Hidden True Crime - LORI DAYBELL TRIAL RECAP | Day 1 Opening Statements 4/7/2025
Episode Date: April 8, 2025Lauren is here to break down everything you need to know from Day 1 of the Lori Daybell trial. About Hidden True Crime: What started as a simple conversation at their dinner table became a captivati...ng 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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I sat in court all day today, all day during the first day,
opening statements of the Lori Valo-Dabell trial.
Lori DeVell trial, as she wants to be called.
She's representing herself.
And it was, it was heavy.
It was strange to see Lori representing herself.
Some people refer to it a little bit like cosplay, her being an attorney.
Another couple I met, they are actually visiting, being a
from Australia and happened to stop by to watch some Mallory's trial,
they said that they felt she did a decent job.
Other people couldn't believe what she was attempting to say.
And I think any way you look at it, everyone was, this isn't the best adjective to use mesmerize,
because that can mean something wonderful.
And that's not what I mean.
But everyone was curious and sort of just shocked and watching her today give her opening statements.
And her opening statements, in my opinion, as I mentioned during my lunch life, are actually really important because it's her time to testify.
I don't know if she's going to put herself on the witness stand to actually testify.
But what she does have are opening statements to set the stage and give her argument.
And it's exactly what we thought it would be a, quote, family tragedy, Charles and Lori and a domestic argument.
And she involves Tiley, which really upsets me.
We'll talk about that.
And her brother, her older brother, Alex, shoots and kills her husband.
It's a lot.
And so what I've done tonight is just I've made notes to sort of go through everything with you guys today.
So we can process this together and talk about it together.
I was a little bit more disorganized during my lunch life.
I always am.
But I love it that you guys are there for it.
You're there for the disorganization.
But today I'm a little bit more organized.
And so I'm going to explain everything.
And we're going to go through everything as it happened.
And I want to start out with just explaining this morning.
I am very tired right now.
And the reason I am very tired is we got up very early to get in line.
And there are only so many media spaces available.
We are considered media.
And then there are only so many public chairs available.
And the entire courtroom was filled today.
There was a big line.
A lot of the public attended.
The media, again, seats were filled as well.
So we were there.
And court begins.
And we're waiting for opening statements.
And as we're waiting for everything to begin, I want to say the last people to walk in.
And it was so good to see her, Kay Woodcock.
She walks in with Megan Connor.
That's Lori Vallow's daybell.
first cousin, but she's there with Kay.
I think that kind of shows a power in this sort of unity.
I saw Rex Connor there today, Lori Daybell's Uncle Rex, Megan's uncle as well.
And then you see Brandon Boudreau walk in with his new wife after divorcing his first
wife, Melanie, Lori's niece.
He walks in.
His trial is next.
He's been, he was almost murdered.
Again, as I always say, he's driving home.
A bullet enters his car's window, his vehicle's window on October 2nd, 2019, misses him by inches.
He's here.
He's attending.
You have Susan Vallow.
That's Charles's sister that's there in Jerry Vallow.
So you have three of.
Charles's sibling sitting in the front row there for these opening statements.
And I can't imagine what they were feeling today as they listened to this woman they used
to trust who was married to their brother, who's now been charged with killing their brother,
testify.
I cannot imagine.
It was a surreal day.
Maybe that's the way to explain it.
So we're waiting for opening statements.
And right away, after all these people enter the courtroom,
Lori quickly brings up Brandon Boudreau.
So it is her niece, Melanie's ex-husband Brandon.
And Brandon is present again for this trial.
And she's concerned because she may call Brandon as a potential witness in the future.
And so the judge asks Lori to explain how Brandon's testimony would be relevant
to this trial, which then Lori said she was unable to articulate without, in her words,
giving away her entire defense. That's a quote. I can't tell you because it would give away
her entire defense. That's pretty powerful. The fact that she wants to call Brandon,
and if she shares this, it gives away her entire defense. So the state requests that Brandon be
permitted to remain in the courtroom and the judge then struck him as a potential witness without
proof of relevancy. So after Lori says, it's going to, it's going to be my entire defense,
then the judge is like, look, calls a sidebar in, which by the way, the sidebars are carried out
a little bit differently than we typically see in trial since Lori is representing herself and is
not allowed to approach the judge at his bench. Sidebars are carried out using microphone
headsets while white noise plays throughout the courtroom for privacy. And there's a lot of white
noise. So after this lengthy sidebar, Maricopa County prosecutor Trina Kay, she then finally begins
opening statements after this whole Brandon Bidro thing is figured out and Brandon Bidro remained in
the courtroom. So Trina K begins opening statements. And I'm going to refer to
as prosecutor Trina or Trina Kay.
I don't want her confused with Kay Woodcock,
who has been a very well-known person
throughout this case fighting for justice
for her grandson, JJ and Charles,
as well as Tammy and Brandon and Tiley.
And so I'm going to call her Maricopa County prosecutor
Trina when I refer to her.
So prosecutor Trina K though,
She begins opening statements by reading a text message from Lori to her brother Alex Cox.
So in it she says, quote, I'm going to need you close to me the next couple of days.
Mel, too.
She can't go to Utah.
They're planning some kind of intervention.
I want Mel out of the way, so I'm left alone.
I need to come get the stuff at your house tomorrow and secure it.
Lots to do.
Thanks for standing by me.
It's all coming to a head this week.
I will be like Nephi, I am told, and so will you.
End quote.
So prosecutor Trina explains that Lori sent this text to Alex,
her older brother on July 9, 2019,
two days before Lori's husband at the time,
again, Charles Vallow was killed.
So for the jury to understand the relevance of this text,
Trina provides more context into Lori and Charles' back.
background. She explained that in July of 2019, even though the couple was still married,
Lori was living in Chandler, Arizona, and Charles was living in Texas. It was also during this time
that Lori began wanting to marry her new lover, Chad DeBow. However, she wanted to keep
the same lifestyle that she was accustomed to with Charles, which was quite posh, a lot more posh than
the lifestyle Tammy Daybell was living in Rexburg, right? So Charles is married to Tammy.
Tammy's shoes are torn and Charles, you know, Chad hasn't necessarily been the best breadwinner.
Charles and Lori are living the high lives. So Lori wants to keep the same lifestyle while being
married to Chad. Well, so Trina Kay explains what does Lori then need to do to keep the same lifestyle
she was accustomed to with Charles? Well, she figured that the only way that she could obtain
this was by killing Charles. Killing Charles
Valo. There's your motive. With Charles dead,
Lori would be free to marry Chad. She would get a million dollar life insurance
policy from Charles and Social Security for herself and their son JJ.
