Hidden True Crime - Key Witness at Risk?! Lori Wants to Discredit Her!

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

In today’s episode, we dive into three explosive new court filings in Lori Daybell's case. First up: the state fires back at Lori’s bold move to disqualify Judge Beresky—calling her claims of bias legally baseless. Then, things get messy with a deep look at forensic investigator Tammy Lachcik, whose troubling past—including a hotel incident, alcohol abuse, and a resignation—Lori now argues undermines the credibility of key evidence. Oh, and missing notes? Yeah, we’re talking about those too. Buckle up—this one’s packed. Brandon Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist? About Hidden True Crime: What started as a simple conversation at their dinner table became a captivating podcast. Join the dynamic duo of Dr. John Matthias, a criminal psychologist, and Lauren Matthias, an investigative journalist, as they delve into the psychological facets of unthinkable crimes every week. Their unique perspectives and in-depth analysis offer a fresh take on true crime storytelling. Thank you for your support through sponsorships, subscribing, listening, and becoming a Patreon member at ⁠Patreon.com/HiddenTrueCrime⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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But I couldn't head to the courtroom to jury selection today for the beginning of Lori Valadebel's third trial where she is charged with conspiracy to kill Brandon Boudreau until we went through some new motions that just came down the docket. So to remind you guys where we all left off yesterday, we went through Lori's new motion to disqualify the judge. And today, again, right before jury selection is brought to begin. I'm here in Phoenix, Arizona. I made it last night. Now, today I'm here with three new filings

from the court website, and we're going to go through all of them really quickly. Starting with the state's response to Lori's motion to disqualify Judge Voreski because the state responded yesterday. After I went live, oh, the state responded. And it reads, quote, The state of Arizona, through undersigned counsel,

responds to the defendant's motion to disqualify Judge Boreskiy. Defendant's motion should be denied since established any judicial bias, appearance of bias, or fundamental error. Defendant's motion to disqualify the judge relies heavily upon the fact that Judge Boreski has provided legal reason to deny many of the defendant's motions he sustained objections made during trial in CR2021017. and that the judge found no prejudice to the defendant when he excluded 18 days and scheduled this trial to begin on June 30th, 2025, end quote. In other words, her speedy trial, it's not holding up. We've already done this.

That case number, by the way, that I read, it is the case number for her case in regards to the murder of Charles Vallow. She was convicted of murdering her then-husband Charles Vallow. And so for ease going forward right now, I'm just going to substitute that case number by saying Charles's case through the rest of this response. And anyway, it continues on.

And it says, quote, the defendant previously incorporated her allegations of judicial bias in her motion for a new trial in Charles' case. She also made an oral motion to disqualify this judge on May 14th, 2025. In Charles's case, the judge issued a minute entry providing his reasoning for denying a new trial based upon defendant's allegations of impartiality

by the judge. On May 14th, 2025, the court put on the record his reasons for denying defendant's motion for the judge to excuse himself. The court put on the record that he had no personal bias toward the defendant and that he has accommodated her request and that he has allowed her additional time beyond that allowed in the rules to obtain expert testimony and that denying her motions when they have no legal basis is not evidence of bias. I love that. One more time for that. Denying the defendant's motions, denying Lori's motions when they have no legal basis is not evidence of the judge having bias. Here's a quote. A trium. judge is presumed to be free of bias and prejudice, and a defendant must show by a preponderance

of the evidence that the trial judge was, in fact, biased. State v. Ramsey. In Toomey, the Supreme Court found that it violates the 14th Amendment and deprives a defendant in a criminal case of due process of law to subject his liberty or property to the judgment of a court, the judge of which has a direct personal, substantial pecuniary interest is reaching a conclusion against him, state versus granados. Applying the standard, the court has found judicial recusal constitutionally required only in rare circumstances. For example, when the judge has a financial interest in the outcome of the case or in the criminal contempt context where a judge has no pecuniary interest and by the way that means financial interest where the judge has no financial interest in the case

