Day 21: Ex-friend says Lori Daybell threatened to kill her. Attorney asks if she made it up
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The criminal trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, a 49-year-old Rexburg mother accused of killing two of her children, took an emotional and unexpected turn Wednesday morning.
Audrey Barattiero, Daybell’s former friend, said in her testimony that Vallow Daybell told her she’d take her life and cut her up.
“She threatened to kill me,” Barattiero said.
Lori Daybell, and her husband, Chad Daybell, are charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan.
To be convicted of the first-degree murder charges, the jury will need to conclude that they killed, encouraged or commanded someone else to kill Vallow Daybell’s children.
“She said to me, ‘You’re so naive and too trusting,’” Barattiero said, recalling a 2019 conversation. “‘You’re like a little child, you believe anything.’”
Barattiero alleged that Lori Daybell told her that she wasn’t in the right head space to kill her, but that she’d get there.
Jim Archibald, an attorney for the defense, aggressively questioned Barattiero on why she didn’t mention the threat during previous hearings under oath.
“I was scared,” Barattiero responded.
“You want the jury to believe that you didn’t make this last crap up?” Archibald pressed.
“I did not,” Barattiero said.
The prosecution objected to Archibald’s line of questioning several times, saying that it was argumentative. But 7th District Judge Steven Boyce allowed the questions.
The Daybells are also accused of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of the two children and Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell’s former wife.
Chad and Lori Daybell — who had a months-long affair — got married on a Hawaii beach two weeks after Tammy Daybell’s body was buried in a Utah cemetery, according to witnesses throughout the trial.
READ MORE: Lori Vallow Daybell’s case spans 3 states, 4 deaths. Here are all the key people involved.
Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial, in the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, began early April and could last another three weeks. Chad Daybell — who is also charged with first-degree murder in Tammy Daybell’s death — has a hearing scheduled Thursday.
Authorities said they believe Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox also conspired to kill JJ, Tylee and Tammy Daybell, according to the indictment filed by prosecution teams from Madison and Fremont counties.
Cox died of natural causes in 2019. Vallow Daybell also faces a felony charge for allegedly conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, with her brother.
3:30 p.m. — Chad Daybell hearing
Chad Daybell is scheduled to appear via Zoom for a hearing at 3:45 p.m. Thursday at the Ada County Courthouse, according to a notice of hearing.
Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce said Wednesday afternoon that Vallow Daybell’s trial would wrap up at around 3:10 Thursday because of the hearing. The hearing is open to the public, but it will not be live-streamed in the court’s overflow room, according to Ada County’s website.
3:10 p.m. — Husband of Lori Daybell’s niece recorded conversations for police
Ian Pawlowski, the husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece Melani Pawlowski, was called to the witness stand. He briefly talked about the Daybells’ fringe religious beliefs — Melani Pawlowski believed — and said that by November 2019 he no longer believed them.
“The point where it really turned for me was the morning after my marriage to Melani,” Ian Pawlowski said. “Melani dumped everything on me and shared everything.”
He didn’t specifically state what his wife had told him but he said that he had concerns about the safety of his children, himself, and his ex-wife after hearing what Melani Pawlowski told him.
Less than a week later, in early December Ian Pawlowski approached law enforcement with his concerns. He said the police asked him to listen and observe the Daybell and also requested that he record conversations.
Ian Pawlowski clarified, when asked by the prosecution, that the recordings are about the Daybells’ religious beliefs and neither Chad or Lori Vallow Daybell confess to a crime.
After roughly 20 minutes of testimony, the prosecution was done with its questions and allowed the defense to begin its cross-examination. The prosecution did not admit the recordings made by Ian Pawlowski.
The court will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday and the defense is expected to request evidence — like the recordings — be admitted during their cross-examination.
3 p.m. — Husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece allowed to testify
Ian Pawlowski was called to the witness stand — without the jury present — to answer some questions about whether he’s listened to or heard any evidence from the trial. Archibald asked whether Ian Pawlowski heard Melani tell someone, “The nail is already in Lori’s coffin.” Ian Pawlowski said he didn’t hear her say that or anything similar to that.
