Testimony aligns with trail of money and murder in the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell

On Wednesday, The husband of Lori Vallow Daybell's niece Melani, Ian Pawlowski, testified that he eventually grew so fearful of Lori and Chad Daybell's religious beliefs, that he began recording conversations with the couple. A judge ruling will determine if the jury will hear those recorded conversations or not.

Related: Friend testifies Lori Vallow threatened to kill her

Doug Lock-Smith

• Before anyone returned to the stand this morning, the defense immediately began aruguing about the credibility of Ian Pawlowski, referring to him as a "snitch". The defense wants to admit the tape recordings into evidence, and the state argues this would be self-serving (allowing the jury to hear testimony from Lori that is not subject to cross-examination). The judge calls a brief recess to determine the ruling. It is determined that the recordings constitute as "hearsay" and will not be admitted. However, if the witness contradicts what was on the recording during testimony, it could open the door to having them played.

The defense begins cross-examination of Ian Pawlowski. They ask Ian about his relationship with Melani, he says they dated for 10 days before getting married in Las Vegas.

RELATED | Detectives link key findings to Alex Cox and New husband of Lori Vallow Daybell's niece takes the stand

The defense reviewed the relationship between Ian and Melanie, Chad and Lori. Then began asking questions about casting.

Ian testifies that he recorded the conversations with his new wife for about two weeks, nine in total, though only he and the FBI were aware of them. The purpose, Ian says, was to get any information he could to help locate JJ and Tylee. He testifies that he never listened to them in their entirety, and only has heard bits and pieces. He didn't listen to them with law enforcement, and the last time he listened to any parts of them was in front of the Grand Jury.

Ian relays that Lori was telling Melani that the police were Dark, that Brandon (her ex-husband) was Dark. Ian believed that Melani should have been helping authorities find the missing kids and whoever was shooting at her ex-husband, as opposed to being uncooperative.

sketch by Lisa Cheney

Ian is not able to recall specifics from calls December 12-13, 2019, after Alex Cox had died, and the defense uses this opportunity to admit the recordings. The judge denies allowing the recording to be played.

Ian testifies that he was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible in his recordings, and that Melani was quite distraught the day Alex died. He says that Melani had been told by Chad and Lori that there was going to be a spiritual attack that day, and Melani believed she had been attacked by spiritual demons.

Ian confirms that many blessings were given to Melani (and presumably Ian) during that time, though he is unable to recall specifics.

The defense has no further questions, the state has no re-direct, and the witness is asked to step down. The defense, however, asks that Ian remain under subpoena if they need further questions as the trial continues. The defense is advised to issue another subpoena for Ian, as they will release the state's subpoena.

See all the sketches and still from coverage of the Trial of Lori Vallow Daybell

NEXT WITNESS

The state swears in Taylor Ballard. Ballard is a health insurance broker testifying about a conversation with Chad Daybell.

Ballard testifies the Daybell family health insurance had expired October 31, 2019, as the primary policy holder was Tammy Daybell and she had died. Chad requested health insurance coverage for him and some of his adult children effective November 1, 2019.

Chad had told Ballard that his income would be substantially lower, and Ballard arranged to help him submit an application for Medicaid. Health and Welfare asked for Chad's tax returns to verify income and determined he was not eligible due to higher income than was on his application.

Chad then asked, in a text dated November 21, 2019, what would happened if he added a spouse (at the time, he only had requested coverage for himself and one son). Ballard asked to refer to her notes for specific dates, they included footnotes that Ballard says police asked her to make, and the defense objects, asking that Ballard be excused as a witness.

The judge rules that Ballard may continue testimony, as Lori's previous defense had been provided with the notes being referenced.

Ballard testifies that in March of 2020, Chad requested to put his new wife, Lori Ryan Daybell, on his insurance policy. They qualified outside of open enrollment because they had moved from Hawaii. Lori was already incarcerated at this time. Chad did not request any children be added to the policy.

The defense began cross-examination asking questions about Chad's reported income and the reported findings of Health and Welfare. Other than this, the defense had no additional questions and the witness was excused.

Sketch by Lisa Cheney

NEXT WITNESS

The prosecution swears in Angela Yancey, the payroll and benefits administrator for the Sugar Salem School District where Tammy Daybell worked.

Yancey testified that Tammy made changes to her life insurance policy, adjusting it to the maximum available (5x her salary) in September 2019 during open enrollment. Previously, Tammy had only requested the minimum amount, $10,000.

Yancey also testified that Chad visited her office two days after Tammy had died to open his claim for her life insurance. Yancey says that based on previous cases with similar circumstance, it seemed odd that Chad made the request so quickly. However, he was required to provide a death certificate and did not have it yet.

The claim was submitted on October 30, 2019, for the full $130,000.

The defense asked questions regarding open enrollment and costs for the coverage during a quick cross-examination and the witness was excused.

NEXT WITNESS

Detective Colin Nesbitt, with the Kauai Police Department, was the next witness called to the stand.

Nesbitt testified that he assisted Rexburg Police on January 25, 2020 in serving a legal document to Lori Vallow. Lori was served papers while poolside with Chad at their condo, and the body-cam video recorded by police of the interaction was admitted into evidence.