And then we get to, so who was Nephi that Lori was referring to in her text to
Alex? Well, Trina explained to that Chad, Lori, and
Alex believed that anyone who disagreed with them were possessed by dark and evil spirits and referred
to these people as zees or zombies. And I love that she mentioned zees because Lori claims she
never talked about zombies, but she certainly talked about zees. And we have text to prove it.
So Alex, Chad, and Lori referred to people that were possessed by these dark and evil spirits as zees or
zombies. They also used this story of Nephi, who was an ancient prophet from the book of Mormon,
The Book of Mormon is Scripture from the Church of Jesus Christ,
a Latter-day Saints.
And in the Book of Mormon, Nephi is actually directed by the Holy Spirit or God
to kill a man named Laban in order to secure the long-term prosperity of Nephi's descendants.
In fact, the scripture goes in the Book of Mormon, quote,
if any one, it is better that one man perish than a nation dwindle in unbelief.
end quote. And that's from the book of Mormon about the story of Nephi killing Laban.
So Trina states that Lori using their religion and the story of Nephi as justification to kill Charles Valo,
just like Nephi killed Laban. Trina then backtracked to 2018. So we go back to 2018 the year
before Charles was killed in 2019. And 2018 is very important.
because it's when Lori first met Chad Daybell in the end of October of that year.
Trina mentions that it was in November of that year,
that Chad and some other people then after Lori and Chad meet.
She explains that in November, Chad and some other people came to Arizona.
And they stayed at Charles and Lori's house in Arizona during that time for a conference called preparing a people.
Do you want more on what preparing a people is, by the way?
head to our full story of Lori.
We'll put a link to that in the description of this video.
I'm just going to get into what was talked about in trial,
but all of these deeper belief systems,
I put out a video last week, last week, yeah,
that has the entire backstory.
It's an hour and 40 minutes long.
So they meet in October.
It's November and Chad is staying at Charles and Laurie's house.
But Charles is, for this preparing of people,
conference, however, this, during this day, Charles is actually out of town with their son JJ.
And even though Lori and Chad tried to act as if nothing romantic was going on between them,
there most certainly was, Trina explains.
By January of 2019, Lori began claiming that Charles was possessed by an evil spirit named Ned.
Trina states that during the trial, this trial, we will hear.
from several women who met Lori during the preparing the people conference.
And these women are in the LDS church.
And at first they found Lori's spirituality infectious.
However, the more they listened to her speak, the more concerning some of the things
Lori was saying.
And the more concerning things became.
For example, Lori believed she was beyond repentance, which goes against mainstream,
LDS beliefs, like as in she doesn't need to repent.
of her sins. That's a big part of Eldius belief is the idea of repentance of sins. Lori also told the
women that she believed that her husband Charles was possessed by this evil spirit, Ned, and that
Charles was no longer in his own body. She asked these women to come and help her cast out this evil
spirit. And since the real Charles was already gone, she wasn't sure whether he would come back or
if his body would just die after the spirit was gone.
Like, can you imagine someone coming up to you at a conference and telling you this?
By the way, my, my husband is a guy named Ned and he's not Charles anymore.
He's Ned.
And I don't know what's going to happen.
What's Ned is out.
I think Charles just might die after Ned leaves.
I don't know.
So bizarre.
Later that month, Trina goes on to explain on March 26th, Alex Tex Lorry, quote,
Ned is still alive, just confirmed, end quote.
Lori replied, quote, it's not Ned, it's a new one.
Ned is gone.
No one has seen him, right?
Just talk to him, question mark, end quote.
Alex says, correct.
Charles's body is alive.
End quote.
So then Trina explained that as the year went on,
Lori and Alex became more determined to get rid of Charles's body,
which they now believed was possessed by a new evil spirit.
Eblos.
And Trina said that during this trial,
we will hear from a woman named Christina Atwood,
who attended a gathering with Lori, Alex,
and some other friends on June 9, 2019.
This was the first time Christina met Alex on June 9th.
This was the first time that she met Alex.
And she heard Alex say that he,
quote, just wanted to kill Charles, end quote.
And he said this more than one time to Christina the first time that she met Alex.
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And she also heard Lori say that she had been drugging Charles by crushing up their son JJ's pills and putting them in his protein drinks.
I have to say at this point, Lori got really upset by that comment.
she shook her head and started riding very quickly.
Christina was reportedly disturbed and decided to confront Lori about this the next day
and told her that if Charles ended up dead, she would have to go to police.
And Lori apparently told her that everything she heard was just a joke, but then one month
later, after that, everything's just a joke here.
One month later, Charles was dead.
And again, as a side note, this seemed to really get Lori going during opening
statements. You can't see her while Trina Kay is talking. So I was able to see her in the courtroom.
She was shaking her head and jotting notes vigorously, which I'm starting to realize as a tell of
Lori when she is not happy. A lot of note taking. Trina stated that prior to Charles's death,
Charles and Lori had been together for a long time. Like together, they adopted their son JJ and he
is one of the main reasons that Charles and Lori actually stayed together as long as they did,
according to prosecutor Trina.
Trina said that Charles was aware of Lori's evolving beliefs and that she was referring to
Charles as Ned or some other demon names, which one of them is Iblos.
Charles spoke to several people about this, and unknown to Lori, Charles decided to change the beneficiary on his
$1 million life insurance policy from Lori, from Lori to his sister, Kay Woodcock. And this happened
on February 26, 2019. Regardless, Charles still hoped that he could somehow bring Lori back to the LDS
Church's more mainstream doctrine. And Charles confided in Lori's younger brother, Adam, about
everything going on. Trina said that during this trial, actually, we're going to hear and learn
from Adam about the things Lori said contradicting their LDS beliefs in regards to Charles
being possessed. So we are already hearing about some new witnesses. Adam Cox is going to be a
major witness in this trial. And then Christina Atwood, we haven't heard from her yet either. So some
new witnesses that were not part of Lori's trial in Idaho. Because again, this is a different case
with different evidence.
On June 28th, Charles found out that Chad Dayball and Lori were having an affair.
He figured it out.
Can you imagine Charles, by the way?
This is a side note, me throwing this in.
Charles, I think most of us can agree he was a good looking, in-shaped guy.
Can you imagine what he thought when he realized his wife was having an affair with Chad?
Sorry, just a side note there.
But on June 29th, Charles found out that Chad Deba and Lori were having an affair.
And he tried to talk to Lori and he tried to talk to Chad's wife, Tammy, and Charles talked to
Lori's brother, Adam, about this affair, which we will see evidence of via cell phone records
during the trial.
I hope that we see those.
There are many cell phone videos and texts that I don't think we have seen yet.
