An associate of Tammy Daybell’s testified Tuesday that Chad Daybell mentioned marrying Lori Vallow Daybell a week after wife Tammy Daybell’s suspicious death in 2019.
Alice Gilbert, who lived near the Daybells and worked with Tammy at church, said Tammy seemed fine days before her death and did not mention any health issues. Gilbert said that days after Tammy’s death, she visited Emma, the couple’s daughter who said that Chad “didn’t want anything to do with her or her siblings,” according to East Idaho News.
Gilbert and her husband reportedly visited Chad a week after Tammy’s death. Gilbert claimed they asked Chad how he was doing — to which he allegedly responded, “Actually, I’m doing very good.” Chad also mentioned that he planned to marry Lori Vallow Daybell, whose fourth husband, Charles Vallow, died months earlier.
Tammy died in October 2019. Lori and Chad were married in November 2019, days after Lori’s two children disappeared.
Tammy’s initial cause of death was listed as pulmonary edema with the manner being ruled as natural. However, officials now believe she was asphyxiated her death was a homicide.
Lori and Chad are charged with killing Tammy and Lori’s two children, Tylee Ryan, and J.J. Vallow. Lori is currently standing trial and Chad will be tried later.
J.J. and Tylee were missing for nine months before their remains were discovered on Chad’s property in June 2020. 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. Tylee’s cause of death was undetermined due to the condition of her remains.
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 was killed at her husband’s home in Salem, Idaho. She stated she was with two other people at the time.
Lori — 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 Charles’ death. 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.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast. Listen to the latest episode:
[Featured image: Chad and Tammy Daybell/Facebook]