but was challenged because of a conflict arising from his participation in an earlier proceeding that suggested he had a strong interest in the outcome of the case that would be bias and in granados the defendant alleged bias based on the judge's rulings and admonishments to him regarding his behavior in the courtroom Granados claims the trial court gave the appearance of bias by not allowing Granados to interrupt court proceedings, removing him from the courtroom during Wadir and sustained general objections during Granados' testimony. Granados further cited to the fact that the judge objected to the admonition of testimony and prevented the court interpreter from translating inadmissible hearsay.

The Arizona court of appeals found these allegations did not establish judicial bias, the appearance of bias or any fundamental error. Defendant's arguments in support of judicial bias are similar to the allegations made by the defendant in Granados. Defendant's motion to disqualify the judge should be denied since the defendant has not established any judicial bias, appearance of bias, or fundamental error, end quote. So, in other words, in other words,

there's the no judicial bias found, once again, the judge, Judge Voreski, has shown no judicial bias according to the state or the prosecution that's responded. Once again, they also explained he has no financial interest in this case. He has no interest in how, whether it concludes that she is convicted or found innocent, she has not been able to prove bias. So in other words, just because Lori says that the judge's eyes show bias, that is not enough to prove bias. Next up are filings that I think are very interesting

relating to Tammy Lachick. Now, Tammy is a forensic investigator on the state's witness list. That's all we really know about her so far. She's not testified before. She's new to Brandon's case. She's in Gilbert. She's with Gilbert, Arizona. And Gilbert is where the shooting of Brandon in the future happened.

She is on the state's witness list. And in early May, the state filed a motion to preclude any admissible evidence relating to Tammy Latchettich. This was briefly discussed at the last pretrial hearing. And Lori said she had just received this and was working on her response. So that was that happened on May 14th. It was brought up. And we know it was brought up. They said regarding this and Lori said she had just gotten to it and was working on her response now.

Um, now, now we get it. Now we have that response that Lori said she was working on. And it is, it is a long response with 19 pages and I've got to get to jury selection here in Phoenix. So I'm going to summarize it. I've gone over it. Um, essentially, it seems like the state is trying to keep out the fact that Tammy Latchik no longer works for the Gilbert police department after an incident that occurred in December of 2024.

So not that long ago, less than a year ago, December 2024. And there were claims that she had overstayed her welcome in a hotel in Gila River, Arizona, and had not checked out in time and was refusing to be compliant with hotel staff. The hotel called the police and the police went to the room. And when they arrived, it was pretty clear that Tammy was significantly under the influence. There were two empty bottles of alcohol and about 10 empty shooters. There was also trash and vomit on her shirt in the bed and in the trash cam. And from the report, it seems like Tammy was a bit defiant, one could say.

The officers did call the fire department who medically clear Tammy and the police let her son come and get her. Her son told him that she had left the day prior without telling anyone, and he said that she had done this for years and was a crime scene tech with the guilt. Belbert Police Department. By the way, I think I'm just going to point out that her son telling the police this, because we can say, well, it was December 2024. But her son telling police this night that she had been doing this for years and with a crime scene tech with the Gillard Police Department is important.

More specifically, when asked if something happened at home, her son stated, quote, no, she just gets in like moods where she'll disappear from everyone, not contact anyone, and just get like really, really drunk, get hotel rooms. It's been going on for years. We try to offer help. We tried to get her to, but she just doesn't want it, end quote. The officer said that he may contact Gilbert Police Department and her son said that may be best after mentioning that they had already contacted her job. A breathalyzer test was given to Tammy. She said she hadn't drank in eight hours,

but the breathalyzer registered a blood alcohol level of 0.157. The main male officer on site, who Tammy seemed to be way more defiant with, compared to the female, stated that she was, quote, very close to getting arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct, and failure to identify, end quote. When Tammy was interviewed about this,

