Idaho defendant Lori Daybell, 46 — f/k/a Lori Vallow — is going straight to trial. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing in a conspiracy case which was scheduled to take place on Monday and Tuesday of next week in Fremont County.
The decision is not a huge surprise, nor is it legally rare. Chad Daybell, Lori’s 51-year-old co-defendant and husband, had his preliminary hearing this week. The judge ruled he would stand trial for two counts alleging the destruction, alteration, or concealment of evidence and two counts of conspiracy. An arraignment in that case is set for August 21.
Lori Daybell decided to simply forego a similar hearing and to face trial on her own two counts of conspiracy on charges that she and her husband allegedly hid the deaths of her children Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, who were 7 and 16 when they disappeared in September 2019. In Madison County, Lori Daybell faces related misdemeanor charges for allegedly snubbing a court order to turn over the kids and for getting friend Melanie Gibb to lie about JJ’s whereabouts.
#LoriVallowDaybell – It makes sense for her to waive her preliminary hearing. Likely it would be: same facts, for the most part, same witnesses, same result as Chad’s. No need to go through the hearing. @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/mXEM5Y4TYF
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) August 6, 2020
Investigators said they found the children’s bodies on Chad Daybell’s property in June. Tylee was last seen on a September 8 family trip to Yellowstone National Park, which included her mother and her maternal uncle Alex Cox, police said. Her brother JJ went missing from Idaho days later. A police affidavit obtained by Law&Crime showed that he was last seen by the couple’s friends on Sept. 22 at Lori Daybell’s home.
#ChadDaybell – David Warwick testifies he went with Melanie Gibb to Lori’s home in Rexburg in Sept 2019 to attend a conference. pic.twitter.com/t4bRm0x3PX
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) August 4, 2020
#ChadDaybell – Monday morning, Sept 23, 2019 Warwick didn’t see JJ. He asked where he was. Lori told him “he was being a zombie” , climbing on cabinets, knocking a picture of Christ over. She said JJ was out of control & she had Alex come and get him. pic.twitter.com/sXPiyTVcAM
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) August 4, 2020
By the time JJ’s biological grandparents called in a welfare check in November, Chad Daybell’s previous wife Tammy Daybell had died, and Chad married new wife (and current co-defendant) Lori Vallow.
Nope! https://t.co/VomGqgoEVk
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) August 4, 2020
Lori Daybell’s previous husband Charles Vallow, JJ’s adoptive dad, was shot and killed by Cox in July. Cox claimed the shooting was self defense. Charles Vallow told police months before that his wife Lori had threatened his life.
Now police say that Cox was a co-conspirator with the couple in concealing the children’s deaths. But he won’t face charges. He died in December of what a medical examiner determined to be a bloodclot.
Text from #ChadDaybell to Tammy Daybell on Sept 9, 2020, the date authorities believe #TyleeRyan was burned/dismembered/buried: pic.twitter.com/Q3KRMcApRa
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) August 4, 2020
[Mugshot via Madison County Sheriff’s Office]