Ian Pawlowski’s attorney, Garrett Smith, was present in the courtroom. Smith is representing the Pawlowskis along with Vallow Daybell’s former friend, Zulema Pastenes.
“This is just a complicated matter, and I’d feel better with an attorney present,” Ian Pawlowski said when asked by Archibald why his attorney was in court.
Ian Pawlowski told both the defense and the prosecution that he hasn’t listened to or read any testimony from throughout the jury trial, and Boyce allowed Ian Pawlowski to testify.
2:20 p.m. — Vallow Daybell’s niece Melani Pawlowski listened to testimony, defense attorney says
Jim Archibald, an attorney for the defense, said Melani Pawlowski listened to witness testimony and read news articles about the trial — which she’s prohibited from doing.
Thomas expressed concern about Melani Pawlowski’s husband, Ian Pawlowski, testifying. But the prosecution argued there is “absolutely no indication” Ian Pawlowski listened to testimony, and to assume that he has because of his wife “is a stretch.”
Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce said he’d allow the prosecution to call Ian Pawlowski to the witness stand and ask him a few questions — without the jury present — to decide if he can testify.
The prosecution said they might also call Melani Pawlowski as a witness during the trial but, it will take up any concerns about that at a later date.
1:20 p.m. — Police didn’t find bullets at Tammy Daybell’s home after attempted shooting
The defense began its cross-examination of Fremont County Sheriff’s Sgt. Vince Kaaiakamanu.
Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney John Thomas asked Kaaiakamanu to read a portion of an email — which hadn’t been presented by the prosecution — that Tammy Daybell sent her son after an individual attempted to shoot her in October 2019.
Prosecutors have alleged in their indictment that Cox attempted to shoot Tammy Daybell on Oct. 9, 2019 — 10 days before she died.
In the email, Tammy Daybell said her neighbor had a “pretty good theory” as to why someone pointed what Tammy Daybell identified as a paintball gun at her. Tammy Daybell in the email said that when she pulled up to her driveway on Oct. 9, 2019, she had startled someone who was trying to help steal her neighbor’s dog.
Thomas called that portion of the email “pertinent,” but Kaaiakamanu disagreed. Kaaiakamanu said he didn’t find it a credible lead.
Thomas also asked Kaaiakamanu whether an AR-15 could make a “whooshing” and “clicking” sound. Tammy Daybell in her email said that’s what she heard when the shooter attempted to shoot at her.
Kaaiakamanu said the AR-15 couldn’t make both those sounds at the same time. He added that the “whooshing” sound could occur if someone used a “subsonic bullet.”
“I’m not sure if you can buy (the bullet). Usually people make it,” Kaaiakamanu said. He said police found some but not all of the equipment someone would need to make the bullet within Cox’s belongings.
Kaaiakamanu said police didn’t find any subsonic bullets or castings. He also said, when asked by the defense, that police did not find any bullets or markings on the Daybells’ property.
Thomas asked Kaaiakamanu whether he talked to anyone else who was suspected of pointing the gun at Tammy Daybell. Kaaiakamanu said he didn’t.
“When you conduct an investigation, do you go where the evidence leads you?” Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake asked Kaaiakamanu.
“Yes,” he responded. He was excused at around 2:05 p.m.
11:30 a.m. — Rexburg detective says gun could be mistaken for a paintball gun
In an email Tammy Daybell sent to her son — which was presented in court — she described the Oct. 9, 2019, attempted shooting, which came 10 days before she died.
“There was a guy dressed in black with a ski mask on with a rifle pointing at me,” Tammy Daybell said in the email.
She then later clarified in the email that she believed the firearm was a paintball gun because it had a hopper — which is where the paintballs are held.
Kaaiakamanu during his testimony Wednesday said police seized weapons from Vallow Daybell’s Rexburg apartment that they felt were connected to Tammy’s shooting. Police believe the firearms located there belonged to her brother, Cox.