And, well, I actually think we've seen a lot of the texts in FOIA documents.
Those are on our Patreon account, patreon.com slash into crime.
But I think there are videos and photos we have not seen.
So we're going to see record, according to Prosecutor Trina, of evidence of this affair between Chad and Lori.
And some of these will include text messages between Adam and Charles, too.
So Adam Cox, Lori's younger brother and Charles, where they discussed wanting to set up an intervention
for Lori. They hope to record some of the things that Lori said to present to one of their
LDS church leaders that was called a stake president. So that is actually a leader that has
even more authority than a bishop. So a bishop is the head over a congregation and a state
president is the head over multiple congregations. And so they were getting a record of
things to bring to Lori's church leader, the stake president.
And on July 9th, two days before Charles Vallow is killed,
Adam agrees to help talk to Lori and the state president
to hopefully get Lori back to church and on the right path.
I was pretty sure she was going to church and to the temple,
but according to Adam and to Charles back to sort of these mainstream
basic LDS teachings.
So before flying to Arizona,
Adam's on his way to Arizona because they are planning this intervention with Lori.
Adam texted and asked his and Lori's older brother, Alex, if he could stay with him while he was in town.
And Alex agreed.
And it makes sense.
Adam is the younger brother.
He's texting his older brother, Alex.
Hey, I'm coming to Arizona.
Can I stay with you?
Alex is like, sure, that works.
I guess maybe they skipped out on this idea that he was coming in for an intervention.
but Charles and Adam both fly into Arizona on July 10th, the day before Charles Valo is killed.
And when Adam landed, he could not get a hold of Alex.
He didn't know that the day before Lori had sent Alex that text message about being like Nephi and needing to kill Charles.
Trina explained that this text message showed that by the evening of July 9th,
Lori already knew that Charles was planning this intervention and that she would be seeing him
on July 11th when Charles came to pick up their son, JJ, and take him to school.
And Trina also stated that after sending the text about being like Nephi, Alex called Lori.
And they had, get this, a 56-minute phone conversation in which they planned how they would get rid of Charles.
Oh, how I can't imagine.
imagine a 56 minute phone conversation and what was said.
They had one.
And on the evening of July 10th, Alex arrived at Lori's house with a garbage bag full of
clothes, an orange duffel bag with his 45 caliber handgun, and extra magazines of ammunition.
Later that night, Charles texted Lori confirming that he was going to go over in the morning
to pick up JJ for school.
And after that, he goes on a date with a woman named Nancy Joe Hancock.
And he met Nancy Joe on an LDS dating website, LDS singles.
So, you know, he's looking for another LDS woman as his relationship with Lori is severing.
They're in different states at this time.
He goes on a date with someone he had met on LDS singles.
and Nancy Joe will testify during this trial,
according to prosecutor, Trina,
that because Charles confided in her
about everything regarding his and Lori's relationship,
Charles confided in Nancy Joe about Lori's new beliefs,
the affair that Lori was having with Chad,
how Charles changed the life insurance policy,
and on and on.
I mean, this was clearly quite a first date,
I am, Charles actually reminds me of myself and all my first days when how I overshared on every single one of them.
But it's a good thing, though, that Charles did overshare on this date because Nancy also knew that while in town, Charles planned to meet with a realtor after taking JJ to school so that he could find a new home and be closer to a son.
Nancy also knew that Charles was supposed to meet with Adam so that they could discuss the intervention with.
Lori and that maybe they'd get together again later that day after the intervention.
But then the next day came July 11th, 2019.
And when Nancy tried reaching out to Charles, this guy that she seemingly liked hit
it off with on that first date, well, Charles wouldn't answer any of Nancy's calls.
And she assumed that he was ghosting her after their date.
What she didn't know?
Well, she had no idea that by that point Charles was dead.
In fact, she wasn't aware of what even happened to Charles until after she saw the story on the news about Charles being killed.
Shot to death.
Prosecutor Trina then laid out the events that unfolded on that day, July 11, 2019.
She said that Lori began texting Chad Daybill as soon as she woke up early that morning.
And as we know, Alex was, Alex was already.
Alex was already with Lori at the house waiting with his gun.
Trina explained that during the trial,
we will see Charles' cell phone GPS data mapping out all of his movements from that day
at around 7.35 a.m. as Charles planned to arrive at Lori's house,
that he was always punctual and that he texted Adam that he could see.
so he arrives at the house and then he texts Adam, Lori's younger brother, and says that he could see
that Alex, Lori's older brother, was also at the house as he's going to pick up JJ at 735 that
morning. There are actually also photos of Alex's truck in the driveway. And Adam responds,
I really wondered why he never called me back. They are planning something. That's the text. He sends
Charles while he's arriving at the house and Charles is realizing that Alex's phone or Alex's car
is in the driveway. So Charles responds absolutely. Adam then responds, quote, I was supposed to spend
the night at his house last night. She probably blocked that, end quote. Charles responds, quote,
what you do is up to you, end quote. Adam then told Charles that he was going to reach out to Alex.
to see if he would respond. He also told Charles that later that night, he was going to go to the church to
try to talk to a specific church leader, but Charles never did read that text. Around the same time,
he was already walking up to the front door of the large home that he rented and paid for Lori to live.
He knocked on the door, got JJ and put JJ in his car. And however, instead of just letting
him leave, instead of Lori just letting Charles leave,
with JJ to take him to school, Lori created a diversion by taking away Charles's cell phone.
Trina explained that after refusing to give the cell phone back, Charles made his way into the house
and down the hallway, leading to the bedrooms. It was there that Lori's brother, Alex Cox,
shot Charles not once, but twice. And the first shot was to his chest, going through his heart
and exiting out of his back.
Charles fell to the ground and put his left hand on his wound.
Can't imagine.
While lying on the floor, Alex stood at his feet and fired a second shot into his abdomen,
exiting out of his left shoulder.
Trina stated that the medical examiner will testify about evidence proving that the second shot couldn't
have been accidental.
A few minutes later, at 749, data shows that Lori left the house with Charles' cell phone,
with his cell phone, with his wallet, his rental car, JJ, and her daughter, Tiley.
And what did they do?
Well, they went to Burger King, Walgreens, and dropped JJ off at school before Lori and
Kylie went back to the house.
While they were gone, what happened while they were gone?
Well, Lori spoke to Alex on the phone twice.
Yet it took over 47 minutes for Alex to call 911.
So think about that.
Lori has enough time while she's driving, doing all this stuff, Burger King, Walgreens,
dropping JJ off to call Alex twice.
But nobody seems to have time to call 911 for 47 minutes.
Trina explained that during that time, Alex began staging the scene.
