48 Hours - Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial: Opening Statements

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

As the murder trial of Idaho mom, Lori Vallow Daybell, gets underway, 48 Hours is sharing special coverage and analysis of opening statements. Accused of killing her two youngest kids and her husband’s late wife, she could face life in prison if convicted. CBS News National Correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti and 48 Hours producer Greg Fisher take you inside the courtroom of the case that gained national attention with the latest details as the defense and prosecutor present their cases.This conversation was recorded on Monday, April 10, 2023.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. The state of Idaho plaintiff versus Lori Noreen Vallow, a.k.a. Lori Noreen Daybell, defendant. Welcome to a special episode of 48 Hours. I'm Jonathan Vigliotti. The murder trial of Idaho mother Lori Vallow Daybell is underway.

She's accused, along with her husband Chad Daybell, of the unthinkable, murdering her two youngest children, Joshua J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan, as well as Chad's late wife, Tammy Daybell. Though originally scheduled to be tried together, the couple had their cases severed, and Chad's trial will begin at a later date. Both have pleaded not guilty. Recently, a judge removed the death penalty from Lori's case, and she could face life in prison if convicted. Suspicion started swirling around Lori and Chad, an author of religious doomsday novels,

after her children vanished in the fall of 2019. Shortly after her children's disappearances, Chad Daybell's wife Tammy died under mysterious circumstances. Within weeks of Tammy's death, Lori and Chad were married on a beach in Hawaii. In June of 2020, the children's bodies were found buried on Chad Daybell's Idaho property. Prosecutors say the couple killed all three, fueled by their end-of-times beliefs and to steal social security funds and insurance money. The focus of this trial will be the three killings, but Lori Daybell also faces murder conspiracy charges in Arizona connected to the 2019 shooting death of her previous husband by her brother, Alex Cox, who died shortly thereafter. Jury selection began on Monday, April 3rd, and the opening statements were presented a week later

on Monday, April 10th. Despite massive interest in the trial, the judge has barred cameras from the courtroom. We've never done this at 48 Hours before, but our team is taking the audio from the proceedings and sharing highlights from those crucial opening arguments in this special episode. Today, I'm joined by 48 Hours producer Greg Fisher, who's been watching all this unfold from inside the courtroom. And Greg, you and I have been on this really since day one. We produced together three 48 hours episodes. We even saw the grave sites where JJ and Tylee were buried. So thank you for joining us. It's been a long road for you. Yeah, it has. And I was thinking about that, Jonathan, you and I first worked together early on this story. And it must have been three years ago when we were chasing this story around and you were out with a different producer in Idaho. And we were talking on the phone and getting an interview with the sheriff.

Then you and I convinced Chad's five children to do that exclusive interview with us for 48 hours. Yeah. And I mean, we've seen the story arc too, because early on the children were believed to be missing and there was hope that perhaps they would be recovered, found alive. Of course, we were on the story as a different reality played out. You arrived right after jury selection. I'm hoping you could tell us briefly about that process. This was such a publicized case, as you know, and so many listeners know. Did that play a role in the selection process? Yeah, apparently both sides, the prosecution and the defense, were very focused on the publicity, how much jurors had really heard about the case, what they'd read, what they knew about the case. There were a couple of funny scenarios where people talked about, well,

my wife really follows the case and told me all about it, or I've seen everything about this case. And I think most often those jurors were dismissed right away. But both sides came to the realization that they really weren't going to find a complete jury of people who had not heard about this case because it got so much publicity. And while there are some people who claim not to really know very much about it, they settled for jurors who explained that they could keep an open mind. I was going to say, this case made such international headlines, it's hard to believe anyone would not have at least heard of this case at some point over the past two plus years. Briefly, do you know the makeup of the jury pool, who they are? Yeah, so there's 10 men and eight women. And the judge barred cameras from the courtroom. Is this typical for a case like this?

You know, we often find that, you know, the judge is the king in his or her courtroom. I think this judge had had a lot of experience with cameras in the courtroom for all the hearings leading up to this trial and so decided that that wouldn't be beneficial for the case. So, you know, the judges tend to have that power. What was it like for you all these years later to be in the courtroom and to finally see this case go to trial? It was fascinating. And it really didn't disappoint today. The opening argument, particularly from the prosecution, forceful, brought things together. Not much that we didn't expect. There's been so much attention, so much time spent

parsing the details on all of this that it's hard for there to be unexpected things, but it was, they delivered in the courtroom today, I think. Let's go ahead and play a clip from Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsay Blake. Money, power, and sex. That's what this case is about. The defendant, Lori Vallow Daybell, used money, power, and sex, or the promise of those things, to get what she wanted. What she wanted was money, power, and sex. It didn't matter what obstacle she had to remove to get what she wanted. It didn't matter if the obstacle was a thing or a person. And if it was a person, it didn't matter who. Wow. I mean, just a few words to sum up strikingly what is a very complicated case.

