Full text of prosecution closing arguments from East Idaho News. An hour and a quarter in total.
LIVE UPDATES FROM THE LORI VALLOW DAYBELL TRIAL 7 p.m. Jurors have left for the day. They will be back tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. to continue deliberations. I’ll be back too with more updates. 3:51 p.m. Lori’s defense attorneys remain in the courtroom but the prosecution team left shortly after...
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11:14 a.m. We are now taking a recess before Archibald gives closing arguments.
11:13 a.m. Wood: “What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on every count.” Photos of JJ and Tylee and Tammy are on the screen. “You must convict her.” Wood is done.
11:10 a.m. Wood: “Ladies and gentlemen, you have your instructions. You are going to go back and deliberate. Read them carefully. Consider all the evidence. Look at all the facts. Look at the timeline. Charles Vallow, Tylee Ryan, JJ, Tammy. All within a short time frame. How are they tied together? Who could have killed those people We have Loti Vallow, Chad Daybell, Aelx Cox. Who had motive to kill those people? Lori Vallow and Cahd Daybell. Who benefits from these murders? Lori Vallow gets Tylee’s money, she gets JJ’s money. Chad and Lori get Tammy’s money. What does your reason and common sense tell you? You’ve seen what happened to her children, what happened to Tammy. She never reported the children missing. She lied and she lied and she lied about where they were and while she lied, she kept collecting the money.”
11:08 a.m. Wood references the message Chad sent that said their spouses were “obstacles.” Chad sent a message to Lori on Oct. 5 asking for Lori to “seek a confirmation.” Wood now shows a slide documenting that Lori was in Missouri at the time of the attempted shooting. He shows a text from Lori to Melani B. telling her she can’t go out of town and Melani responds, “Ok captain.” Wood says: “Lori was in charge. She was in command.”
11:07 a.m. Wood: “Lori never says, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t kill our relatives.’ There’s never a hesitation.” He references the Wifi password Alex set up “2manykids.” Lori responds, “Funny.” Wood: “It would be funny if her kids were still alive and maybe a little rambunctious. But her kids are dead.
11:05 a.m. Wood references Lori’s text to Chad in Aug. 2019. “I feel lost. Like I should be doing something to help” referring to the deaths of the kids. Wood: “Not, ‘I’m worried about the kids’ but ‘I should do something to help’ get them closer to their deaths.” Lori uses sex to get Chad to do what she wants him to, Wood says.
11:03 a.m. The conversation goes into sexual text messages right after Chad and Lori were texting about the deaths of their spouses and the kids. Lori asks Chad if JJ is at zero yet. “She can’t wait (for JJ to die),” Wood says.
11:01 a.m. We now see a slide of text messages from Lori to Chad. After Charles was shot in the chest, Chad texts Lori, “Tammy is close. JJ is at a 2.” This was July 30, 2019. “On July 30, she’s already planning for JJ to go the same way as Charles. To be murdered.”
11:01 a.m. Wood: “This isn’t fantasy. Those children were found dead in real life in Chad Daybell’s backyard.”
10:59 a.m. The next slide says, “Sex: Obstacles to a Future Together.” Wood points out that when Chad spoke about Tylee and JJ being close to death (their death numbers), Lori responded with, “That is sweet. I miss you desperately. There is no doubt she wants these children gone. She is encouraging their murder. She wants these children gone.”
10:58 a.m. We now see a slide that says “Sex: Affair.” Text messages are displayed on the screen about kissing for hours, being cheek to cheek. “Lori uses sex to manipulate Chad and Chad seeks confirmation from Lori repeatedly.”
10:57 a.m. Wood: “The only reason religion matters is because it’s the tool they used to manipulate others. Who is the common thread here? Lori Vallow.”
10:56 a.m. Wood displays text messages showing the “grooming” of Alex Cox. “Lori Vallow is telling Alex Cox what to do. You never see Alex tell her what to do – she is always telling him what to do.” Wood references one message where Alex says, “My lips are sealed” and Lori responds, “Good boy.” Alex’s wife Zulema Pastenses testified that Alex believed “all of it.”