So that's what he was doing for these 47 minutes.
And he placed a bat on the right side of Charles's body up near his head,
almost like he had been holding it in a swinging position right before he was shot.
However, Alex forgot that Charles was previously a semi-professional baseball player
in which he pitched and batted left-handed, meaning the crime scene was staged.
He had staged the bat on the incorrect side.
Alex also had this injury on the back of his head,
which Lori,
and Lori had told police that,
I told police, let me see,
Lori told police this injury had come from Charles
hitting Alex in the head with the bat
before Alex shot Charles in self-defense.
But again, Trina explained that there was
no blood on Alex's hand like you might expect after getting hit in the head by a semi-professional
baseball player or blood anywhere other than pooling underneath Charles's body. In addition,
Alex had a pair of sunglasses resting on top of his head, which would be kind of strained
for someone with a head injury, which honestly, guys, I have seen this body cam footage so many
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Trina stated that there will be an expert testimony regarding the bullet trajectories
that will show that Charles was on the ground during the second shot
and that none of them are consistent with self-defense.
Body cam footage will also show that when Lori and Tiley arrived back at the house,
Lori didn't seem concerned in any way about all of the police on her street.
Like all of these cars, fire trucks.
She didn't seem concerned about her brother sitting on the ground,
like on the ledge of the sidewalk just sitting there with, you know,
dabbing his head and his wound.
And when police informed Lori that Charles was dead,
She told him she knew because she was there.
She was then taken to the police station to be interviewed and admitted to taking Charles's cell phone,
which is the reason that he didn't just leave to take JJ to school.
She said that no matter how much Charles asked or yelled to get his cell phone back,
Lori refused to give him the phone.
So he didn't leave because Lori had taken her phone.
She had created this diversion.
During this argument, during the argument in the house,
Lori claims that Tiley came out of a room holding a baseball bat and that Charles grabbed it,
causing Lori to cause it. Was it Tyler or Lori to fall to the ground? I think it was Tiley.
And that Lori said that she told Tiley to go out to the car with JJ, but she still wouldn't
return with Charles's phone. So next, Lori told police that Alex came out and started scuffling
with Charles over the bat before Alex got hit in the head. And she said that,
that she went around the corner into the kitchen with the cell phone,
which is when she heard the gunshot.
Then, instead of calling 911,
Lori decided to leave the house.
Or in other words,
leave the scene of the crime.
After Lori and Alex's police interviews,
they went back to Alex's house
and proceeded to take photos and text messages
on Charles's phone from their brother, Adam.
It wasn't until later that night that Lori handed the phone over to police
after they'd been searching for it all day.
and she also decided not to call and inform any of Charles's family members or even Adam about
what had happened to Charles until two days later. So not only do you have a family tragedy,
quote on quote, family tragedy. You don't inform anyone for two days, says prosecutor, Trina.
Okay. On Monday, July 15th, Lori was already calling Charles's life insurance agency to inquire
about his $1 million policy.
So she didn't have time to tell anyone
that Charles had been killed
by her brother, Alex,
but she certainly had time
to be calling her life insurance
by Monday morning.
Well, Trina said that we will hear
this recorded phone call
with Lori claiming that Charles
was accidentally shot
and that she was his beneficiary.
Three days later on July 18th,
she finally learned that Charles
had changed the beneficiary.
but the company legally could not tell Lori who he had changed the beneficiary too.
We know it was Kay Woodcock.
She was sitting in the front row today of opening statements.
She was obviously, Lori was obviously very angry after learning this and she sent a text
to Chad Daybell, her lover, saying, quote,
so I talked to the insurance company.
He changed it in March.
So it was probably Ned before we got rid of him.
They can't tell me who, of course, but it's done.
I'll still get $4,000 a month from Social Security, end quote.
Trina wrapped things up by stating that the evidence in this case will show that
Lori Daybel conspired with her brother Alex Cox to kill her husband Charles Vallow.
And as soon as she learned that Charles was coming into town, they put the pieces into
place to be like Nephi.
and they carried out their plan to get rid of Charles.
Take a listen to this clip.
You will hear text messages from July 9th by Lori to her brother, Alex Cox,
that he had to stay near her,
that it was all coming to a head,
and she would be like Nephi,
and so would he,
a justified killing, just like the prophet.
And later, the text message to Chad where she told him that Charles changed the life insurance policy before they got rid of Ned.
A confession by Lori of how religion and money were twisted to justify Charles's murder.
At the end of this trial, the state will come to you and ask you to hold the defendant responsible for the death of Charles Valo and find her guilty of conspiracy to commit first degree murder.
Thank you.
So now we are to Lori's opening statement.
And as we know, Lori is representing herself.
If you haven't heard, welcome to knowing the most important thing about this trial that
Lori Balladebel is representing herself.
But it's still, it is jarring to hear a defendant deliver their own opening statements.
Honestly, I've never sat in a courtroom before and actually heard it in person until today.
So this is a first for me.
And jarring is a good.
word to use. It was jarring. And Lori begins with that soft tone of hers where she's telling the jury
that she's been charged with a serious crime. And the only question for the jury is whether or not
she committed that crime. And I have to say that Lori admittedly looks really put together.
She looks more like the Lori Balladabell we know from body cam footage before her arrest. Her hair is
colored. She's got great hair. It's long. It's curled. She has makeup on today. She has red lipstick on.
She is, she has a black suit on. She is well dressed. She is looking the part. And so she gets up there and she has a bit of a more
passive voice today than she had during jury selection. And more of the voice that she had with that
reporter Brianna that recently did an interview.
with Lori just a couple of days ago.
So Lori explains to this jury during these opening statements that conspiracy is an agreement
between two or more people and that there has to be a plan for the conspiracy.
Lori explains that evidence will show that she and Charles got married in February 2006.
It was her fourth marriage and Charles's third marriage.
They each had two children from their previous marriages, Lori's kids, Colby and Tiley, and Charles's children, Cole and Zach.
And together, they adopted their great-nephew, JJ, Kay's Woodcock's grandson.
Charles and Lori were married for over 13 years.
And during that time, Lori worked as a licensed hairdresser while they lived together as a family in Austin, Texas.
Charles was in life insurance salesman and worked as an independent contractor.
Lori stated that due to this, they purchased life insurance policies early in their marriage,
and Charles had them issued to the maximum amount for each of them.
So Lori then explains that Charles was 17 years older than her, and due to his age and high
blood pressure issues, the maximum amount of life insurance for Charles was $1 million.
dollars. But for Lori's age and Lori's health, she was allotted a $2 million on her policy.
She reiterated during this opening statement that throughout their marriage, they always had
insurance policies for each other and every 10 years would renew them for the maximum amount.