She went on to explain, you know, making it really simple for the jury that her allegations were that Lori Vallow Daybell committed these multiple murders for her own financial benefit and her personal pleasure. You know, that was her planting that in their minds so that time and again during the trial, apparently, according to the prosecutor, when you get to why they were dancing around on the beach in Hawaii while the kids were gone, you know, those kinds of issues will come back in their mind. She painted a really stark picture of a heartless killer. Conspiracy to commit murder, one of the charges she faces. Let me ask you, is the prosecution going to try to prove to the jury that she committed these murders or she played a role, she fueled them or inspired them? Yeah. The prosecutor explained to the jury that Lori didn't have to actually commit the murder to be guilty. But keep in mind that when we talk about the term conspiracy,

it is two or more persons combining or conspiring. So essentially a meeting of the minds to commit some crime. And then one of those actors, just one, has to do an overt act in furtherance of that conspiracy. So in a way, it makes the prosecution's task moving forward a little bit easier so to speak we really need to touch on how the prosecution describes lori's religious beliefs let's take a listen to this first and then on the back end of it we'll talk about it during this first meeting the defendant and chad decide that they share purported religious beliefs and that they share purported religious beliefs. And that they share beliefs that the two of them had been married before in a prior probation. You will hear it talked about multi-creations or a prior probation or a prior life.

But regardless of the term used, what they began to tell others is that they were essentially meant to be together. They'd been married in prior lives, prior probations. Not only that, but they both said that they had been prior figures from or persons from the Bible or other religious references. Greg, I guess if you could kind of summarize this. There were two interesting themes. One theme that the prosecutor brought up was that Chad and Lori used strange religious beliefs to justify their actions to commit murder. And we've heard a little bit about this already. And they talked about that Chad and Lori created a system to rate people based on their percentage of darkness. And pretty soon this theory evolved and these teachings evolved.

And they started to say, well, if somebody's dark, an evil spirit or an evil entity can come in and they can push the real person out and take over the body. And once those evil spirits took over, they would become a zombie. And then there would be justification because you'd have to kill that zombie, which was no longer the person. And then the second theme that the prosecutors hit on was that Lori and Chad assigned themselves status as having this religious status based on previous lives and connections to these different figures. And that that then put them, as the prosecutor said it, beyond repentance. The defendant and Chad used their self-proclaimed religious beliefs and teachings to justify their actions to others, their actions from an affair to murder. This is a heavy opening

statement from the prosecution. How does the defense follow that? What was the defense's opening statement? Their opening statement was much more understated. Jim Archibald is Lori's defense attorney, and he explained he's a very experienced attorney. He's had private cases and has worked as a public defender as well, and that he's done 27 murder cases. He's really been successful already getting Lori out of the death penalty. So the defense took a very understated approach. First of all, they stressed that Lori's alibi was very simple and direct. Lori Vallow was in her own apartment in Rexburg, Idaho, when J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan died in the apartment of Alex Cox in Rexburg, Idaho.

Lori was with Melanie Gibb, David Warwick, and or Chad Daybell. And Lori was in Hawaii when Tammy Daybell died at the home of Chad Daybell in Salem, Idaho. Lori was with Melanie Bedreau and or Audrey Veraterio in Hawaii. So they wanted to make that point clear to the jurors. Jim Archibald, he really picked apart the charges against Lori. part, the charges against Lori. At one point, he asked, almost facetiously, he asked the jury and made fun of the vagueness of the charges. So this charge is, did she kill? Or did she assist? Or did she encourage? Or did she command? So in other words, this charge is saying they're not sure what happened, but yet they want you to be sure. So he seemed to be, you know, making that

point to the jury and then saying, remember, we chose you because you said you understood what a reasonable doubt is. You would give this a fair question. Then he clearly said to the jurors, if they, if the state doesn't know what happened, yet they're expecting you to decide, he was sowing doubt. He was trying to create a sense of doubt. On that note, we're going to take a quick break. When we get back, Greg, I want to know who else was in the courtroom and what else happened on day one. We'll be right back.

