13 April 2023 , 15:33
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The third day of the trial of 'cult mum' Lori Vallow Daybell was ended suddenly today, not long after hearing a chilling phone call Vallow Daybell made to husband Chad Daybell from prison on the day her children's remains were allegedly discovered at his property.
Vallow Daybell called her husband from Madison County Jail on June 9, 2020, where she was being held behind bars after failing to meet a court order to present her two children - Tylee, 16, and JJ, seven.
The court order came after JJ's grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock, raised the alarm saying they had not been able to see or speak to JJ.
A hunt for the missing children was sparked, with Vallow Daybell refusing to tell police the truth about where her children were.
A picture of Tylee Ryan (L) and J.J. Vallow is seen on a fence opposite the property where their bodies were found in 2020, on April 4, 2023 in Rexburg, (Getty Images)The two children, who were later found dead on Daybell's Idaho property, had not been seen since September 2019.
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A photograph, obtained by Rexburg County Police, showed Tylee and JJ at the entrance to Yellowstone National Park, along with Vallow Daybell and her brother, Alex Cox.
Warnings of police searches and repeated 'I love you'
In the disturbing phone call between the husband and wife, Daybell is heard warning Vallow Daybell that the property is being searched.
She opens saying "Hi babe", before going on to ask if Daybell is ok. He responds, saying: "No, they're searching the property."
It is difficult to make out exactly what is said between the couple, but they appear to be discussing what investigators searching the property are doing as well as what their next steps may be.
Vallow Daybell can be heard asking: "Are they seizing stuff, again?" To which Daybell simply responds: "They're searching."
Lori Vallow Daybell sits in a police car after a hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse in St. Anthony, Idaho, on Aug. 16, 2022. (AP)Daybell tells his wife he's "glad" she called, before saying: "We'll see what transpires." A very meek sounding Vallow Daybell can be heard agreeing with her husband.
Toward the end of the call, Daybell tells his second wife: "I love you so much", to which Vallow Daybell says: "OK, I love you. Should I try to call you later?"
Daybell says: "I don't know, but we'll try, I'll ask if I can."
He ends the call saying: "I love you and we'll talk soon" with the pair saying "I love you" back and forth before the call ends.
Around an hour later, the remains of JJ and Tylee were unearthed on the property belonging to Daybell in Salem, Ohio.
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Court ends abruptly
On the day that the disturbing phone call was heard, court was forced to end aburptly.
After the call was heard by the court, there was a short break. Following this break, prosecutors said that due to unforseen circumstances they were requesting a dismissal for the day. Defence did not object, meaning the trial was adjourned early for the day.
Courtroom sketch of Madison County Magistrate Judge Steven Boyce listening to Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake during opening statements of Lori Vallow Daybell's murder trial (AP)Later, it was revealed that the cause of the day's sudden end was due to a death in Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake's family.
A spokesperson for the prosecution team said in a statement: "There has been a death in the family of one of the prosecutor's lead attorneys. The Court and defense have been gracious in allowing the prosecution to adjust to this personal situation."
Ms Blake had been absent for the day's proceedings on Wednesday, with court expected to resume Thursday morning, April 13, at 8.30am MT.
Gruesome discoveries
Rexburgh Police Department Detective Ray Hermosillo took to the witness stand on the second day of the trial, April 11, talking the jury through the discoveries made that day.
Jurors were shown grisly images of the children's remains as they were uncovered, as well as subsequent autopsy photos.
Hermosillo described the condition of the children's bodies, which were discovered eight months after their disappearance.
One of the last known photographs of Tylee Ryan, with JJ Vallow and Alex Cox (FBI)During the first day of trial, Monday April 10, Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake described how Tylee was found burned, leaving only "a mass of bone and tissue", along with some DNA on a pickaxe and shovel.
JJ was found with his hands and head bound with duct tape, and his body wrapped in rubbish bags. His body was in various states of decomposition, with him being found wearing red pyjamas and a Pull-Ups diaper - which Hermosillo said was soaked from his rotting corpse.
Hermosillo described the search, saying: "We started finding burnt flresh, decomposing bones. The smell was so bad we had to take turns digging.
"Eventually, we uncovered bits and pieces of Tylee, whome we assumed was Tylee, that had been bnurned. There were pieces of bone, charred flresh, just globs of flesh that were falling apart."
Lori Vallow Daybell with daughter Tylee Ryan who's remains were later discovered on Chad Daybell's property (Chandler Police Dept)Images shown to jurors were gruesome in nature. One showed JJ wearing red pyjamas and socks, with duct tape covering his mouth, and his arms and legs bound together. His arms were visible bruised, according to Hermosillo, and his body was partially decomposed.
Black plastic was said to be covering his remains, which were found buried near a tree on Daybell's property.
Tylees remains were burned and packed into a melted green bucket, having been buried at different locations across the property, Hermosillo said.
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell charged
After the discoveries, both Vallow Daybell and Daybell were charged with the deaths of 16-year-old Tylee and seven-year-old JJ, as well as the death of Chad Daybell's first wife, Tammy, 49.
Tammy died on October 19, 2019, just a month after Vallow Daybell's children disappeared. Weeks later, Vallow Daybell and Daybell married on a beach in Hawaii
No autopsy was performed on Tammy after she died, with her death being ruled as a result of natural causes. However, given developments in the case involving Vallow Daybell and Daybell, Tammy's body was later exhumed and an autopsy carried out.
On the first day of the trial, her cause of death was revealed by the prosecution as being a result of asphyxiation.
'Doomsday' cult teachings
When Vallow Daybell and Daybell met, friends and family said she became instantly infatuated with him and his teachings.
Daybell, a religious fiction author, drew on inspiration from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) for his teachings - though took them to an extreme view.
Vallow Daybell was enthralled with the belief system he preached, with friends saying she became increasingly fixated on a newsfound "purpose" with Chad.
Chad Daybell appears during a court hearing in St. Anthony, Idaho, Aug. 4, 2020 (AP)The belief system of the 'doomsday cult' is a key aspect of what appears to be a complex case. Friends and family interviewed by police in relation to the deaths of JJ and Tylee have given insight into the belief system, and what went on in the 'cult'.
It's thought as many as 10 people were part of the loose religious group. The group apparently met to pray, drive out evil spirits and seek revelations from "beyond the spirtual veil".
The Daybells reportedly used a special scoring system to determine whether people were good or evil. People were assigned numbers to indicate how many times they had lived before, as well as whether they had made contact with God or Satan.
In teachings, people were referred to on a scale of "light" to "dark", with talk of "zombies" - people who had died and their bodies had been possessed by evil spirits, according to a police report.
The group would spend time praying to try and eradicate the zombies, and believed if they were successful the possessed person would physically die - freeing their soul from "limbo".
Lori Vallow Daybell glances at the camera during her hearing in Rexburg, Idaho., on March 6, 2020. (AP)Prosecutor Blake said they eventually began teaching friends that once the evil spirits were strong enough, people became a "zombie" and the only way to free them was to kill them.
Friends of Vallow Daybell are expected to testify that she said the children and Tammy Daybell were "dark" before their deaths, according to Blake.
At least one friend told police that Vallow Daybell called both children "zombies" before they disappeared, according to police records.
"The common theme was the body has to be destroyed," Blake said. "The defendant and Chad used their self-proclaimed religious teachings to justify their actions to others - their actions from affair to murder."
The trial continues.
- The Doomsday Mother, written by John Glatt and published by Mirror Books, is on sale now