The prosecution presented photographs of two of the firearms that were seized by police, but the defense objected and asked the physical guns — which are being held in Ada County’s evidence locker — be presented in court.
“There are certain things you can’t depict in a photograph,” said John Thomas, Vallow Daybell’s attorney.
Thomas said he felt the prosecution was going to present testimony alleging the firearms were similar to a paintball gun, and he said the jury should be able to see the guns for themselves.
Boyce allowed the prosecution to admit the images of the firearms but told the defense attorneys they could request the guns be brought in physically during cross-examination.
Kaaiakamanu said an AR-15, which was one of the seized firearms, could be “mistaken as a paintball gun” because it has a larger scope, and someone could mistake it for a hopper. He added that an email address linked to Cox made multiple searches regarding AR-15s.
The prosecution also attempted to enter an image that would have shown an example of a paintball gun, but Boyce didn’t allow the image to be admitted. He said it could cause “prejudicial confusion.”
The court adjourned for a lunch break around noon. About an hour later, the prosecution continued its questioning of Kaaiakamanu.
The bailiffs brought the two firearms — an Alexander Arms Grendel 6.5 and an AR-15 — into the courtroom and allowed Kaaiakamanu to physically show the jury aspects of the gun and its similarities to a paintball gun.
“In your experience, can a paintball gun resemble an AR-15?” Blake asked.
“Yes,” Kaaiakamanu responded.
9 a.m. — ‘It didn’t seem like like a prayer.’ Former friend testifies about Daybells’ religious beliefs
Barattiero was the first person called to the witness stand. The Missouri resident said she met Vallow Daybell in November 2018 after she stayed at Vallow Daybell’s Arizona home following a conference.
Chad Daybell — who also stayed at the Arizona house in November 2018 — asked Barattiero to be Vallow Daybell’s friend because he couldn’t talk to her all of the time, she said during her testimony. Barattiero said that she was under the impression Chad Daybell was trying to keep his and Vallow Daybell’s conversations private because he was still married to Tammy Daybell.
Barattiero also spoke about Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell’s religious beliefs. The Daybells were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had fringe beliefs that the world was going to end in July 2020. They also believed that people could be possessed by dark spirits, witnesses said in testimony, and that the spirits would need to be cast out.
If a dark spirit were properly cast out then they would die, according to testimony throughout the trial.
Barattiero said she was present when Vallow Daybell and others, including Melaine Gibb and Zulema Pastenes — former friends of the Daybells and members of the Latter-day Saints church — attempted to cast out the dark spirit from Vallow Daybell’s fourth-husband, Charles Vallow, in the summer of 2019. Charles Vallow was killed by Cox in July 2019.
“I joined as well, thinking it was going to be prayer,” Barattiero said, describing the casting.
In early October 2019, Barattiero said she was again present when Vallow Daybell and her niece Melani Pawlowski performed a casting on Tammy Daybell. Barattiero said she didn’t want to participate in the casting, but that Vallow Daybell “pressured” her. Instead, Barattiero said, she offered to pray for Tammy Daybell.
Archibald, Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney, asked Barattiero whether they were praying to Jesus Christ during these castings. Barattiero said “it didn’t seem like a prayer.”
“If you thought they were a bunch of weirdos, then you’d never want to hang out with them again,” Archibald said.
“Yes, but I didn’t know what to think about it,” Barattiero responded. She added that she distanced herself from the Daybells, but Archibald pointed out that Barattiero traveled to Hawaii and Idaho with Vallow Daybell until late 2019.
Archibald asked Barattiero that if she believed Chad Daybell’s beliefs, then couldn’t other women? Barattiero responded, “That could be the case.”
Vallow Daybell’s defense team throughout the trial has been trying to note instances of Chad Daybell’s influence on her.
“Like Lori Vallow?” Archibald asked.
“Yes,” Barattiero said.
Barattiero also responded “yes” when asked the same question about Gibb and Pastenes.
