Law&Crime Sidebar - 6 Key Facts That Proved Lori Vallow Daybell Killed Her Kids and Husband’s Late Wife

Episode Date: May 16, 2023

A jury found “doomsday cult” mom Lori Vallow Daybell guilty of murdering her two children, J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and her “prophet” husband’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber breaks down six key facts that proved Daybell committed the murders.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaDevil In The DormThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller

that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Lurie had talked about how both Charles and Tammy were supposed to pass away. Correct. Do you know what she told you regarding Tammy passing away? she learned from Chad that he knew years ago that she would be passing away, you know, early in her life. We recap six major moments in Lori Valo-Dabell's murder trial that may have led to her ultimate conviction. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. The Lori Vallo-Dabell trial has officially wrapped up. The Idaho mother who was on trial for the murders of her two children.

children, 7-year-old JJ Valo, and 16-year-old Tiley Ryan, and also for conspiracy to commit the murder of 49-year-old Tammy Daybell, the deceased wife of her husband and co-defendant Chad Daybell. What a trial this was. I mean, we're dealing with a case where the bodies of these kids were found in Chad's backyard. We learned that Tammy died by asphyxiation at the hands of another while at the home with Chad one night. Chad and Lori having an affair, getting married two weeks after Tammy's death, just in incredibly sad, dark, and tragic case. And after five weeks of testimony, evidence, arguments, the jury came back with their decision. Is Lori Noreen Ballow not guilty or guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of Tiley Ryan and grand theft by deception? Answer, guilty. Question number two. In regards to count two of the amendment. invited indictment is Lori Noreen-Vallow, not guilty or guilty of first-degree murder of

Tiley Ryan? Answer, guilty. Question number three, in regards to count three of the amended indictment, is Lori Noreen Valo, not guilty or guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of Joshua Jackson Valo and grand theft by deception? Answer, guilty. Question number four. In regards to count four, the amended indictment is Lori Noreen-Vallow not guilty or guilty

of first-degree murder of Joshua Jackson-Vallow? Answer, guilty. Question number five. In regards to count five of the amended indictment, is Lori Noreen-Vallow not guilty or guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of Tamara Tammy Daveau? Answer, guilty. Question number six, in regards to count seven of the amended indictment, is Lori Noreenvallow, not guilty or guilty of grand theft? Answer, guilty.

Lori Valo-Daybell convicted across the board of all murder, conspiracy, and grand theft charges. Her sentencing's going to be at a later date, but it's our understanding that she faces the mandatory of life in prison without the possibility of parole. So how did you get here? How did the jury reach this decision? Well, of course, without actually speaking to the jurors, we won't know exactly what persuaded them. And at the time of this recording, no juror has done a public interview as of yet. However, after covering this trial, we thought, let's list out six crucial pieces of evidence that may have led to the doomsday cult mom's convictions. First up, the recorded phone calls.

Recorded phone calls allow the jury to actually hear this. defendant talking about critical issues in a case, and that could be very tough for defense attorneys to fight against. After all, these are the defendant's own words. How do you say, she didn't mean this or she didn't mean that? Well, while in jail, Lori had a series of phone calls. First, there was she and Chad. As she's locked up on charges related to failing to produce the kids after they disappeared in the fall of 2019, she and Chad speak on the phone. And this is when police start searching Chad's property, where they are eventually going to find JJ and Tiley's dead and buried bodies. Listen to this exchange.

Are you okay? So they're searching the property. The house right now? Yeah. Yeah. No one is. Mark meetings we'll be talking to. Okay.

Are they in the house? No, they're out on the property. Are they in the evening, sir? They're searching. Okay, thank you for you. Okay. no surprise as to what's happened no shock no why on earth are they searching your property chad where are the kids chad and i think an argument could be made that that showed knowledge of what

happened to the kids no but that's not all because there are also the calls with her son colby ryan and her sister summer shifflet after the bodies of her children are discovered you have two people who are begging Lori for answers, and she's not giving in. So you can judge me, Colby, all day long. Go ahead and judge me. The whole world has. The whole world has judged me. They don't know and you don't know.