she mentioned having a mental breakdown, two points from the summary of her interview, states, quote, one, when Ms. Latchik was questioned in her administrative interview about having overstayed her hotel reservation, she provided bank statements, which showed she was charged for and paid for five total nights at the hotel to include the day after she was contacted by Healer River Police Department. And number two, Ms. Latchik said, due to her intoxication, confusion and disbelief of why she was contacted by the police, she did not have the wherewithal to provide her proof of payment at the time of contact. Three, there was no report of a disturbance caused by Ms. Lachick only that she closed the door

on hotel staff and the officer, which she denied doing in her interview. There was an internal affairs investigation done in regards to this, and Tammy was found in violation of the following things. Number one, violation of any federal, state, local, or administrative laws, rules or regulations, specifically, A, disorderly conduct, be trespassing, refusing to provide a truthful name. Two, failure to participate in or giving false or misleading statements or misrepresenting or omitting material information to a supervisor or other person in a position of authority in connection with any investigation or in the reporting of any department-related business. three, conduct unbecoming a member. The Internal Affairs investigation did end with a recommendation that Tammy be dismissed from the Gilbert Police Department.

And upon being asked to come in, Tammy sent her resignation via email, but had she not, she would have been dismissed from the Gilbert Police Department. So how does this all tie in with Lori's? case and what I want to say about that is Brandon's case. Brandon's upcoming trial, we need justice for Brandon Boudreau. Well, Lori says that Tammy is not credible. And in fact, honestly, she has somewhat of a point here. Specifically, part of Lori's response reads, quote, Ms. Latchik emits to alcohol use and isolation as her form of coping with alcohol, mental state, and isolation affects to memory loss, mental illness, and alcohol abuse.

This exposes Ms. Latchik's competency to perform her duties on prior cases she was involved in creating inaccuracies and false conclusions, end quote. It's not good to read, honestly, as jury selection starts. So who is Tammy Latchik and why is she an important witness in this upcoming trial? Again, justice for Brandon Boudreau. It goes on to read, quote, on October 9th, 2019, Ms. Latchik photographed and processed DNA swabs

and the G.S.R kits in Rexburg, Idaho's in Poundelaw. So for that Jeep Cherokee, that very important car that was allegedly where a rifle was sticking out of aiming at Brandon Boudreau's Tesla and shooting a gun. So from that Rexburg, Idaho's impound lock, because the car was impounded in Rexburg, Gilbert Police Department went up to Rexburg, and she processed DNA and swabs and the GSR kits in Rexburg, Idaho's impound lock. So what is a GSR kit? A GSR kit is a gunshot residue kit.

And according to a quick Google search I did, so this is what I got from Google, a gunshot residue kit is used to collect and test for the presence of microscopic topic particles that are released when a firearm is discharged. So I'm already thinking this is important then. This is really important evidence of this case. These particles, typically a mix of lead and a lot of metals that I can't pronounce can settle on a person's hands, clothing, and nearby surfaces. The main purposes of a GSR kit are to one determine if someone recently fired a gun, if GSR particles are found on a suspect's hands or clothing and may indicate they discharged a firearm.

This is important. They say, Gilbert police are saying that Alex talks is the one that discharged this firearm, that again missed Brandon Vito's head by inches. Number two, indicates proximity to the gun being fired. Someone who was close to a shooting, even if they didn't fire the weapon,

might still have GSR on them. And number three, it helps to confirm or refue alibis or witness statements. GSR evidence can support or challenge claims about whether someone handled or was near a firearm during a crime. So it sounds like this witness, Tammy, could be incredibly important in this upcoming trial, like really, really important. Lori's motion continues, quote, as the above facts from an internal investigation to Ms. Tammy Latchik's state, the expert's credibility is tainted. Ms. Latchik's long history of alcohol abuse and self-isolation in hotels raises the issue that Ms. Latchik may have been under the influence.

