BOISE, Idaho — Day 7 of the trial of Chad Daybell took place on April 19, 2024, messages between Chad and Lori were discussed with Deputy Hart on the stand.
YESTERDAY | Melanie Gibb testifies about castings, evil spirits, and past lives
LIVE UPDATES:
11:58 am: Boyce advises the state to redact information from the document before calling for the court to go into recess for the day. The trial is set to continue on Monday, April 22.
11:56 am: Two documents are now shown on the courtroom projector, before they are discussed, Judge Boyce calls for a sidebar.
11:51 am: A message from Chad to Lori reveals that he feels like Harry Potter who has to live with the Dudleys under the stairs before escaping his room to have adventures with his "goddess lover" before returning to his place under the stairs. Chad alludes to sensing that permanent freedom is coming.
11:49 am: More messages show the two discussing Kuai, where they would eventually be married. At this time, Tammy, JJ, and Tylee were all still alive.
11:46 am: Hart says there was no indication that Chad had plans to separate from Tammy or get a divorce.
11:45 am: More messages reveal the two desiring to be together and that the two had a plan to be together forever, begging God for that to happen.
11:38 am: A message references James and Elaina being together, and alludes to a mission the two are on. Another message references the two being married in the temple through some kind of proxy ceremony. Tammy was alive at this time.
11:34 am: Hart says there was no indication of grief or sorrow from Chad or Lori regarding Charles' death.
11:32 am: The messages continue, Chad tells Lori they will "work hard on Rhonda" when they are together and that he will get her darkness numbers as low as possible by Wednesday. Rhonda was the dark spirit the two believe inhabited Kay Woodcock, JJ's grandmother.
11:26 am: The discussion now turns to Chad's messages to Lori about the life insurance policy beneficiary for Charles being changed. Chad says "it will be interesting if it got changed after he had two bullets in his chest."
11:18 am: Another set of messages shows Chad telling Lori that a meeting in Utah is their chance to be together "whether she is still here or not." Hart says the "she" in question is Tammy Daybell.
11:11 am: More messages are shown where Chad continues the story about James and Elaina. The agent says this was the first time Chad had introduced the idea that the two had lived past lives together and that they were meant to be married in this present life to complete missions together.
11:05 am: Two more messages are shown in which Chad and Lori use the names James and Elaina, a story that the two used to discuss their love story and meeting. Hart says elements of the storyline up with facts of the case and that the story does indeed reference the couple. Tammy Daybell is alive when this message is sent.
11:02 am: Another message shows Chad thanking Lori for joining him in the shower. The two were in different states at the time, but the two believed they could connect on a spiritual plane in some way.
10:58 am: Another message shows Chad talking to Lori about them being together. The message comes just 2 days after Charles was killed.
10:56 am: Lori sends another message asking Chad to check for recording devices in Melanie Boudreaux, Chad says he detects 3 devices.
10:54 am: Chad responds in another message, assigning Aly Bloomer a 4.1 dark and her husband a 3 dark. Lori then relays this to other people. The slide is available below.
10:52 am: Another string of messages indicates that Chad offers to check Aly Bloomer and her husband to see what their "dark or light" scores are. A low-res version of the slide is available below.
10:47 am: Hart says that Barattiero was introduced to Lori through Chad. The deputy highlights the message indicating that there is something the two both know.
10:46 am: Prior objects to the Agent reading through the entire chat log, Boyce sustains and says that reading specific important messages makes sense but that there is no need to read through the entire chat log.
10:43 am: The first slide of messages is presented to the courtroom. It shows messages from Lori Vallow to Audrey Barattiero on Jan. 23, 2019. The exchange shows that Lori wants to discuss something they both know, Barattiero responds saying "guess you talked to Chad Haha." A low-res version of the slide is available below.
10:37 am: Prior asks the agent to make note of the timespan that the summary encompasses. Hart says the exhibit covers information from Jan. 2019 to Aug. 2019. Hart says the exhibit would begin several months before Lori and Chad met, but that there is information about their meeting in the date range. Hart says he learned the dates of the last proof of life for Tylee and JJ as well as the date that Tammy Daybell died through the investigation.
10:35 am: Hart says he has prepared a summary of the information he found, primarily on Lori's "lollytime" account, that is now being presented to the courtroom.
10:34 am: Hart says there was a great deal of content on the iCloud accounts, the FBI used a program on the accounts to organize the information for the investigation. Hart reviewed the two organized versions of the data associated with the iCloud accounts.
10:33 am: Hart investigated iCloud accounts belonging to Lori Vallow.
10:32 am: Hart was the FBI supervisor on the case.
10:29 am: Hart was an FBI agent for 27 years before becoming Chief Deputy for the Canyon County Sheriff's Office.
10:27 am: Blake calls former FBI Agent Doug Hart to the stand.
10:25 am: The courtroom livestream is back online after a brief morning recess.
9:51 am: Judge Boyce agrees that allowing a re-cross for every witness could be inappropriate and he says he will keep an eye on it, asking Blake to object to a re-cross if the State feels it is beyond the scope of the trial.
9:48 am: Judge Boyce initiates the morning recess, but the attorneys stay in the courtroom to discuss a matter. Prior has been granted a re-cross with all of the witnesses so far, Blake takes issue with this but Prior says it is up to the judge when he gets to do a re-cross.
9:47 am: The attorneys return following the sidebar. Gibb is leaving the stand, but Prior asks to keep her under subpoena in case he calls her again.
9:44 am: Gibb says that she did not know JJ was missing when Chad called her to warn her that police would call her. Blake has no further questions. Prior asks to add follow-up questions, a sidebar is called to discuss the matter.
9:42 am: Gibb explains that Chad told her in a phone call not to pick up the phone when police called. Gibb adds that when she asked if JJ was with Kay, Chad said no.
9:38 am: Blake asks if Gibb's communication with law enforcement altered her responses in the courtroom and her timeline recollection. Gibb says no. Blake asks if Gibb ever heard Chad and Lori speak on the phone together, Gibb says she overheard some conversations.
9:35 am: Following the timeline recap from Gibb, Prior has no further questions. Blake now redirects.
9:21 am: Gibb says she doesn't recall seeing Chad on the day she landed in Rexburg.
9:20 am: Gibb now discusses her flight to Rexburg in 2019, Prior is asking her to recall the timeline of the trip.
9:17 am: Prior asks Gibb if she recalled talking to Lori about whether she paid for Gibb's ticket to Hawaii in 2019.
9:14 am: Prior shows Gibb a message she sent about people named Mike James and Nancy being "super dark." Gibb says she has no memory of that.
9:11 am: Gibb says she never taught about the "dark portals."
9:09 am: Prior shows an exhibit, it's an email Gibb sent to Lori where she says she will teach people about the "dark portals." Following some confusion over who the emails belonged to in the message chain, prompting a sidebar.
9:05 am: Now, the alternative names come back into discussion. Prior asks if Gibb also had an alternative name, Phoebe. Gibb says she occasionally went by that name.
9:03 am: Prior says Lori was sounding vague on the recorded phone call (available below) because Chad was in the room and Lori didn't want to talk about JJ in front of him. Gibb says she doesn't know what Lori's goal in the conversation was.
8:58 am: Prior asks Gibb about her testimony yesterday, asking if she is sure she did not contact police before she recorded the call. Gibb says there was contact but she doesn't recall the time or content of the contact.
8:50 am: Melanie Gibb is back on the stand being questioned by Prior. Prior hones in on her cooperation with officers, specifically when Gibb recalled that Chad told her not to go to the police.
