[Justin] At this point in the investigation,
you know, there's indication there's a lot more to be discovered.
Then, all of a sudden, I get a message in my inbox.
It's a link to a folder
full of, I kid you not,
six hundred sixty-six photos.
In the photos are Chad and Lori getting married.
Seeing Chad and Lori in all white,
dancing on the beach together after Tammy has just died.
My jaw is to the floor.
Lori had a green malachite ring.
We know from the Amazon order that Lori ordered this malachite ring
when Tammy was still alive.
When those photos came out, this exploded.
[reporter] Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell got married here on a beach in Kauai,
just 13 days after the memorial of Chad's first wife Tammy.
[Colby] It was so deflating
to see them together, in Kauai of all places.
And there's no trace of the kids.
Tylee's sixteen. JJ's seven.
Where are they?
Why aren't the kids behind you?
I started having a lot of dreams.
I think I dreamed about Tylee, JJ,
Charles, my mom, or Chad every night.
Every single time I woke up,
I had this feeling deep inside of my stomach, in my spirit,
there was something wrong.
But they have to be safe.
[baby crying]
[Lori] Well, hello.
[Colby] Because my mom has spent her whole life protecting us kids.
[Lori] JJ!
[Colby] I had the battling thought, "Are they even alive?"
I'm like, "No, there's no way. They're not alive."
[Lori] Happy birthday.
[Colby] How could that be possible?
[Colby] I'm sitting in the courtroom,
and it feels like a movie, like it's not real life.
She walked in like a character.
She's weirdly-- Has this weird makeup on, it looked like she--
I don't even know-- colored it on.
And she's in a jumpsuit. She's this villain.
And she just looked at Brandon, she looked at Kay,
and Larry, just smiled at them.
Like, why? Why-- Like, I remember just thinking, what are you doing?
What are-- Like, I wanted to scream it out. What are you doing?
[man] Since this last summer, there's been a clear and alarming
pattern in the defendant's life.
There are literally three active investigations
of suspicious deaths that she is related to.
And it is alarming to the state.
And the most aggravating factor is that the children are still missing.
And the defendant has completely and utterly
refused to aid in any attempts to find the children,
even before charges were filed.
[judge] With that, bail will be set at one million dollars.
We'll be in recess.
[bailiff] All rise.
[Colby] I sat up, like, trying to get her attention.
I wanted her to know I was there.
And I just remember her connection to him, seeing him.
And I remember how she looked at him.
You're looking at him as like-- Like there's something there.
Are you-- Like, you don't know him.
How do-- How have you had enough time to get comfortable enough
to be in a bad situation, look at him, and find comfort?
She just walked by.
And that's when I stood up and saw him, and I locked eyes with him.
I was like, I just want to come punch you in the face.
And I looked at him, and he looked scared.
I saw him cower.
I just feel like-- I know there's something wrong with you.
-[car horn honking] -[reporters] Where are the kids, Chad?
Where are the kids? Where are the kids, Chad?
You've already said the kids are okay. Can you say that now?
Hey, Chad, where are the kids?
Chad…
[Colby] That night, I called the jail.
I'm her son. I just need to talk to her.
[on recording] You know I love you.
That's why this is the hardest conversation I could ever have
with anybody in my whole life.
You're not the same mom that I know.
You're not the one that raised me to understand Jesus.
[Lori] Really?
Really?
[Colby] I hope that you turn your heart,
turn to the true Christ so you can come back from whatever this is.
I've always trusted you my whole life.
I would have never thought you
would have ever done something like this.
[Lori] What is it that you think that I've done?
[Colby] I remember we had this conversation.
She started bringing up Abraham and Isaac.
In Abraham and Isaac, the whole entire story,
is that Abraham is told to sacrifice his son.
He was trying to keep his faith.
And just to trust that God had a plan.
So when he went to actually do it, raising the knife ready to go,
God told him to stop.
It was just a test of faith.
