Prosecution rests case in Lori Vallow Daybell murder conspiracy trial

PHOENIX — After testimony from the officer assigned to Lori Vallow Daybell's case on Wednesday, prosecutor Treena Kay said she was done presenting witnesses and officially rested her case.

Judge Justin Beresky denied a motion from Daybell alleging that the prosecutor provided no evidence to the jury that there was a conspiracy to commit the murder of her then-husband, Charles Vallow, or that she assisted in a premeditated murder.

Instead, Daybell argued that the evidence "suggested self-defense" from her brother, Alex Cox, who fired the shots that killed Vallow.

Kay responded to the motion, citing evidence that Cox was invited over because Daybell knew there would be an intervention and when Vallow would be there, that Cox brought his handgun, that Daybell took and held onto Vallow's phone and that she had a motive based on money and the desire to have an affair with Chad Daybell.

Daybell, who is representing herself, said she was ready to rest her case as well, but when asked if she was ready to do so officially in front of the jury she asked to do it Monday, when the court scheduled closing arguments in the case. Thursday, it is set to go over jury instructions.

Messages and accounts

Chandler (Arizona) police detective Nathan Duncan testified Wednesday about reviewing Lori Daybell's iCloud records. He said there was a change in interactions between Vallow and Lori Daybell after June 27, 2019, when Vallow found an email sent to Chad Daybell claiming to be him from an account owned by Lori Daybell.

The email invited a "Brother Daybell" to Houston to work on a novel with him, and Vallow confronted his wife, along with Chad Daybell and his wife Tammy Daybell, about the affair over the next few days, Duncan said.

He said the next time Lori Daybell saw her husband after this point was on July 11, 2019, the day he was shot and killed. He confirmed with a detective who testified on Tuesday that there would have been about 45 minutes between when Vallow was shot and when Cox called 911. Before he called 911, Cox called Lori Daybell twice, Duncan said.

After Vallow's death, Duncan said Cox's phone records showed photos of Vallow's phone conversation with Lori Daybell's other brother, Adam Cox, who testified earlier in the trial about coming to Arizona to do an intervention with Vallow of his sister. Vallow planned the intervention and flew Adam Cox in to support him.

Duncan said texts showed that Lori Daybell referred to her husband as Ned, the name of a "dark spirit," and cited texts with Alex Cox referring to him and other people they knew — including Adam Cox and Adam Cox's son, as dark spirits or "z's" which he said, based on other witnesses, was likely referring to zombies. He said Lori Daybell's niece was keeping her updated on where Adam Cox and his son were through text messages.

He also testified about a chat shortly before Vallow's death where Lori Daybell told Alex Cox the "plot thickens," and they would "be like Nephi." Duncan said in his research online and talking to people, the story that always came up related to Nephi in the Book of Mormon is that he was justified in killing Laban. However, he said there were multiple times she texted asking someone to call her, including after that text, and although he could verify calls, there is no record of what was said.

Duncan said after Vallow's death, texts between Lori Daybell and Chad Daybell started to be "open and obvious romantic messages" when they hadn't been before. He said Chad Daybell was saved in her phone as both "Bubby" and "Melanie 2," and he verified messages with both contacts.

He testified to conversations in the coming weeks about Vallow changing the beneficiary on his life insurance and Lori Daybell's mother kicking Adam Cox out after he was defensive of Vallow — in addition to multiple loving texts each day.

The final piece of evidence Duncan testified about was a Hawaii marriage record between Chad and Lori Daybell.

"Four months after Charles Vallow is shot and killed inside of the defendant's home, she has remarried to the man Chad Daybell?" Kay asked, and Duncan confirmed.

Crime scene

Duncan also said he responded to the scene of Vallow's death, noting that he saw Vallow on the ground and blood in the webbing of his left hand, showing he likely touched his hand to a bullet wound. He said the only other blood evidence found at the home was a smear of blood on a faucet.

He said all the evidence was "100%" consistent with Vallow being shot while he was on the floor for at least one of the two shots.

During Daybell's cross examination, she asked Duncan about the various evaluations that were not done, focusing specifically on DNA swabs of the bat that Alex Cox and Daybell claimed Vallow was using against them requiring self-defense. She asked why these were never tested, and Duncan responded that any DNA or fingerprints found would not necessarily be from that incident as everyone involved could have had other contact with the bat.

He said he didn't request other tests on the bullet, floorboard or Vallow's shirt because he "was confident."

"If you take those three points and then match them up, then there's no other explanation other than Charles was laying on the ground at that time (he was shot)," Duncan said.

Daybell also questioned if not making a record of Alex Cox's phone when he was initially arrested was an oversight. Duncan said knowing what he knows now, that would be important for his investigation, but much of the same information could be acquired through the various accounts they received records for.

He said in response to a follow-up question from Kay that they didn't know the timeline presented to them initially was "very wrong," possibly leading to another detective's decision to not search that phone when it was in their possession the first day. He also said the physical scene was inconsistent with the self-defense story they were additionally told by Adam Cox and Daybell.

Case history

Wednesday was the seventh day in the jury trial for Lori Daybell, which was initially scheduled to last until mid-May. Beginning in late May, she faces another trial on allegations that she conspired to murder her niece's husband, Brandon Boudreaux, who was shot at near his home in late 2019 but was not hit.

Alex Cox died in December 2019, and his death was ruled to be from a natural cause. He was never charged in Vallow's death or Boudreaux's shooting — although officers have testified he was the man behind the gun in both instances.

Lori Daybell was convicted in 2023 in Idaho of murdering her two children, 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, along with conspiring to murder them and Chad Daybell's then wife, Tammy Daybell. These three deaths occurred in September and October of 2019, according to testimony at the Idaho trial. She is serving five sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

People around the world learned of the couple while officers were searching for the two children in early 2020 while Chad and Lori Daybell were in Hawaii. Their bodies were later found buried in shallow graves in Chad Daybell's backyard.

Chad Daybell was found guilty in 2024 and was given the death penalty.

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