Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial: Opening Statements | "48 Hours" Podcast | Forensic Files

foreign state of Idaho plaintiff versus Lori Noreen vallo AKA Lori Noreen Depot defendant
[Music] [Applause] welcome to a special episode of 48 hours I'm Jonathan Vigliotti the murder trial
of Idaho mother Lori valadebell is underway She's accused along with her husband Chad dabel of the unthinkable
murdering her two youngest children Joshua JJ valo and Tyler Ryan as well as Chad's late Wife Tammy dabell though
originally scheduled to be tried together the couple had their cases severed and chadstrail will begin at a
later date both have pleaded not guilty recently a judge removed the death penalty from Lori's case and she could
face life in prison if convicted suspicion started swirling around Lori and Chad an author of religious doomsday
novels after her children vanished in the fall of 2019. shortly after her children's disappearances Chad Abel's
Wife Tammy died under mysterious circumstances within weeks of Tammy's death Lori and Chad were married on a
beach in Hawaii in June of 2020 the children's bodies were found buried on Chad dabel's Idaho property
prosecutors say the couple killed all three fueled by their end of times beliefs and to steal Social Security
funds and insurance money the focus of this trial will be the three killings but Lori dabell also faces murder
conspiracy charges in Arizona connected to the 2019 shooting death of her previous Husband by her brother Alex Cox
who died shortly thereafter jury selection began on Monday April 3rd and the opening statements were
presented a week later on Monday April 10th despite massive interest in the trial the judge has barred cameras from
the courtroom we've never done this at 48 hours before but our team is taking the audio from the proceedings and
sharing highlights from those crucial opening arguments in this special episode today I'm joined by 48 Hours
producer Greg Fisher who's been watching all this unfold from inside the courtroom and Greg you and I have been
on this really since day one we produced together three 48 Hours episodes we even
saw the the grave sites where JJ and Tyler were buried so thank you for joining us it's been a long road for you
yeah it has and I was thinking about that Jonathan you and I first worked together early on this story and it must
have been three years ago when we were um chasing uh this story around and you were out with a different producer in
Idaho and we were talking on the phone and uh getting an interview with the sheriff then you and I convinced um
Chad's five children uh to do that exclusive interview with us for 48 hours yeah and I mean we've seen the story arc
too because early on the children were believed to be missing and there was hope that perhaps they would be
recovered found alive of course we were on the story as as a different reality played out you arrived right after jury
selection I'm hoping you could tell us briefly about that process this was such a publicized case as you know and so
many listeners know did that play a role in The Selection process yeah apparently
um both sides uh the prosecution and the defense were very focused on the publicity how much jurors had really
heard um about the case what they'd read what they knew about the case uh there were a
couple of uh funny scenarios where uh people talked about well my wife really follows the case and told me all about
it or I've seen everything about this case and I think uh most often those jurors were dismissed right away but
both sides came to the realization that they really weren't going to find a complete jury of people who had not
heard about this case because it got so much publicity and while there are some people who claim not to really know very
much about it um they settled for jurors who explained that they could keep an open mind
I was going to say this case made such International headlines it's hard to believe anyone would not have at least
heard of this case at some point over the past two plus years briefly do you know the the makeup of the jury pool who
they are yeah so there's uh 10 men and um eight women and the judge barred cameras from the courtroom is this
typical for a case like this you know we often find that you know the judge is the king and his or her courtroom I
think this judge had had a lot of experience with cameras in the courtroom for all the hearings uh leading up to
this trial and so decided uh that that wouldn't be beneficial for the case so uh you know the the judges tend to have
uh that power what was it like for you all these years later to be in the courtroom and to
finally see this case go to trial it was fascinating and um it uh it really didn't uh disappoint
today the opening argument particularly from the prosecution forceful uh brought
things together um not much that we didn't expect you know there's been so much attention so
much time spent parsing uh the details on all of this that it's hard uh for there to be unexpected things but it was
um they delivered in the courtroom today I think let's go ahead and play a clip from Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney
Lindsey Blake money power and sex that's what this case is about the defendant Lori valo dabel
used money power and sex or the promise of those things to get what she wanted what she wanted was money
power and sex it didn't matter what obstacle she had to remove to get what she wanted
it didn't matter if the obstacle was a thing or a person and if it was a person it didn't matter
who wow I mean just a few words to sum up strikingly what is a very complicated case
she went on to explain uh you know make it really simple for the jury that her allegations were that Lori valo
dabel committed these multiple murders for her own Financial benefit and her personal pleasure you know that was her
planting that in their minds so that time and again during the trial uh apparently according to the prosecutor
when you get to why they were dancing around on the beach in Hawaii while the kids were gone you know those kinds of