Why would you even say that?
You know that I'm asking you every day about my siblings.
But she reaffirmed it to me almost every day.
"Yes. They're fine. Everything's gonna be fine."
So it started to build up more and more of…
there's a thread of hope.
[Janis] I thought there was a chance that they could be different places.
That she had asked someone to put the kids with them for a while.
And so the first time that she called from the jail,
she said, "The kids are fine."
She said, "You know what kind of mother I am."
"I would never hurt the kids."
That's what she said.
And she said, "They're in a very safe place."
I didn't think they were missing.
I thought Lori knew where they were.
So I felt like it's important to tell the truth about our family.
[reporter] Family members of a woman at the center of a
high-profile missing children's case
are publicly defending her for the very first time.
There is no way she did anything to them. There's just no way.
Yeah. We really think that she did nothing wrong. I-- She…
[Colby] I'm just really not sure why my grandma
and my aunt wanted to do interviews.
I remember how dumb I thought it was to even say anything.
Why are you supporting her? She's obvious-- There's something wrong.
And I just thought that was a really bad move
to try to defend her at that point.
I have faith in her, as a mother,
that she's doing the best she knows how for her children.
[woman] It was hard for me to watch that.
I felt like there was a lot of denial,
just not even wanting to look at the reality that the children were missing.
Um, it's like I
couldn't understand if it was denial or if it was damage control.
Do you think she's in a cult?
-No. No. We don't. -No.
You don't think that Chad brainwashed her?
No! [laughing]
No. He couldn't do it. It's not possible.
But they were right. We were wrong.
I-- I should never say "I know" again.
I don't really know.
I just think that…
Who knew it would get worse?
[Justin] Investigators get access to Lori's iCloud account,
and that's where they find a photo from September 8th, 2019.
A picture of JJ, Tylee, and Alex at Yellowstone National Park.
[reporter 1] The FBI and the Rexburg Police Department
are now asking anyone who visited Yellowstone National Park
on September 8th, 2019,
to send them photos or video that might help them in their investigation.
Police have determined both children were at Yellowstone that day
with Lori and Lori's brother Alex Cox.
This is the last known photo of Tylee.
[reporter 1] The FBI says the group was traveling
in this truck belonging to Alex Cox.
[reporter 2] Cox has been linked to the deaths of Charles Vallow, Tammy Daybell…
[Justin] But when Alex died,
a crucial piece of the puzzle was now missing,
but FBI had his cell phone.
They used cell phone data and the GPS pings,
and they traced his steps to Chad Daybell's property in September,
when JJ and Tylee went missing.
On the ninth, Alex's phone locates him in the backyard for two and a half hours.
The FBI also secured Tammy's phone,
so they learned, 14 minutes after Alex left the Daybell residence,
Chad texted Tammy.
[phone notification]
Finally, on June 9th, 2020,
law enforcement is once again headed to the Daybell residence.
[Nate] All right, for those of you just tuning in,
we are about a minute away from Chad Daybell's home,
and we, uh… The police are serving a search warrant.
Rexburg Police, Fremont County Sheriff's Office,
the FBI, they are all here.
Here's what we can see.
Uh, there are multiple police officers here.
There's at least one K9 dog.
They have set up three or four blue canopy tents.
They have taped off the backyard.
That seems to be the area of focus right now.
No word--
We're not sure where Chad Daybell is at this moment.
[on recording]
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[reporter] Chad Daybell was watching the search very closely,
and eventually tried to leave in his SUV.
[Nate] The witnesses we spoke to said
it looked like Chad Daybell was driving very fast.
[man] I saw his car take off down the road and, just seconds later,
the, the marked police cars had their lights and sirens,
and floored it to go catch him.
[sirens wailing]
[Colby] The FBI called me, and they said,
"Colby, they arrested Chad today."
"And they found human remains on his property."
I could have just died right there.
My body was, like, ready to faint.
