Day 17: Tylee’s DNA found on pickax and shovel from Daybell property, expert says

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An 18-person jury —including six alternates — continued listening to testimony Thursday regarding the autopsy results of Lori Vallow Daybell’s children.

At the end of the roughly eight-week trial, the 12 remaining jurors are expected to decide whether the 49-year-old Rexburg mother is guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of two of her children: 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. To be convicted of those charges, the jury will need to conclude that she killed, encouraged or commanded someone else to kill her children.

Chief Forensic Pathologist Garth Warren during his testimony Wednesday said JJ died from asphyxiation, while his sister, Tylee, was killed, but he’s not sure how. This was the first time that the autopsy results were publicized.

“This is a homicide,” Warren had said Tuesday, regarding Tylee’s death. “I just can’t tell you why.” Warren, who works for the Ada County Coroner’s Office, said that Tylee’s death was ruled a “homicide by unspecified means.”

Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell, are both charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of JJ and Tylee, and also face three counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

READ MORE: Lori Vallow Daybell’s case spans 3 states, 4 deaths. Here are all the key people involved.

The Daybells, who had a months-long affair before getting married, are being tried separately. Lori Daybell’s trial began early this month and could last another four weeks.

Lori Daybell is accused of conspiring to kill Chad Daybell’s then-wife, Tammy Daybell. Chad Daybell — who has a hearing scheduled for May 4 — faces a first-degree murder charge in Tammy Daybell’s death.

Chad and Lori 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.

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.

FBI forensic anthropologist Angi Christensen — who examined Tylee’s skeletal remains — said Tylee’s bones had “sharp trauma” to five areas in her pelvic region.

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

3:30 p.m. — Victim’s sister takes the stand

In the final and most emotional testimony of the day, Samantha Gwilliam, sister of Tammy Daybell, took the stand Thursday afternoon. She choked up as she described Tammy as an introvert who loved animals and her family.

Before moving to Idaho, Tammy worked as a special education secretary at a school in Utah and lived just two blocks from her sister. They saw each other every day, Gwilliam said.

“She loved people,” Gwilliam said. “She loved taking care of them.”

Gwilliam liked Chad Daybell and hadn’t known about his affair with Lori Vallow Daybell. But in July 2019, she noticed the Daybells acting “really weird” when they stopped by to give Gwilliam a birthday present. They arrived unexpectedly, stayed only for about 20 minutes and Chad Daybell never got out of the car.

Tammy, who rarely visited alone, went to Utah to spend time with her family shortly before her death. Tammy told her sister that Chad had told her to go, Gwilliam said.

Gwilliam then told the courtroom that Chad Daybell called on Oct. 19, 2019, to say that Tammy had died — he’d been awakened by her dead body rolling out of the bed. Chad Daybell said Tammy had a “coughing fit around midnight,” before falling back to sleep, according to Gwilliam.

Gwilliam did not get through many questions before the court was adjourned at 3:20 p.m. The court is expected to resume her testimony on Friday.

3 p.m. — Detective says image shows dark spot where Tylee was buried

Chuck Kunsaitis, Rexburg detective, testified about satellite images taken of the Daybell property in September 2019.

Two weeks after the children’s bodies were found, KSL.com published a story containing those satellite images. Kunsaitis said a news article inspired him to to contact Colorado-based satellite-imaging reseller Apollo Mapping to get his own copies.

The detective purchased four satellite images of Chad Daybell’s home in Salem, Idaho, for $1,500 from the company.

Images dated Sept. 2, 2019 and Sept. 9, 2019 were shown in court.

“That’s the day we believe Tylee was killed and buried on the property,” Kunsaitis said of the Sept. 9 image.

Using a laser pointer, Kunsaitis pointed to a dark patch by the pet cemetery in the later image that was not present in the earlier image. He said the dark area was significant because it matches the location where Tylee’s remains were found on June 9, 2020.

Defense attorney Jim Archibald asked if there was any indication of smoke or fire in the photos. Kunsaitis said there was not and he didn’t want to speculate about where Tylee was burned.

2.:30 p.m. — Fingerprint experts found match for Lori Daybell’s brother

Tara Martinez, an Idaho State Police forensic scientist who specializes in latent fingerprints, was called to testify about her role in the investigation. Latent prints are those that are not easily visible, usually left when a person’s sweat or oil transfers onto an object’s surface, according to the FBI.

Martinez looked for prints on the tape and plastic found on J.J.

She was called to collect fingerprints from J.J., Lori Daybell and Chad Daybell to compare with prints on the evidence. She received Cox’s fingerprints from Arizona law enforcement.

