Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BOISE — An FBI agent testified Friday that Lori and Chad Daybell used the term "obstacles" to describe both of their spouses before they each died.
Their electronic communications were highlighted Friday during the continuation of Lori Vallow Daybell's murder trial.
FBI special agent Doug Hart said it was pretty clear in information taken from iCloud accounts that Lori and Chad Daybell were planning to meet and have a life together.
"It was apparent shortly after meeting they were involved in an illicit affair together," he said of the couple.
Hart said the duo referred to their then-current spouses — Charles Vallow and Tammy Daybell — as "obstacles."
The couple also discussed the deaths of their spouses and of Lori Daybell's children — 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old JJ Vallow — over text messages.
"There were several communications regarding Tylee and JJ that were relevant to their deaths. They discussed their deaths," Hart testified.
Lori Daybell is charged with murder, conspiracy and grand theft in the deaths of her two children. She is also charged with conspiracy in connection with the death of Tammy Daybell, her new husband's previous wife. Chad Daybell is charged with murder for the same three deaths.
'This week will change everything'
After conversations around what is admissible in court, Hart presented information from Lori Daybell's iCloud accounts, LoriForStyle and Lollytime, with the jury. He supervised the investigation into Lori and Chad Daybell on behalf of the FBI.
He said investigators had a pretty good idea of what had occurred when they began looking at the account, and were searching for communications that gave more information about JJ's disappearance.
This iCloud account contains texts, media, locations, cookies and some data that has been deleted from the cloud, but not overridden.
He said the iCloud account contents were shared with all investigating agencies and played an important role in the case's outcome. They focused on the time between when the couple first met at a conference in St. George on Oct. 26, 2018, until Lori Daybell was approached by law enforcement on Nov. 26, 2019, and subsequently stopped using phones.
On July 9, 2019, two days before her husband died, Hart said Daybell texted her niece Melani Boudreaux: "It's coming to a head! This week will change everything."
She also texted her brother, Alex Cox: "Lots to do. Thank you for standing by me. It's all coming to a head this week."
Daybell also told her brother they will be like Nephi, a prophet in the Book of Mormon. Hart told jurors about an account in the book of the ancient prophet who had been instructed by God to kill a man named Laban.
Cox shot and killed Vallow two days later on July 11.
Defense attorney John Thomas objected several times about allowing references to Nephi, but Boyce overruled those objections.
Days later on July 14, 2019, Chad Daybell told Lori Daybell he feels "she" will be gone, but with family visiting they will have to wait to be together.
"I feel she will be gone by then, but I will still have that hoopla to deal with," Chad Daybell texted.
Hart said he interpreted "she" as Tammy Daybell, but Lori Daybell's attorneys objected and the identification was taken off the record.
He said Lori and Chad Daybell would imply in the messages that they had been together when it would have been impossible and texted a lot about being together, or feeling together when they were physically apart.
The two constructed a story about "James and Elena," according to Hart. He shared parts of that story with the jury, where James and Elena talked about a connection to each other and being married in a previous life.
Judge Steven Boyce ruled that a summary of the iCloud content that was compiled by Hart, which is 160 pages long, will not be submitted to the jury. He said it looks like a closing argument PowerPoint at the end of the trial, and has editorializing when it should be up to the jury to determine what the evidence means.
Defense attorney James Archibald argued against the account summary and allowing Hart to testify.
"We have the FBI saying, 'Here state of Idaho prosecutors, here is your closing argument. Here is how you sell it to the jury. We are going to disguise arguments as evidence,'" Archibald said.
Hart testified that it is clear from the text conversations that Chad Daybell was a quasi-religious leader for Alex Cox, Lori Daybell's brother, and others who contacted Lori Daybell to get religious information from Chad Daybell. He said Lori Daybell was in an elevated position.
Hart's role in the investigation
Hart said he was involved in searching for JJ and Tylee early on, starting Nov. 27, 2019, after the Rexburg Police Department contacted the FBI the day after they did an initial welfare check looking for the boy.
"We knew very quickly that Lori Vallow had lied to the Rexburg Police Department," Hart testified.
On June 9, 2020, Hart was one of two officers who located JJ's grave in the backyard of Chad Daybell's Salem, Idaho, property, noticing where the sod had been cut where there was slight color changes in the grass.
"Unless you knew what you were looking for, you might not notice it," he said.
The seam in the grass was 18 by 48 inches. He said the grave was "very, very shallow" and they could see something was buried there as soon as they removed rocks and boards. Hart helped exhume the bodies of both children, with assistance from multiple other officers.
Thursday testimony:
Chad Daybell asked about life insurance payout 2 days after wife's death, witness says
Chad Daybell stopped by the school district offices where his wife worked just two days after she died to inquire about her life insurance, a witness testified Thursday in the Lori Vallow Daybell murder trial.What's next
Hart will continue to testify on Monday, as he goes through more notable texts on Lori Daybell's iCloud account in chronological order.
Monday will be the beginning of the fifth week of testimony in the trial held in Boise.
Lori Daybell is also charged in connection with Charles Vallow's death in Arizona, the case is placed on hold while the Idaho charges are being resolved.
A hearing for Chad Daybell was held Thursday afternoon in the same Boise courtroom to discuss setting his trial date. He attended from jail in Fremont County through a video stream. Judge Steven Boyce did not set a date for the trial, but attorneys discussed a potential trial date for June of 2024.
Prosecutors said they expect the trial to be eight weeks long, and they anticipate it could go for nine weeks.
John Prior, Chad Daybell's attorney, said he will be calling a few experts for the trial and he anticipates it will take between 10 and 12 weeks. He said he still has a lot of evidence to look through — including the entire transcript of Lori Daybell's trial — and said he would like 12 months to prepare.
Contributing: Lauren Steinbrecher, Larry Curtis
