Daybell’s defense attorney, John Prior, contends there simply isn’t enough evidence to conclusively tie Daybell to the deaths, or even to prove that his late wife, Tammy Daybell, was killed instead of dying from natural causes. Several witnesses, including Chad and Tammy Daybell’s adult children, testified for the defense.

Daybell is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit murder and grand theft in connection with the deaths of Tammy Daybell, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan.

Last year, the children’s mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, received a life sentence without parole for the killings.

Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell married just two weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death in October 2019, raising suspicion among local law enforcement officials. Tammy Daybell’s body was later exhumed, and officials say an autopsy showed she died of asphyxiation. Chad Daybell had told officials that Tammy Daybell had been sick, and that she died in her sleep.

Witnesses for both sides seem to agree on a few things, however: Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell were having an affair that began well before Tammy Daybell died, and the two young children were missing for months before their remains were found buried in Chad Daybell’s backyard.

The case began in the fall of 2019, when Lori Vallow Daybell’s then-estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot to death at his home in a Phoenix, Arizona suburb. Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox committed the shooting, but told police it was in self-defense. Cox was never charged.

Lori Vallow Daybell, her kids JJ and Tylee, and her brother Cox all moved to eastern Idaho, settling in a town not far from the rural area where Chad Daybell lived. Just a few months later, extended family reported the two children missing and law enforcement officials launched a search that spanned several states.

The children’s remains were found nearly a year later buried on Chad Daybell’s property. Investigators later determined both children died in September 2019. Prosecutors say Cox conspired with Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell in all three deaths, but Cox died of natural causes during the investigation and was never charged.

During the trial, prosecutors presented testimony from Lori Vallow Daybell’s niece, who said the couple believed that people could be possessed by evil spirits, rendering the person a “zombie.” They said that zombies would eventually be overcome by the dark spirit and die, Melani Pawlowski told jurors. Her testimony echoed that given last year by another friend of the couple, Melanie Gibb. Gibb testified during Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial that she heard Vallow Daybell call the two kids “zombies” before they vanished.

Jurors heard grim testimony from law enforcement officers who described finding the children’s bodies in Daybell’s yard. They were also presented with dozens of cellphone records and messages between Daybell and Vallow Daybell, including some that showed she called him the day Charles Vallow died. Daybell allegedly told Vallow Daybell in one message that JJ was “barely attached to his body” and that there “is a plan being orchestrated for the children.”

Defense witnesses included Dr. Kathy Raven, a forensic pathologist who reviewed reports from Tammy Daybell’s autopsy and said she believed the cause of death should have been classified as “undetermined.”

Chad Daybell’s son, Garth Daybell, testified that his mother had been fatigued and sickly before she died. He told jurors he was home the night his mother died and that he heard no disturbances from his bedroom next to his parents’ room. He said he later felt like police officers and prosecutors were trying to pressure him to change his story, even threatening him with perjury charges at one point.

(Idaho Capital Sun) — On May 21, Idahoans cast their ballots in one of the state’s most expensive primary elections. 

According to campaign finance records as of May 21, Idaho legislative candidates raised more than $4.6 million to their campaigns, including individual reports of donations that exceed $1,000. 

That is almost a million dollars more than what candidates had raised three weeks ago. 

With all the money involved in Idaho politics, here is a breakdown of the top 10 candidates who ran for Idaho House of Representatives and Idaho Senate who raised the most money during the primary election:

These PACS were the major players in Idaho’s primary election

In addition to the surge in campaign funds Idaho’s legislative candidates received, political action committees operating in Idaho, or PACS, spent nearly $3.5 million ahead of the primary election. 

But two political action committees in particular stand out for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to campaign in favor of certain Republican candidates. 

First, the Citizens Alliance of Idaho, a group based in North Idaho – spent nearly $400,000 campaigning in favor and against legislative candidates. 

Below is a list of candidates the PAC spent money on to campaign in favor of and against: 

Supported: Julianne Young, Glenneda Zuiderveld, Scott Herndon, Bryan Smith, Jacyn Gallagher, Brian Lenney, Cornel Rasor, Tammy Nichols, Chris Trakel, Lucas Cayler, Jarome Bell, Josh Keyser, Brenda Bourn, Tina Lambert, Clint Hostetler, Joshua Kohl, David Leavitt, Lyle Johnstone, Kally Schiffler, Kirk Jackson, James Lamborn, Karey Hanks, Kelly Golden, Brett Skidmore, Douglas Toomer, Elaine Price, Kyle Harris, Larry Dunn, Christy Zito, Rob Beiswenger, Faye Thompson, Brandon Shippy

Out of those the PAC supported, Young, Herndon, Smith, Gallagher, Trakel, Bell, Bourn, Lambert,  Johnstone, Schiffler, Jackson, Lamborn, Hanks, Golden, Skidmore, Toomer, and Dunn lost their races.

Opposed: Mark Sauter, Lori McCann, Kenny Wroten, Julie Yamamoto

Out of those the PAC opposed, Wroten and Yamamoto lost their races.

According to its website, the Citizens Alliance of Idaho prioritizes the right to self defense, medical freedom and privacy, election integrity and education freedom. 

Campaign finance records show the Idaho PAC received money from two entities: Citizens Alliance Political Action Committee Inc., a federal PAC registered with the Federal Election Commission; and Doyle Beck, an Idaho Falls resident who serves as a legislative district chair for the Bonneville County Republican Party and sits on the board of directors for the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a far-right lobbying organization. 

Beck donated $10,000 to the Idaho committee while the federal PAC donated $390,000 it. 

No other donors to the Citizens Alliance of Idaho, besides Beck, came from Idaho. Records on the Federal Election Commission website show the remaining 25 donors of the federal version of the PAC came from Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Maine and California — giving amounts ranging from $500 to $100,000.

RELATED | ‘What’s in it for them?’ This outside lobbying group is top spender in Idaho GOP primary

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The second PAC that stands out is the Idaho Federation for Children, which spent $303,000 of its funds on printing materials and media advertising to campaign in favor and against the following candidates: 

Supported: Julie VanOrden, Wendy Horman, Chuck Winder, David Cannon
Opposed: Kenny Wroten, Melissa Durant, Richard Cheatum

VanOrden, Horman, Cannon and Cheatum won their races in the primary election, while Winder, Wroten and Durant lost their races. All of these candidates are incumbents. 

According to the political committee’s website, its main issue revolves around school choice, or using public funds to subsidize private school tuition. 

Despite its name, campaign finance records on the Idaho Secretary of State’s website show none of the committee’s money came from Idaho. 

All $400,000 of the contributions the Idaho PAC received ahead of the primary came from the American Federation for Children’s Victory Fund, a Dallas-based national super PAC dedicated to spending money to support lawmakers in favor of using taxpayer dollars to support private education and to oppose those who don’t. 

That amount is double what the federal PAC gave to the Idaho Federation for Children during the 2022 primary, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. 

According to campaign finance records on the Federal Election Commission website, some of the American Federation for Children’s Victory Fund’s top donors include Jeff Yass, a billionaire TikTok investor and the richest person in Pennsylvania; and former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

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