Chad Daybell trial continues with testimonies on Tylee Ryan’s remains and cellular communications
While comparing satellite footage of Chad Daybell’s property, Rexburg Detective Chuck Kunsaitis said he noticed “discoloration” in a part of the yard that wasn’t previously there. Having been on the stand earlier in the trial, Kunsaitis was questioned again by both parties in the case of Chad Daybell vs. the State of Idaho on Monday.
The prosecution shared multiple photos of aerial views of Daybell’s property, but Kunsaitis said the one on Sept. 9, 2019, caught his attention. Explaining the layout of Daybell’s property, Kunsaitis told the court that directly across from the garage, “You’ll see that discoloration, and that is in the immediate area where we discovered Tylee.”
Prosecutor Rob Wood then asked if Kunsaitis could see the same discoloration in the previous photos taken earlier that year, to which he replied, “No. They’re not visible.”
Daybell is accused of killing Lori Daybell’s — then Lori Vallow’s — children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and her little brother Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow, 7. Chad Daybell is also on trial for the death of his former wife, Tammy Daybell. Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow were married after the deaths of her two youngest children.
Lori Daybell was convicted last year and received five life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The bodies of the two children were discovered buried on Chad Daybell’s property in June of 2020. Tammy Daybell’s remains were exhumed and examined in an autopsy in December of 2019.
The jurors heard on Monday from multiple specialists who examined Tylee’s remains to uncover the causes of her death. Forensic anthropologist Angi Christensen analyzed the trauma that Tylee’s bones had gone through. Christensen said she studied more than 100 of the child’s bones, and some were so damaged they weren’t identifiable.
Christensen also noted that she discovered signs where the bones had been burned and subject to numerous sharp traumas. When asked by the prosecution if sharp traumas can occur naturally, Christensen said, “No.”
She added, “Sharp traumas are something that is caused by an external force that’s imported on the remains and disease processes have a much different appearance where the bone is responding to that disease.”
Douglas Halepaska, a forensic examiner with the FBI, added information on Monday regarding the state of Tylee Ryan’s body after it was discovered.
In his testimony, Halepaska told the court that he identified tool marks that indicated both “stabbing” and “chopping” actions on the body.
On Monday afternoon, FBI agent Nick Ballance provided jurors with information regarding cellular communications between Chad Daybell, Lori Daybell and her brother Alex Cox.
Ballance is a member of the FBI’s cellular analysis survey team, or CAST. This was his second testimony in the trial so far.
During his testimony, Ballance said that a phone under Daybell’s account was purchased and activated between Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, 2019, but was being used by Cox. Google locations also showed Cox to be near the Daybell property during that time — which also happens to be when Tammy Daybell was assaulted by an unidentified man at gunpoint outside her home.
He also testified that Cox’s phone was again near the Daybell property on Oct. 19, 2019, the day Tammy Daybell died.
The court adjourned following the close of Ballance’s testimony and is set to continue Tuesday morning. If Daybell is found guilty by the jurors, he could face the death penalty.
