BOISE, Idaho — A family friend of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell was the latest witness to take the stand in the Chad Daybell trial. Daybell is currently accused of three counts of first degree murder and conspiracy charges. If found guilty, he may face the death penalty.
On Monday, April 22, the court heard testimonies from retired FBI agent Doug Hart, a nanny of JJ Vallow, 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.
The court left off with testimony from David Warwick, a friend of Daybell and Vallow. Warwick is also the husband of Melanie Gibb, a friend who participated in "castings" with Daybell and Vallow.
Last week, the court heard testimony from various witnesses, including testimony from 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. He was 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.
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.
Live Updates:
2:28 p.m.: Cross examination with John Prior begins. It takes Prior a few moments to gather his thoughts before he begins his line of questioning. Prior asks about the pink foam, asking why Officer Gerenhalgh did not research the conditions that cause that to happen. Roughly 10 minutes later, cross examination is done. Prosecution will redirect at this time.
2:11 p.m.: After a sidebar, Judge Boyce states that there is some evidence that is too graphic to show on the broadcast, or show to the public, however, the jury will see them. The images are of Tammy Daybell at the scene of her death. Officer Gerenhalgh describes the photos of Tammy Daybell dead on her bead, as the officer tried to document exactly how Tammy Daybell was lying. There was "pink-ish foam" coming out of her mouth.
1:55 p.m.: Officer Gerenhalgh details Tammy Daybell's death, as Gerenhalgh was the first officer to respond.
1:42 p.m.: The state calls Officer Alyssa Gerenhalgh, a patrol officer with Rexburg Police Department. She previously worked as a patrol deputy for Fremont County Sheriff's Office. As a patrol officer, she would investigate unintended deaths, which is what the line of questioning from prosecution is about.
1:36 p.m.: Redirect takes place. Wixom asks about writing the report about Tammy Daybell's shooting. The evidence of his report was under scrutiny from defense.
1:04 p.m.: The jurors are brought back in for the afternoon session of the day. Deputy Cannon remains on the stand as he testifies about trying to find the suspect in the Tammy Daybell attempted shooting. Cannon says that he and his team looked for shell casings, despite Tammy not being shot and the gun not fired.
11:56 a.m.: Lunch recess begins now, with lunch lasting one hour. Court will be back at 1 p.m.
11:39 a.m.: Prior takes the podium to cross examine Officer Pillar. Cross examination lasts just a few moments before Prior states he has no more questions. Before the lunch recess, the state calls Deputy Colter Cannon. He is a deputy for Fremont County in Idaho. He currently works as an school resource officer and patroller. Deputy Cannon testifies about the attempted shooting of Tammy Daybell. Prosecution asks to play two phone recordings, one being from a third-party witness of the attempted shooting, and the second one is from Tammy Daybell herself.
11:13 a.m.: Testimony from Brandon Boudreaux concludes as John Prior asks for a sidebar with Judge Boyce and the prosecution team. The state calls Officer Ryan Pillar who works for Gilbert Police Department in Maricopa County, Arizona. He describes his career so far, with all of his experience happening in Arizona. His job title in 2019 was Violent Crimes Detective.
10:58 a.m.: Boudreaux gets highly emotional, tears welling when he describes having to identify JJ Vallow. Cross examination takes place, with Prior asking Boudreaux if he needs a break. Prior immediately begins asking questions that Boudreaux can only answer due to his knowledge of the LDS faith. After a series of questions, prosecution objects, with Prior claiming he was asking those questions "out of curiosity."
10:52 a.m.: Boudreaux testifies about emails he found of Melani's - the emails contained "ratings" of family members on the light and dark scale. He provided the emails to law enforcement and afterwards, Googled Chad Daybell to learn more about the ratings and Daybell himself.
10:41 a.m.: Court is back in session, as the jury is brought back in. Prosecutor Rob Wood continues his line of questioning. Wood asks about the Jeep involved in the shooting of Boudreaux. Boudreaux testifies it was Tylee Ryan's Jeep that was involved in the shooting.
10:08 a.m.: Morning break takes place, with Boudreaux taking the stand again after the court returns.
9:58 a.m.: Brandon Boudreaux gets emotional as he discusses his divorce from Melani. It was not something he wanted, and talks about how the connection was lost between them. On Oct. 2 2019, Brandon was shot at in an attempt to murder him. After dropping his children off, he went to the gym in Gilbert, Arizona. He then drove home and as he approached his house, he noticed a few things that were off. The driveway had a Jeep on it, which was unusual. "It looked out of place," he said. There was no tire on the back of it and it had Texas plates. The back window then opened, revealing a gun and silencer. He drove straight instead of turning into his house. He immediately called 911 and saw the Jeep come around the corner. Boudreaux had only been in that house a several days, and very few people knew he lived there.
9:21 a.m.: Brandon Boudreaux was the one to baptize Tylee Ryan, so he took religious care of her. She was baptized in the Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - or LDS - church. Boudreaux also talks about how his ex-wife Melani was easily influenced by Lori Vallow, and Vallow took care of Melani. Brandon Boudreaux discusses the last Christmas they had all together, which was in 2018. Boudreaux states that the feeling was off, and the welcoming vibe wasn't quite there. Melanie Gibb was also there, which was a oddity to Boudreaux. Lori Vallow also didn't buy many presents, which was odd as well.
9:13 a.m.: The state calls another witness. Brandon Boudreaux takes the stand. He is Lori Vallow's ex-nephew-in-law. He was married to Melani Boudreaux during this investigation. Brandon met many family members during the 10 year marriage, with Lori Vallow and Alex Cox being key figures in that family. Brandon said they spent a lot of time with Cox and Vallow. They went to Disneyland a lot together, Brandon testifies. Brandon's son, Braxton, was very close with JJ Vallow.
9:10 a.m.: Re-cross takes place, with Judge Boyce reminding Prior to be swift with the questioning. Prior begins by recalling events over a weekend in 2019. During that weekend, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell were lovey with each other, but Tammy Daybell was still alive and there was no evidence of divorce. Testimony of Warwick wraps up.
8:52 a.m.: Redirect takes place, and prosecution begins asking questions about meeting with Warwick. Warwick doesn't remember meeting with prosecution, but Prosecutor Wixom asks for more information anyways. A few months back, Warwick did meet with prosecution. Warwick also doesn't remember meeting with prosecution earlier this week when he came to Boise to testify. Wixom quickly moves on. Wixom asks if Warwick liked Chad Daybell as a person, Warwick told law enforcement that he did like Daybell, but did struggle with the religious views of Daybell. Daybell asked Warwick to write a book, and Warwick was not quite ready. Daybell was a bit pushy about the book, which was off-putting to Warwick.
8:37 a.m.: John Prior begins by asking Warwick a series of questions about Warwick's association with prosecution. Warwick went over an affidavit with prosecution, with revisions done by Warwick. Warwick worked with prosecution for his testimony, according to the series of questions Prior asked. Warwick later describes Daybell as "meek" and "humble" as well as very religious.
8:32 a.m.: Court is now on the record for the ninth day of Chad Daybell's trial. Daybell and his lawyer John Prior are at the defense table, whispering back and forth with each other while looking at their laptops. The jury is brought in, and Judge Boyce goes through some housekeeping. David Warwick is on the stand again, as cross examination continues.
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