Live Updates: Prosecutors say Laurie Wallow Daybell case is about ‘money, power and sex’

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Dozens of people lined the fourth-floor hallway of the Ada County Courthouse early Monday morning waiting to get into the courtroom where Lori Vallow Daybell’s roughly eight-week trial is taking place.

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This is the first day that the public, along with reporters, have been allowed in the courtroom. Throughout the five-day jury selection process, family members, reporters and other observers watched through a live stream in the courthouse’s public hearing room.

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An 18-person jury panel — 12 jurors and six alternates — will decide whether or not Vallow Daybell killed her two children: 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. Vallow Daybell is also charged with three counts of conspiring to commit murder in her children’s death along with her husband, Chad Daybell’s then-wife Tammy Daybell.

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Chad Daybell — whose trial date has not been set — is also charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the children’s deaths. He is also accused of the first-degree murder of Tammy Daybell. The Daybells have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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Vallow Daybell also faces a charge of conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the death of her former husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona.

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Roughly 60 people made their way into courtroom 400 about 45 minutes behind schedule. The onlookers, which include family members and reporters, were reminded that no cameras are allowed and audio and video recording is prohibited.

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“We had a very serious technical issue that delayed proceedings quite a bit,” 7th District Judge Steven Boyce told the jury as they entered the courtroom at 9:15 a.m.

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READ MORE: Who gets to be a juror? Panel selected for Lori Vallow Daybell’s ‘once-in-a-decade’ trial

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9:45 a.m. — ‘Money, power and sex:’ Prosecution lays out case in opening statement

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Tylee’s hands were gone. JJ’s hands were bound. Tammy, who was described as a “computer whiz,” would never place her hands on a computer keyboard again.

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But Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell’s joined hands as they got married on a beach in Hawaii.

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This was just part of the information that Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake laid out in the prosecution’s 30-minute opening statement. Blake said that it didn’t matter what obstacles — including people — were in Vallow Daybell’s way so long as she got what she wanted.

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“Money, power and sex,” Blake said in court. “That’s what this case is about.”

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Blake described Tylee and JJ as “vibrant.” Both children received social security benefits, and Blake alleged that Vallow Daybell collected their benefits after they were dead.

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“Tylee had money, Lori wanted it, Tylee’s gone,” Blake said.

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She said that Tylee’s body, which was found on Chad Daybell’s property along with her brother JJ’s body, was a “mass of bone and tissue.” Blake also said that prosecutors will present evidence that shows DNA was found on a pickax and a shovel which were also found on Chad Daybell’s property.

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Blake alleged JJ took a lot of time, effort and energy to take care of and that Vallow Daybell didn’t want to take care of him anymore. JJ’s body was found wrapped in a garbage bag on Chad Daybell’s Salem, Idaho, property in Fremont County.

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“That’s how the defendant’s little boy was found,” Blake said.

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Tammy Daybell died on Oct. 19, 2019, and officials previously believed she died from natural causes. But after her body was exhumed less than two months after her death a medical examiner ruled her death a homicide by asphyxiation, Blake said.

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“The defendant will remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wanted,” Blake said, “and she wanted Chad Daybell.”

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10:30 a.m. — Vallow Daybell defense attorney says the jury needs to focus on Lori Vallow Daybell

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Attorneys haven’t been able to agree on the series of events that led to the deaths of Tylee, JJ and Tammy, Vallow Daybell’s attorney Jim Archibald said in his opening statement. This is why they are now asking the 18-person jury panel to decide.

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Archibald said that Vallow Daybell was in her apartment in Rexburg when Tylee and JJ died in her brother Alex Cox’s apartment — which was in the same apartment complex.

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He also said — which the prosecution also confirmed — Vallow Daybell was in Hawaii when Tammy Daybell was killed.

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“You are here to focus on what she did, not on what Chad Daybell did or what Alex Cox did,” Archibald said.

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Archibald, who stayed behind the podium throughout his statement, also thanked the jurors for giving Vallow Daybell a “clean slate” as all the information that has been publicized about the case isn’t evidence.

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“Being a defense lawyer isn’t a popular job,” Archibald said. He mentioned that his law office was bombed a few years ago and said not everyone likes defense attorneys.

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He also commented on the indictment which outlines that Chad Daybell, Vallow Daybell and Cox along with other “co-conspirators, both known and unknown” did “conspire, confederate and agree” to kill JJ and Tylee.

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“This charge is saying they’re not sure what happened,” Archibald said “and yet they want you to be sure.”

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11:30 a.m. — JJ’s grandmother takes the witness stand

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“Gotta go, mama. Gotta go papa.”

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Those were the last words JJ told his grandparents, Kay Woodcock told the court Monday afternoon. This was on Aug. 10, 2019, nearly two months before he’d go missing and then later be found dead.

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Woodcock, JJ’s biological grandmother, began testifying early Monday afternoon and outlined the details that allowed her brother, Charles Vallow, and Vallow Daybell to adopt JJ. Charles Vallow was Vallow Daybell’s fourth husband and they were married for roughly 13 years.

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JJ was born 10 weeks early on May 25, 2017, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Woodcock said he spent six to seven weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit after he was born with drugs in his system. This led the Woodcocks — Kay and Larry — to become JJ’s guardians as JJ was Kay Woodcock’s son’s child.

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Woodcock testified Monday that Charles and Lori Vallow Daybell approached the Woodcocks about adopting JJ as they “wanted to have a child of their own.” Tylee and Vallow Daybell’s eldest son, Colby Ryan, were from her second and third marriages.

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“She just kind of seemed like (what) every mom wants to be,” Woodcock said about Vallow Daybell. The Woodcocks agreed to let Charles and Lori Vallow Daybell adopt JJ, though they still wanted to be involved in his life. It was part of the adoption agreement that they’d get to see him.

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Woodcock, who lives in Louisiana, said that she and Larry Woodcock would try and see JJ every chance they could.

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“When he learned to Facetime, he would call us all the time,” Woodcock said.

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In February 2019, Charles Vallow reached out to his sister, Woodcock said, informing her that he and Vallow Daybell had split up and he was “distraught.” Woodcock said that from February 2019 to March 2019 they were helping Charles Vallow take care of JJ and she was also helping him with work. Because of this, she had access to his finances and emails.

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By July 11, 2019, Charles Vallow had died. He was shot and killed by Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox, who originally claimed it was self-defense. But, Arizona prosecutors would later accuse Vallow Daybell, along with Cox, of conspiring to kill Charles Vallow.

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Woodcock testified that in February 2019 Charles Vallow told her he’d like to name her the beneficiary of his $1 million life insurance policy. Woodcock would receive the life insurance policy, giving $500,000 to Charles Vallow’s two older sons.

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Woodcock said she promised Charles Vallow she’d use the remaining money “to finish raising JJ, because Lori didn’t want him anymore.”

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While the Woodcocks would Facetime with JJ a few more times before he’d go missing and eventually be found dead, the last time the Woodcocks saw him in person was in May 2019 roughly a week before his birthday.

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Check this story for live updates on Vallow Daybell’s trial.

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This story was originally published April 10, 2023, at 9:40 am.