You don't know what I've been through, and you may even give a crap what they've been through. Nobody does. Except for me. I'm the one that knows. I am the one that was in the hospital with Tiley for hundreds of days watching her suffer. suffer. I'm the one that was there doing everything with JJ every day. I was the one who did it

all these years. You did it all to throw it in a garbage. They're not gone. You don't know what happened. You don't know what happened. It's freaking matter what happened if they're buried in your new husband's backyard. Tell me that matters what happened. You tell me that you did this in Jesus name, Mom. I have to hear that out of your house. You believe it that you are not a friend. Every witness of Christ will scream his name when he comes back. So you are that person. I am that person. I am that person. And he will come to you. Okay, yeah, well, because that's what it is. You don't even know when you weren't even where.

When I see about Saturday in October, what did you tell me? What did you tell me? What lies did you see me? Why would you lie to me if you are so, if you're with the Lord? and you've seen him and I'm just talking purely to you and you've seen Jesus Christ where's the fear? Why would you tell me something? Why are you afraid?

Why is everyone against you? Why is everything against my mom? You can be against me all you want. One day, we will all stand there with Jesus. We will all stand there with Jesus and you will know the truth of everything. Not for me. You're telling me that this was all done.

in life. Say it. Telling me that this was done in Jesus' name. You don't know what happened. Why? Why don't know, Mom? Oh, because I was kept in the dark to protect me. You don't who need her protecting my little dead siblings. That's who needed to protect me, mom. This is not a bad. Pure blasphemy. This is funny? This is funny?

This is funny. You're laughing like this is funny. How come your camera's on my arm? You don't want to look at me in the eye? Is there another explanation? I'm willing to hear it. I don't want it. Absolutely, but I can't talk about it.

Unity, if you would not go away or dancing on the beach while your kids are in the ground? We want to take it now. We would not take it. care of them. You could have gone out and done anything you wanted. That's what you think. I don't know what to think. No, God, do you? I haven't told us anything. We believe you. We stood off for you. I can't. I would love to. You caught me and long for four months and told everyone not to trust us because we tell Adam.

And now we find that down and you expect me to just keep going on faith when there's been zero explanation. expected to just keep on TV without ever having a question that there was any major you're right no body because everybody sees what's on TV that's it that's it I have nothing to do a TV this is that you're my conversations my opinion this hurt Lori a lot she is arguably cold and call me a lot she is arguably cold and callous discussing the death of her children, no remorse, almost justified in what happened to them? And she basically claims she knows what happened, but her son and sister don't, but she can't

really tell them. Why not? If you did nothing wrong, then tell them what happened. But she can't because she knows she's in trouble, right? I always found those calls to be very, very curious. And I imagine they may have stayed in the minds of the jury members. And I think it's pretty fair to say that Lori's own comments and words really led to her downfall. We're going to get into her text messages later on in the show, but for now, some of the most impactful evidence was Lori's dishonesty.

You heard a little bit about it on the Colby and Summer Calls, how she was lying about where the kids were, and she refused to turn the kids over to authorities, and not only lying to her family and friends and even the police, but asking her friend, Melanie Gibb, to love. lie to the police as well. Listen to Melanie Gibb herself on the stand. And you say you asked Chad if JJ was with Kay. Why did you ask him that? Because that's what I was told. That's where he went. So why would Kay be looking for him if Kay was at JJ? Do you recall who told you that he was with Kay? Lori did. And going forward to the date that Chad called and asked you not to speak with law enforcement. Did Lori, in fact, reach out to you? She did.

What did she say? She said that the police had come by, and she told the police that I had JJ. She told me to go to that I, she told the police that I was, I took JJ to a movie called Frozen, I believe, and just take random pictures of kids running around at the movie theater. Was JJ with you? No. Did law enforcement try to reach out to you? They did.

Did you pick up or respond to them initially? Not initially. And why did you not respond to them initially? I wasn't sure what in the world to do. Had Lori told you anything previously regarding law enforcement? Um, she, I'm not sure at this point when she shared with me, but she told me that they were dark and that they were, you know, after her, like Satan was after her with the other dark entities that they talked about. So they had become, they call them dark translated beans, I believe. So Lori asking her friend to lie to police about JJ is not great.

