A DNA analyst testified Monday that Lori Vallow Daybell’s hair was recovered from duct tape that was used to wrap J.J. Vallow’s body.
According to East Idaho News, Lori’s hair was located on tape that was used to wrap J.J.’s body in plastic. Keeley Coleman from Bode Technology in Virginia explained that the hair was tested against Lori, Tylee Ryan, her daughter, and Lori’s friend Melanie Gibb.
“It had been indicated that the hair had been found on duct tape that was in the presence of decomposition fluids,” she stated.
Coleman also said the chance of randomly selecting a person whose DNA matched the partial DNA sample from the hair is one in 71 billion, meaning the hair unequivocally belonged to Lori.
J.J. and Tylee Ryan were missing for nine months before their remains were found on Chad Daybell’s property in June 2020. Chad is Lori’s fifth husband who is also charged with killing her two children.
J.J.’s body was reportedly found in a plastic bag that was wrapped in plastic. His face, arms, wrists, and feet were wrapped with duct tape. Tylee’s burned remains were on the property, though her entire body was not intact.
Prior testimony revealed that J.J. was suffocated with a plastic bag and duct tape. Due to the condition of Tylee’s remains, her cause of death was undetermined.
Chad and Lori are also charged with killing Tammy Daybell, who is Chad’s deceased wife who was also killed in Idaho in October 2019. Chad and Lori got married following Tylee and J.J.’s disappearances in September 2019.
Lori is currently standing trial in Idaho for the three murders. Chad will be tried at a later date.
Lori has said she was with Melanie Gibb, David Warwick, or her husband when her son and daughter died in her brother’s apartment in Rexburg, Idaho. She allegedly said she was at her residence, also in Rexburg. She claimed she was in Hawaii when Tammy Daybell was killed at her husband’s home in Salem, Idaho. She stated she was with two other people at the time.
The defendant — who is believed to have been involved in a so-called doomsday cult — allegedly told a friend that her children had become zombies and the only way to exorcise their bodies of evil spirits was to kill them.
In Arizona, Lori is charged in connection with the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Her brother, Alex Cox, fatally shot Charles in July 2019, months before Tammy’s death and J.J. and Tylee’s disappearances. Cox died, reportedly of natural causes, in December 2019.
Lori, who is not facing the death penalty, underwent psychiatric treatment twice before she was deemed fit to stand trial in Idaho. Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom per a court order.
The trial continues.
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[Featured image: J.J. Vallow/Facebook]
