Chad Daybell is ‘morally bankrupt & his ego won’t die,’ victim’s aunt says but she doesn’t want death penalty for him

AS the fate of self-ordained Mormon prophet Chad Daybell hangs in the balance, a relative of one of his alleged victims says she is certain he will be found guilty of murder – but she isn’t seeking blood atonement.

Chad Daybell is currently on trial for the murders of his late wife Tammy Daybell, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan – the young children of his second wife Lori Vallow – who were all believed to have been killed in 2019.

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Vallow was tried separately for the murders last year and convicted of all counts. She was sentenced to life behind bars without the possibility of parole.

During the so-called cult mom’s trial, a jury heard how Vallow, Daybell, and Vallow’s late brother, Alex Cox, all allegedly conspired to kill Tammy and the two children, fuelled in part by their bizarre religious beliefs and lust for “money, sex, and power.”

The prosecution renewed the claims during the opening statements of Daybell’s trial last week, accusing him and Vallow of crafting an alternate reality with misinterpreted scripture and delusions of an impending apocalypse to justify murder.

Daybell, meanwhile, continues to protest his innocence.

His attorney, John Prior, claimed there’s no evidence to suggest Tammy Daybell was murdered or that Chad played any role in the deaths of Tylee and JJ, who were found buried in shallow graves on his property in June 2020.

Prior argued that Daybell was an ordinary man leading an unremarkable existence until the “obsessive” Lori Vallow manipulated him into having an affair.

Prosecutors say they will pursue the death penalty against Daybell if he’s convicted.

However, JJ Vallow’s aunt, Kresha Easton, told The U.S. Sun that while she believes Daybell being found guilty is almost a foregone conclusion, she isn’t out for blood.

“I don’t want to play God, unlike Chad and Lori,” said Kresha.

“I don’t want to tell anybody whether they deserve to live or die. I definitely don’t desire that position, and I’d hate to have to be able to call those kinds of shots. 

“It’s out of my hands, but I’ve always felt that being forced to be in a cell – in the general population, not in isolation – and having to live the rest of your life watching over your shoulder because you don’t know what might be coming for you, is its own kind of hell.

“And I hope like hell he has to sleep with one eye open for the rest of his life.”

Kresha continued, “With that being said, I hope it’s not the death penalty. I hope it’s living and never being able to be free in the world again, that would be beautiful.

“We’re not monsters like him and his co-conspirators.

“We don’t seek blood.”

JUDGMENT DAY

Daybell’s trial continued on Monday with the jury being played recordings of phone calls between Daybell and Vallow while behind bars.

One such call included Daybell instructing Vallow to “pray” while investigators searched his home in Rexburg, Idaho, looking for traces of JJ and Tylee, who by that time hadn’t been seen for months.

The jury was also shown police footage of Daybell being taken into custody after the children’s bodies were found.

Kresha was in court throughout most of Lori’s trial but is watching Chad’s remotely via the court’s video livestream.

She said she is “disgusted” each time she catches a glimpse of Daybell in the courtroom but is glad he is finally facing judgment after years of waiting.

Kresha said she is expecting Daybell to throw Vallow under the bus at any given opportunity in the weeks ahead to paint her as the mastermind of their twisted web and himself as an innocent, impressionable bystander.

However, she is confident the jury will eventually find him guilty.

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“I’ve always been confident and I’ve never one time been worried about it […] obviously he is innocent until proven guilty, but I’m confident the jury will do the right thing,” she said.

“It feels like a formality. I’ve seen all the proof that I need to make up my mind.

“And I can’t wait for the moment they read out ‘guilty, guilty, guilty.’

“His ego won’t die and he can’t get over himself […] but I just want to see the fall of Chad Daybell, and I want to see him be seen as small as I see him when I look at him with my eyes. 

“There’s no doubt in my mind he will be found guilty and I look forward to the day reality, accountability, and repercussions all come crashing down on him. 

“This is his judgment day.”

A TANGLED WEB

The Daybell-Vallow saga began in July 2019 when Lori’s fourth husband, Charles Vallow, was shot dead by her brother, Alex Cox.

Cox told police he shot Charles Vallow in self-defense, claiming Charles had attacked him with a baseball bat.

