Jury in Daybell murder trial begins deliberations

BOISE — At long last, the state's case against Chad Daybell has come to an end. Now all that's left is for the jury to deliberate and come to a verdict.

Daybell is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree murder, insurance fraud and grand theft in connection to the 2019 deaths of Lori Vallow’s children — 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old J.J. Vallow — and Daybell’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. Vallow, Daybell’s current wife, was charged with the same crimes last year and was found guilty on all counts.

"They (Vallow and Daybell) left a wake of destruction and tears for those who had trusted them," Prosecutor Lindsey Blake said.

Daybell faces the death penalty if he’s convicted. The state's closing statements Wednesday outlined the timeline identifying dates, text messages, phone calls and witness statements that have been discussed at length during the course of the trial, which began in early April. Defense attorney John Prior argued that Daybell was a target in Vallow and her brother Alex Cox's plans and was unaware that Vallow's two children were buried in his backyard. 

"This was about sex," Blake said during closing statements. "... Money, power and sex, that’s what the defendant cared about.”

Court began with Judge Steven Boyce reading off some jury instructions, including instructions that the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty through the duration of the case.

"The state must prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt," Prior said. "From the very beginning through the middle, the end, and today — the entire burden has been on the state."

One of the things the state has to prove to the jury is that a conspiracy took place — an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime, and only one person has to commit the act for it to be a conspiracy, Blake said to the jury. But "inter-silent consent" is not enough to make a person an accomplice, Prior said.

"Where is the agreement? It’s not there," Prior said during his closing argument. "... If you have a doubt and you don't know what happened, you must find Chad not guilty."

LUST AFTER LORI

Blake showed several excerpts of the James and Elena story, which Daybell wrote before the alleged killings took place.

“The James and Elena story is essentially an autobiography underlying the defendant's affair with Lori Vallow,” Blake said. "... It's Chad's graphic description of his lust for Lori Vallow." 

Both Daybell and Vallow were married to other people while Daybell wrote the James and Elena story. 

"He knew she was everything he had ever dreamed about," one excerpt from the story reads. "Her dimensions were exactly what he had always fantasized about. But that revelation would have to wait a month."

AN AFFAIR WAS DISCOVERED, AND KILLINGS BEGAN

Charles Vallow, Vallow's husband at the time, confronted Lori about her affair with Daybell in June 2019, and emailed Tammy and Chad on June 29, 2019, confronting both about the affair. On July 1, 2019, Charles said he was going to confront Tammy in person. Ten days later, Charles was shot and killed by Cox, Lori’s brother, in Arizona.

Cox was never charged in Charles' death — he claimed that he acted in self-defense, and he died on Dec. 12, 2019, from a bilateral pulmonary thromboemboli.

"Alex Cox is a murderer and he is not shy about shooting people," Prior argued. "Chad Daybell was next and to make the plan nice and neat, let’s bury the bodies on Daybell’s property." 

Cox and Vallow were setting Daybell up, Prior said. On the day of Charles' death, Vallow showed no signs of grief or remorse, Blake said. 

“Alex 100% believed in zombies, Alex 100% believed in Chad. Chad said if someone’s a zombie, the body has to die,” Blake said. 

Charles was a zombie, so Charles had to die, Blake said. In July 2019, Daybell told Vallow that Tylee’s death percentage is .13 and he turned her pain level up to 10. In August 2019, Daybell told Vallow that J.J.'s death percentage was at zero. It's unclear what the death percentage numbers are actually indicating. 

It doesn’t matter if jury members agree with Daybell’s religious beliefs or not, Prior said; the only thing that matters is the facts that have been presented during the trial. 

"You don’t have to believe anything he stands for,” Prior said, “but he has a right to talk about it and he has a right to say what he wants to say.”

Daybell espoused unusual religious beliefs but did not come to an agreement to commit any crimes against anyone, Prior argued. 

“I want you. Nothing else matters,” Daybell wrote in a text to Lori in August 2019.

Vallow manipulated Daybell with sex, Daybell manipulated Vallow with spiritual power, Blake suggested. 

THE MURDERS OF TYLEE AND J.J.

Daybell called some people obstacles. To be together, he and Lori needed to remove those obstacles, Blake said. Vallow and Cox both moved to Rexburg around Sept. 1, 2019. Their only connection there was Daybell. Daybell had already declared Tylee and J.J. as “dark.”

On Sept. 8, 2019, Tylee, Cox, J.J. and Vallow went to Yellowstone National Park. That was the last time Tylee was ever seen alive. Her remains were found on Daybell’s property, burned and separated. Cox’s phone was tracked at both Vallow’s apartment and Daybell’s property on the morning of Sept. 9, 2019, the same day that Daybell sent the infamous raccoon text to tell Tammy he shot and buried a raccoon on their property.

The cause of Tylee's death was homicide, but ultimately undetermined because her body was burned. There were several signs of blunt force trauma on her bones, and pieces of her DNA were found on a pickaxe in Daybell's garage.

On Sept. 18, 2019, Vallow began receiving Social Security payments for J.J. Sept. 22 was the last day that J.J. was seen alive. Cox's cellphone was at Daybell's property the next morning, around the same area where J.J. was buried. He was buried with his arms duct-taped together and a plastic bag over his head. 

J.J. was discarded and labeled as an "earthly obstacle," Blake said. 

"With them gone, he (Daybell) could be with Lori," Blake said. 

But Prior argued during his closing statement that Daybell didn’t know where the kids were until their remains were discovered on his property on June 9, 2020. 

TAMMY DAYBELL'S DEATH

Tammy was the victim in an attempted shooting on Oct. 9, 2019. Prior argued that the target that day was not Tammy, but was Daybell.

Tammy was found and reported dead in her bed 10 days later. Lori Vallow was in Hawaii at the time. Cox was supposed to be on that trip but didn't go because Daybell needed help with something, Blake said. 

Nothing in Tammy's medical records suggest that she had low blood pressure or suffered from seizures, but Daybell said that she did. Tammy was buried alone with no plans to have Chad buried next to her in Springville, Utah. Even though Daybell opted for no autopsy on Tammy, her body was later exhumed and an autopsy was performed. Her cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation by homicide, Blake said.

A month before her death, Tammy's life insurance was raised from $60,000 to $130,000. Daybell was the beneficiary of that money. 

Daybell and Vallow were married in Hawaii on Nov. 5, 2019. In that same month, Vallow lied about the whereabouts of J.J. and Tylee during encounters with law enforcement. She also lied about her relationship to Daybell, stating that he was her brother's friend. At the time, Daybell was married to Vallow.

Both Daybell and Vallow asked a friend in Arizona, Melanie Gibb, to lie to law enforcement and say that J.J. was with her. She eventually corrected her statement to law enforcement. Prior suggested that Gibb could have played a role in the murder of J.J. and that law enforcement could have been more thorough in its investigation. 

"These officers failed in their investigation," Prior said, pointing to various law enforcement in the courtroom. 

A verdict in the Daybell trial could be reached sometime this week.