Court adjourns early in Vallow Daybell trial because of ‘unforeseen circumstance’
Rexburg Police Det. Ray Hermosillo testified for roughly six hours Tuesday outlining the police department’s monthslong role in the investigation of Lori Vallow Daybell’s two missing children.
Authorities, including Hermosillo, located the remains of 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan on her husband Chad Daybell’s property on June 9, 2020. Hermosillo was the sole witness called by the prosecution Tuesday, and around 3 p.m., the defense began its cross-examination of Hermosillo.
Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney John Thomas questioned Hermosillo for roughly 30 minutes before the jury was sent home for the day.
“It has been a tough day,” Hermosillo responded.
Hermosillo’s testimony wrapped up Wednesday morning after Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney John Thomas finished his cross-examination.
An 18-person jury – 12 jurors and six alternates – will decide whether Vallow Daybell is guilty of the first-degree murders of her two children. Vallow Daybell is also charged with three counts of conspiring to commit murder in her children’s deaths and the death of Tammy Daybell.
Vallow Daybell later married Tammy Daybell’s husband, Chad Daybell. Chad Daybell – whose trial date has not been set – is charged with the first-degree murder of Tammy Daybell, JJ and Tylee. He is also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the children’s deaths. The Daybells have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Vallow Daybell also faces a charge of conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the death of her former husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona.
Fremont County Lt. Joseph Powell told the courtroom Wednesday that local authorities opened an investigation into Tammy Daybell’s death because of all of the “suspicious circumstances.” Powell said Tammy Daybell appeared to be in “pretty good health” and was only 49 years old. He added that the investigation into the attempted shootings of Tammy Daybell and Brandon Boudreaux, Tylee and JJ’s uncle, along with “her husband being with another lady so soon after,” prompted the death investigation.
Boudreaux was shot in October 2019, about a month after Tylee and JJ went missing. Boudreaux in his testimony Monday said he was driving back from the gym when a gunman shot him through the back window of a grayish-green Jeep Wrangler.
East Idaho News reported that an unknown masked man also shot at Tammy Daybell several times with a paintball gun, and the gun may have been unloaded. The incident occurred 10 days before she was killed.
Powell also surveilled the Daybells in early November and said he saw them walking into a Hobby Lobby holding hands. This was after the Gilbert Police Department reached out to Powell about the possibility of Tammy’s death being connected to Boudreaux’s shooting.
After authorities exhumed Tammy Daybell’s body and performed an autopsy, it was ruled that her death was a homicide and she died by asphyxiation, Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake told the court Monday during opening statements.
The court was adjourned by 10:45 a.m. Wednesday due to what 7th District Judge Steven Boyce called an “unforeseen circumstance.” The trial was also canceled next Monday. East Idaho News reported that Blake – who was not in court Wednesday – had a death in the family, which may be why the court schedule was changed.
The trial is expected to pick up again at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.