So then I started asking her questions like, "Is it a little skeleton?"
"Is it a little person? Is it a teenager?"
"Do you know?" and she didn't know.
And they hadn't even been able to get to that process.
An autopsy will be, uh, conducted.
Um, shortly after the remains were discovered,
uh, Chad Daybell was taken into custody.
[Colby] It was just horrible to even know that there was human remains.
Like, I didn't wanna know if it really was them.
A huge day, probably one of the biggest in this case so far.
[reporter 1] Authorities served a search warrant on Daybell's home,
leading to the discovery of what now police confirm
is two sets of human remains.
[reporter 2] Near the fire pit and pet cemetery,
they found human bones and charred tissue.
[Lauren] We are gonna be out here as we slowly start learning these details.
[Colby] You just try somehow, some way,
to rationalize and protect yourself from being hurt in that moment,
but in my heart, I knew it was them.
[Justin] When I got the call from Kay Woodcock this morning,
she held back tears, telling me one set of the human remains found
belong to her grandson, JJ.
Then, a couple of hours later, family members confirmed
the second set of remains are of Tylee Ryan.
[reporter] Their bodies have been unearthed from a shallow grave in Idaho.
[Lauren] A very emotional moment
now facing the reality of what happened to these children.
…say you find… [crying]
[sniffles] I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
-[reporter] We're all with you. -[sniffles and sighs]
It was a horrible, awful, terrible realization.
I said I knew Lori couldn't hurt her kids, and I was wrong.
-[Lori laughing] What? -[JJ] Hello.
[Janis] Those two beautiful…
Hi, my name is Tylee.
…talented, loving, generous kids…
[JJ] Oh, my gosh.
…had so much to offer and so much to experience.
-Picture. Cheese. -[man] Cheese.
[sniffles] I can't think about them without crying.
[woman] I was honestly, like, angry.
It was just, like, I was angry that this was real. [sniffles]
Yeah.
[Colby] Say hello.
-Say hello. -Hi, JJ.
-Hi, Colby.
Hi, Colby.
I just-- I just miss JJ and Ty.
Like, it's hard to talk about them.
Yeah. It's just hard.
[phone beeps]
[automated voice] An inmate at the Madison County Jail.
[Lori] How are you, bubba?
[Colby] I'm not good, Mom.
[Lori] I'm so sorry.
[Colby] You're sorry?
[Lori] Of course I am. -[Colby] You're sorry.
Are you sorry for me? Or are you sorry for my siblings?
My brother, who's seven years old, is dead.
And my little sister, who's 16, is dead.
What I've seen
-is that you moved away-- -[Lori] And you've seen it?
You were there, so you saw everything that happened, huh?
That's interesting.
[Colby] This did not just happen.
They were murdered.
And the reason I'm calling you is because I can't even fathom what happened.
I miss my family, Mom.
[Lori] I know, baby. Me too. So do I.
[Colby] What do you mean you miss them?
How can you miss them, Mom?
[Lori] How can I not?
How can I not?
They're my babies!
[Justin] Both parents face two charges of conspiracy to conceal or destroy evidence.
Still, nobody is facing murder charges
related to Tammy's death or the kids' death.
Some Idaho attorneys say they hope and believe police have more evidence
that has not been released yet.
[reporter 1] Chad Daybell will appear in court tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m.
[reporter 2] Daybell's preliminary hearing will be livestreamed from Idaho
for the next two days.
[judge] This is the case of State of Idaho v. Chad Guy Daybell.
Mr. Wood, you may call your first witness.
[Wood] Thank you. The State calls Ray Hermosillo.
[judge] Sir, you can be seated here at the witness stand.
If you'll give your full name as well as your occupation, we'll get started.
Ray Dennis Hermosillo.
I'm a detective with the Rexburg Police Department.
[Wood] Detective, have you ever had the opportunity
to meet the defendant Chad Daybell?
Yes.