As Bates 10109 sites, she lacked hygiene care and had been coping with alcohol to cope with her mental state of mind. The inaccuracy probabilities of cross-contamination of evidence are high given the years of alcohol abuse, which have affected Ms. Latchik's memory, this manifests fundamental unfairness and violation of due process, end quote. And by the way, that was really well written for Lori. So she certainly had help on this motion. And so essentially, Lori doesn't want all of that precluded. And it may sound like she maybe wants to use it during cross-exam or even to impeach Tammy or make her seem just to lack credibility in front of the jury, which that is a good defense move. That is what a defense should do is make people question the witness's credibility.

We see that's in every criminal trial, a good defense makes the jury question every witness. So whether or not it was tainted or not, she probably did a fine job gathering this evidence. This was years ago. We're talking 2019. But now in December of 2024, she has really done some problematic things. And Lori, in my opinion, could really show during the cross-exam the ability to discredit this witness. This seems really important. Lastly, in the docket today, there is a new notice from the state to Lori regarding missing evidence related to Tammy.

This is not a response to what Lori just wrote. We don't have the response. But in the docket, there's a new notice from the state to Lori regarding missing evidence related to Tammy, the witness we just discussed, but a separate issue. And it reads, quote, on December 12th, 2023, the state disclosed the supplements, the list of impounded items of note and notes created by Tammy Latchick. And then they list all of the numbers, all of the things that were missing on and on and on. There are five, these are five of the seven pages of notes prepared by the Gilb Police Department, criminalist Tammy Latchik on November 18, 2019. And on May 15th, 2025, the state realized that it was missing pages six and seven of Latchik's notes. The state reached out to Gilbert Police Department, Phoenix Police Department and Mesa Police Department to obtain the two additional pages.

And on May 22nd, 2025, the state was advised that Gilbert Police Department searched all of their databases, including their One Drive, Home Drive, and an old iPad used by Lachick. The Gilbert Police Department has confirmed that they no longer have copies of Latchik's notes. That's concerning, too. and Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 15.43 provides that, quote, handwritten notes are not a statement if they were substantially incorporated into a document or report no later than 30 calendar days of their creation or were preserved electronically, mechanically, or by verbatim dictation, end quote. Lachick's report, again, Bates 1844 to 1945 and the notes, 2059 to 263, involves a collection of evidence from the Jeep.

So again, from this Jeep on November 18th, 2019, but she clearly took in that impound lot in Rexburg, Idaho. And the report was written on December 2nd, 2019, which is within 30 days of the search of the Jeep and the creation of the notes. So again, that Jeep, that Alex Cox was allegedly in when he tried to shoot and kill Brandon Boudreau, impounded an expert guidehouse.

the state is simply providing notice to the defendant of the two missing pages of the notes, end quote. So in other words, there are the notes. They were missing. They're no longer missing. Let's hope though that Lori doesn't twist that and imply that, yeah, that adds to some concern with Lachnik and the fact that they're even missing some of her notes. But they have them now. That's what's going on.

I've got to take off. We've got to go run. but I couldn't run before I told you all of that. Now, tonight I will be back with everything going on in jury selection. Jury selection is one of those times, again, where there is no live stream, there is no camera and the courtroom. So I'm heading there to be your eyes and ears in the courtroom, and I will bring you everything that happened later tonight.

So hit subscribe, hit notifications, and, you know, from what's going on, this, we are just going to have info after info after info. Thank you, everyone, for your support during this time. We're here because you guys support my ability to be here. So thank you so much. We'll see you tonight. At my bank, I was literally getting pennies using wealthfronts. Chiching! Meet Angela, a wealthfront cash account client since 2023. I lost my job, not having something else lined up yet. I was pregnant with my second. We had to think about how do we make our money work for us. Every month there's this much that I'm getting an interest and I didn't have to do anything. My money is working. hard on its own, and I can trust Wealthfront is taking care of me.

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