Search warrants were served the following day to search the vehicle and condo belonging to Chad and Lori. Nesbitt tells what they obtained from the searches, including personal documents, computers, books, phones and electronic tablets. Multiple copies of Charles Vallow's death certificate were in the documents, birth certificates for JJ and Tylee (as well as for Canaan Trahan, JJ's legal name before changed after adoption) and copies of the kids social security cards.

One of the phones seized had the initials "JJ" written in red on the case.

Nesbitt testifies that they found an envelope with money, and a document with Lori's name on it with blue sticky notes displayed having various names and other things that the detective was unclear of their meaning.

Finally, Nesbitt says there was no evidence that children were there. The state ends their questioning and court breaks for lunch.

After the break, the defense began cross-examination of Detective Nesbitt. Nesbitt says that in the search, they were looking for signs of the missing kids, though they did not collect any trace evidence from the vehicle.

The defense remarks that it is strange that they did not collect trace evidence if their primary objective was looking for signs of the children.

The defense reviews several other photographs of things obtained from the search, and Nesbitt testifies that approximately $5000 was in the envelope. The defense ends their questioning.

In re-direct, the prosecution asks about the children, and Nesbitt confirms it was not evident that any children were with them.

The state has no further questions and this witness is excused.

NEXT WITNESS

Officer Ryan Pillar of the Gilbert Police Department (in Arizona) is sworn in for the prosecution. Pillar was the primary investigator in the shooting attempt on Brandon Boudreaux in Gilbert.

RELATED | Day three concludes, law enforcement testimony heard

After reviewing his experience and credentials, the prosecution began questioning Pillar about the attempted shooting of Boudreaux on October 2.

In the investigation of the neighborhood through interviews and home security camera footage, Pillar says they determined the Jeep Wrangler was idling in front of Boudreaux's address for about an hour and a half.

Pillar confirmed that they learned the wheel on the back of the Jeep was absent, and that footage revealed the shooting occurred at 9:14p.

A bullet hole was observed in the driver's door of Boudreaux's vehicle. The police were able to recover fragments from the damage.

Although Boudreaux had no known enemies, the investigation revealed that he was going through a divorce (from wife Melani), and Melani was the niece of Lori Vallow. Detectives pieced together that Lori and Alex Cox had been involved in the shooting death of Charles Vallow a few months prior, and learned that a similar Jeep had been seen at that crime scene.

Police ran a check on the license plate of the Jeep and learned it had traveled from Idaho Falls and back between October 1 and October 3. Pillar reached out to the police in Fremont County and learned of the death of Tammy Daybell.

At this time, Pillar testifies that Cox was their suspect for the shooting attempt of Boudreaux. Using data obtained through a search warrant for cellular towers, a cell phone belonging to Cox was identified as being in the area of Boudreaux's home at the time of the shooting incident.

Discussions with the Chandler Police (that investigated the death of Charles Vallow) about their homicide and the attempt on Boudreaux led them to contact and involve the FBI. It was then that the investigation shifted to look for the missing children.

Pillar testifies that on November 26, 2019, the Rexburg police were able to locate Lori, Chad and Cox, but not the children when they visited the apartment complex in Rexburg.

Rexburg police contacted Pillar regarding Lori's statement that the children were with Melanie Gibb in Arizona. That evening, Gibb called Pillar.

Pillar also obtained cellular records of a phone belonging to Tylee. It was used in Arizona and Idaho, but in December was used in Hawaii. It had also appeared in Missouri for a brief time.

Information was also discovered about a life insurance policy on Boudreaux, where his wife stood to receive $200,000 had he been killed at the time of the shooting. Melani did end up receiving a settlement after their divorce, and multiple texts and electronic transactions were traced between Chad, Lori, Cox and Melani.

The state had no further questions, and the defense stated that the entire testimony of Officer Pillar should be thrown out, citing Idaho rule 404b. The defense had nothing further, and the witness was excused.

The state had no further witnesses lined up for today, and expect that the testimony of tomorrow's witness will be lengthy.

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Today's session concluded with an evidentiary hearing outside of the presence of the jury.

Sketch by Lisa Cheney

The evidentiary review was for information discovered, reviewed and submitted by former FBI Special Agent Douglas Hart, in regard to electronic data retrieved. The FBI reviewed over 100,000 data points and created a 160-page report. The prosecution would like to call Hart to the stand and present his summary of the compiled data.

The defense objected to both the report and the witness, as they only received the full report on the evening of May 2. The defense also stated that they have learned that Hart had prepped all FBI personnel for their testimonies on this case, and has been present in the courtroom throughout. The defense argued that if Hart is permitted to testify, it would be a direct violation of the exclusionary rule.

The defense further argued that allowing the summary is not a submission of data, but an argument, and essentially provides the theory and closing argument for the prosecution.

The state says Hart's testimony will be about the work he did on data collection and what he discovered, as was his job.

The judge will allow the witness on the stand, but the defense will be permitted to address their concerns while Hart is on the stand. He also rules that Hart can use his summary during testimony, but it can not be admitted as evidence, as the judge believes it is "editorializing on the evidence" and not appropriate for a witness.

NOTE: Today a status hearing was held in the case of Chad Daybell. Today would have also been the 53rd birthday of Tammy Daybell.