Wednesday 1st - afternoon update
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LIVE UPDATES FROM THE CHAD DAYBELL TRIAL
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Please excuse the typos. These are live updates from the courtroom.
3:15 p.m. Rob Wood says the next witness will be longer than 14 minutes. Boyce says given the timing, we will dismiss for the day. Join me tonight at 6:30 p.m. MDT for “Courtroom Insider.”
3:14 p.m. Ballard says Lori Vallow’s children never came up in conversation. Prior is done. Wixom has no redirect.
3:12 p.m. Prior asks when the enrollment period was in the Sugar-Salem School District. The forms were due back Sept. 15. Ballard gave the presentation at the school on Aug. 23. Ballard says Tammy elected for $80,000 of insurance. Prior asks if it would be unusual to get the maximum amount of insurance. Ballard agrees.
3:10 p.m. Prior references an interview Ballard did with Det. Mattingly. Ballard says the entire family was losing health insurance coverage because of Tammy’s death.
3:09 p.m. On March 11, Chad was thinner and tanner. He had on a black ring. Ballard assumed that was his new wedding ring, and the turquoise ring must have been Tammy’s. Wixom has no further questions. Prior will now cross-examine.
3:07 p.m. Ballard had done the presentation for open enrollment at Tammy’s school district, and she gave Tammy the life insurance election form. Wixom asks if she ever noticed what Chad was wearing when she came in. Ballard noticed Chad was wearing a ring when he came into her office. The ring was turquoise.
3:04 p.m. Ballard had a conversation on March 16. Chad reached out because he had received some information from Health and Welfare that Lori’s identity could not be verified. Chad provided his marriage certificate and Lori’s driver’s license to verify her identity. The issue was resolved. The last time Ballard spoke to Chad was on March 26.
3:03 p.m. Ballard was concerned they had a fraudulent life insurance payout. “I was worried Tammy’s death may not have been an accident, and the life insurance money was paid out when it shouldn’t have been.”
3:01 p.m. Chad said Lori should be getting out of jail the following week. Ballard was going through information, and when she got to the income information, Chad said “they” confiscated my computer, so he wasn’t able to pay himself yet. Ballard said, “They?” And Chad said the FBI took his computer. Chad wanted to make sure he, his wife and son Mark would be covered. Ballard asked about adding dependents. Chad never mentioned JJ or Tylee.
3 p.m. On March 11, 2020, Chad went to Ballard’s office to ask about getting health insurance for his wife. He told Ballard his wife was Lori Daybell and wrote on a sticky note, “Lori Ryan Daybell.” Chad told Ballard they were married Nov. 5, 2019. “He had stated to me that she was incarcerated. I told him she wouldn’t necessarily get insurance right now, but he was worried about something happening to her.” Ballard told Chad she would be covered by the state if she was incarcerated.
2:58 p.m. Ballard’s office handled Tammy’s health, life and disability insurance before she passed away. Ballard looked at her life insurance amount and learned it had been paid out. During her open enrollment in August or September, she had upped it to the max.
2:57 p.m. Ballard was in Health and Welfare on Dec. 23 and she learned Chad had remarried someone who had two children that were missing. Ballard was confused and wondered if they were the children she had helped insure. Ballard said this information made her question his deceased wife.
2:55 p.m. On Dec. 11, Chad picked his health insurance plan and paid for it. He did not bring up JJ, Tylee or Lori. Around this time, Ballard received five letters addressed to Chad, but they had been sent to Ballard’s address. She said that was very weird – it never happens.
2:53 p.m. Chad asked if he were to get married, how hard would it be to add a new wife. Chad was already married at this time but told Ballard, “I’ll be honest with you. I’ll probably be married by the end of the year.” Chad never mentioned the names JJ or Tylee.
2:52 p.m. Ballard texted Chad on Nov. 5, 2019, asking for his 2018 tax returns. Chad responded that he was out of town all week but would be able to stop by the following week. On Nov. 21, Chad came back into Ballard’s office. Based on Chad’s tax return, it was proven that his business did operate at a profit, so he was eligible for different insurance, and they discussed his options for January 2020.
2:49 p.m. Chad wanted health insurance for himself and Seth, Leah and Mark. They discussed his income, demographic information and options for insurance. Chad said without his wife’s income, his self-employment as a book publisher would operate at a loss. Ballard learned from Health and Welfare that Chad was making $30,000 a year. Ballard asked for a copy of Chad’s tax return to verify his income.