10:54 a.m. We now see a slide that says ‘Money: The benefits of Murder.” The next slide says “Power.” Wood: “It does not matter what they believed. It matters what they did. They can believe whatever they want. But when they use that to justify homicide, that changes. They used religion as a tool to manipulate others. Lori manipulated Alex Cox through religion. She manipulated Chad through emotional and sexual control. They manipulated their friends.”
10:52 a.m. Wood: “Get the money and then commit the murder.” He says she made sure to make arrangements to get money before JJ’s death as well. Wood explains the amount you need to find for grand theft is $1,000. “If you find Lori Vallow collected $1,000 that was not intended for her, you must find her guilty of grand theft.”
10:50 a.m. Wood: “We talk about money, power, sex. Lori learned a lesson with Charles Vallow. She learned how to get money before the deaths. Within a week, she’s already talking about the Social Security she’s going to get. It was planned.” We see a history timeline of when Tylee received Social Security money and when Lori switched accounts.
10:48 a.m. Wood now shows the images of Tylee’s bones on the screen. He points to images and marks that show signs of stabbing. We now see a graphic photo of JJ Vallow’s body wrapped in tape. “They did this to a boy with special needs.” We now see Tammy’s autopsy photo. “There was nothing in her body that would have killed her. She had bruises on her arms that the ME stated were consistent with restraint. JJ had bruises on his arms too.”
10:48 a.m. Wood: “Tylee, JJ and Tammy can’t tell us what happened. But their bodies do.”
10:46 a.m. Wood shows a photo of the grassy area where JJ’s body was buried. We now see a photo fo the rocks and boards that were lying on top of JJ. “You heard the testimony of multiple officers about the smell emanating. And how they found what was a human head. Look at this grave. This was prepared in advance. This was a premeditated murder. You heard testimony that Lori Vallow handed JJ off to Alex Cox.”
10:44 a.m. Wood shows a chunk of concrete found in the ground “sitting on top of Tylee’s skull.” He says they also found pieces of Tylee “here – in the shed.” A photo of the shed is shown on the screen. We see a pickax that was taken to the Idaho State Lab and there was Tylee’s DNA in the eye of the pickax. We see a photo of the shovel that was tested for DNA. “There was blood on the handle and it matched to Tylee Ryan.”
10:42 a.m. Wood shows the firepit where Tylee was found. He shows an image of a chain and a jewelry charm found in the debris “being worn by Tylee Ryan.” “You sat satellite footage that same day of the disturbance in the ground. You saw how law enforcement found a dog and a cat (in the ground). They found what they thought might be human bones and they continued to dig. And this is what they found. This is what was left of Tylee Ryan. Charred flesh. Dismembered.” An image of Tylee’s remains are on the screen.
10:40 a.m. An overhead image of Chad Daybell’s property is shown on the screen. Wood explains a warrant was served on the property June 9, 2020. “Multiple officers testified to you of watching Chad DAybell in that car looking over his shoulder to the location of where Tylee Ryan was buried. You heard a phone call from that morning from Chad saying, ‘They’re searching the property.’ You can hear the fear and guilty in both of their voices. They know what’s about to happen.”
10:39 a.m. Wood now talking about the night Tammy died – “the night Tammy was murdered.” He shows a timeline showing the digital activity from that night between Alex and Chad and Tammy. An image is deleted from Tammy’s phone that night. Alex calls Lori at 11:53 pm. Lori is in Hawaii “on purpose – not a coincidence,” Wood says.
10:37 a.m. Wood talks about Chad getting his burner phone on Oct. 9 – the day Tammy was shot at. Alex is at his sister’s house and then goes to Sportsman’s Warehouse. “You can follow his phone as he scopes out the property.” Wood shows a timeline of digital data from that day. Fifteen texts between Alex and Chad in a short amount of time. “What ties Alex to Chad? Lori Vallow.”