I was contacted by Gilbert Police Department.
I was asked to do a welfare check on a seven-year-old boy
by the name of Joshua Jackson Vallow.
Myself and Detective Hope went to Lori Vallow's residence.
We ended up making contact with the defendant, Mr. Daybell,
and Alex Cox.
I asked Mr. Daybell how he knew Lori Vallow,
and he stated that he had only met her a couple of times through Alex Cox.
[Wood] What did you ask him?
[Hermosillo] I asked Mr. Daybell when's the last time he saw JJ,
and he stated that he saw JJ in Apartment 107 in October.
I asked Mr. Daybell for Lori Vallow's phone number,
and he stated he didn't have it.
Detective Hope had come back to where we were speaking.
I again asked Mr. Daybell if he had Lori's phone number,
and at that point, he gave me Lori Vallow's phone number.
[Wood] Okay, did you ask him why he hadn't given you that number?
-[Hermosillo] I did. -[Wood] And what was his response?
He stated that he felt like I was accusing him of something.
[Wood] Did you have any contact with Lori Vallow that day?
[Hermosillo] I did not have any contact with Lori. No.
[Wood] Okay. Were you still with Detective Hope?
I was.
[Wood] Did he-- Do you know if he had contact with Lori Vallow that day?
He did.
[door opening]
-[Hope] Hi. Are you Lori? -[Lori] Hi.
[Hope] Okay. So…
JJ would be where?
[Lori] He's with one of my friends in Arizona.
Her name is Melanie Gibb.
Miss Gibb, if you'll please come forward.
Be seated here at this witness chair.
[Wood] Miss Gibb, I'm gonna call your attention to
the date of November 26th, 2019.
What contact, if any, did you have with Mr. Daybell that day?
I received a phone call from Chad Daybell from his cell phone.
He said, "Hi, Melanie, this is Chad."
Um, "The Rexburg Police are gonna call you. Don't pick up."
He let me know that the police were over at Lori Vallow's home in Rexburg,
and that, um, they were inquiring about where JJ was,
and that she was going to tell the police that JJ was with me.
I said, "JJ's not at Kay's house?"
[Wood] How did Mr. Daybell respond to that?
He said, "No."
[Wood] Was there any other content to that conversation?
I asked him if he was nervous, and he said, "Yes."
[Wood] And approximately what time did you hear from Lori Vallow?
I…
Possibly within an hour or two.
I can't exactly recall.
I recorded the conversation.
[Wood] Okay.
[phone ringing]
[Wood] Could you state your name?
David Gale Warwick.
[Wood] Do you recall the night of September 22nd, 2019?
[Warwick] Yes.
What did you do that night?
[Warwick] I was doing a podcast with Melanie Gibb and Lori Vallow.
Was JJ there when you did your podcast?
[Warwick] No.
[Wood] Did you talk to Lori about JJ?
[Warwick] I did.
She said that he was, uh, being a zombie
and climbed up on the cabinets,
climbed up on top of the fridge, smashed her picture of Christ down,
then climbed up onto the upper cabinets
and got between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling.
[woman] JJ, because of his autism, he says things on repeat.
That was something, when I found out, you know, like, what was going on,
I just thought, "Oh!"
If JJ heard something,
or he got caught in some cycle just saying something,
that would've made him a liability.
I asked to see him, and she just said that he was out of control.
So she had Alex come and get him.
[Wood] Did you see him later that night?
-[Warwick] Yes. -When?
When, uh, Alex brought him home to put him to bed.
[Wood] Okay.
[Justin] David Warwick, he remembers this time
he sees JJ with Alex as a tender moment.
JJ's laying in his arms, um,
and he's got his head on Alex's shoulder.
And he's just peaceful. That's the last time he sees him.
-[Lori] Say hi! -Hi!
I personally believe that when Alex brought JJ in that night,
the night that they were working on the podcast,
I believe that JJ was dead.