2:47 p.m. Ballard works at Ballard Insurance Group. She has worked in the industry for 14 years. She met Chad Daybell on Oct. 31, 2019. Chad visited her office to inquire about an individual health policy for him and his children. Chad was losing coverage from his deceased’s wife’s policy through her employer plan.
2:45 p.m. Next witness is Taylor Ballard, an insurance broker from Rexburg.
2:44 p.m. Janice says she saw Tammy walking around school all day, every day. She’d come and gather books before the students went to the library. Tammy would gather books on certain subjects and bring them to the classrooms. Wixom has nothing further.
2:42 p.m. Wixom has no further questions. Prior will now cross examine. He asks Janice about the day before Tammy died. He asks Janice if Tammy was preparing for a book fair. Janice doesn’t recall. Prior has nothing further. Wixom asks Janice to explain where her classroom is. It’s right by the front door.
2:40 p.m. Janice says she got a call about Tammy’s death and was shocked. She had just seem Tammy the day before at school and Tammy had been at exercise class. Tammy never mentioned anything about not feeling well. She didn’t have any ill symptoms.
2:38 p.m. Tammy attended Janice’s high fit/Zumba class twice a week. Each class was an hour. Janice says Tammy never struggled in class and wouldn’t quit early.
2:37 p.m. Janice saw Tammy multiple times a day. They had lunch together 3-4 times a week. Rocky Wixom is questioning Janice. Janice says Tammy was a friend and good colleague. Tammy was very organized, on top of things and went the extra mile to get books into the hands of kids.
2:35 p.m. Next witness is Janice Olson. She lives in St. Anthony and teaches 1st grade. This will be her 30th year teaching. She has always taught at Central Elementary, the same school where Tammy taught.
2:30 p.m. Back in the courtroom. Chad and John Prior are smiling, laughing with each other. Boyce is on the bench and jurors are in their seats.
2:06 p.m. Gilbert is released from his subpoena. He leaves the witness stand. We will take afternoon recess and be back at 2:30 p.m.
2:05 p.m. Blake asks if some of the things Chad discussed with Gilbert were beyond the standard LDS teachings. Gilbert says yes. Blake asks if someone disclosed they were having an affair, would they qualify for a temple recommend? Gilbert says no.
2:03 p.m. Prior asks about the coughing spell Tammy experienced. He asks Gilbert if Chad mentioned what Tammy had eaten to make her throw up. Chad did not. Prior has nothing further. Blake will now re-direct.
2:02 p.m. Gilbert says Chad is a soft-spoken person. Prior suggests he’s shy and reserved.
2:01 p.m. Prior asks about Gilbert meeting Lori and Chad at the temple. Gilbert says you have to be an active member and a recommend to get into the temple. Melani Boudreaux and another lady was also with Lori and Chad at the temple.
2 p.m. The Gilberts attended three “Preparing a People” conferences. Prior asks what AVOW is. It’s a preparation website, Gilbert says. Gilbert says Chad was an active member of the LDS Church through the time they knew each other.
1:57 p.m. Prior asks about Melanie Gibb and if she is involved in any organization attached to the LDS faith. Gilbert says not that he is aware of. Prior asks about “Preparing a People.” Gilbert says to his knowledge, she really isn’t. Chad introduced the Gilberts to Melanie Gibb at the “Preparing a People” conference in Caldwell, Idaho in 2019.
1:56 p.m. Prior begins by asking about the attached building on Daybell’s house. Gilbert says there’s a mechanical room, a storage room and a room up above the area. Prior asked who used the attached building. Gilbert says the whole family used it and there was a bed upstairs.
1:55 p.m. Gilbert did not give up his home for bond. Gilbert recalls Chad saying that Tylee didn’t really like him. Blake asks if there are stairs in the Daybell home. Gilbert says there are some in the back part of the home. Prior will now cross examine.
1:53 p.m. After Lori was brought back to Rexburg and booked in jail, Chad visited the Gilberts. “When he walked in the door, he said Christ has sent me here to ask you guys if you would be willing to put your home up for bond to get Lori out of jail.”
1:52 p.m. Gilbert says when they would see Chad, he would tell them that Tammy had appeared to him in spirit at least twice and she was doing fine. She understood the plan and was going to move on in the spirit world. Chad’s mission was to be married to Lori and his children were fine with it.
1:51 p.m. Blake asks who was in the wedding photos. Just Chad and Lori – nobody else.