She stated that as recently as 2016, Charles purchased a actually new $2 million life insurance
policy on her and that he was a sole beneficiary.
Lori described also how Charles played baseball in high school, college, and on a triple A league.
She conceded, I like this part, that he was what was known as a Southpaw or left-handed pitcher.
But then she states that he was actually a right-handed batter.
I haven't, wow, we'll find out if that's true in trial.
She said that anyone who played baseball with Charles could attest to this.
Lori said that in 2014, the family moved from Chandler, Arizona to Kauai, Hawaii for
it was three and a half years before returning to Chandler.
She also said that even though Tiley was only three, when she and Charles got married,
by the time she became a teenager.
Tiley became a teenager.
Their stepfather daughter relationship became strained.
This was hard to start hearing, by the way, and I'll get to why later on.
Charles and Tiley attended family therapy together for these difficulties.
And about a year later, Tiley's biological father, his name was Joryan, he passed away.
And Lori tried to discuss Charles making an appointment with the Social Security Office after
Tiley's father's death, but the state objected to the hearsay.
So she couldn't go on about explaining what Charles tried to do.
And it's hearsay because Charles isn't here to testify as to whether or not this is true.
It's hearsay.
So the state objected due to hearsay and the objection was sustained.
So soon she moves on.
Instead of saying that it was Charles who set up this appointment, Lori simply said that
they received Social Security for Tiley until she was 18 years old.
And this, by the way, I want to point out too, was an interesting moment because Joe Ryan is deceased.
He died in 2018.
It's been deemed a heart attack, although the investigation was reopened.
and we will all always wonder about Joe Ryan's death.
And Joe Ryan's sister, Annie, is sitting in the courtroom listening to this.
So that was sort of an interesting thing to know that they bring this up.
But as Lori tried to explain what she tried to do after Joe Ryan's death, there was an objection and it was sustained.
So they were receiving Social Security for Tiley until Tiley was 18 years old.
Lori went on to say that in 2019,
after she and Charles separated,
he and Tiley's fighting became worse.
And she said,
Lori explains that there are witnesses to these arguments
and that it even increased to physical altercations,
one of which was videotaped.
And according to Lori,
the worst fight Tiley and Charles ever got in
was July 2019.
Lori stated that in March of 2019,
Charles decided to pull JJ out of his,
his special school, the Lawrence Academy, for his severe autism in order to move him to Houston,
Texas.
And while they were going through their separation, she said that a month later in April,
she and Tiley made their way to Texas as well so that she could try to reconcile with Charles,
that she decided, hey, let's go to Texas.
Two months later in June, Lori, J.G. and Tiley moved back to Arizona so that they could
then re-enroll J.J. into this special school.
because JJ was having difficulties in Texas with no services for his autism.
Lori explains that it was a mutual decision between her and Charles to rent the house in Chandler,
Arizona, while he primarily stayed in Texas.
And then next, Lori transitioned into discussing the day in question when Charles was killed,
July 11, 2019.
Lori says that evidence, and she left.
say evidence will show. Lori says
evidence will show that during the
months of June and July, 2019,
Charles began sending her threatening
text messages.
Lori reportedly shared these
messages with her sister Summer
and that
summer was concerned.
Lori said that Charles insisted
on flying to Arizona on July
10th, as we heard
from the state, even though Lori told
him he couldn't stay with them
at the Chandler House.
because he entirely couldn't get along.
So that was the reason she wasn't,
he wasn't staying there.
He was supposed to be there.
It was ultimately decided, though,
that Charles would stay in a hotel on his visit,
which Lori booked for him.
Lori stated that Charles also paid for her brother,
Adam Cox's.
Lori stated that Charles paid for her younger brother,
Adam's flight from Kansas to Arizona as well.
And that that plan was for Charles
to pick JJ up for school on July 11.
Lori then stated that JJ's school gates opened at 8.25 a.m.
and Charles showed up at the house at 7.30 a.m. on the dock.
She reiterated that before Charles entered the home, Charles began texting her brother, Adam,
discussing the fact that Alex was at Lori's house.
And according to Lori, though, Tiley and Alex were both asleep at this time.
And instead of discussing the fact that she took Charles's phone, she skipped over that part and made it seem like he had simply forgotten it inside and then chose to leave JJ, a seven-year-old in the car alone for an extended period of time.
But Lori did admit during this opening statement that she refused to give Charles his phone and that his yelling woke Tiley up and then woke Alex up as well.
and according to Lori,
Tiley came out of her room with a bat
to protect her mom
and Charles fought the bat away from her.
After falling to the ground,
Lori stated that Charles lifted the bat
to hit Tiley with it,
but that Alex intervened.
She said that at that point,
Alex didn't have the gun on him.
He was shirtless and still pulling up his pants
from jumping out of bed.
And after this,
Lori stated that Charles and Alex fell to the ground,
fighting over the bat.
Lori lifted Tiley up and told her to go outside and protect JJ
who was still in the running vehicle, the rental car.
Lori alleged that Charles then came after her with the bat
and she ran into the kitchen to get away from him.
So while being chased,
Lori said that Alex retrieved his gun.
So he went back to his room to get his gun.
And then as Alex was shooting Charles in self-defense,
And that's in quotes.
In self-defense, she makes it clear to the jury.
This was self-defense, this family tragedy.
Lori stated that as this was happening, as Laura, as Alex was shooting Charles in self-defense,
Lori stated that she ran outside to be with the children.
When Lori got into the car, she said that Tiley was struggling to keep J.J.
from getting out and that she and Tiley were both without shoes.
And after driving away, Lori said that she took J.J. to Burger King because Charles
had promised to take him there on the way to school.
And when they got to the school,
the gate for his special academy was not open.
And so then she decided to go to Walgreens to purchase some flip-flops
after dropping so that she could walk JJ into the school.
And after dropping JJ off at school,
Lori and Tiley then returned to their residence
and met with police in their driveway.
So after being informed that Charles had passed away, they were taken to the police station along with Alex.
And I want you guys to listen to what Lori recounts happened here. Take a listen.
The evidence will show that Tiley and Charles fought over the bat and after a struggle over the bat, Tiley fell onto the ground.
And Charles lifted up the bat to hit Tiley with the bat.
The evidence will show that Alex then intervened to protect Tiley from being hit with the bat.
He did not have a gun.
He was not wearing a shirt.
He was pulling up his jeans because he just woke up and came into the room where he heard the screaming.
The evidence will show that Alex and Charles got into a physical struggle for the bat and fell onto the ground.
The evidence will show that Tiley, who was on the ground, was lifted up,
by me and sent outside to get away from the struggle and to protect JJ who was still in the running car in the rental car in the driveway.
