Lori Vallow appears in court; her dead children, JJ Vallow, on the right, and Tylee Ryan, on the left, appear inset, on April 11, 2023. (Courtroom pool sketch artist; Fremont County Sheriff’s Office)
The triple murder trial for Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, a “doomsday cult”-connected mother of two dead children and two dead former husbands continues with a fourth day of testimony in Ada County, Idaho, on Thursday morning.
“There has been a death in the family of one of the prosecutor’s lead attorneys,” the prosecution said in a statement provided to Law&Crime after proceedings came to a close early on Wednesday afternoon. “The Court and defense have been gracious in allowing the prosecution to adjust to this personal situation.”
Vallow and her fifth and current husband, Chad Daybell, 54, stand accused of murder over the 2019 deaths of Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ashlyn Ryan, 17. The children disappeared on different dates in September of that year. Vallow was initially arrested in Hawaii in February 2020 on charges of child desertion. Daybell was arrested later that year after the children’s bodies were found buried at his property. The two defendants were indicted for the murder of Vallow’s children and Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell, 49, in May 2021. Initially being prosecuted as husband-and-wife co-defendants, the couple’s cases were recently severed and will be tried separately.
Last week, jury selection wrapped up with 12 jurors and six alternates being chosen from nearly 2,000 Ada County residents who received a summons. The trial is being overseen by Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce, who previously explained to would-be jurors that the complicated case is expected to last as long as eight weeks.
On Wednesday, jurors again heard from the lead Rexburg Police Department detective who worked the case of the missing children – and who was there when their remains were uncovered from shallow graves on Chad Daybell’s property. Jurors also heard from Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputy Lieutenant Joe Powell, who led the investigation into the murder of Tammy Daybell.
There was also a likely key phone call played in court on Wednesday:
LISTEN: Here is the phone call on the day the children’s bodies were found. #ChadDaybell is in his car watching investigators search his yard. Lori happens to call him from jail. She was in jail for not producing kids, Chad gets arrested this day. (played at Chad’s prelim) https://t.co/tZU9iLWlDg pic.twitter.com/Rk5gjit4LQ
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) April 12, 2023
More Law&Crime coverage: Judge rejects Lori Vallow demand to leave when autopsy photos of her murdered children are shown
Law&Crime correspondent Gigi McKelvey will provide rolling updates as the case progresses Thursday and throughout the trial:
Morning thread: Lori Vallow trial #LoriVallow @LawCrimeNetwork
— Pretty Lies & Alibis🎙 (@PrettyLiesAlibi) April 13, 2023
Lori looks to be active with her attorneys this morning. She is talking to both of them and writing things down #LoriVallow@LawCrimeNetwork
— Pretty Lies & Alibis🎙 (@PrettyLiesAlibi) April 13, 2023
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