BOISE, Idaho — On Monday, April 22, Chad Daybell's trial continued on with more witness testimony. On Monday, the court heard testimonies from retired FBI agent Doug Hart, a nanny of JJ Vallow's, JJ Vallow's principal, and Lori Vallow's son Colby Ryan.
Ryan's testimony was emotional, with his voice breaking while trying to identify a picture of his sister, Tylee Ryan. There was also testimony from the former dean of students at BYU-Idaho, as well as from David Warwick, the husband of Melanie Gibb. Gibb was Lori Vallow's friend.
Testimony moved quickly on Monday morning, with the court needing to take a longer lunch to give the state adequate time to get witnesses called for the afternoon.
With court concluding early on Friday, April 19, jurors got a longer weekend to process the testimonies heard in Chad Daybell's trial last week.
Last week, the court heard testimony from various witnesses, including testimony from Melanie Gibb, a friend of Lori's who was involved in "castings" - or removing of evil spirits. Vallow and Gibb learned information about who to cast from Daybell.
Friday also heard testimony from Doug Hart, a retired FBI agent who currently serves as Chief Deputy for the Canyon County Sheriff's office. He was still with the FBI when the Daybell investigation was happening. His testimony included a great deal of text messages from Daybell to Vallow, and vice versa.
Thursday's testimony included a phone call that was heard during Lori Vallow's trial, a recording of Gibb calling both Vallow and Daybell, asking where the children were. At the time of the phone call, the children were still considered missing.
Gibb also testified a great deal on the religious views of both Vallow and Daybell, discussing a "light and dark" type system they used to categorize people. Light, meaning they made a deal with God before coming to this earth, and dark, meaning they made a deal with the devil. They believed in possession - believing that multiple entities can be within one human form. With this categorization of dark and light, they then "casted" - or removed - bad spirits from dark entities.
The trial is expected to last another four to six weeks.
Watch Colby Ryan's full testimony:
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3:31 p.m.: The court adjourns for the day, as Warwick will take the stand again tomorrow, April 23.
3:22 p.m.: Warwick discusses the "visions" he gets since converting to his faith. Prior asks is it consistent that Daybell may have similar visions. The topic of "vibrations" in a religious sense are brought up by Prior. Warwick talks about his wife's special religious abilities, such as health help and reflexology.
2:55 p.m.: Court is back on the record. Warwick takes the stand again, answering questions from Wixom. Chad Daybell and John Prior whisper back and forth at the defense table. Warwick talks about how JJ Vallow was acting during a weekend visit with Warwick and Gibb. Warwick testifies that Lori Vallow was "dramatic" when describing JJ's behavior. But Warwick noticed that what she said did not match the scene at the house. She called it a "possession attack" and had Alex Cox come pick up JJ.
2:16 p.m.: David Warwick continues his testimony. Prosecutor Rocky Wixom asks questions. They get into the beliefs of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, and how they wanted to gather a large group of people for religious prosecution. Warwick talks about a meeting he had with Daybell, Vallow, and a few others. During the meeting, Daybell and Vallow were "lovey" to each other, which struck Warwick as odd due to Tammy Daybell still being alive and still married to Chad Daybell. The court decides to take their midafternoon break and will be back with more testimony from Warwick.
1:50 p.m.: Colby Ryan is excused from the stand, and the state calls another witness. David Warwick takes the stand, he is a general contractor from Utah. He's known Daybell since roughly 2012 from a book that Daybell published. He first had contact with Daybell in roughly 2015, and never initiated contact.
1:43 p.m.: After cross wraps up, the state redirects briefly, asking if Lori Vallow could be easily influenced. Her own son said yes.
1:26 p.m.: Ryan talks about how after September 8, 2019, the text messages he got from Tylee changed, with little inconsistencies from how Tylee actually spoke. She also wouldn't call anymore. Cross examination starts with John Prior asking Colby Ryan his age. Ryan is 28 years old. Prior asks why he was asking his family for money a few years back, when Ryan was an adult. He talks about how he was just a young family asking for help from his mom.
1:14 p.m.: Colby Ryan becomes emotional as he continues his testimony. When asked about learning of his stepfather's death, his mom, Lori Vallow, told him one thing, while his uncle Alex Cox told him something else. Ryan testifies to how calm Lori Vallow was during that time.
1:04 p.m.: Court is readjourned after a longer lunch break. The state calls their first witness of the afternoon, Colby Ryan, Lori Vallow's eldest son. Rob Wood, from prosecution, begins to question Ryan. Ryan gets highly emotional after shown an image of Tylee, taking a long break before answering the question asked.
