‘Angels are angry’: FBI agent describes ‘manipulating’ texts between Lori and Chad Daybell
Apr 22, 2024, 8:00 PM | Updated: Apr 23, 2024, 2:10 pm
FBI agent Douglas Hart, right, testifies Monday about texts between Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell, showing how he said they manipulated each other. (Judge Steven W. Boyce via YouTube)
(Judge Steven W. Boyce via YouTube)
BOISE — Jurors in the Chad Daybell murder trial heard testimony Monday from some key people in Lori Vallow Daybell’s life, and from an FBI agent who described “manipulative” texts between the couple.
Colby Ryan, Lori Daybell’s oldest child, took deep breaths and some time from the witness stand before identifying photos of his sister, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and his adopted brother, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow.
He spoke about the last time he saw his siblings when they visited him outside his work at Planet Fitness in Arizona before they moved up to Idaho. But he said he did not know where they were going or why.
“My mom was very vague and said that they were leaving. … Tylee was crying and didn’t say anything really,” Ryan said.
He spoke with Tylee on a FaceTime call after that, and heard her voice in the background of another call with his mother. But after that, he said their conversations were not normal, and her texts did not match texts she had previously sent to him.
“It just felt off when I was receiving those texts,” he testified. “I thought maybe she was upset with me.”
He confronted his mom on a phone call after police showed up at his door in November 2019 asking if he knew where his siblings were. He said his mom just said, “I’ll take care of it.”
Ryan said the only other contact he had before his mother was arrested was an email where she told him not to worry, and that Jesus was on her side.