The evidence will show that after this struggle on the ground between Charles and Alex that Charles prevailed with the bat and began to come towards me with the bat as I ran away from him into the kitchen.
The evidence will show that at some point while I was running away from Charles who was chasing me with the bat that Alex apparently retrieved his gun.
The evidence will show that I ran outside to the children and that Alex shot Charles in self-defense.
The evidence will show that Tiley and I had both run outside without shoes.
The evidence will show that JJ was still in the front seat of the rental car with the engine running and struggling to get out of the car.
Tiley was trying to keep him in.
The evidence will show that Tiley and I got into the rental car with JJ and drove away.
The evidence will show you that I drove the children away from the residence.
towards JJ's school.
Is I grab a tissue?
Yes.
The evidence will show that I drove the children
through the Burger King drive-through
that Charles had promised JJ.
The evidence will show that we continue
to drive towards JJ's school
and that the gate was not yet open
at JJ's school.
So we drove a block west of the school to a Walgreens
where I ran in to purchase flip-flops for Tiley
and myself so that we could walk JJ into school
on the hot pavement.
The evidence will show that Tyler and I returned directly to our residents where we met with police in our driveway.
The evidence will show that we were spoken to by the Chandler Police officers.
And the evidence will show that Tyler and I were told by the Chandler police detectives that Charles had passed away.
The evidence will show that we were put into a police van and driven to the Chandler Police Department.
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And so, loved your comments there. Yeah. Play your tiny.
violin. It's difficult to see knowing what I know and attending her first trial. It's difficult to see
the tears in front of the jury asking for a tissue. Well, Lori continues to explain that she and
Tiley were separately interviewed at the police station before Lori and Tiley were reunited and spoke
to a victim's advocate. And remember this because I'm going to bring this up,
at the end of this of this live recap.
This interview that Tiley had when Charles was murdered.
Allegedly murdered.
Allegedly murdered.
We can't say murder yet.
But allegedly murdered.
Killed.
Shot.
So Lori and Tiley go to the police station.
They're separately interviewed.
And that's what I'm.
I'm going to bring up at the end. Tiley is interviewed separately alone before Lori and Tiley are
reunited and they speak to a victim's advocate together. So after this, they, according to Lori's
testimony, she explains that, or not testimony, excuse me, Lori's opening statement, she's the attorney
here. After this, they're driven back to their residence and they are told to take the rental car
and returned to the house later after they picked JJ up from school.
And Lori said that they did as instructed by police.
Later that night, they went to Alex's house where Lori said that she attended to the wound on the back of Alex's head.
Alex was then called back to the residence so that he could walk detectives through what happened with Charles.
And then Tiley and Lori met with another detective in the front yard where they were asked that they had Charles.
Charles's cell phone.
Like, where's his cell phone?
Oh, Lori said that Ty Lee had retrieved it from the rental car and gave it to the detective
along with the passcode to gain access to the phone.
So she had it the entire time.
I find it interesting because before this trial even started, her biggest thing in the last
hearings were that she needed Charles's cell phone.
She needed it.
She has one piece of evidence that she wants and it's Charles's cell phone.
Isn't it interesting, though, that she had it the entire day that Charles was killed?
So she gives it back to the detectives.
Lori, or gives it to the detectives.
Lori then states that the next day was the last time that she ever spoke to Chandler Police Department
until she received a grand jury indictment two years later for this alleged crime.
she tried to say that the Chandler Police Department
treated this situation as a self-defense case
so she tries to say they always treated it as a self-defense case
and at that moment the state objected
and the judge told the jury to disregard that statement
and then Lori tells the jury that her brother Alex Cox
passed away on December 12th, 2019
about five months after Charles was killed
and she states that this was due to a blood clot
in Alex's lung which they,
the state objects to again.
And then the judge does sustain the objection and said that it was irrelevant to this matter
at hand.
Lori also tried to tell the jury that she is the only person.
This was an interesting moment.
She explains, I have the only person being charged with this crime, which the state quickly
objected to.
And that was an interesting moment for me because as we know, every other person who was
present that day. The day that Charles was killed is dead. Charles, Alex, Tiley, and JJ.
They are all dead. They are all deceased, murdered. Alex, or excuse me, Tiley and JJ were murdered.
And so I'm not sure who else would be expected, that you would expect to be charged with this
crime unless Lori is referring to Chad Daybow.
and because I personally think that Chad Daybell should be charged with this crime and he never
wasn't. It was recommended actually that Chad Daybell be charged. But he hasn't been charged. Only
Lori has been charged with this crime. So regardless, the judge again sustained the objection,
which was interesting to me. She said that the state is alleging that insurance money and
Social Security was her motive in having Charles killed. However, in her appearance, in her opinion,
opinion, having life insurance, collecting social security, defending yourself, and having a
family tragedy are not crimes. And there's that family tragedy. Take a listen. The evidence will show that
Chandler police treated this incident as self-defense. And object to that. The objection is to stand.
The jury should disregard that last statement. The evidence will show you that my brother, Alex Cox,
passed away on December 12th, 2019, almost exactly five months to the day after Charles, my husband, passed away.
The evidence will show that Alex passed away from a blood clot in his lung.
Objection. Again.
I'll sustain the objection. It's not relevant for this matter.
The evidence will show you that I am the only person being charged with this crime.
I'm going to object to the relevance of that.
As the state has mentioned, they are alleging that insurance money was my motive.
Social security was my motive.
Spouses having insurance policies is not a crime.
Collecting Social Security is not a crime.
Self-defense is not a crime.
A family tragedy is not a crime.
It's a tragedy.
Thank you.
So that concluded the two opening statements.
And then, believe it or not, we had three witnesses today, too.
They are actually going pretty fast for day one.
The first state's witness on the stand was a sergeant with the Chandler County Police Department named Irwin, Wisbecky.
They called him Sergeant Whiz.
So I'm going to call him
Forgive me
Sergeant Irwin
referring to his first name
And back in 2019
The sergeant was working as a patrol officer
And he was dispatched to Lori's home
After Charles was shot
He was the first on the scene
And was wearing body cam
At the time he explained to dispatch
That he directed Alex
to come out of the house where they took over giving him instructions.
And after having Alex sit down on the curb,
which a lot of us recognize from body cam footage that we've seen of this moment,
then the sergeant and the other officers went in to clear the rest of the house.
He described seeing Charles lying motionless on the ground with his arms by his side.
He noticed two gunshot wounds and blood,
pooling underneath the neck area of Charles.
And at that point, the sergeant could tell that Charles was no longer alive in that he didn't have a pulse.