[JJ speaking unintelligibly]
[prosecutor] How long have you worked for the FBI?
[FBI agent 1] For approximately six years. I'm an intelligence analyst.
[prosecutor] Were you asked to review data from any devices?
[FBI agent 1] Yes, I was. It was a cell phone.
Tammy Daybell was the user of the cell phone.
[prosecutor] Mr. Dean, I'm gonna hand you the state's exhibit 31 for admission.
[judge] Exhibit 31 is being handed to the witness.
[prosecutor] Could you please read aloud the messages in this exhibit,
including time stamps and contact names?
This is a copy of the messages
sent between Chad and Tammy Daybell on September 9th.
-[Benjamin] From Chad… -[phone notification]
[Benjamin reading text]
[phone notification]
Can you testify, Mr. Dean, that these messages initially caught your attention?
[Benjamin] The thing that caught my attention was the date.
Upon reading this text message,
in which Chad appears to claim to have started a fire,
shot and killed a large animal and buried it on his property,
I recognized that it was sent a day after Tylee Ryan was last seen alive.
One of the biggest revelations about this case
is the amount of time, effort, man-hours put into finding JJ and Tylee.
And then you realize they were killed within a month of moving to Idaho,
and were in Chad's backyard the whole time.
[prosecutor] Agent, what involvement did you have with the search
on the Chad Daybell residence?
[FBI agent 2] I was the senior team leader for the Evidence Response Team
at that search of Chad Daybell's property on those dates.
So based on a text message,
we knew that there was discussion of a pet cemetery.
We make the determination based on seeing a statue of a dog.
And then in front of the statue of the dog,
there's what appears to be a grave.
The difficulty, I think, for us
was the way these human remains were found.
So it was kind of partially burnt human remains.
So as we continue to excavate another burial site,
it was a little bit more complex.
[Hermosillo] Once we removed some soil,
I observed a small child
in red pajamas.
Red pajama shirt, red pajama pants.
The most heartbreaking image from this evidence
is a picture of JJ Vallow taken from Lori's iCloud.
It's taken the day of September 22nd,
and you can assume it's Lori's apartment.
JJ's sitting on the couch wearing his red pajamas.
A-- As you, uh, looked at this child's face,
did you recognize this child?
[Hermosillo] Yes, I did.
I recognized that to be Joshua Vallow.
[Colby] It's not even human
to take your own two children that you, like, are supposed to love and care for,
and do what they did.
It breaks you,
like, in a way you've never felt.
[reporter 1] In a surprise super-fast hearing,
Lori Vallow Daybell waived her right to a preliminary hearing.
[judge] You understand that there will be no preliminary hearing
that is currently scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
That will be vacated. Is-- Understand?
Correct.
[reporter 2] This morning, the legal team representing the so-called "Doomsday Mom,"
Lori Vallow, are raising concerns about her mental competency.
Now her attorneys say she's unfit to stand trial.
[reporter 3] The judge halting proceedings for now,
but has yet to make a final determination on whether proceedings will continue.
[reporter 4] Vallow has been committed
to an Idaho Department of Health and Welfare mental facility for 90 days,
and when that ends,
officials will determine whether she can proceed to trial,
or needs additional treatment to restore her competency.
[judge] Mr. Daybell, how do you plead?
[Chad] Not guilty.
[judge] We'll enter the "not guilty" plea on count one.
On count two, how do you plead?
Not guilty.
-[judge] On count three, how do you plead? -Not guilty.
[reporter] Chad Daybell pleaded not guilty today,
meaning the case will go forward to a trial.
[phone beeps]
[Colby, on recording] I can't tell you the level of suffering that
I've had to go through,
and I'm talking the brink of my life, because of your decisions.
[Lori] Well, I'm definitely sorry about that.
I never meant to cause you any pain of any sort, of any kind.
I never wanted to.
[Colby] Well, I'm not the victim.
[Lori] Well, I'm sorry that you don't really fully understand the situation.