10:35 a.m. “No matter how many tips police followed up on, they never found JJ. They never found Tylee except here – where Alex’s phone was pinged by GPS,” Wood says pointing to Chad’s backyard. Alex spent 17 minutes at Chad’s house that day. “That grave was not dug in 17 minutes. It was premeditated, planned.”
10:34 a.m. Wood reminds the jury of Melanie Gibb’s and David Warwick’s testimony. Lori told them JJ was a zombie and acting out. On the morning of Sept. 23, David asks about JJ. Lori tells him he was climbing up the cabinets and refrigerator so she sent him with Alex Cox. “An overt act. Alex Cox took possession of JJ that morning.” Wood now shows where Alex was that morning – in his apartment then on his way to Chad’s house “with JJ Vallow in tow.”
10:33 a.m. We now see a slide after Tylee was buried. Wood: “They’ve done the deed. They burned Tylee. They dismembered and buried her.”
10:31 a.m. We see the map of Alex’s movements from the morning of Sept. 9 and the GPS hits off his phone. There is a hit at the burn pit on Chad’s property, another hit right by where Tylee was buried and another hit at the gate to the property.
10:30 a.m. Wood says this all revolves around money and reminds the jury of Colby Ryan’s testimony. “Every two to three months, Lori would tell him we are out of money. It was a concern for her.” Wood shows the Google location history of Alex Cox and a map that lays out his cell phone activity the early morning of Sept. 9, 2019.
10:29 a.m. Wood: “Tylee Ryan was seen in Yellowstone National Park and then was never seen again. But she turned up in Chad Daybell’s pet cemetery.” Wood references the James and Elena story – “this was all a plan for them to be together without obstacles. Obstacles was the word they used.”
10:28 a.m. Wood reads the “raccoon text” from Chad Daybell to Tammy Daybell on Sept. 9. “This text is where Chad Daybell told us where to find Tylee Ryan.”
10:27 a.m. Wood talks about Chad Daybell searching SSW winds on Sept. 8. “The next day he knows he will be burning Tylee Ryan in his firepit and he needs to know which way the wind will be blowing. This is the only time he searches wind direction.” Wood shows the searches on the lollytime4ever account and Lori Vallow Google searches. “The day Tammy Daybell is being buried, Lori is looking up wedding dresses in Hawaii. Her boyfriend’s wife is being buried that day and she’s already looking for wedding dresses.”
10:25 a.m. Lori is looking at Wood as he is speaking. Wood reviews the digital evidence including all the searches on the homerjmaximus account (Alex Cox’s account). On the screen is a list of searches Alex did about prepping an AR in the cold, shooting through a Dodge Dakota (the same vehicle Tammy and Chad owned) and how to drill baffles to make a suppressor.
10:24 a.m. Wood explains how Alex visited gun ranges, went to Sportsman’s Warehouse and then was located at the church near Chad’s house on the night Tammy died. “These are all overt acts and steps taken to get to murder.”
10:21 a.m. Wood lists off overt acts he says Lori used to further conspiracy and grand theft. She never reported her kids missing, she changed bank accounts to get Social Security benefits from her kids, burner phones, etc. “All these steps were taken to further their conspiracy.” Wood mentions the text messages about Tammy being in limbo and being possessed by a zombie.
10:20 a.m. Many jurors taking notes, others looking at Wood as he gives his argument. Wood: “They couldn’t kill the kids in Arizona where they had friends and family. Moving to Rexburg was the catalyst for these murders. They had to hide Tylee and JJ. They had to go somewhere nobody knew them. Moving to Rexburg was the catalyst for these murders and then Alex followed.”
10:19 a.m. Wood: “To be clear, nobody here has been charged for their religious beliefs. They have been charged for using those religious beliefs to justify murder.”
10:18 a.m. Wood: “Aiding and abetting is just the same as pulling the trigger. Overt acts – on a conspiracy you must find at least one overt act beyond a reasonable doubt. Overt acts in and of themselves don’t need to be illegal but if it’s an act done in furtherance of conspiracy, then it is an overt act and makes it part of the crime.”
