BOISE, Idaho — Day 16 of the Lori Vallow Daybell trial is now underway at the Ada County Courthouse.
On Tuesday, prosecutors called Alice and Todd Gilbert to the stand, the former neighbors of Chad and Tammy Daybell. Both testified that Chad Daybell told them he had visions of Tammy dying before she turned 50.
Lori Vallow Daybell is charged with conspiracy to commit Tammy's murder.
Related: Neighbors testify Chad and Lori felt they had a mission to prepare for the end of the world
As court resumes today, the state calls Audrey Barattiero to the stand. Barattiero was a friend of Lori's, and they had met at a religious conference in November 2018.
Explosive testimony by friend Audrey Baratterio, that was not told during her testimony to the Grand Jury, came out in this morning's testimony.
Read the events from Audrey Baratterio's shocking testimony here
NEXT WITNESS
The prosecution called Detective Vince Kaaiakamanu of the Fremont County Sheriff's Office to the stand. Kaaiakamanu is the brother of Helena Kaaiakamanu, the dispatcher who had testified last week about receiving the 9-1-1 call about a possible shooting at the Daybell residence.
Although he had not been on the scene finding the body of Tammy Daybell, he was asked to assist in reviewing the case with other authorities, explaining how the FBI and local Arizona and Idaho police were working together investigating JJ, Tylee, Charles Vallow and Tammy.
The detective is asked to read an e-mail he had seen between Tammy Daybell and her son Mark, who was on a mission. The e-mail, dated October 13, 2019, described the events that happened when the masked shooter approached Tammy in her driveway.
The message goes like this. Sent from Tammy Daybell to her son Mark Daybell. Said she was stuff out of the car the I looked up and saw a man dressed in black with a mask and then the person started shooting a paint ball gun.I asked what he was doing?
— Idaho News 6 (@IdahoNews6) May 3, 2023
The prosecution then references a summary of data associated with an account owned by Alex Cox (under the alias Homerjmaximus). Kaaiakamanu testifies that certain searches stood out to him. On the evening of October 1 and morning of October 2, the account indicated searches for an address in Gilbert, AZ, which is the address where there had been an attempted shooting on Brandon Boudreaux.
RELATED | Brandon Boudreaux, Lori's former nephew-in-law, testifies about being shot at
The detective testifies he found internet searches occurring October 8 about proper shooting distances, which they believe Cox had been researching to learn where to stand with his gun to have an accurate shot at Tammy. October 9-12 showed several searches for gun parts, camouflage clothing, firearms and ammunition and their capabilities in colder weather. They also found a search about what it would take to shoot through a vehicle and one search about a Dodge Dakota (the vehicle type that was owned by Tammy).
The prosecution enters two photographs, under objection from the defense, depicting an AR-15 and a paintball gun. The AR-15 is the same type of gun inquired about in the searches pertaining to shooting distances and weather capabilities. It looks very similar to a paintball gun.
Kaaiakamanu testifies that searches for data in the area of Chad Daybell's property on October 18-19 showed no accounts associated with the investigation. Chad Daybell had stated he was home all night the night of the 18th, though no devices were detected registered to accounts known to belong to him.
Kaaiakamanu also confirms that Chad was the beneficiary of all of Tammy's life insurance policies, and they were all paid out. Chad Daybell is currently facing two counts of insurance fraud in Fremont County.
After lunch, the prosecution brought in the actual gun retrieved from the residence of Alex Cox. Kaaiakamanu identified it to be the AR-15 and it was submitted for evidence. The detective shows the scope that is somewhat large, causing it to look similar to a paintball gun.
State asks detective about the silencers that were with the firearms. Now describing paint ball guns.
— Idaho News 6 (@IdahoNews6) May 3, 2023
At the beginning of cross-examination, the defense asks about the detective's background and training.
Questions then delve into the events from the morning Tammy Daybell died, and ask if it was Kaaiakamanu that determined there was no need for additional investigation regarding Tammy's passing. He says it was not him, and he believes it was Detective Mattingly and Lieutenant Powell.
Kaaiakamanu testifies they, the Fremont County authorities, became involved in the case when asked to locate a Jeep with Texas license plates.