So…
[Colby] Why weren't my siblings protected if it wasn't you?
If you didn't do anything wrong, why were they murdered?
[Lori] I've done everything to protect them,
their whole lives, as you know.
[Colby] Yeah, but their whole lives are gone now.
They were killed.
You guys decided that that was spiritually your mission,
under the name Jesus Christ.
[Lori] I love you, but you don't know.
You just don't know.
[Colby] You don't know.
You need to turn your heart to Jesus Christ to let him save you.
[Lori] You will see one day.
As I speak to you right now,
you will see.
[Colby] Do you hear how crazy that is?
That nothing's your fault, you did nothing wrong,
you have no idea what happened,
and sorry you don't have a fuller understanding.
It was just… To listen to her actually try to flip the script is unbelievable.
[reporter 1] We've got some breaking news out of Idaho.
A grand jury just indicted a mom and her husband on murder charges
for the deaths of her two children.
[reporter 2] Daybell was also charged yesterday with the murder of his late wife
who died three months before he married Vallow.
Our other big story tonight: Lori Daybell indicted here in the valley,
accused of conspiring to murder her ex-husband.
Now a grand jury believes Lori and Alex conspired that at least one of them
was going to commit first-degree murder.
Meanwhile, Lori is currently in a state medical facility in Idaho
undergoing restorative treatment after being found incompetent
to under-- understand the charges against her in Idaho.
[Janis] I want to be as kind to her as I can be.
I don't see any reason to pile on to somebody that's done something so awful.
I think whatever happens will just happen.
She's in jail,
and I think she'll be there the rest of her life.
So there is gonna be justice done.
We did have a wonderful family before this happened.
I don't know. I don't know if it's strong enough to stand this or not.
We'll just have to see.
[Colby] We are in Kauai on Hanalei Bay.
One of our favorite places as a family.
We're gonna be doing a memorial for Charles and JJ and Tylee.
And it's something that we've been needing for a really long time.
It's to honor them and to remember them, and this is the place.
I'm so grateful that this gets to happen here.
Kauai was such a happy place.
My brother, my sister, loved being here,
and I remember the things we did here.
Charles, I just want to…
[sniffles] I just want to thank you for being my dad.
I know you never deserved what happened to you,
but I wouldn't have the life that I had without you.
[crying]
JJ, I just can't tell you how much I love you.
You're the greatest little brother anybody could ever ask for,
and I love you so much.
Tylee, you're who made me a big brother, and…
I'll never forget how much I immediately fell in love with you
and immediately wanted to protect you from everything in life,
and…
I love all of you,
and…
I'm grateful for all of you.
It's okay.
[Colby crying]
-I love you. -I love you.
[Kelsee] To me, it still kind of just doesn't feel real.
But it's been really hard on all of us.
Throughout all of this, we--
Colby and I have tried to make Riley's life as normal as possible.
We're definitely gonna let her know what happened.
We don't really know how yet.
But she knows Tylee and JJ's faces.
We have their pictures everywhere all over our house.
I made Colby a photo blanket with, um, their pictures on it,
and it's hanging up in her playroom.
And she'll walk up to it and she'll go, "Ty-Ty. JJ."
I think that's been the main thing for us right now,
is showing her who they are, showing her videos, and saying their names
and really helping her remember them.
[Colby] We have to live with what happened.
And what am I gonna focus on? Am I gonna focus on their death,
or am I gonna focus on their memory and honoring them?
They don't want us sitting here broken,
destroyed by everything because they're gone.
[Lori] JJ! [laughing]
[Colby] I just really feel like I'm making it through
because of Kelsee and Riley.
If I didn't have Riley, if I didn't have my wife,
like, I don't think I would--
I'd probably would have just died from sadness.
Like, I have a purpose besides myself.
My biggest fear is that my mom's story becomes our family's story.
She's not going to define anything else.
I know that in my heart.