Day 8: Court adjourns early in Vallow Daybell trial because of ‘unforeseen circumstance’

Find live updates on Day 9 of the trial here.

Rexburg Police Det. Ray Hermosillo testified for roughly six hours Tuesday outlining the police department’s months-long role in the investigation of Lori Vallow Daybell’s two missing children.

Authorities, including Hermosillo, located the remains of 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan on her husband Chad Daybell’s property on June 9, 2020.

Hermosillo was the sole witness called by the prosecution Tuesday, and around 3 p.m., the defense began its cross-examination of Hermosillo. Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney John Thomas questioned Hermosillo for roughly 30 minutes before the jury was sent home for the day.

“It has been a tough day,” Hermosillo responded.

Hermosillo’s testimony wrapped up Wednesday morning after Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney John Thomas finished his cross-examination.

An 18-person jury — 12 jurors and six alternates — will decide whether Vallow Daybell is guilty of the first-degree murders of her two children. Vallow Daybell is also charged with three counts of conspiring to commit murder in her children’s deaths and the death of Tammy Daybell. Vallow Daybell later married Tammy Daybell’s husband, Chad Daybell.

Chad Daybell — whose trial date has not been set — is charged with the first-degree murder of Tammy Daybell, JJ and Tylee. He is also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the children’s deaths.

The Daybells have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Vallow Daybell also faces a charge of conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the death of her former husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona.

Check this story for live updates on Vallow Daybell’s trial.

10 a.m. — Court adjourns early for ‘unforeseen circumstance’

Fremont County Lt. Joseph Powell told the courtroom Wednesday that local authorities opened an investigation into Tammy Daybell’s death because of all of the “suspicious circumstances.”

Powell said that Tammy Daybell appeared to be in “pretty good health” and was only 49 years old. He added that the investigation into the attempted shootings of Tammy Daybell and Brandon Boudreaux, Tylee and JJ’s uncle, along with “her husband being with another lady so soon after,” prompted the death investigation.

Boudreaux was shot in October 2019, about a month after Tylee and JJ went missing. Boudreaux in his testimony Monday said he was driving back from the gym when a gunman shot him through the back window of a grayish-green Jeep Wrangler.

East Idaho News reported that an unknown masked man also shot at Tammy Daybell several times with a paintball gun, and the gun may have been unloaded. The incident occurred 10 days before she was killed.

Powell also surveilled the Daybells in early November and said he saw them walking into a Hobby Lobby holding hands. This was after the Gilbert Police Department reached out to Powell about the possibility of Tammy’s death being connected to Boudreaux’s shooting.

After authorities exhumed Tammy Daybell’s body and performed an autopsy, it was ruled that her death was a homicide and she died by asphyxiation, Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake told the court Monday during opening statements.

The court was adjourned by 10:45 a.m. Wednesday due to what 7th District Judge Steven Boyce called an “unforeseen circumstance.” The trial was also canceled on Monday, April 17.

East Idaho News reported that Blake — who was not in court Wednesday — had a death in the family, which may be why the court schedule was changed.

The trial is expected to pick up again at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

9:30 a.m. — Jail call between Daybells played in court

The jury listened Wednesday as a short phone call between Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell played. The recorded jail call was on June 9, 2020 — the day authorities discovered the remains of JJ and Tylee on Chad Daybell’s Salem, Idaho, property.

“Are they in the house?” Vallow Daybell asked Chad from the Madison County Jail.

He told her that law enforcement is out on the property.

“Are they seizing stuff again?” Vallow Daybell asked.

“They’re searching,” he responded slowly.

Shortly afterward, authorities found the children’s remains and Chad Daybell attempted to leave the area in his vehicle at a “high rate of speed,” Hermosillo told the court Tuesday. Chad Daybell was arrested and booked into the neighboring Fremont County Jail that evening.

Three jail recordings, including the one that played for the jury, were admitted into evidence Wednesday. Madison County Lt. Jared Wilmore, who oversees communication between people incarcerated at the Madison County Jail, confirmed the credibility of the jail calls and said he monitored “a number” of phone calls between the Daybells.

The other recordings were conversations between Vallow Daybell and her sister, Summer Shiflet, on June 24, 2020, and Vallow Daybell and her eldest son, Colby Ryan on Aug. 3, 2020.

“What do you want me to do?” Vallow Daybell asked Chad Daybell toward the end of their phone call.

“Pray,” he responded. But then Chad Daybell, who said on the phone that he’s “feeling pretty calm,” also suggested calling their attorney.

8:30 a.m. — ‘We followed up on every tip’

Hermosillo said during Wednesday’s testimony that none of the hundreds of tips they received from the public helped authorities locate Tylee or JJ.

This was in response to questions about whether police were really able to follow up on every tip they received about the children.

“We followed up on every tip,” Hermosillo said. In response to a question from Thomas, he said that certain people didn’t respond when they called them back, so he wasn’t able to talk to every tipster.

Hermosillo on Wednesday added that some of the tips were from psychics. He also said police didn’t find any evidence to show that JJ or Tylee were alive past September.

Hermosillo also clarified details regarding the guns located in the Rexburg apartment. He said that while authorities now don’t believe any of the weapons they found were Vallow Daybell’s, he still thought they were “extremely suspicious.”

He added that authorities seized the guns because the scene wasn’t secure, and the door to the apartment didn’t lock. Police broke the apartment door when they searched the home.

Thomas asked Hermosillo if police ever found any bullets or bullet holes at Tammy Dayball’s residence when they investigated what police called attempted homicide. Hermosillo said he couldn’t comment because it was the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office investigation.