Day 24: ‘So tired of taking care of demons,’ Lori Vallow Daybell said about her kids
The sixth week of Lori Vallow Daybell’s criminal trial began Monday with additional testimony from a former special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Lori and Chad Daybell have been charged with the first-degree murder of two of Vallow Daybell’s children: 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.
The Daybells are also accused of conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell — Chad Daybell’s first wife — along with the children.
Former FBI Special Agent Douglas Hart continued testifying Monday morning about Vallow Daybell’s iCloud account and text messages between the couple. Hart currently works at the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office as the chief deputy.
Vallow Daybell’s trial at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise began in early April and could last another two weeks. A trial date hasn’t been set for Chad Daybell — also charged with first-degree murder in Tammy Daybell’s death by asphyxiation — but it’s possible his trial could occur in June 2024.
Lori Vallow Daybell’s case spans 3 states, 4 deaths. Here are the key people involved
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.
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3:30 p.m. — Former FBI agent says Vallow Daybell ‘at times’ may have been manipulated
Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney John Thomas began cross-examining Hart at around 3 p.m.
Thomas asked Hart if the thousands of text messages he reviewed from Vallow Daybell’s iCloud account also showed daily activities and not just messages with Chad Daybell. Hart said yes.
Thomas then asked Hart whether he thought Vallow Daybell was a good mother.
“With the exception of what happened to her children, yes,” Hart responded.
Thomas repeatedly questioned Hart about whether Chad Daybell’s beliefs that he mentioned to Vallow Daybell in the text messages could be considered fantasy.
Hart said that while some of Chad Daybell’s beliefs or writing were fantasy, all three of the people — Tammy, JJ and Tylee — who Chad Daybell said had low death percentages died.
The Daybells were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had fringe beliefs that people could be possessed by dark spirits and that the spirits would need to be cast out, witnesses said in testimony. Hart said the Daybells also believed people had death percentages, and the lower an individual’s percentage, then the closer that person was to death.
Hart said Chad Daybell used religious concepts to manipulate others. When Thomas asked Hart whether those manipulated by Chad Daybell could include Vallow Daybell, Hart responded that it could “at times.”
The prosecution followed back up and asked whether evidence showed that Vallow Daybell manipulated Chad Daybell and Cox. Hart responded, “Yes.”
Hart was dismissed from the witness stand at around 3:20 p.m., and the court was adjourned.
2 p.m. — ‘I’m feeling sad, but it isn’t for the reason everyone thinks’
One day after Tammy Daybell died, Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell were texting each other about how much they missed each other.
”I feel lovesick. I can’t sleep I don’t want to eat. I just want you it’s so consuming,” Vallow Daybell texted Chad Daybell.
“I know exactly how you feel. I’m feeling sad, but it isn’t for the reason everyone thinks,” Chad Daybell responded.
Hart also said any evidence about the children, including text messages Tylee sent Vallow Daybell or photos and videos of them, stopped after September.
Another text message exchange in October 2019 showed Vallow Daybell texting Chad Daybell with concerns about her brother Cox. She said she had a bad dream about him and was worried he might be possessed.
Chad Daybell texted Vallow Daybell back that he would check on Cox.
Hart also spoke about a patriarchal blessing Chad Daybell gave Cox. Only ordained church leaders, called patriarchs, can give such blessings.
There was one specific line Chad Daybell told Cox during the blessing that Hart noted: “You have already assisted us in ways that can never be repaid.”
1:20 p.m. — Tylee helped her mother take of JJ
Vallow Daybell hired a babysitter to take care of JJ in mid-September — roughly 10 days after authorities said they believed Tylee was killed.
Hart said Tylee helped her mother take care of JJ, who Hart said wasn’t an easy child to take care of because he had severe autism.
“There were lots of texts … related to Tylee taking care of JJ when Lori had errands to run,” Hart said.
Hart said after Tylee was killed, it left Vallow Daybell as the primary and sole provider to JJ.
READ MORE: Vallow Daybell told babysitter JJ was with grandparents in Louisiana.
11 a.m. — Lori Vallow Daybell asks about ‘death percentage’ of kids
In various text messages presented in court Monday, Vallow Daybell asked Chad Daybell to check JJ’s death percentage.
In early August 2019 — a little over a month before police say JJ was killed — Vallow Daybell texted Chad Daybell asking him to check JJ’s death percentage because JJ “just woke up saying crazy stuff and won’t go back to sleep.”
