The day after Chad Daybell held a rushed 2019 funeral for his wife of nearly 30 years, the Doomsday author introduced his grieving family to his secret paramour, Lori Vallow.
Joseph Murray, who is married to Daybell’s daughter, told Ada County Court jurors on Tuesday that the surprising meeting took place at the family’s Idaho home—the same place where his mother-in-law, Tammy Daybell, was found dead inside her bedroom on Oct. 19, 2019. He added that it was the only time he met Vallow.
The shocking revelation of Daybell’s swift introduction came on the second day of the defense’s case in the 59-year-old former grave digger’s death-penalty trial. Prosecutors allege that Daybell and Vallow were driven by their extreme religious beliefs to murder Tammy—and then Vallow’s two children, 7-year-old J.J. Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, a month later. The children were buried in Daybell’s backyard before the couple fled to Hawaii to start their new life.
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Defense attorneys, however, insist there is no evidence directly tying Daybell to all three murders. Daybell has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including first-degree murder. Vallow is serving life in prison after she was convicted in July on similar charges.
Throughout the trial, Daybell’s family and law enforcement have testified about his concerning behavior after Tammy died—and at the funeral. Fremont County Coroner Brenda Dye told jurors that Daybell said he found his wife “frozen” on the bedroom floor after she had spent the night coughing and vomiting. Dye said that despite her questions about Tammy, she respected Daybell’s wishes not to complete an autopsy, and determined that she died of natural causes.
Heather Daybell previously testified that her brother-in-law pushed for a quick funeral because he didn’t want to “drag this out.”
“His demeanor seemed strange to me,” she added, saying that she believed Daybell was disingenuous at the Utah funeral and even showed up late for the luncheon afterward.
Daybell’s daughter, however, came to her father’s defense on Tuesday and insisted his funeral behavior was “typical for any grieving Latter-day Saint husband.”
“Latter-day Saints believe we will be resurrected and with our families forever,” Emma Murray testified on Tuesday, adding that she saw her father cry at the service. “A funeral isn’t saying goodbye forever—it’s a ‘see you later’. It’s a break.”
Months later, amid a separate investigation into Vallow’s missing children, Tammy’s body was exhumed, and it was determined that she was a homicide victim who had died from asphyxiation.
