DAYBELL TRIAL: The end is near; defense rests case

BOISE — After weeks of witnesses, the end of the Chad Daybell trial is now in sight. 

On Thursday morning, the defense rested its case and rebuttal began, bringing three witnesses to the stand. 

Daybell is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree murder, insurance fraud and grand theft in connection to the deaths of his wife Lori Vallow’s children — 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old J.J. Vallow — and Daybell’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. Lori Vallow was charged with the same crimes last year and was found guilty on all counts. Daybell faces the death penalty if he’s convicted.

J.J. was last seen alive on Sept. 22, 2019 and his sister Tylee was last seen alive on Sept. 8, 2019. Tammy Daybell died on Oct. 19, 2019. Vallow and Daybell were married shortly after, on Nov. 5, 2019. J.J. and Tylee’s remains were discovered in Daybell’s backyard when it was searched on June 9 and 10, 2020.

Both Daybell and Vallow were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Daybell wrote several books loosely based on LDS teachings, his later works focusing on the “last days” or the end of times, which he believed would come before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Daybell was excommunicated from the LDS church in 2019.

During court on Thursday, Daybell said that he does not intend to testify. 

Eric Bartelink, a professor of anthropology at California State University, Chico, was called by defense attorney John Prior to identify the remains of Tylee. He analyzed the remains at the Rexburg Police Department with two other colleagues. They found that some of the remains were missing — her legs, arms and part of her ribs. Tylee was likely burned as a whole, not in pieces, Bartelink said. 

It is possible, Bartelink said, that parts of Tylee are still in Daybell's backyard. Several parts of her remains had markings indicating blunt force trauma. 

According to Bartelink, the body does not easily burn without combustible materials, like wood. Most of the bones found in Daybell's firepit lacked diagnostic characteristics and could have been human or animal. Because of this, Bartelink could not determine whether or not Tylee was burned on Daybell's property or not. 

After Bartelink's testimony, the defense rested its case.

The prosecutors had planned to call Detective Colter Cannon, a deputy for Fremont County, as a rebuttal witness, who would have testified about Tammy Daybell's death. Cannon previously testified on day nine of the trial.

Cannon intended to "set the record straight" after hearing Daybell's oldest son, Garth Daybell, testify last week. Cannon took issue with some of the things he heard about the paintball gun incident, which refers to when Tammy was shot at in her driveway prior to her death. According to the prosecution, Cannon contacted them and wanted to set the record straight after Joseph Murray, the husband of Daybell's daughter, Emma Daybell, testified and attacked Cannon's character.

Prior strongly opposed Cannon testifying and argued that Cannon simply wanted to come back and testify again because he doesn't like what has been presented during the course of the trial. 

Judge Steven Boyce agreed that it was concerning that Cannon did watch parts of the trial virtually, which could taint his testimony during a rebuttal. After minutes of deliberation, Boyce decided to not allow Cannon's testimony, making Lisa Jensen the first rebuttal witness. 

Jensen worked with Tammy Daybell at Central Elementary School in Sugar City and was friends with Tammy. Tammy wore tennis shoes to work every day and aimed to get her steps in, Jensen said. She was never sick at work, Jensen testified. This context is important because other coworkers of Tammy have previously testified that Tammy was very active and never sick. Tammy's children, Emma and Garth, both testified the opposite was true. 

Jensen had contact with Tammy two or three days each week. The two would occasionally have lunch together and talk about books they were each reading. Jensen was also friends with Tammy's daughter, Emma, who also worked at the school. They discussed her mother's death after it happened, Jensen testified. 

The second rebuttal witness was Jason Abegglen, who knew Garth Daybell from his time working in a local haunted house. They worked in rooms next to each other in 2019, Abegglen said. The haunted house typically opened around 7:30 p.m. and closed around midnight. 

After Tammy died, Garth talked to Abegglen about his experience finding her, which according to Abegglen's testimony, was a different story than the one Garth told the court last week. 

Garth told Abegglen that he found Tammy when he got home from work and didn't know where his father was. During Garth's testimony, he said his father woke him up and showed him Tammy, lying halfway on and halfway off the bed. 

Bruce Mattingly, Fremont County Sheriff's Office Detective Sgt., took the stand next, testifying that Daybell's daughter Emma reached out to the sheriff's office to ask about the autopsy of her mom.

A clip of Mattingly interacting with Emma was played for the court.

In the recording, Mattingly tells Emma they have the autopsy results for Tammy and Emma responds by telling Mattingly to contact her attorney. When Mattingly inquired about who the attorney was, Emma said she didn't have one. She said she wanted to find out the results of the autopsy when it was released to the public. It's unclear why Emma chose that. 

That same day, Mattingly said other law enforcement officers contacted Garth, Seth and Leah Daybell, Tammy and Chad's children. Since the investigation was still ongoing, he could not provide any of the Daybell children with a copy of the autopsy report, but Mattingly said he was more than willing to sit down and disclose the results to them. Emma never reached out to review the autopsy results with him or anyone else, Mattingly said. 

Tammy's autopsy revealed that she died from asphyxia by homicide. 

The Daybell trial has gone on for 29 days. The trial was anticipated to last eight to 10 weeks. Court will proceed on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. and will be available to stream on Boyce'  YouTube channel.