1:50 p.m. Chad and Lori returned to the Gilberts after they got married. They wanted to show them all of their wedding photos “which was quite a few.” They talked about a family trip with Chad’s kids to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm around Thanksgiving. They never mentioned taking Lori’s kids on the trip.
1:49 p.m. Chad told the Gilberts he and Lori were going to move to Hawaii. Gilbert asked Lori if she had been married before. Lori says her husband had died of a heart attack in December 2018. Gilbert asked Lori if she had any children. She said she had several. Chad “popped up and said she had a daughter who had just died.”
1:47 p.m. Two or three days later, Chad and Lori went to the Gilberts. “They were real happy, excited with each other. We invited them to sit on the couch. They ended up sitting real close to each other holding hands. I seen Chad rubbing her leg. I thought that was kind of odd – you’re carrying on like a teenager in love.” Tammy had only been dead a week and a half. Gilbert had never seen Chad like this before.
1:46 p.m. Chad told the Gilberts that Tammy’s mission was over in this life and Lori was to fulfill her mission with Chad now. Chad said Lori and her friends were going to be in the area and asked the Gilberts if they would like to meet her. The Gilberts work in the temple and they met Lori and Chad at the temple.
1:44 p.m. Gilbert and his wife called Chad a few days after the funeral and said they wanted to bring him a pizza. Chad said he would instead come to their house. He arrived around 6 p.m. Chad told the Gilberts he had a girlfriend. “We about fell on the floor,” he says. Chad seemed hesitant to tell them but he said her name was Lori Vallow. Gilbert had heard that name before on a podcast. They had never met in person.
1:42 p.m. Gilbert attended Tammy’s funeral. He says things moved fast to have a funeral for your spouse when they died on Saturday and services were Tuesday. Gilbert says before the funeral started, Chad was standing by the casket. Gilbert spoke with him and looked at Tammy in the casket. “We felt like we needed closure with Tammy. He seemed like he was in a hurry to get it over with.”
1:39 p.m. The day the Gilberts visited the Daybell’s, they left and got breakfast for everyone at McDonald’s. They returned to the house and Garth told them to leave the food on the table. The day after the funeral, the Gilberts took dinner to the Daybell’s around 6. Chad told Gilbert he needed to move out and had a friend on Pioneer Road in Rexburg he was planning to move into. Gilbert figured it was a man.
1:38 p.m. Gilbert said they saw Tammy shopping at Walmart. She looked fine. They saw her at church at least once a week and saw her in the yard. She always looked fine.
1:36 p.m. Gilbert told Chad it looks like it happened – meaning the prophecy from February that Tammy would die. Chad turned away from the kids and told Gilbert he had not told the kids about the vision. Gilbert asked Chad if he had any idea what happened to Tammy. Chad said Tammy got up around midnight, had a big coughing spell, threw up and went back to bed. Chad figured Tammy died around 2 a.m. from an embolism and around 5:30 a.m., the weight of her body rolled out of the bed onto the floor.
1:34 p.m. On Oct. 19, 2019, around 7 a.m., the Gilberts received a call from Emma. She was upset and Chad took the phone. Gilbert learned from the call that Tammy had died. The Gilberts went over around 8:15 a.m. to the Daybell house. “Chad didn’t seem like he was real sad like I would expect somebody to be after their spouse had passed on. He seemed business-like to me. I thought it was kind of strange.”
1:33 p.m. Blake asks Gilbert about Chad visiting his home in February 2019. Gilbert and his wife were removing tile in a bedroom. Chad sent a text saying he wanted to come over. As he was leaving, he told Gilbert that Tammy’s life mission was going to come to an end before her 50th birthday. Gilbert didn’t know how old Tammy was but figured she was around 48.
1:31 p.m. Gilbert understood all of Chad’s books to be fictional based on his near-death experiences. Gilbert says Chad spoke to him about events he had seen in his visions and things that would happen in the future. The things Chad told him did not always align with standard LDS doctrine, Gilbert says.
1:30 p.m. Gilbert saw Chad about once a week – usually at church. Gilbert would sometimes go over and help Chad with plumbing. Gilbert says Chad sometimes spoke about his religious beliefs and they “didn’t ring true” with him.
1:28 p.m. Gilbert says he heard of Chad Daybell in 2015 – that he was an author. Gilbert read most of Chad’s books before they ever met in person. Todd and Alice moved to Salem in March 2017. That’s when he met Chad and Tammy in person.