Investigators now believe Charles was murdered by Cox at the direction of Lori, who by this time was already having an affair with Daybell. (Both Vallow and Daybell have been accused of conspiracy in connection with Charles Vallow’s death and will be tried in Arizona at a later date.)

A succession of strange occurrences would unfold in the wake of Charles’ death.

Tylee Ryan, 16, vanished on September 8 after a family trip to Yellowstone National Park with Vallow, Cox, and her younger brother JJ.

JJ, 7, then disappeared two weeks later on September 22.

He was last seen by friends of the family sleeping in the arms of his uncle Alex in Rexburg, Idaho.

When the friends asked to see the boy the next morning, Lori reportedly told them that JJ was “being a zombie” and that Cox had to take him away.

Then, by mid-October, Chad Daybell’s wife of 30 years, Tammy Daybell, was found dead in bed, having appeared to have died suddenly in her sleep.

Vallow and Daybell then discreetly married in Hawaii in early November, but there was no sign of JJ or Tylee at the wedding.

Kresha’s mom, Kay Woodcock, reported JJ missing on November 26, having grown concerned after being unable to contact her grandson for weeks.

A welfare check conducted at Vallow’s home found no sign of her or the children, and investigators soon realized that Tylee was also missing.

As the search to find them continued, investigators grew increasingly suspicious of Tammy’s death and decided to exhume her body that December, ruling she’d likely died from asphyxiation.

Days later, Alex Cox was found dead at his home in Arizona.

His death was deemed to be from natural causes, however, the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.

‘THE REAL ZOMBIES’

Months would pass without answers as to where JJ and Tylee were.

Then, on June 9, 2020, a horrific discovery would be made in the backyard of Daybell’s home in Rexburg, Idaho.

I’m just glad he’s in the hot seat […] I hope he wiggles and hisses – I’ve heard that’s what demons do once you back them into a corner.”

Kresha EastonJJ’s Aunt

JJ’s body was found in a shallow grave wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape.

During Lori’s trial, jurors heard how the 7-year-old – who was autistic – was suffocated to death by a plastic bag taped around his head.

Marks on the boy’s fingers and neck implied that he had attempted to fight back during his last gasps of life, witness experts testified.

Tylee, meanwhile, had been dismembered and burned. Her remains were barely recognizable.

Parts of her remains were packed in a melted green bucket and disbursed at various locations on Daybell’s property. She’s believed to have been dismembered with a pickaxe.

Kresha said hearing the horrific circumstances in which her nephew’s young life was brought to a tragic and abrupt end was soul-shattering for her and her family.

Prosecutors recounted in depth how, as part of their religious beliefs, the pair would rank the spirits and souls of those around them in a sliding scale of light and dark.

Those deemed to be “dark” souls were otherwise referred to by Daybell and Vallow as “zombies” or demons and the only way to vanquish the dark spirits was to destroy the human body, text messages exchanged between the pair show.

While insisting the wounds of losing JJ have never closed, Kresha said she and her family feel more prepared this time around to cope with the emotional tribulations that come with a murder trial.

And, above, all else, she said she wants Daybell to realize one thing: that he and Lori are “the real zombies,” not Tammy, JJ, Tylee, or Charles Vallow.

“The whole zombie thing, they were judging the light/darkness of other people but it was them who were allegedly doing nefarious and egregious crimes, especially against children,” she said.

“With Tammy, she married Chad and committed her life to being his wife, to being a mother to their five children, and to picking up the slack on everything and being the breadwinner. 

“There are stories from Tammy’s friends where I’ve been told, that a few weeks before she was murdered, the soles of her tennis shoes were worn so thin, almost through. 

“She was working her a** off while her husband, who was meant to be this priest, this godly person who’s elevated in their church, is texting Lori calling Tammy a warden and a dark spirit that needs to be vanquished. 

“It’s just pure evil,” continued Kresha. “I’m just glad he’s in the hot seat now.

“I hope it’s really hot; I hope he wiggles and hisses – I’ve heard that’s what demons do once you back them into a corner.”

Chad Daybell is on trial for first-degree murder, insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit murder, and grand theft.

He has pleaded not guilty and faces the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.

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