The defense asks about the e-mail from Tammy to her son regarding the attempted shooting incident. He points to a section where Tammy talked about a neighbor running after a person who supposedly stole their dog. Kaaiakamanu reminds the defense that he never actually spoke to Tammy, as he was brought into the case after she had already died.
Going over Tammy’s emails to her son…about that day she was shot at. The defense trying to lay ground work…maybe it wasn’t Alex
— Idaho News 6 (@IdahoNews6) May 3, 2023
The defense continues to ask questions about the AR-15 and its penchant for noise, and the witness testified that no subsonic bullets or casings were found, nor were any found near the Daybell home.
The defense also makes the case that Tammy had said she believed the attempted shooter was the "bipolar teenager that lives down the street". Kaaiakamanu testifies they learned there was an autistic boy that lived down the street, but they believed it was too far away from the Daybells to be within walking distance.
Kaaiakamanu confirms that no follow-up questions were asked of the person who owned the dog, nor of the autistic boy down the street.
The defense continues with questions about gun laws and registration requirements, as well as if someone would research how far a gun would shoot in preparation for target practice. He then asks Kaaiakamanu if he interviewed anyone that saw Cox at a gun range. The detective responds he had not.
The prosecution, on re-direct, asks why no detectives responded to the Daybell house on the morning Tammy died. Kaaiakamanu says that between coroner and responding officers, no suspicious activity had been detected meriting further investigation.
He also states that on the morning Tammy died, authorities were not yet aware of investigations into JJ, Tylee and Charles.
The state asks if the detective gets a lot of reports of shootings involving perps in ski-masks, Kaaiakamanu responds no. They follow up by asking if the detective believed that a bipolar teen or dog thief seemed like plausible suspects in a gun incident, he says they do not.
There are no further questions from the prosecution, nor re-cross from the defense, and the detective is excused from the stand.
NEXT WITNESS
- Ian Pawlowski is there, but the defense is questioning if he has violated the exclusionary rule, where witnesses are told not to listen to other witness testimony or read/watch anything about the trial. Pawlowski is married to Melani (Boudreaux), the niece of Lori Vallow and ex-wife of Brandon Boudreaux who testified on the opening of the trial proceedings. Judge determines Ian is not in violation and allows him to take the stand
The prosecution swears in Ian Pawlowski. Ian started dating Melani in mid-November 2019.
Ian says he met Lori and Chad right after he and Melani started dating. He testifies that Lori and Melani were very close. The few times he interacted with Lori, Ian says that as far as religious beliefs go, she talked about possession and locking Satan away and castings.
He also testified that when Chad was there, Lori did most of the talking, and Chad acted as support to what she was saying. Melani was present any time that Ian was speaking with Lori.
Ian stated he had never seen JJ or Tylee, and that Lori had never said anything about where the kids were. He did observe backpacks and luggage that appeared to be for children while in Lori's apartment.
Although LDS, Ian testified that after a few days of listening to Lori, he was not on board with her beliefs. Melani had introduced him to the concept of Light and Dark people, that she had learned from Chad, and he heard Lori talk about it but it was never directly explained to him. Once he learned they were ranking people in terms of who was good and who was evil, he was not in agreement.
Ian relayed that Lori and Chad told him that Detective Hermosillo and Detective Hope of the Rexburg Police were zombies and were Dark.
Ian testified that the night of his marriage to Melani in Las Vegas, she explained everything to him, making him immediately afraid for the safety of his children and ex-wife. Upon returning to Idaho, Ian reported information to the Rexburg police and agreed to listen, observe, make recordings, and report back to them.
In the recordings, mostly about spirituality, Lori and Chad never confessed to any crimes, though they encouraged Ian to cooperate as little as possible with law enforcement.
Ian testified that Melani looked to Lori and Chad as if they were parents and open to their religious beliefs, and testified that Melani was definitely closer to Lori than to Chad.
The prosecution has completed their questioning, and the defense asks if the recordings of the conversations Ian had made can be played to the court. However, the defense did not have them readily available and will have them tomorrow.
Court is adjourned for the day.