Many of the prints she developed did not turn out to be usable or comparisons proved inconclusive. Two of the prints that were successfully collected, however, turned out to be a match for Cox, according to Martinez.

1:30 p.m. — DNA found on pickax and shovel

Katherine Dace, a forensic biologist for the Idaho State Police, tested a number of objects related to the case for forensic evidence.

Dace examined the tape found around J.J.’s hands, ankle and mouth, as well as the tape and plastic bag around his head. She collected hair from the tape. She also tested nail swabs, hand swabs and teeth.

Dace said she was given 18 hand tools from the Daybell property. She tested multiple shovels, and on some she found what looked like “ash or dirt,” blood and flesh. She was only able to pull a DNA profile from one shovel, found on the shovel’s back. Tests revealed the DNA to have a high likelihood of belonging to Tylee.

The courtroom was then shown a photo of a pickax. Dace said she found DNA on its handle and “eye,” which is the center of the pickax’s head. Test results showed that these samples too were unlikely to belong to anyone other than Tylee.

Noon — DNA tests confirmed identities of remains

The prosecution next called Rylene Nowlin, Idaho State Police Forensic Services laboratory manager, to testify.

Nowlin conducted DNA testing on molar teeth and rib parts taken from both sets of remains found on Daybell’s property to find out whether they belonged to Tylee and J.J.

She tested one set against a DNA sample taken from Vallow Daybell. The results showed a strong match, with Vallow Daybell being two billion times more likely to be the mother of the person whose remains were tested than the average randomly selected woman.

Because the Vallows adopted J.J., Nowlin tested the other set against DNA from J.J.’s biological father. It also came back as a strong match.

Nowlin noted that J.J.’s remains contained something she had never seen before. Unlike what one would expect from a dead body, there were “plump blood vessels still present inside the tooth,” she said.

11:30 a.m. — Chemist found gasoline on Tylee’s remains

David Sincerbeaux, a recently retired Idaho State Police analytical chemist specializing in fire debris, began testifying late Thursday morning.

He said he tested a pint-sized can about three-quarters full with Tylee’s flesh and other debris collected at Daybell’s property. The flesh came back positive for gasoline, according to Sincerbeaux.

On Wednesday, Warren testified that Tylee’s remains were found burned, melted and in pieces in two different places in Chad Daybell’s backyard — a fire pit and buried underground inside a melted green bucket.

10:30 a.m. — Expert believes tool could have been cleaver, machete or hatchet

Professional tool mark examiner Douglas Halepaska, who works in the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, testified that he examined the sharp trauma areas of Tylee’s bones found by Christensen. Halepaska said he believed the marks were caused by forceful blows made through a “chopping-type action” from a bladed, serrated tool. The examiner explained this while several photos of Tylee’s damaged bones were shown in court.

Some blows pierced through the hard layer of the bone. One section of Tylee’s hip bone showed an impression that Halepaska said was caused by “impressive” force. Another photo showed a mark that went through the bone to the outside, which Halepaska said was caused by a “stabbing-type action.”

The examiner said he was unable to identify exactly what kind of tool caused the damage, but believed it would be something like a cleaver, machete or hatchet.

9:15 a.m. — FBI says damage to Tylee’s bones was caused by sharp object

The trial picked back up Thursday by resuming Christensen’s testimony.

Sitting in the courtroom were Tammy’s sister, Samantha Gwilliam, and her husband, Jason Gwilliam, as well as J.J.’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock.

On Wednesday, Christensen told the court that she observed five areas in Tylee’s “pelvic region” that had damage. Christensen said three bones had “sharp trauma” from an unidentified tool. Christensen couldn’t identify the tool but said it was something with a bevel or a point. Evidence also showed that a carnivore had bitten Tylee’s femur bone, she said.

On Thursday, she went on to show those trauma areas in photos. She affirmed again that the locations of these “alterations” to Tylee’s pelvic bones were “inconsistent with dismemberment.”

Christensen had previously explained that typically when someone is dismembered, remains are removed at the joints. But in Tylee’s case, that isn’t what happened. Instead, she said, “all of these sharp traumas are in the pelvic region.”

On cross-examination, she declined to answer what tool she believed had caused the trauma, saying that question would be better for the tool expert.

Despite not knowing the tool, Christensen said she knew Tylee’s bone alterations came from a sharp object because they showed a smaller, more precise area of trauma. If a blunt object had inflicted them, there would have been a wider area of trauma.

Christensen told the defense that she had examined less than 10 dismemberment cases in her career.

Reporter Alex Brizee contributed.