Mega Edition: Chad Daybell Trial (Part 24) (10/24/26)

Day 24 of Chad Daybell’s trial focused heavily on the prosecution’s effort to tie Chad, Lori Vallow and Alex Cox together through phone records, text messages and their behavior surrounding the deaths. FBI investigator Ricky Wright finished his testimony about Alex’s cellphone movements, including his roughly two-and-a-half-hour stay at Chad’s property on September 9, 2019, when prosecutors believe Tylee Ryan was buried there. Rexburg Detective Ray Hermosillo then presented a June 8, 2020 jail call between Chad and Lori, recorded less than twelve hours before investigators searched Chad’s property and discovered the children’s remains. During the call, Chad and Lori spoke cryptically about a “project,” “blueprints” and whether everything would ultimately work out, while Chad claimed he had communicated with “Ray,” the name Alex Cox sometimes used, even though Alex had been dead for nearly six months. Lori repeatedly pressed Chad for reassurance that their “project” would be completed successfully, while Chad insisted the plan would work out. Prosecutors portrayed the conversation as particularly significant because of its timing and because Chad had long claimed he could communicate with people beyond the grave. The defense countered that the conversation could have referred to Chad and Lori’s religious plans and preparations for the Second Coming rather than the murders.

Idaho Attorney General investigator Nicholas Edwards then walked jurors through an extensive timeline of Chad and Lori’s relationship and the events surrounding Tammy Daybell’s death. Jurors saw messages in which Chad described feeling trapped with Tammy and predicted that “permanent freedom” was coming, later told Lori he was “trying to hasten her departure,” and participated in conversations portraying Tammy as having been replaced by a demonic entity named Viola. Edwards also detailed the October 9, 2019 incident when Tammy reported that a masked man pointed what she initially described as a rifle at her, while records showed extensive communication involving Chad and Alex that day and later internet searches from Alex’s device involving rifles, suppressors and the thickness of vehicle doors. Prosecutors also emphasized that Alex’s phone was near the Salem church, roughly 2.6 miles from the Daybell residence, late on October 18—the night before Tammy died—before going silent for more than an hour. The morning after Tammy’s death, Chad was already exchanging romantic messages with Lori, discussing her return to Idaho, their future together and financial matters, while he ultimately collected payouts from Tammy’s life-insurance policies. John Prior attacked Edwards’ timeline as selective, pointed to gaps in Alex’s cellphone data and stressed that none of the messages explicitly contained an agreement to murder Tammy, JJ or Tylee. By the end of Day 24, however, prosecutors had assembled their evidence into a chronological narrative arguing that Chad was not simply connected to Lori and Alex but occupied the central position linking Tammy’s death, the children’s deaths and the communications surrounding all three.



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bobbycapucci@protonmail.com