BOISE, Idaho — Week two of the Lori Vallow Daybell trial began Tuesday morning at the Ada County Courthouse.
The Eastern Idaho mother is accused of killing her two children, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, as well as conspiring to kill her husband's previous wife, Tammy Daybell.
As the day began, jurors heard more today from Zulema Pastenes, the widow of Lori's brother and accused co-conspirator Alex Cox. She was asked how well she really knew her husband because he died two weeks after they were married.
On Friday, Pastenes gave insight into the cult-like atmosphere that prosecutors say motivated the conspiracy to lead a chosen group to salvation. Pastenes told the court of Alex's dedication to Lori saying she thought Alex believed whatever Chad and Lori told him.
"Chad told Alex that he had come only to the earth and his sole purpose is to protect Lori."
Colby Ryan, Lori's son from an earlier marriage, then took the stand Tuesday morning and portrayed Lori as perfectly normal in her earlier years before she met Chad Daybell.
He then said Lori lied to him on the phone telling him her fourth husband Charles Vallow had died of a heart attack. Colby said he later learned the truth when he arrived at their house and saw Cox sitting on the couch with a bandage on his head only to learn that Cox shot and killed Charles in what he called self-defense.
Finally, before a break in the proceedings, a phone recording was played between Colby and Lori after the bodies of JJ and Tylee Ryan were found in which he can be heard screaming at Lori that she is a murdering mother. The conversation played in court then went on for several minutes ending with Colby accusing Lori of murdering his siblings and ending the conversation saying he'd like to hit Chad Daybell in the head with a shovel.
Prosecutors say Vallow Daybell and her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, espoused strange doomsday-focused beliefs involving demonic possession and “zombies” to further their alleged plan to kill the kids and his previous wife Tammy Daybell. They are also accused of collecting life insurance money and nearly $6,000 a month from the kids’ social security and survivor benefits due to the deaths of their fathers: Tylee's father Joe Ryan died in 2018 and JJ's father Charles Vallow died in 2019.
JJ was 7 years old and Tylee was a few days shy of her 17th birthday when the kids were last seen alive in September of 2019, and their bodies were found buried in Chad Daybell's yard the following June. Tammy Daybell died in October of 2019 — just two weeks before Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell married — and an autopsy later determined she had been asphyxiated.
Both have pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges, and they are being tried separately. Daybell’s trial is still months away.
This trial is expected to continue for several weeks and Idaho News 6 will be in court each day, and you can follow along here for updates.