This is arguably consciousness of her guilt, right? she knows the kids are dead, and she's trying to cover up, cover it up so she doesn't get in trouble, and so that she can also continue to collect the children's social security payments, which we're getting into in a minute. But another crucial piece of evidence that I believe led to Lori's conviction, and not everyone may agree with me, is a key piece of forensic evidence that was found in connection with JJ's remains. Here is DNA analyst, Keely Coleman.

You mentioned a piece of hair that had been stuck to. adhesive. Yes. What results were obtained from your analysis? So from the Bodie item E.01, which was the hair sample, a partial female profile was obtained. Were you able to make any conclusions based on those results? Yes. Tiree Ryan and Melanie Gibb were excluded as possible contributors of that partial DNA profile. The partial DNA profile matched the DNA profile that was provided for Lori Valo-Daville. Okay. Did you perform any statistics for the match?

Yes, I did. The probability of randomly selecting an unrelated individual with that partial DNA profile is $1.71 billion. In a case with really no forensic evidence tying Lori directly to the murders of these kids, her hair being found on the tape that wrapped up JJ's body. I feel that was significant to the prosecution's case. Now, some have disagreed with me. Some have said, well, she was JJ's mom.

She had long hair. It wouldn't be surprising for her hair to be on JJ. That's true. But in totality, in light of all of the evidence, her hair on the duct tape, which we didn't know about before this trial, that felt like a big win for the prosecution. Again, we'd love to hear how the jury ultimately felt about that piece of evidence.

Okay, so as we analyze six major moments that may have led to Lori Valo Daybell's convictions, let's also talk about how she was convicted for conspiracy to commit the murder of Tammy Daybell, Chad's first wife. Now, analysts, legal experts question whether the jury would actually find her guilty with respect to Tammy. The argument being that there may not have been enough evidence actually tying her to a plot to kill her husband's then current wife. But I will say some of the most crucial evidence was related to not the night that Tammy actually died, but 10 days earlier when someone tried to shoot Tammy Daybell.

That's right. Someone tried to shoot her. Presumably Alex Cox, Lori's deceased brother. That's where the evidence pointed to. So going back to that night in question, listen to this interaction between Lori Valo Daybell and Alex Cox's widow, Zulema Pestanis. Again, the very night, someone tried to shoot Tammy and missed. Lori told me that Tammy had been possessed by a demon,

and that it was no longer her, kind of like the same thing that she had said about Charles, and that she needed my help casting out from her. Okay. And did you guys do a casting on Tammy? Yes. Lori and I were doing the casting. Melanie got a phone call,

and she was on a phone call while we were doing casting. Okay. How did the casting on Tam? And Lori said that she had received some new information on how to do a casting that he could work and we were going to be using the cosmos and I can't remember exactly what other things, but no, we were going to be using this and then afterwards she gave me tons of praise for how often. I was and how great I was, and then afterwards she received a phone call from someone. Okay. And was she near you when she got that phone call? Yes.

Okay. What was her attitude and demeanor when she got that phone call? She was very, very angry, scary angry. Okay. Now this is the night that Tammy was shot at. Correct. Okay. And so while she's on the phone, she appears angry and scary angry.

Did you hear anything she said? Yeah, she was using some very derogatory terms such as idiot, moron, and just being very, very angry with whoever she was on the phone with. After she got off the phone, what did she say to you? She said, idiot can't do anything right by himself. It certainly seems like Lori was not too happy. that someone missed their shot at Tammy. And it also seems like that person that she was angry with was Alex Cox.

That's what I think the evidence showed. Now, let's not forget, before Tammy died, Lori was not only having an affair with Chad, but she was looking up and purchasing Malichite wedding rings online. In fact, the evidence shows that she purchased a ring 17 days before Tammy's death. And we know that two weeks after Tammy died, no hesitation, she and Chad got married in Hawaii. All this seems to support the argument that Lori planned, conspired to kill Tammy so that she could be with Chad.

But in terms of a motive, the prosecution was adamant that Lori conspired to kill these kids and ultimately did murder them a large part for money, namely their social security benefits that both Tiley and JJ were entitled to after the deaths of the respective fathers, Joseph Ryan, and Charles Vallow. Here's forensic accountant Michael Douglas, talking about Lori receiving certain payments after the deaths of the kids. And you have mentioned this, but what date were Chad and Lori married? November 5th of 19. And can you tell me how many payments were received into Lori Vallow's compass account on behalf of Tiley Ryan after her death? Four. And what was the amount of the Social Security payment for each month that was received for Tiley Ryan? So in October,

October through December of 19, she received 1,859 a month. In January of 20, she received 1888. And what's the total amount of those payments? The total being $7,465. Okay. And how many monthly payments were there for JJ? Four. And what was the Social Security payment for each month that was received for J.J. Valo?

