Light and dark spirits; the end of times | Chad Daybell trial testimony takeaways
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We’ve seen around 60 witnesses take the stand, and we are closing in on the halfway point of this trial. It’s supposed to last eight-ten weeks and week four is now complete.
Daybell could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering his first wife, Tammy Daybell, and the two Arizona kids – JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, who were in the care of his then-girlfriend Lori Vallow. Vallow was found guilty last year and sentenced to life in prison without parole. She is now married to Chad Daybell, her co-defendant.
Some key witnesses testified this week and on day 17, we finally got to see Lori Vallow’s niece, Melani Pawlowski, take the stand.
She made it clear that the alleged teachings of identifying light and dark spirits and the end of the times, came from Chad Daybell. But she also learned things from her aunt Lori. She referred to Vallow and Daybell as mom and dad because, as we know through this trial, the couple believed they were married in past lives, and at one point, had seven kids, including Melani and JJ.
Part of those teachings had to do with casting out dark spirits and if a body became possessed by an extremely dark spirit, the person became a zombie.
“There was some type of darkness that you couldn’t cast out, so the lord, in his due time, would have to take it and that person would pass away because the darkness was too much or something like that,” said Melani.
But it’s what we heard on recordings taken by Melani’s husband, Ian Pawlowski, that stood out. He worked with police in December 2019 for a short time, wearing a wire. This recording takes place when law enforcement becomes suspicious of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell after a welfare check for JJ. At this point in time, it’s believed that the couple is newly married and in Hawaii.
Remember, Chad’s sister-in-law, Heather Daybell, testified, and she was very concerned years ago about visions Chad claimed to have. She said he talked about earthquakes coming to Utah and other catastrophic events. This led to the Daybells moving to Rexburg, Idaho, and now you hear in that call that he sees chaos in Rexburg after police are investigating them.
There were a handful of people following him, most of them in Arizona, specifically Zulema Pastenes, who testified on day 18, saying Chad told her she could control the weather.
On day 19, the jury got to hear about the autopsies done by Dr. Garth Warren, a forensic pathologist for the Ada County Coroner’s office. Disclaimer: This is hard to hear due to graphic details. JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan were both found buried in Daybell’s backyard in June 2020. But the conditions of their remains were different.
Also on day 19, a Chandler police detective testified about Lori Vallow and the fatal shooting of her former husband, Charles Vallow. We rewind to July 11, 2019, when Charles and Lori’s brother Alex Cox allegedly got into a fight and Charles hit him in the head with a baseball bat. It led to Alex shooting Charles in Lori’s rental home, but it took 45 minutes or so for Alex Cox to call 911.
Charles was going to pick up JJ for school. Instead, Lori left the scene in his car with both of her kids, JJ and Tylee. She didn’t call 911 or do anything, for that matter.
Listen to this testimony about her locations and how police became suspicious about her story. And Lori also took Charles’ phone, and had to give it back to Chandler PD for the investigation later that day.
On day 20 – back to some more graphic evidence, but keyword DNA. Forensic scientists took the stand to talk about JJ and Tylee. One of them tested 18 tools for blood or DNA. Remember, these tools sat on the Daybell property from the time of the murders of JJ and Tylee in September 2019 until they were recovered in June 2020, and processed a month later.
Katherine Dace with Idaho State Police homed in on a pickaxe that had some material that would end up matching a DNA profile for Tylee Ryan.
Content retrieved from: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/light-and-dark-spirits-the-end-of-times-chad-daybell-trial-testimony-takeaways.
