Over the last three weeks, Idaho jurors have heard hours upon hours of testimony about how Lori Vallow allegedly took part in the murder of two of her children, whose bodies were found buried in her husband’s backyard.
This week, prosecutors finally shifted the spotlight to the third victim in the grisly saga: Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy, who was asphyxiated at home in 2019.
“We have been waiting and grieving for a long time,” her niece, Brooke Unti, told The Daily Beast this week. “We have been waiting for this moment for closure to come. Right now, [following the trial] feels like a reopened wound.”
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“I don’t think anyone can imagine,” she added. “It’s so uniquely painful.”
Tammy—a school librarian and mother of five who would have turned 53 on Thursday—is one of three people Vallow and Daybell allegedly conspired to kill in 2019 before they fled to Hawaii to get married.
The pair, fueled by their extreme religious beliefs, are accused of murdering 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan in September 2019. A month later, Tammy died after allegedly being restrained for hours in what prosecutors say was a scheme to land an insurance and Social Security payout.
“It’s so hard to watch and listen to the trial,” said Unti, who started a foundation on behalf of her paternal aunt. “But I think Tammy deserves to be seen. It’s her time.”
Tammy was pronounced dead of natural causes on Oct. 19, 2019, after her family found her “stiff” in bed, prosecutors say. Utah’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Erik Christensen, testified on Monday that her body was exhumed months later after Vallow and Daybell came under suspicion in the disappearance of the children, and he determined that Tammy was a homicide victim.
Several friends, family, and coworkers have walked jurors through Tammy’s final few months, testifying that she was a happy and active mother of five children. They also described Tammy’s nearly 30-year marriage to Daybell, a former gravedigger turned author of doomsday novels for a Mormon audience.
“Chad was reserved,” Unti said. “I was personally never his favorite person because I chose to leave the church. But Tammy never treated me differently. She had love in her heart.”
Unti admitted she could never have imagined that her quiet uncle was capable of the string of crimes he allegedly committed after meeting Vallow at a Utah religious conference in 2018.
Witnesses testified that after that meeting, Vallow and Daybell immediately began an affair, telling at least one friend that they had been married in five different past lives. The affair was discovered by Vallow’s late husband, Charles, who emailed Tammy the news.
An expert last week revealed that Tammy deleted Charles Vallow’s email and blocked his account. (Charles Vallow died in July 2019 after he was fatally shot by Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, who died of a blood clot in December 2019. Vallow faces separate charges in Arizona for allegedly conspiring to murder Charles.)
Tammy’s sister, Samantha Gwilliam, took the stand last week to describe Chad Daybell’s “weird” behavior and noted that Tammy seemed “very awkward” in the summer of 2019.
“Something seemed off, they were very awkward at our house and Chad wouldn't converse with my husband like they normally did,” Gwilliam testified. “It seemed really strange and we didn't know what was going on.”
Gwilliam then described Tammy’s last two weeks, which included a 911 call after someone shot her with a paintball gun. The night her aunt died, Unti said, she decided to reach out to Tammy on Facebook because she “had not spoken to her in a while.”
“I posted a gif of a cute duck on her [Facebook] wall just to be silly,” Unti said with a laugh. “She liked it. That’s the last communication I had with her.”
Jurors also heard testimony from law enforcement and experts about Tammy’s death.
Fremont County Advanced EMT Cammy Willmore testified that when officers arrived after a frantic phone call from Tammy’s son about her being “stiff,” Chad Daybell was adamant his family did not want an autopsy. Officers compiled, despite concerns about foam coming out of Tammy’s mouth. Christensen, the medical examiner, testified that bruises found on Tamy’s arms and chest after she was exhumed were consistent with being restrained for hours around the time of death.
While Vallow’s case has been painful for Tammy’s family, Unti believes it will be worse when Daybell faces trial.
“Not only are we grieving her, but we are also experiencing the loss of what we thought we knew about certain people,” she said.
Daybell’s case was severed from Vallow, a move Unti said is just “drawing” out the pain. Still, she remains confident that justice will prevail.
“I have no doubt that the court system will do what it needs to do.”
Chad Daybell in a mugshot.
Madison County SheriffIn the meantime, Unti said, the family is focusing on her “very giving, loving” aunt. After Tammy’s death, Unti said, she and other family members launched the Tammy Doubles Daybell Foundation, which supports literacy programs in Utah and Idaho. In honor of Tammy’s birthday—she used to love telling people “May the 4th be with you”—the foundation is hosting a “micro-donation” fundraiser aimed to help as many people and schools as possible.
“She was introverted and soft and hilariously funny and sweet and smart,” Unti said. “She deserves to be seen and heard and remembered for who she was. She was literally the best.”
