Warrants reveal search history before murder and burial of Lori Vallow Daybell’s children
BOISE, Idaho (ABC4) – Prosecutors in the Chad Daybell murder trial showed more law enforcement bodycam footage Friday morning, this time of Officer David Stubbs walking through the Rexburg, Idaho, apartments of both Lori Vallow Daybell and her niece, Melani Cope (now Melani Pawlowski).
Additionally, jurors got a deeper look into some of the search warrants executed in the case, both before and after Vallow’s children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ashlyn Ryan, 16, were found buried in shallow graves on Daybell’s property.
CONTEXT: A complete timeline for the Daybell, Vallow murders
Stubbs noted that in the first apartment walk-through, in the apartment belonging to Lori, there were no clothes in some of the closets – which he said made him think “the occupants left in haste.”
In the second apartment walk-through, in the apartment belonging to Lori’s next-door neighbor and niece Melani Cope, Stubbs said the apartment appeared to be lived in, as there were clothes in the closets and a car in the garage.
However, Stubbs said he found a three-ring binder of credit cards and driver’s licenses belonging to Brandon Boudreaux, Melanie’s ex-husband, which struck him as “odd,” as the couple was divorced. There was no evidence Brandon still lived at that apartment, Stubbs said.
Search warrants
Stubbs said he obtained several search warrants for digital devices.
The first warrant obtained was for Lori’s first-known phone number, which Stubbs said was used for information about where the kids and Lori may be.
Additionally, he received account information for Alex Cox, Lori’s brother who shot and killed her estranged husband Charles Vallow, as well as account information for Chad Daybell.
Another warrant, Stubbs explained, was for Lori’s PO box in Sugar City where they found a Verizon bill containing phone numbers for Lori, Alex, Charles, and Tylee that they didn’t have before. According to Stubbs, these phone numbers helped them solidify “a lot” of information.
Stubbs was asked if any internet searches by Lori stood out to him. Stubbs replied yes, and said she looked up “wedding rings made of malachite” and attempted to purchase two. However, Stubbs said the credit card she used on the near-$800 purchase failed.
According to Patrick Adair Designs, malachite jewelry is seen as a “protective gemstone with healing properties.” Its website states “it helps heal emotional pain by absorbing the pain for you.”
Stubbs also said Lori looked up the definition of “possessed” three days before the bodies of the children were found.
According to Stubbs, Chad Daybell also looked up what the direction of the wind was going to be for the day Tylee was burned in the firepit by Chad’s house.
Tylee’s remains
Steve Daniels, an FBI agent specializing in forensics and evidence response, testified Friday afternoon about how crews carefully excavated the remains of Tylee Ryan in June 2020, working “layer by layer” on areas of Daybell’s property. He explained that his team was trying to understand how the remains were buried.
“What we ended up finding was this melted mass of remains,” he said, referring to Tylee’s body, which was found in Daybell’s backyard pet cemetery.
The teenager’s remains were buried in roughly two feet of earth, and her skull was in a melted green five-gallon bucket, Daniels said. When his team worked to lift the remains out of the ground, they fell apart before they could be placed in a body bag.
Evidence taken from the scene included tools from Daybell’s backyard shed. Jurors were presented with a dirty pickaxe, which was brought into the courtroom for them to see. Jurors were also presented with a chain and a silver charm that crews sifted out of Daybell’s backyard firepit.
When Daniels was presented a photograph of Tylee, he testified that the teen was wearing what appeared to be the chain and silver charm found in the firepit.
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