IDAHO, USA — After 30 days of testimony over the course of two months, attorneys are giving closing arguments in Chad Daybell's triple murder trial.
The court started Wednesday morning in Idaho with jury instructions from the judge.
Daybell is accused of killing his wife Lori Vallow's two children, Tylee and JJ, who used to live in Arizona. He's also accused of killing his first wife, Tammy Daybell.
After instructions from the judge, prosecutor Lindsey Blake started closing arguments for the state's prosecution team. She laid out the state's case and all their evidence for nearly two hours.
Blake told the jury that Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow were having an affair and plotted to get rid of people who were obstacles in their path of being together. They also presented evidence showing Daybell's and Vallow's dark doomsday religious beliefs were at the center of the case. Prosecutors allege that Daybell and Vallow believed certain people, including their spouses and Vallow's children, were "dark" or "zombies" that had to die.
In July 2019, Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed her husband Charles Vallow at their home in Arizona. After his death, she moved to Idaho with her children, Tylee and JJ, to be with Chad Daybell.
In October 2019, Tammy Daybell died in the Daybell family home. Testimony showed Tammy Daybell's death was originally listed as natural but later ruled a homicide after her body was exhumed and an autopsy was performed. A few weeks later, Chad Daybell married Lori Vallow in Hawaii.
Around this time, JJ Vallow's relatives contacted authorities in Arizona to help find JJ. They discovered that both Tylee and JJ hadn't been seen since September 2019 in Idaho. Their bodies were found buried in Chad Daybell's backyard in June 2020.
Lori Vallow was convicted in this case last year and sentenced to three life sentences in Idaho. She's currently in jail in Maricopa County facing additional conspiracy to commit murder charges.
Alex Cox, Lori's brother, is listed as a co-conspirator in the case. He can't be charged because he died at his home in Arizona in December 2019. The medical examiner ruled his cause of death to be natural, although his death was under investigation by local authorities for several months.
Daybell's attorney, John Prior, gave his closing arguments Wednesday afternoon. He talked about Chad Daybell being entitled to his own religious beliefs and said that just because there was an affair, doesn't mean Chad Daybell killed anybody.
Prior continued casting doubt on the state’s case by blaming Lori Vallow and her brother Alex Cox for the crimes, calling Chad Daybell Lori Vallow's next victim.
The case went to the jury for deliberations Wednesday afternoon. Court staff said the jurors went home for the night and will continue deliberating Thursday morning.
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