Chad Daybell’s quest for ‘sex, money and power’ led to 3 murders, prosecutor says in opening statement

Prosecutors said Chad Daybell’s quest for “sex, money and power” led him to kill his first wife and his second wife’s two children during opening statements Wednesday in his triple trial for murder in Idaho.

His capital murder trial comes nearly a year after his second wife, Lori Vallow, was convicted of killing his two youngest children — Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16 — in part of the so-called apocalyptic plot.

Prosecutors say Vallow and Daybell believed the two children were “dark spirits” and “zombies” and murdered them in 2019, about a year after meeting at a religious conference. The children’s remains were found on an Idaho property owned by Daybell in June 2020 after months of searching, police said.

Ryan’s DNA was found on two tools in Daybell’s shed, prosecutor Rob Wood said during his opening statement at Daybell’s trial Wednesday.

Daybell was also charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Tamara Daybell, who died Oct. 19, 2019, of asphyxiation, prosecutors revealed during Vallow’s trial. Seventeen days later, Vallow and Daybell were married in Hawaii, prosecutors said.

During his opening statement Wednesday in a Boise courtroom, Wood described Daybell as a “seemingly ordinary man” who authored books about the apocalypse and possessed a “desire for sex, money and power” – echoing the prosecutor’s statements at the Vallow hearing. trial.

“When he had the chance to fulfill what he saw as his rightful destiny, he made sure that no one, no law would stand in his way,” Wood told jurors. “This desire for sex, money, and power led him to pursue these ambitions, and this pursuit led to the deaths of his wife and Lori’s two children.”

Wood told jurors they could expect to hear during the trial “extended text messages from Daybell to reveal his state of mind and motivations.”

Defense attorney John Prior told jurors during his opening statement Wednesday that Daybell had “no remarkable background” and had been married to his first wife for nearly 30 years and had five children with her before meeting Vallow.

He described Vallow as a “beautiful, vivacious person” who was “very manipulative” and pursued Daybell, her fifth husband.

He told jurors they could expect to hear about Vallow’s tumultuous past relationships and the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who was fatally shot by his brother in 2019 during a confrontation at his home in Arizona. Police were investigating allegations that his brother, Alex Cox, shot his brother-in-law in self-defense when Cox died of natural causes months after the fatal shooting.

Prior told jurors that Cox “would do anything” for his sister.

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“Any time there’s a problem or a threat, you’ll hear testimony that Alex Cox came to the rescue,” Prior said.

Prior told jurors they would hear testimony from a DNA expert who determined that fingerprints found on the plastic JJ was found in belonged to Cox.

Prior also said a medical examiner would testify that there was no way to determine Tamara Daybell’s cause of death. Several of Daybell’s five children also plan to testify about their mother’s health, Prior said.

Jury selection for Daybell’s trial, which began April 1, lasted six days. The trial is expected to last about nine weeks, according to court records.

Daybell, 55, was also charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of his estranged wife and two counts of insurance fraud related to life insurance policies he had on her and which he was the recipient, prosecutors said.

He has pleaded not guilty to his charges. He faces the death penalty if convicted of murder.

His case is being presided over by the same judge from the Vallow trial, Justice Steve Boyce.

Boyce sentenced Vallow to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the jury at her trial found her guilty of all charges. The judge had granted the defense’s motion to dismiss the death penalty in his case before his trial began.

Vallow was also accused of conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. She was indicted on one count of first-degree murder by a Maricopa County grand jury in 2021 in connection with her fatal shooting.

She was also charged with first-degree premeditated murder for allegedly plotting to kill her niece’s ex-husband.

She pleaded not guilty to both charges last year.