issues will come back in their in their mind um she painted a really Stark picture of
a heartless killer conspiracy to commit murder one of the charges she faces let me ask you is the prosecution going to
try to prove to the jury that she committed these murders or she played a role she fueled them or inspired them
yeah uh the prosecutor um explained to the jury that Laurie didn't have to actually commit the
murder to be guilty but keep in mind that when we talk about the term conspiracy
it is two or more persons combining or conspiring so essentially a meeting of the minds to
commit some crime and then one of those actors just one has to do an overt act in furtherance of
that conspiracy this is so in a way it makes the prosecution's task moving forward a
little bit easier so to speak we really need to touch on how the prosecution describes Lori's religious beliefs let's
take a listen to this first during this first meeting the defendant and Chad decide that they share purported
religious beliefs and that they share beliefs that the two of them have been here
have been married before in a prior probation you will hear it talked about multi-creations or prior probation or a
prior life but regardless of the term used what they began to tell others is that they
were essentially meant to be together they'd been married in Prior lives prior probations
not only that but they both said that they had been prior figures from or persons from the Bible or other
religious references Greg I guess if you could kind of summarize this um there were two uh interesting themes
one theme that the prosecutor brought up was that Chad and Lori use strange religious beliefs to justify their
actions to commit murder um and we've heard a little bit about this already and they talked about that
Chad and Lori uh created a system to rape people based on their percentage of darkness and pretty soon this Theory
evolved and these teachings evolved and they started to say well if somebody's dark
and evil spirit or an evil entity can come in and they can push the real person out
and take over the body and once those evil spirits took over they would become a zombie and then there would be
justification because you'd have to kill that zombie which was no longer the person and then the second theme that
the prosecutors hit on was that Lori and Chad assigned themselves status um as having this uh religious status
based on previous lives and connections to these different figures and that that then put them as the
prosecutor said it Beyond repentance the defendant and Chad use their self-proclaimed religious beliefs and
teachings to justify their actions to others their actions from an affair to murder this is a heavy opening statement
from the prosecution how does the defense follow that what was the defense's opening statement their
opening statement was much more understated Jim Archibald is Lori's defense attorney and he explained he's
very experienced attorney he's had private cases and um has worked as a public defender as well and that he's
done 27 murder cases he's really been successful already getting Laurie um out of the death penalty so the defense took
a very understated approach um first of all they stressed that Laurie's Alibi was very simple and
direct Laurie valo was in her own apartment in Rexburg Idaho and J.J valo and Tyler Ryan died in the
apartment of Alex Cox in Rexburg Idaho Lori was with Melanie Gibb David Warwick and or Chad dabil
and Lori was in Hawaii when Tammy davile died of the home of Chad day Bell in Salem Idaho
Lori was with Melanie bedro and or Audrey baraterio in Hawaii so they wanted to make that point clear
to the jurors Jim Archibald he really picked a part um the charges against Laurie at one
point he asked um almost facetiously he asked the jury and made fun of the vagueness of the
charges so the St this charge is did she kill or did she assist or did she encourage
or did she command so in other words this charge is saying they're not sure what happened
but yet they want you to be sure so he seemed to be you know making that point to the jury and then saying
remember we chose you because you said you understood what A Reasonable Doubt is you would give this a fair question
then he clearly said to the jurors if they if the state doesn't know what happened
yet they're expecting you to decide he was sowing doubt he was trying to create a sense of Doubt on that note we're
gonna take a quick break when we get back Greg I want to know who else was in the courtroom and what else happened on
day one we'll be right back [Music] okay Greg so we're back Lori was obviously there in court listening on to
all of this can you describe her demeanor what she looked like you know Lori uh was well put together and very
different from the Lori vallo that made all the headlines you know when she kind
of flounced into court with a big smile on her face for that early hearing and seemed happy
um there was a very different uh Lori vallo today Lori was um today Sirius she had black framed
eyeglasses on and she sat between her attorneys uh you know occasionally Consulting with them uh she didn't seem
to be making eye contact with anyone but she uh paid attention to the judge and what he had to say you know it was a
much different presentation than we've seen uh earlier in the process until tell me who are the key players that
were in the courtroom today really the two key players who've been there all along who even really sparked this whole
investigation it was uh Kay and Larry Woodcock of course K is um JJ's grandmother and uh Larry
Woodcock is uh her husband how did the family behave when they were there what how did they appear
um you know uh they were somber and serious as they always have been at these hearings you know they've been
there since day one every single court hearing they would fly in uh to make it there I I wonder if this was almost a
moment too that they were celebrating is the wrong word but something they fought
for so hard and here we are it's happening as you say they've been fixtures uh the whole time demanding