And so after clearing the rest of the house, the sergeant located the firearm in the back bedroom.
And the fire department arrived and began trying to render aid to Charles as well.
The state then admitted an exhibit of body cam footage for the courtroom to see.
And we actually saw footage of Charles.
And the fire department rendering aid.
And we did see footage of Charles deceased, and it was heartbreaking.
And remember that his three siblings are in the front row of this courtroom.
While we all watch this body cam footage of Charles lying dead on the floor of the house that he rented for his wife and JJ entirely.
The sergeant stated that he was unable to find a wallet or anything else containing Charles's ID at the time.
And the state then admitted two photos as evidence.
The first being a still of the sergeant checking Charles's pulse.
And the second photo was a still of the fire department again rendering aid.
The state asked if he saw any other phones at the residence.
besides the one that Alex was holding, to which he replied he did not.
And now it was time for Lori's turn to cross-examine the state's first witness.
So this would be the first we've ever seen Lori cross-examine a witness.
Well, she asked Sergeant Irwin about a statement that he gave in which he described the individual exiting the house,
which was Alex, and that she described Alex as non-rexious.
shalant. He stated that he remembered him seeming very calm and unbothered, but Lori asked him if
everyone acts the same in a stressful situation, to which the sergeant said no. And then Lori asked him
if he was qualified to give anyone a psychological evaluation, but she said he is not. And then she
asked why she didn't perform CPR on Charles after checking his pulse, and he said it was because
it was apparent that he that Charles was deceased and she asked him if that was protocol and he said well
not if CPR can make it worse such as from a gunshot wound to the chest and so lorry asked
sergeant irwin to clarify and he explained that well pumping hard in someone's chest with gunshot wounds
could cause blood to start spewing out so lorry asked him if he could tell what direction the bullet
came from, and he stated that by the way, the body was laying, it appears that they came
from near his feet.
So Lori then circles back to him choosing not to do CPR, even though the 911 dispatcher
told Alex to do it, and the fire department did it when they arrived.
And he said that he was unaware of their protocol.
Lori then asked if the sergeant ever made any revisions to his original report, to which
he replied that he didn't believe so.
The second witness the state called was Sergeant Robert Krautheim and Sergeant
Krautheim, although no longer with the Chandler Police Department, worked for them for 25 years,
and he was a patrol officer on duty on the day of Charles's murder.
Sergeant Krautheim testified that after he got to the house, Alex came out at the dispatch's orders.
And according to him, Alex's clothes were clean.
He was calm.
He was not emotional at all and different than what he would have anticipated of someone that just shot their brother-in-law and self-defense.
He said that as Alex was walking out of the house, he was holding a red and white rag on his head.
He described it as about an inch laceration that was bleeding a little bit.
He offered Alex medical help, but Alex did not ask for medical help.
and then he actually refused medical help.
When they asked if there was anything he observed with Alex talking or his ability to move
that made him think he should override Alex's decision to get medical help,
Krauthheim responded, and this is what he said, quote, oh, zero, none.
That was his quote.
Krowdheim testified that when Lori first arrived back at the house,
she walked across the street where he and Alex were,
and he asked her to go back to her car.
And the state then played Krautham's body cam footage for the jury and walked through it via questioning with Krautheim.
And Krautheim seemed to spend most of the time ensuring that Alex did not talk to anyone else.
And he also said that Alex refused again any medical attention.
The jury also got to hear the audio of Lori talking to him about how they had just moved.
in. And at the time, he believed that Lori did not know Charles had been shot because Alex
provided additional information that made him think that Lori was not even there during the shooting.
Krauthheim seemed to spend most of the time ensuring that Alex did not talk to anyone else.
And he said that when he looked, took him, and let me explain that what we saw was sort of this
infamous moment of Lori giggling at the crime scene where she's talking about just,
moving in and saying, oh, hi, neighbors.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
That's what Krauthheim sort of refers to.
That's what he's testifying to that moment.
He then explains that when he took Alex to the police station, his demeanor on the way was, again, calm, normal, and just sort of an average tone.
Well, Lori came up ready to go on cross-examination.
Take a listen.
So, yeah, it was pretty good.
God bless Sergeant Wiss.
The last and third witness of the day was Scott Cowden.
And he is with the Chandler Police Department.
He stated that though he is a firefighter,
he is also a trained paramedic and the majority of his calls are for EMS and medical reasons.
And this was an important witness because this is the man who essentially gave CPR to Charles
and noted some really important things.
So first, he explains that he is trained in CPR and he has even led CPR classes.
And the state asked Cowden to clarify when you would give somebody CPR.
And he explained that you would administer it if someone did not have a pulse and their heart was not beating.
The state then asked if there is anything that you could see that might indicate that someone had received CPR chest compressions.
To which Cowden then explained that, well, you might.
see a person's shirt pulled up. We saw Charles today. His shirt was not pulled up. You might see a
depression left on the skin of the chest, broken ribs. Those are some of the things. He also described
a crunching feeling the first couple of times you press down on someone's chest, similar to
sort of cracking your knuckles. So Cowden then stated that when he arrived at Lori's
house. He could see, and he was one of the first responders, and he could see just a police and a
citizen in the driveway with an officer before the firefighters proceeded inside. And that when he
got to Charles, he noticed that really right away that there were no signs of life and that there
was no pulse. And even though Cowden was told that Alex was instructed to perform CPR prior to
police arriving. He did not see any typical signs of someone trying to administer CPR, which he
found odd. He then began administering it himself. And they added a heart monitor and EKG on Charles
as well. And the monitor showed a flatline, meaning there was no heart activity. The state asked
if Cowden had blood on his hands after performing CPR, which he replied, yes, he had gloves on. But yes,
there was blood all over his gloves and that there was more blood coming out of the bullet holes
from his pushing.
The state asked him if there was anything else he noticed that caused him to believe that CPR
had not been administered prior to him arriving on scene.
And he said that it was everything, everything that he could see and feel.
For example, he explained that he felt the cracking sensation, the first couple of times
he pushed down on Charles's chest, which would have already occurred if someone else had tried
previously. And after trying for several more minutes, they decided to call it and they pronounced
Charles death. The state also asked Cowden if he noticed any bleeding or injuries on the citizen
outside in the driveway and he stated that he did not. So Lori let the judge know that her
cross-examination of Cowden would probably take a very long time. And so the judge decided to
break for the evening. So we are still on witness number three. And again, Scott Cowden is a very
important witness. No CPR being administered to Charles when Alex is on the phone with
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But we're going to have to wait until tomorrow, and I will be back in the courtroom tomorrow.
We will be continuing our live stream feed tomorrow morning.
