Siblings testify they knew Lori Daybell was involved with her husband’s death

PHOENIX — Charles Vallow’s younger sister said she was at a nail salon with her granddaughter when she got the call from her brother’s youngest son, telling her Vallow was dead.

Related: Jury selection begins Monday in Lori Vallow Daybell’s Arizona conspiracy trial

Kay Woodcock told a Phoenix courtroom Thursday that in that July 12, 2019, phone call, her nephew told her that he had learned of his father’s death from his stepmother, Lori Vallow Daybell, through a text message — and that Daybell wasn’t answering her phone.

“Something’s wrong with that, that can’t be true,” Woodcock remembers thinking.

Woodcock said her husband searched Vallow’s name online and found out he had been killed by Alex Cox, his wife’s brother.

“It was horrible. I had to call my siblings and let them know,” she said through tears, “and everybody was freaked out. I didn’t know what to do.”

Woodcock testified during the trial for Daybell, who is accused of conspiring to murder Vallow. Woodcock said she called and texted Daybell, and eventually got a response: Daybell said she was busy.

“She was too busy to even call his family to say that he was dead by her brother killing him,” Woodcock said.

Woodcock traveled to Arizona the next day, mostly to check on her biological grandson Joshua “JJ” Vallow, who had been adopted by her brother and Daybell about five years earlier.

“I didn’t know what he had seen, I didn’t know what he knew. I knew he would be — I knew it wasn’t good,” she said.

Woodcock said she never did see JJ after his father’s death. She said although she was trying to be nice to Daybell, she did not speak with her much because she “knew she (Daybell) had something to do with his murder” and said she couldn’t easily hide that.

She did talk with Daybell about JJ traveling to her in Louisiana to go to Vallow’s memorial service, but after Daybell learned her late husband had changed the beneficiary of his life insurance plan to Woodcock, that conversation ended. Woodcock said she received a text from Daybell about the beneficiary change, in which Daybell asked if that was why she wanted custody of JJ.

“It made no sense. I want JJ, period. That was a dumb statement by her,” Woodcock testified.

When asked by Daybell, who is representing herself, if she knew what was happening on July 11, 2019, the morning Charles Vallow died, Woodcock responded, “No, I didn’t, because you didn’t tell me.”

Daybell then asked Woodcock if she had seen, heard or witnessed her conspiring with her brother, Cox, to kill her husband. “No, but I saw a ton of evidence,” Woodcock responded.

Woodcock said Vallow “was absolutely concerned for his safety.” She said when Daybell left earlier in 2019, and Vallow did not know where she was for 58 days, Woodcock came to help with JJ because Vallow was “a mess” and “a broken-hearted man.” She said he didn’t want to take JJ away from his wife, but it seemed like Daybell didn’t want to care for JJ.

A few months after Vallow’s death, JJ and his sister, Tylee Ryan, were killed. Their bodies were found buried in the backyard of an Idaho property owned by Daybell’s new husband, Chad Daybell.

Lori Daybell was found guilty in a 2023 trial in Idaho of murdering her children and conspiring to murder Chad Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell. Lori Daybell is already serving five sentences of life in prison without parole. Chad Daybell was also found guilty of murder in the deaths of the children and his previous wife and was sentenced to the death penalty.

 

No doubt

 

Lori Daybell’s surviving brother, Adam Cox, said when he found out Charles Vallow was killed there was no doubt in his mind that she and their brother, Alex Cox, had killed him.

Adam Cox testified on Thursday that questioning his sister’s religious beliefs, and later sharing his belief that she was involved in Vallow’s death, led him to be separated from her and other family members.

“Lori told me that she was in the process of being translating from a mortal human being to an immortal human being, a celestial state,” he said.

Adam Cox said initially, he just listened to Daybell’s strange beliefs, but when she asked him if he thought she was crazy, he told her, “I don’t know if you’re crazy, but what you’re telling me is not true. It’s not real.”

He said his sister stopped talking to him after that.

Adam Cox said he spoke with Vallow about their shared belief that Lori Daybell was having an affair with Chad Daybell. Vallow wanted to take his wife’s temple recommend away, Adam Cox said, because she was going to the temple about five times a week, an abnormal amount, and it seemed like stopping that could help her “come back to normal.”

Vallow purchased a plane ticket for Adam Cox to come to Arizona on July 10, 2019 — the day before Vallow was killed — so they could do some sort of intervention, he said. He added that Vallow told him he still loved his wife and wanted to help her, referring to their text conversation that was shown in court.

“It seemed like Charles was just, just desperate and … he wanted to do anything he could to, just this last-ditch effort to try to shake Lori loose of whatever she was under, some spell,” Adam Cox said.

Adam Cox said he spoke with his brother, Alex Cox, about staying with him on July 9, 2019. But when he arrived in Arizona the next day, he said his brother essentially ghosted him, so he stayed with his parents instead.

On the morning of July 11, 2019, Adam Cox said he heard from Vallow that Alex Cox was at Lori Daybell’s house, and he knew something was off. He said he texted Vallow saying “they’re planning something,” and the response was “absolutely.”

The final message Adam Cox sent to Vallow was at 7:49 a.m., saying he was going to put pressure on Alex Cox. He said didn’t learn about his brother-in-law’s death until a friend searched his name online two days later.

Adam Cox said knowing Alex Cox had killed Vallow made him think his world was coming apart. He said he stood up for Vallow, despite that causing damage to his relationships with other members of his family.

Lori Daybell questioned her brother about when they last had a conversation, and he estimated it was at a family gathering in 2019.

“Mr. Cox did you see or hear or personally witness me conspire with my brother Alex Cox to murder my husband Charles Vallow,” she asked, echoing a question she has asked multiple witnesses.

His response was no — but he said he believed that she had.

“Lori had told people that Charles was no longer living, that some guy named Ned was inside of his body, that there’s a zombie living inside of him. And Alex didn’t respond to any of my text messages when I was supposed to be with him, and he was at that house that morning. Lori talking crazy about how she’s a translated being — all these things all added up into that moment and that morning,” Adam Cox testified.

 

Other witnesses

 

Sarena Sharpe, a woman who said she met Lori Daybell through a mutual friend while attending a religious preparedness conference, also took the stand on Thursday. She talked about religious beliefs Daybell shared that she said were “shocking” — specifically, that Daybell said she did not believe they needed to repent.

She also said during a girls’ weekend she attended, there was a prayer referred to as a “casting” directed at Daybell’s husband, Vallow, who Sharpe said Daybell talked about being possessed by an evil spirit named Ned.

After she began questioning Daybell about these beliefs, Sharpe said Daybell started pulling away or cutting off contact with her. Still, they saw each other two more times after Sharpe moved to Arizona — at a girl’s lunch and at Daybell’s home when she went to express condolences for her husband’s death. There, she said Daybell was “stoic” and she did not see signs of mourning.

Marrisa Francisco, a forensic scientist with the Chandler Police Department, testified that she analyzed two fingerprints found on the baseball bat at the scene of Vallow’s death — a bat Daybell and Alex Cox claimed Vallow was using against them and was the reason Cox shot him in self-defense. She said she was not able to identify whose prints they were, according to reporting from Nate Eaton with EastIdahoNews.com, who was in the courtroom.

Eaton reported that Colby Ryan, Lori Daybell’s only living child, hugged Woodcock when she returned to her seat at the end of Thursday’s trial.

The trial will not be held on Friday, but the jury will return to hear more evidence beginning Monday.