‘Where evidence leads’ or ‘reasonable doubt’? Chad Daybell jury begins deliberations

“Do you think he killed her?”

After Tammy Daybell died, that’s the question a former neighbor asked a family member about Chad Daybell, Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake told the jurors in closing arguments Wednesday at the Ada County Courthouse.

During Chad Daybell’s eight-week trial on murder and other charges, Steven Schultz, a mortician, testified that Chad asked him to help take Tammy Daybell’s body to Springville, Utah, for a funeral, which Schultz said he was “honored” to do, East Idaho News reported.

But after arriving in Idaho, Schultz said he realized that something seemed off, and he went so far as to ask Tammy Daybell’s brother-in-law whether Chad could have killed his wife.

This was one of several points raised by the prosecution Wednesday during its two-hour closing, in which prosecutors reminded the jury of all the evidence they say pointed toward Chad Daybell being complicit not only in the killing of Tammy, but in the deaths of two of his new wife’s children.

In August 2019, Lori Vallow moved to Rexburg, Idaho, from Arizona just months after her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed. Her youngest children — 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan — went missing less than a month later. Their bodies were found in shallow graves on Chad Daybell’s property in Salem, Idaho, in June 2020.

By that time, Chad had become Lori’s fifth husband, their marriage taking place in Hawaii within weeks of Tammy’s death and the killing of the children. Investigators said they believe that Chad and Lori, as well as Lori’s now-deceased brother, Alex Cox, killed or conspired to kill all three.

Lori Vallow Daybell, 50, was found guilty of murder and other charges against her last summer and is serving a life sentence.

Chad Daybell was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Tylee, JJ and Tammy, as well as conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in all three deaths, according to an indictment. He was also charged with two counts of insurance fraud for allegedly increasing Tammy Daybell’s life insurance policies. He pleaded not guilty to eight felonies.

Blake reminded the jury that the prosecution didn’t have to prove Daybell ever physically committed the killings to be convicted, as long as they believe that he advised, assisted, encouraged, commanded or coerced someone to do it — someone such as Cox.

“Alex does what Chad asks of him,” Blake said.

Daybell’s defense attorney painted a different picture. John Prior said the prosecution did not establish that that there was an agreement between the Daybells and Cox to kill the children, and said that Daybell’s religious beliefs — a topic prevalent in both trials — weren’t a crime. The Daybells were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but subscribed to what’s been described as extreme, fundamentalist beliefs.

Prior also pointed the finger at Cox, who died from natural causes in 2019, alleging that it was Cox and Vallow Daybell who were complicit in the killings. He also told the jury that even if Chad didn’t believe the kids were safe — or went along with things — it didn’t mean he committed a crime.

“Folks, if there is reasonable doubt — and there is reasonable doubt — you must according to the judge’s instructions return a verdict of not guilty,” Prior said. “I am respectfully asking all of you to return a verdict of not guilty.”

It’s been nearly two months since Daybell’s criminal trial began, with over 70 witnesses called between the prosecution and the defense. Though many of the prosecution’s witnesses mirrored Lori’s trial, the defense called several new witnesses, including some of Chad Daybell’s children and a pathologist who questioned the circumstances surrounding Tammy Daybell’s death.

Prosecutors initially announced their intent to seek the death penalty against the Daybells, but two weeks before Vallow Daybell’s trial in 2023, 7th District Judge Steven Boyce removed it as an option — in an unprecedented move.

The decision came after prosecutors filed large volumes of evidence past deadlines, which could have impeded the defense’s ability to prepare for trial. Boyce said he wanted to make sure Vallow Daybell’s constitutional rights were protected.

Chad Daybell still could face the death penalty. If the 12 jurors return a guilty verdict on any of the murder charges, they will weight another week or two of additional evidence in a penalty phase of the trial, after which they’ll decide whether Chad Daybell should be sentenced to death.

The jury began its deliberations around 4:30 p.m. and went home just before 7 p.m., court officials said. Jurors will return at 8 a.m. Thursday.

‘You go where the evidence leads:’ Prosecution’s case

The majority of the witnesses called were from the prosecution, including a variety of law enforcement personnel who established the timeline of their investigation, and former friends and family who testified about the Daybell’s religious beliefs.

Idaho State Police forensic biologist Katherine Dace testified about several pieces of forensic evidence she tested, including a hair sample that belonged to Vallow Daybell and was found on JJ’s body, according to East Idaho News. None of the DNA evidence was connected to Chad Daybell.