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You know, when she kind of flounced into court with a big smile on her face for that early hearing and seemed happy. There was a very different Lori Vallow today. Lori was sedate, serious. She had black framed eyeglasses on and she sat between her attorneys, you know, occasionally consulting with them. She didn't seem to be making eye contact with anyone, but she paid attention to the judge and what he had to say. You know, it was a much different presentation than we've seen earlier in the process. Tell me, who were the key players that were in the courtroom today? Really, the two key players who've been there all along, who even really sparked this whole investigation. It was Kay and Larry Woodcock. Of course, Kay is JJ's grandmother and Larry Woodcock is her husband. How did the family behave when they were there? How did they appear?

You know, they were somber and serious as they always have been at these hearings. You know, they've been there since day one. Every single court hearing, they would fly in to make it there. I wonder if this was almost a moment too that they were celebrating is the wrong word, but something they fought for so hard. And here we are. It's happening. As you say, they've been fixtures the whole time demanding justice for JJ and Tylee. And because they're testifying and because Chad's trial will come up, there's a gag order on the case. Was there anyone that wasn't there that you were surprised about? Well, there was a lot of talk that Colby Ryan, Lori's first and oldest son,

would be there. He wasn't there today. The prosecution's first witness was Kay Woodcock, as you mentioned, JJ's grandmother. Can you tell us what did she have to say about Lori as a mother and then the circumstances regarding JJ's disappearance? Kay was consistent with what she told you and I early on during some of our early interviews that she really liked Lori. She loved Lori. She talked about how Lori was a great mom to JJ, that she was engaged. She went the extra mile. She even explained to the jury today that Lori was graceful to her and Larry, that she remembers one time Lori pulling out a photo album and that

she'd been showing J.J., you know, these are, this is your grandma. These are your grandparents. So it was quite remarkable to hear the beginning of her testimony talk about that. Then, of course, she explained how things changed. You know, all of aurie was gone first for 58 days in a row never tried to contact um jj one time when a mother leaves their child she left her husband and she left her child for 58 days, and she never reached out to JJ. Were you with him the entire 58 days? I was with him a lot of the 58 days. Out of 58 days, I probably was with him well over a month. So more than 30 days?

Yes. And during those 30 days, you didn't hear from Lori? No. For you, Greg, in that courtroom, what was the most compelling moment today? Well, certainly Kay's testimony was, you know, very compelling. They showed Kay photos of JJ, and she had taken the photos, and she kind of broke down. And, you know, that was pretty intense when she broke down looking at that. Mrs. Woodcock, do you recognize that document?

I do. What does it purport to be? Our beautiful grandson, JJ. Did you take that picture? I did. Is that a true and accurate representation of JJ Vallow? Yes. Another thing that was powerful that the prosecution did was show the two grave sites,

those shallow grave sites where the bodies were found, just simple pictures of the grave sites. And then there was a picture also of Tammy lying in a coffin. When Tylee was found, as we talked about, all that was found was charred remains. Tylee's hands are gone. When JJ was found, his hands were bound and duct taped in front of his body. When Tammy was found, those hands, she was described as a computer whiz, never going

to do anything on a computer again. to do anything on a computer again. And the defendant and Chad Daybell getting married on a beach in Hawaii, starting their life together, all obstacles gone. I went to that property and saw those two grave sites. Chad's children, as you recall, you were there too, showed us where they were found. Very, very haunting images, very haunting images for anyone. And I imagine as the jury pieces this all together, all the more so for them. Based on day one, how do you believe the next several weeks unfold for this trial? It was very clear from the prosecution that there was going to be a lot of evidence, a lot of witnesses, a lot to go through, a lot of forensics. You know,

you really got that sense that there was going to be a lot of testimony from the police, a lot of testimony about forensics, about where and how they found the bodies and what evidence was or was not found on the bodies. There's clearly from the prosecution, there's going to be a lot of text messages, a lot of emails, a lot of overheard discussions, testimony from Lori's friends. Another interesting thing the prosecutor said was what you're not going to hear to say that when the kids were supposedly missing, you're not going to hear stories about Lori being worried or Lori looking for the children or Lori going out of her way. The prosecutor is going to have a wide ranging and detailed analysis of what went on. But according to the prosecutor,

it's all going to come back to money, power and sex. Our team at 48 Hours will be on the ground reporting on the Lori Vallow Daybell trial. We plan to bring you continued coverage and analysis throughout the trial exclusively on the 48 Hours podcast. In the meantime, be sure to follow and listen to 48 Hours wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen ad free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Greg, thanks so much for debriefing us on the first day of the trial. We're going to be checking back with you soon. My pleasure.

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