11:28 a.m.: Lunch recess will run a bit long, going for an hour and a half. Court will return at 1 p.m.
11:21 a.m.: A short testimony from Dr. Wilson takes place, with both parties only asking a few questions. He is released and won't be called again. The state calls another witness, Wynn Hill. He works at BYU-Idaho, previously holding the title of Dean of Students. Prosecution is asking if Tylee Ryan was ever enrolled at BYU-Idaho, she was not. After asked about any association with Chad Daybell, and his answer of no, Hill is excused. He will not be called back to testify.
11:15 a.m.: Shenk's testimony concludes as the state calls Dr. Joshua Wilson. He is currently employed as a building principal in Madison County. He works at Kennedy Elementary in Rexburg, where JJ Vallow previously attended school. JJ Vallow started school there in 2019. JJ Vallow was only enrolled for 3 weeks. Dr. Wilson followed up via phone to finalize some paperwork for JJ Vallow, but Lori Vallow informed Wilson that they were moving to Louisiana and homeschooling him.
11:06 a.m.: Lori Vallow had warned the nanny that JJ was on the autism spectrum, and sometimes had behavioral issues. The nanny, Shenk, testifies about watching JJ. Shenk was reported to have watched JJ so Lori Vallow could pick Melanie Gibb up from the airport, but Gibb did not have any luggage with her upon returning to Vallow's home. Shenk testifies about JJ's behavior the night she watched him. He was throwing quite a bit, misbehaving, and other things typical for children of that age. Shenk testifies that JJ did calm down a bit when Lori Vallow arrived.
10:56 a.m.: Redirect concludes, as the state calls Sydney Woodbury-Shenk. She currently lives in Arizona, but previously attending BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. She was looking for work in 2019, when she went to a website to find nanny jobs. Shenk met Lori Vallow through Shenk's listing on Care.com. Vallow was seeking care for JJ Vallow. Lori Vallow hardly discussed Tylee with Shenk, and Vallow said Tylee was living in the different location at that time. According to other reports, Tylee should have been living at home at the time that Shenk was involved with the family.
10:50 a.m.: Cross examination concludes for Prior. He returns to the defense table as Lindsey Blake takes the podium for prosecution. She asks about the James and Elena story that Chad Daybell was writing. James and Elena were the names that Daybell and Vallow used for themselves.
10:38 a.m.: According to Prior, since 2016, Chad Daybell has talked at a handful of public events in which Daybell discussed Tammy Daybell living a short life.
10:21 a.m.: Chad Daybell associated numerical codes in regard to death and possession. People had things like "4.1 dark" given to them by Daybell. There were texts including numbers that were given to the children. Prior asks Hart if there are any texts about killing the kids. Hart responds, stating there were multiple texts about the deaths of the children.
10:06 a.m.: Prior asks a series of questions about the texts and if there were any texts between Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb. Gibb has previously taken the stand, where Prior accused her of knowing more than she led on. Prior asks what nicknames Vallow would use for herself and others.
10:02 a.m.: The jurors are brought back into the courtroom, and defense begins cross examination. As the jury walks in, John Prior reminds Chad Daybell to stand, in a harsh tone. Prior takes the podium as Doug Hart remains on the stand.
9:55 a.m.: Court is called back to order. Jurors are not present at this time, as counsel is reviewing exhibits. One needed a redaction, some had commentary on them that were not to presented to the jury. Starting with exhibit 183, there was personal information on that exhibit that had to be redacted.
9:16 a.m.: A brief sidebar takes place to discuss an exhibit before cross examination begins. Daybell remains at the defense table, looking at this laptop. After sidebar, they decide to take their mid-morning break earlier than normal this morning. They are doing this so they can review exhibits without the jury present.
9:13 a.m.: More texts are shared to the court, showing the relationship between Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. They discuss such topics as "not being protected" by evil spirts, and how badly they wanted to be together. They refer to their "telestial relatives" - a reference to the lowest level of heaven as known in the Latter-Day Saints religion. Telestial relatives, or family members, were considered obstacles in the eyes of Daybell.
8:52 a.m.: The court takes a brief break, to adjust defense attorney John Prior's microphone. He has had several objections that were not heard over the livestream but has since been adjusted. More texts are shown to the court.
8:46 a.m.: Prosecutor Lindsey Blake takes the podium to begin asking Hart about text messages pertaining to Charles Vallow's death and his life insurance policy.
8:41 a.m.: All jurors have returned this week. Direct examination will continue for Doug Hart, retired FBI agent and current Chief Deputy for the Canyon County Sherriff's Office.
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