October through December of 19 it was 1951 a month and January of 20 it was 1882 and what was the total amount of those payments the 7835 and how many payments did Lori receive for caregiver benefits

she received four and what was the total amount of those payments? The total amount would be the 3902 and the 3343.05. Okay. How many payments did Lori receive after she was married to Chad? Two. And what is the total amount of those payments? The 33405. And what is the total amount of the Social Security payments that Lori Vallow received from October 19th, or excuse me, October 2019 until February 2020? That would be the $22,5.45. And that is believed to be after the deaths of JJ and Tiley, correct?

Yes, ma'am. And is that on that document? It is. Lori collected about $22,545 from Social Security payments that were owed to her children after their deaths. And that was a major, major theme for the prosecution that she killed the kids, lied about their whereabouts, kept on collecting Social Security benefits, that she murdered them for money. After all, Lori was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the murders of Tiley and JJ and grand theft by deception.

Okay. Let's finish this off with the sixth major moment that arguably led to Lori Valo Daibel's conviction and some of the most incriminating evidence, in my opinion, in this trial against her, and that is the text messages. Like with phone calls, text messages from a defendant give you an indefinitely. insight into their mind. What were they thinking? And in conspiracy cases where we're talking about a plot to kill, the communications between co-conspirators is so important. It is so vital. So, former special agent Douglas Hart gets on the stand and he starts reading off

text message conversations. And they are bad, like where Lori believes her children are possessed and seemingly wants them dead. I included this mainly because of the last text in this string, which indicates that Lori Vallow and Melanie Boudreau believe their children to be demons. Line 1394 from Lori Vallow to Chad Daybill. She is asleep. She put a bunch of holes in the walls and doors. definitely had demons helping her, probably a thousand.

We are both so tired of taking care of demons. We are weary. Please ask the Lord to take them. In context of your review of the I-Cloud and the evidence in this case, what significance did that have from an investigative point of view? The significance is the designation of these children as being deemed. demons being possessed by some dark entity, and in light of what happened with J.J. and Tiley, it is relevant to the investigation in its totality.

And looking at line 1391, who is it asking that the Lord take them? It's a reference to their children. And then there's more, like where she talks about the likelihood of J.J. and Tiley dying. This short series of texts between Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell is critically important because it is the first overt communication between them referencing the pending deaths of JJ and Tiley. From Chad Daybell to Lori Vallow, I have been instructed to focus my efforts on Hillary

so I will. Line 2665, from Lori Vallow to Chad Daybell. Okay, find out her percentage for me and JJ's. Line 2660, from Chad Daybell to Lori Vallow. She is at 0.13. I turned up the pain to 10 and placed a spiritual virus in her. He is at 99.99.99. Raphael visited him and told him to follow Amy into the light.

I also assured him that James would love and take care of his mommy, which he will with all of his heart and soul. Line 2658 from Lori Vallow to Chad Daybell. That is sweet. I miss you desperately. Hillary is the name of the entity that allegedly possessed or inhibited. Tyley Ryan's body. The reference to the word percentage is a reference to death percentage, meaning the timing

or pending death of the individual. And this is all just a sampling of the communications between Lori and Chad. There were so many more where they're flirty and they're professing their love and seemingly planning their life together. I'll highlight one in particular. There's a text conversation between Chad. and Lori, where she says, quote, do you think that there's a perfectly orchestrated plan to take the children? And we just have to wait for it to be carried out? I feel lost like I should

be doing something to help. Chad responds, you are doing everything right, my love. There is a plan being orchestrated for the children. I mean, in a case talking about a plot to kill the kids, that's big. And of course, there was a text between Lori. and her brother Alex Cox. Again, the man the evidence seems to show was the one who actually carried out the killings. Alex texts Lori about the new Wi-Fi password being, quote, too many kids.

And Lori's response, funny. Well, she's not laughing anymore, is she? That's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.