And I will be in the courtroom.
And thank you for being on our feed.
We know it is a smaller feed, but it is the best feed in our opinion because you guys are so articulate, so humorous when we need the time for humor.
I'm loving the emojis and so compassionate too because, again, first and foremost, this is about justice for Charles Fallon.
And we don't forget that here.
I hate it to cry.
I want to end with some thoughts about Tiley, which I told you I wanted to talk about at the end of this.
And we're going to refer to that police interview that I brought up.
But it was actually really difficult for me.
And I think a lot of people to see her on body cam footage knowing that she is no longer with us.
Not just no longer with us, but she's been murdered.
And her mother convicted of murdering her, the woman testifying or is not testifying, sorry,
she's representing herself, the woman representing herself has been convicted.
of murdering this girl that we're seeing on body camp footage.
And so what was strange for me is not mentioning to the jury that she wasn't even alive.
Again, she's been murdered.
And this family tragedy, quote unquote, that Lori is sharing during her opening statements is so much more.
And that the woman defending herself in court was Tiley's murderer.
And so not only did we see Charles's dead body to
day on body cam footage and in photographs, complete with pools of blood on his neck,
shot twice by his brother-in-law while trying to take a seven-year-old to school.
It was this haunting memory that Charles was also Tiley and JJ's last line of defense
and that the moment Charles was killed, JJ and Tiley were next.
And so it's so ironic to me today.
I also brought this up earlier.
I said, we're going to talk about this later.
But that Lori blamed Tiley today, once again in her opening statements, she loves to blame
Tiley for everything.
It was Tiley that didn't get along with Charles.
And it was Tiley that caused chaos.
And it was Tiley that needed family therapy with Charles.
Take a listen to this.
All right. So last night we did a live with Colby Ryan on our YouTube channel. You can also hear it on our podcast if you listen to our podcast and if you're listening tonight. And I recommend though that anyone and everyone listen to this interview with Colby Ryan, the only remaining child of Lori Valadeo. DeVell. And Colby explains that Tiley actually struggled with her mother.
mother. He didn't mention how much she struggled with Charles, but that she struggled with her mother,
that Tiley confided in Colby that she didn't get along with her mom. And we learned from Colby that
Laurie would chastise Charles in front of the whole family, badmouth him. And we learned from
Lori that she would take Charles's phone and refuse to give it back. And we learned from Colby that
Lori caused chaos all of the time and that she created drama all the time and that she created
drama between people and different people. It's triangulation. And it seemed as if Lori
blaming Tiley is what Lori has always done. It's just one big projection. Tiley in my mind was
like Lori's voodoo doll of sorts. Her daughter that she uses a scapegoat,
for everything wrong in Lori's life and everything that Lori did, she would project onto
Tiley, everything negative that Lori did. She would project onto Tiley. Everything good,
she would say was her and how wonderful she was. And I just wanted to end with this because
I am heartbroken that this girl can't defend herself when we are watching her on body
camp footage. And so I just wanted to add here.
in a way that Colby explains so well that the relationships Lori would destroy and the chaos
she would cause.
The police interview was of Tiley was brought up today, that there was this interview with Tiley
at the police station.
And while it wasn't shown in court, and I don't think it ever will be shown in court, because
Judge Breski actually said in a hearing that you can't have a witness that was murdered and
then claim what the witness said. So we're not using Tiley's police interview in this case.
But I want to remind people of how difficult the interview was to watch. John and I actually
discussed it three years ago when it had first come out. And Tiley is full of anxiety. It's actually
heartbreaking to watch. She cracks every knuckle that she has, like every joint. She just cracks it.
She's at one point crying and she's wiping away tears as she sits alone and you can hear her mother
with a thin wall between them and she's listening and she's wiping tears and then she starts
humming a song.
And the song that she hums, people started to recognize it and we recognized it.
And it's from the Disney movie Moana.
And the song, which I've pulled up the lyrics here.
that I want to read because I think it sums up how she was feeling.
It's how far I'll go.
And the lyrics say, I have been, and Tilea's humming this while she sits in waits for someone to come in to interview her.
Like, she's just sitting there.
She can hear her mother.
And she's stressed and she looks depressed according to Dr. John.
And she has anxiety and she's wiping away tears and trying to stop these emotions.
and she starts humming how far I'll go.
I've been staring at the edge of the water long as I can remember, never really knowing why.
I wish I could be the perfect daughter, but I come back to the water no matter how hard I try.
Every turn I take, every trail I track, every path I make, every road leads back to the place I know where I cannot go where I long to be.
See the line where the sky meets the sea.
It calls me and no one knows how far it goes.
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me, one day I'll know if I go.
There's no telling how far I'll go.
I know everybody on this island seems so happy.
On this island, everything is by design.
I know everybody on this island has a role on this island.
So maybe I can roll with mine.
I can lead.
I can make a strong.
I'll be satisfied if I play along.
But the voice inside sings a different song.
What is wrong with me?
And then it ends.
See, the light as it shines on the sea.
It's blinding, but no one knows how deep it goes.
And it seems like it's calling out to me.
So confine me and let me know what's beyond that line.
Will I cross that line?
One day I'll know how far I'll go.
I really believe that Tiley
was ready to break free of her mother and she saw she didn't matter how hard she tried,
she could not be that perfect daughter.
She was never going to be what Lori wanted because Lori used her as a scapego
and as someone she blamed for everything that was wrong in Lori's life.
And now, Tiley can't defend herself.
So we will continue to watch body cam footage of Tiley,
I'm sure throughout this whole thing and hear more about Tiley.
And certainly J.J.2.
JJ didn't appear in body,
Kemp, but it wasn't as
personal and heartwrenching today.
But neither of these children
who saw so much that day can be
here to testify about what they saw.
And the jury
can't be told, at least not yet,
that Lori's been convicted of
killing them,
her two children.
And again, this idea that
Charles was their last defense,
that Charles
would have protected them.
It was just a lot to take in today.
And so I want to end with that after Lori once again tries to blame her daughter.
Tiley did her very best.
And she was a survivor as long as she could have been.
So yeah.
And then in the end her mother took her life.
convicted of killing her.
That's just how I wanted to
end today. Thank you,
everyone again for your support.
We are covering this deep,
as you can see.
And, yeah,
may justice be served for Charles.
We'll see you tomorrow during our live stream,
during my lunch live,
and after court for a full recap.
So thank you for hitting subscribe.
Thank you for liking.
Thank you for gifting memberships.
And thank you for supporting
during this time.
And thank you to our incredible mods
who have never been busier
than they are when there is a trial going on.
You guys are amazing.
Thank you so much, everyone.
I'll see you. Good night.
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