Justice for um JJ and Tyler and because they're testifying and because Chad's trial will
come up there's a gag order on the case was there anyone that wasn't there that you were surprised about
uh well there was a lot of talk um that Kobe Ryan Laurie's first and oldest son uh would be there he wasn't
there today the prosecution's first witness was K Woodcock as you mentioned JJ's grandmother can you tell us what
did she have to say about Lori as a mother and then the circumstances regarding JJ's disappearance Kay was
consistent uh with what she told you and I uh early on during some of our early interviews that you know
she really liked Lori she loved Laurie she talked about how Lori was a great mom to JJ that she was engaged she
um went the extra mile she even explained to the jury today that Laurie was graceful to her and Larry that she
remembers one time Lori pulling out a photo album and that she'd been showing JJ you know these are this is your
grandma these are your grandparents um so it was quite remarkable to hear the beginning of her testimony talk
about that then of course she explained how things changed you know all of a sudden Laurie was gone at first for 58
days in a row never tried to contact UM JJ one time when a mother leaves their child
she left her husband and she left her child for 58 days and she never reached out to JJ
and were you were you with him the entire 58 days I was with him a lot of the 58 days out of 58
days I probably was with him well over a month so more than 30 days yes and during those 30 days you didn't
hear from Laurie no for you Greg in that courtroom what was the most compelling moment today
well certainly Hayes testimony it was you know very compelling they showed k photos of JJ
and she had taken the photos and she kind of broke down and you know that was pretty intense when she broke down uh
looking at that Mrs Woodcock do you recognize that document I do what does it purport to be
our beautiful grandson JJ did you take that picture I did is that a true and accurate
representation of JJ valo well that the prosecution did was show the two grave sites uh those shallow
grave sites where the bodies were found just simple pictures um of the grave sites and then there was
a picture also of Tammy uh lying uh in a coffin when Tyler was found as we talked about
all that was found was charred remains Tyler's hands are gone when JJ was found his hands were bound and duct taped in
front of his body when Tammy was found those hands she was described as a computer whiz
it's never going to do anything on a computer again and the defendant and Chad dabell
getting married on a beach in Hawaii starting their life together all obstacles gone I went to that
property and saw those two grave sites children as you recall you were there too
um showed us where they were found very very haunting images very haunting images for anyone
and I imagine as the jury pieces is all together all the more so for them based on day one how do you believe the next
several weeks unfold for this trial it was very clear from the prosecution that there was going to be uh a lot of
evidence a lot of witnesses a lot to go through a lot of forensics you know you really got that sense that there was
going to be a lot of testimony from the police a lot of uh testimony about forensics about where and how they found
the bodies and what evidence was or was not found uh on the bodies there's clearly from the prosecution there's
going to be a lot of text messages a lot of emails a lot of overheard discussions
um testimony from Lori's friends another interesting thing the prosecutor said was
what you're not gonna hear to say that you know when the kids were supposedly missing
uh you're not going to hear stories about Lori being worried or Lori looking for the children or Lori going out of
her way the prosecutor is going to have a wide-ranging and detailed um analysis of what went on but
according to the prosecutor it's all going to come back to money power and sex [Music]
[Applause] our team at 48 hours will be on the ground reporting on the Lori Valor debal
trial we plan to bring you continued coverage and Analysis throughout the trial exclusively on the 48 Hours
podcast in the meantime be sure to follow and listen to 48 Hours wherever you get your podcasts you can also
listen ad free on the Amazon music or wundery app Greg thanks so much for debriefing us on the first day of the
trial we're going to be checking back with you soon my pleasure looking forward to seeing you soon
foreign [Music]

Listen inside the Lori Vallow Daybell trial from the "48 Hours" podcast. As the murder trial of Idaho mom, Lori Vallow Daybell, gets underway, "48 Hours" is sharing special coverage and analysis of opening statements. Accused of killing her two youngest kids and her husband’s late wife, she could face life in prison if convicted. CBS News National Correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti and "48 Hours" producer Greg Fisher take you inside the courtroom of the case that gained national attention with the latest details as the defense and prosecutor present their cases. This conversation was recorded on Monday, April 10, 2023.

Listen to "48 Hours" and "Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial" on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/48Hours-Lori-Vallow-Daybell?sid=YT

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

Brief Summary

Lori Vallow's trial begins, focusing on her alleged murders of her children and motives tied to financial gain and religious beliefs.

Key points

Opening Statements Begin. The trial of Lori Valo Dabel kicks off with powerful opening statements from the prosecution.
Lori's Absence. Testimony reveals Lori Valo was absent for 58 days without contacting her son JJ.
Trial Coverage Announcement. 48 Hours promises ongoing coverage and analysis of the high-profile trial.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was fascinating and it really didn't disappoint.

Producer reflects on the trial experience.

5:08WatchApr 12, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.