10:17 a.m. Wood: “A reasonable doubt is based on reason and common sense. Use your reason and your common sense as you deliberate. Malice is one of those words that may mean something in the real world versus in court. Follow the jury instruction. Malice can be expressed where someone says they want it to happen or it can be implied. You will find express and implied malice in this case. There is an abundance of malice.”
10:15 a.m. Wood talks about Tammy’s conspiracy charge. Asks jurors if Lori was involved. He talks about the grand theft. He tells the jurors to read the instructions carefully and they will find “the state has met its burden beyond a reasonable doubt.”
10:14 a.m. Wood now talking about the Tylee murder charge. “Did Lori aid and abed in that murder? Did she encourage the murder? Under the law, if you find Lori aided, abetted, advised or counseled in the murder of Tylee, you must convict her.” Wood says the same must be done with JJ’s murder.
10:13 a.m. Wood: “When it comes to conspiracy, you need to ask yourself, ‘Who murdered these people? Did Lori intend for it to happen and was one of these overt acts accomplished in furtherance of the conspiracy? You only need to find one overt act. The state has met its burden for each overt act – you only need to find one.”
10:11 a.m. Wood talks about Idaho law and this being a “crime of agreement.” “Did Lori agree to have Tylee killed and steal that money? Did she intend for those events to actually happen? And did any of the conspirators perform an overt act in furtherance of that agreement?”
10:10 a.m. Wood: “Lori Vallow is the one who ties this all together.” He talks about the attempted shooting of Brandon B., Rexburg police getting a call looking for JJ, the investigation into the missing kids, Tammy’s body being exhumed, the kids being found.
10:09 a.m. We now see wedding photos of Chad and Lori on the beach. Wood: “They were freed from the obstacles of their kids and wife. They were dancing on the beach…You have seen plenty of evidence of the affair that took place after they met.” Wood is now walking the jury through a timeline “that tells the truth” as it is displayed on the screeen.
10:06 a.m. A picture of Tammy Daybell is now on the screen. Wood: “A loving mother of five and school librarian was murdered in her own home. She was asphyxiated in her own home. The evidence is clear that Lori, Chad and Alex conspired to murder Tammy. Acting together, they caused her death. Her death occurred just a little over a week after a masked gunman attempted to shoot her as she entered her home after a night of church activity…Lori was conveniently gone for both the attempted murder and the successful murder. Those trips were not coincidences. And just like Tylee and JJ, there was money to be gained from Tammy’s death. $430,000 worth of life insurance and Lori wasted no time to benefit from that money.”
10:06 a.m. Wood: “Just like Tylee, Lori never reported that JJ was missing or dead. She kept collecting the money. She lied to multiple people and even asked a friend to lie to the police about JJ’s location. Just like Tylee, after JJ was murdered, she kept collecting the money.”
10:03 a.m. Wood: “Lori never reported that Tylee was missing. She lied to multiple people. She had to keep her body hidden so she could keep getting the money.” We now see a photo of JJ Vallow on the screen. “JJ’s voice was silenced forever by a strip of duct tape placed across his mouth. A white plastic bag was placed over his head where it was secured tightly with duct tape wrapped around and around from his forehead to his neck. The evidence says he struggled and we’ll never know how long he fought before they wrapped tape around his wrists and ankles. He stoped breathing, his heart stopped beating and he died. It was a brutal, horrific murder of a 7-year old boy with special needs.”
10:02 a.m. A photo of Tylee Ryan is shown on the screen. “She was burned and buried in Chad Daybell’s backyard. What was left of her body they dumped in a green bucket and buried in a pet cemetery on top of a piece of her skull. Tylee was gone and buried and out of the way but Lori Vallow kept collecting Tylee’s money.”
10 a.m. Wood: “Money, power, and sex. Beginning in October 2018, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell set in a motion of events. Along the way, they included her brother Alex Cox to participate in a conpiracy unencumbered and free of obstacles. This plan was driven by Lori Vallow’s desire for and use of money, power and sex. And this plan must end today in the verdicts you render in this trial.”
9:58 a.m. Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood will present closing arguments on behalf of the state. Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake gave opening statements in the case a month ago.
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