daybell’s shed.”
“J.J. also lost his father,” Blake added. “When he lost his father, he became much more difficult to care for. He was entitled to Social Security benefits. The defendant didn’t want to have to take care of J.J. anymore, he had money — J.J.’s gone.”
Blake also said that Vallow didn’t do anything to locate her children when they reportedly went missing.
Prosecutors also revealed that Daybell’s ex-wife Tammy died of asphyxiation, Fox 10 reported. A masked gunman tried to murder Tammy on October 9, 2019, but failed. Vallow allegedly said that “he can’t do anything right” after the shooting, Fox 10 reported. Officials believe that Lori’s late brother may have been the gunman. Ten days after the attempted shooting, Tammy was found dead due to asphyxiation.
Less than a month after Tammy died, Lori married Chad Daybell in Hawaii.
The trial is taking place in Boise after being moved from eastern Idaho, where the murders allegedly took place, in order for Vallow to get a fair trial.
Late last month, during a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, Boyce heard a motion to dismiss the death penalty, which Boyce granted “to ensure the rights of the defendant to a fair trial are protected,” East Idaho News reported.
Chad also faces trial for the children’s murders, and at a hearing last month, Boyce ruled that prosecutors must turn over all written and recorded statements made by Chad since he’s been in custody. Chad still faces the death penalty.
In early March, Lori and Daybell had their trials separated by a judge, with Lori’s trial set to begin on April 3, with Daybell’s to occur later. The separation came after Lori tried to have the charges against her dismissed for lack of a speedy trial since she was arrested nearly three years ago.