Chad responded that “JJ is still JJ,” and then texted Vallow Daybell again asking her how JJ is feeling.
“He’s better he was just talking nonsense for like 2 hours last night, I’m sure they were bugging him is he at a zero yet?” Vallow Daybell texted Chad Daybell. “ I miss you.”
“Yes he’s at zero. He probably was partly through the veil, talking to people both light and dark,” Chad Daybell responded.
In another text message, Vallow Daybell asked Chad Daybell what JJ and Tammy Daybell’s death percentages were. When Chad Daybell responded that Tammy Daybell was at 3 percent and JJ and 2 percent, Valow Daybell asked why they weren’t at zero.
Hart also said that in texts Chad Daybell wrote about Tammy Daybell being light-headed and a neighbor whose wife died, the Daybells were clearly discussing “real literal death,” not figurative or spiritual death.
The Daybells then sent various texts to each other about missing each other.
“I can’t wait. Literally can’t wait. I have no patience. I want you now,” Vallow Daybell texted Chad Daybell.
“I’m certainly your biggest fan! I love you Lili! Hold on my sweet angel we are so close to the finish line,” Chad Daybell responded. (Lili is one of the names that Chad Daybell would call Vallow Daybell.)
“I’m trying,” Vallow Daybell responded.
“Well make it,” Chad Daybell texted.
Later in August 2019, text messages between Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell showed them getting increasingly impatient about being together.
“Is that what He wants,” Vallow Daybell texted Chad Daybell referring to God. “For me to sit around waiting for you endlessly. And you miserably wasting time.”
Hart then presented text messages between the Daybells that showed them arguing — which Hart noted was the first fight between the couple he could find based on text messages.
“We are surrounded by telestial relatives that are simply obstacles,” Chad Daybell wrote in one text message. I’m so sick of it.” According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ website, people that inhabited the “telestial kingdom” were considered the “wicked people of the Earth.”
“Me too what is it that you really want?” Vallow Daybell texted back.
“I want to be with you,” Chad Daybell said in the texts. “That is my greatest hope and dream. I would happily join you tomorrow if it felt like heaven would not strike us down.”
9:30 a.m. — ‘So tired of taking care of demons,’ Vallow Daybell texts Chad Daybell
In August 2019 Vallow Daybell texted Chad Daybell and said Tylee put a bunch of holes in the walls and the doors and because of that, she “definitely had demons helping her,” adding there were probably 1,000 demons.
“We r both so tired of taking care of demons,” Vallow Daybell texted Chad Daybell, referring to the children. “We are weary. Please ask the Lord to take them.”
It was one of dozens of text messages Hart presented to the courtroom between the Daybells on Monday.
In another message, Chad Daybell texted Vallow Daybell and asked her if she wanted him to “cause pain” to the “two three’s” she was riding with. Hart said the “three’s” was a reference to JJ and Pawlowski’s son as Vallow Daybell and Pawlowski were taking a trip together with their sons.
Vallow Daybell told Chad Daybell to hold off on causing the pain until they arrived, but that she’d text him if they start acting up and they could “zap them.”
“Sounds great. Yes, If they are going to act up, well at least give them a reason to scream,” Chad Daybell texted back to Vallow Daybell. “I love, cherish, treasure, and adore you. The wonderful memories just keep coming back, you are mesmerizing.”
Hart said he flagged those text messages because there is a reference to hurting children. When asked by the prosecution if Hart in all the text messages ever saw Vallow Daybell tell Chad Daybell not to hurt them, Hart said “no.”
Vallow Daybell texted Chad Daybell in July 18, 2019, asking him to check the death percentages on Tylee and JJ.
“She is a 0.13,” Chad Daybell texted Vallow Daybell regarding Tylee. “I turned the pain to 10 and placed a spiritual virus in here.”
Chad Daybell continued in the text regarding JJ, “He is at 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 his heart and soul.”
Hart said Chad Daybell referred to himself as Raphael and James.
“That is sweet !! miss you desperately !!” Vallow Daybell responded.
Just a few days later, Vallow Daybell texted Chad and asked him to check Tylee’s death percentage because she was “being super sweet and helpful and she cleaned her room.”
“See if she got switched,” Vallow Daybell text Chad Daybell asking him to check her death percentage.
“Yes, she was switched,” Chad Daybell responded.