Throughout the prosecution’s closing arguments, Blake painstakingly went over the timeline of events, from when the Daybells’ affair began in 2018 to when the children’s bodies were located in June 2020. She reiterated the prosecution’s argument that the crimes were committed because of “money, power and sex.”

Daybell believed he received personal revelations from God that told him certain people — including Vallow Daybell’s children and Tammy Daybell — were possessed by dark spirits and would need to be “cast out,” or killed, according to witness testimony.

The Daybells met in 2018 at a Preparing a People conference in Utah, where Chad Daybell quickly told Lori that they’d been married in a past life, which Blake said was an attempt to justify their affair. Preparing a People is a fringe organization that, while not affiliated with the LDS church, is made up of some of its members who were preparing for the Second Coming of Christ.

As the Daybells began seeing each other, Blake said Chad Daybell taught Lori and some of her female friends about castings and whether someone was “light” or “dark.”

One of the people the Daybells thought was “dark” was Charles Vallow, according to the prosecution and witnesses. Chad Daybell initially thought Charles Vallow was possessed by a dark spirit named “Ned,” but after they performed a casting to expel the spirit from his body and he was still alive, Chad Daybell said he’d been possessed by another spirit called “Garrett,” Blake told the jury.

The spirit then became “Hiplos,” which Blake said Chad Daybell considered even darker, terming a new phrase “zombie” to describe the spirit. The escalation of these spirits coincided with Charles Vallow discovering the affair between Chad and Lori, and he told Lori that he planned to tell Tammy Daybell what was happening, Blake said.

Within 10 days of that, Cox shot and killed Charles Vallow in July 2019. Prosecutors in Arizona have charged Vallow Daybell with conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly conspiring to kill Charles Vallow with Cox.

During Vallow Daybell’s trial, the prosecution accused the Daybells of using religion as a tool to manipulate others, including Cox. “Alex 100% believed in zombies,” Blake told the jury Wednesday. “Alex 100% believed Chad.”

Blake also pointed to evidence that showed Lori would reach out to Chad Daybell to learn what Tylee and JJ’s death percentages were — how close they were to dying. Text messages presented during the trial showed that Chad said both Tylee and JJ’s percentages were low soon after the children were last seen.

“Tammy was found dead in Chad’s house. The kids were found dead in his yard,” Blake said. “You go where the evidence leads.”

Defense points to children’s testimony, expert witness

Throughout Prior’s closing statement, he argued that there wasn’t enough evidence to show Chad Daybell was tied to the conspiracy to kill the children, and highlighted testimony presented when defense witnesses were called that Tammy Daybell’s death wasn’t a homicide.

Initially, Tammy’s death wasn’t investigated as a homicide, and the county coroner ruled she died from pulmonary edema because of a seizure-like episode. But her body was exhumed two months later. Utah Chief Medical Examiner Erik Christensen performed an autopsy and determined that she died from asphyxiation.

Dr. Kathy Raven, a forensic pathologist, testified that Tammy Daybell’s death should have been classified as an “undetermined” death because there wasn’t anything anatomically wrong with her. Raven also said that bruises found on Tammy’s body were “nonspecific,” East Idaho News reported.

Christensen told the court during Vallow Daybell’s trial that Tammy Daybell had bruises that could be “consistent with someone being restrained.”

Prior also reminded the jury of Chad Daybell’s children’s testimony, saying the children knew their mother better than witnesses who testified that Tammy seemed in good health.

Two of Chad Daybell’s adult children said on the stand that they believed their father to be innocent. Emma Murray said that her mother’s health had been in decline in the year before her death, and Garth Daybell, who lived at home at the time, said his mother hadn’t been feeling well that night.

Garth Daybell testified that he woke up the morning of Oct. 19, 2019, when he thought he’d heard a “thump,” and then heard his dad ask him to come help him. That was when he saw his mom dead in her bed.

Garth’s testimony was contradicted by a former co-worker, Jason MacKay Abegglen, who said Garth told him that he found his mother dead when he came home from work, and he didn’t know where his father was, East Idaho News reported.

Prior also addressed the Daybells’ faith, noting that it wasn’t up to the jurors to judge Chad Daybell’s beliefs and that his religion wasn’t a crime. He also called their beliefs “traditional,” despite experts and members of the LDS Church denouncing their views.

“This has nothing to do with religion,” Prior said.