1:27 p.m. Next witness is Todd Gilbert, Alice’s husband.
1:25 p.m. Gilbert recalls about Chad telling her that Lori had a daughter who had recently passed. As she testifies, Chad rolls his eyes and nods his head. Blake asks Gilbert if she’s aware the remains of Lori’s children were found on Chad’s property. Gilbert says yes. Blake has no further questions. Gilbert is released from her subpoena.
1:23 p.m. Prior has no further questions. Blake is back up for re-direct. Blake asks Gilbert if she knew where Chad went every morning. Gilbert doesn’t know but sometimes saw that his vehicle was gone. She once asked Chad about this and he said he could go to the college. Blake asks about the stairs. Prior objects. Boyce overrules it. Gilbert says all of the residence is not one story.
1:22 p.m. Prior asks Gilbert if Chad was trying to hide his whereabouts. Gilbert says he didn’t with them. Prior is questioning Gilbert about the children and she chokes up. She says she couldn’t get a straight answer out of Chad about the missing kids.
1:21 p.m. Prior asks who was living in the home at the time of Tammy’s passing. Gilbert says Garth was and perhaps Seth was. Mark was on his mission and Emma lived in the home nearby. Leah, the other daughter, lives in Utah.
1:19 p.m. Prior asks Gilbert if she is aware of the utilities on the addition of the house. Blake continually objects that Prior is testifying and Boyce sustains the objections. Gilbert doesn’t know specifics of the living conditions in the home.
1:17 p.m. Prior asked about Melanie Gibb. He asks Gilbert how she knows her. Gilbert says she came upon Gibb’s podcast and that’s where she heard about Lori. Prior asks Gilbert if she has been to Chad’s house and if it’s a one story house. Gilbert says there’s an addition to the house – you walk through a breezeway and up stairs.
1:16 p.m. Prior asks about the meal Gilbert and her presidency took over to the house. Gilbert says she involved the bishop and went over to the house with the food.
1:15 p.m. Prior asks Gilbert where the Daybells sat in the building. She says toward the middle of the chapel but after Emma had a baby, they moved toward the back. Prior asks about Chad parking his truck at the Salem church every morning. Gilbert has no idea.
1:14 p.m. Prior asks Gilbert how often she saw Tammy. They had their meetings on Wednesday mornings for 1-2 hours and then on Sundays. Four people were present at the Wednesday meetings.
1:13 p.m. Blake has no further questions for Gilbert. Prior will now cross examine.
1:12 p.m. The previous February, Chad went over to the Gilberts and mentioned he had a vision that Tammy was going to pass away before her 50th birthday. He didn’t know how or when. Chad told the Gilberts that Tammy liked to play games on the computer and that her grandmother had come to Chad. The grandmother told Chad to tell Tammy that she was not happy that Tammy was wasting her time on the computer.
1:11 p.m. When Chad asked Gilbert about the bond, she was “a little miffed.” “I asked him, ‘where are the children? Where’s Tylee? She’s a teenager. Doesn’t she want a life? Doesn’t she want a job? A life and a boyfriend?’ He said, ‘She didn’t like people and she didn’t like me,'” Gilbert says. Gilbert noted Chad used the past tense – “didn’t.”
1:09 p.m. The Gilberts said they would think about it. The next day, Chad texted and said he was going to come over with the bond woman. The Gilberts said no – they would not help him post bond. Gilbert confronted Chad about him saying that Lori had a daughter who passed away but then saying later it was a custody battle.
1:08 p.m. Gilbert was okay if Chad spent the night but not live with them. “When he came in, he was quite upset and he said he had to get her out of jail. He cried and said it was killed her to be in jail and could we put our house up for bond. We asked him if he had family that could help him. He said no.”
1:07 p.m. Gilbert was surprised they got married so soon. Gilbert recalls Chad visiting their home again after Lori was arrested in Hawaii. Chad had moved back to Idaho. “He asked us if we would put our house up for her bond,” Gilbert says. He also asked if he could live with the Gilberts.
1:06 p.m. Gilbert learned Chad and Lori got married in Hawaii. After their marriage, Chad visited the Gilberts and showed them wedding photos. “He was quite excited to show us the wedding pictures,” Gilbert says.
1:05 p.m. When Gilbert learned in November that JJ and Tylee were missing, she called Chad and asked if the kids belonged to Lori. Chad said yes and that it was a custody issue but would eventually all be resolved.
1:03 p.m. Back in the courtroom. Blake continues to question Gilbert.
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