Grisly day of testimony in Chad Daybell’s murder trial

BOISE, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Day 19 of Chad Daybell’s murder trial in Boise was full of grisly images, details, and testimony by witnesses.

Medical Examiner Dr. Garth Warren was called to the stand to testify Wednesday morning about the autopsy of J.J. Vallow and his sister Tylee Ryan and the condition of the bodies when they arrived at the Ada County Coroner’s Office in June of 2020.

The jury was shown images of J.J. in a body bag wearing red pajamas. Warren testified that the body was in a state of decomposition and that J.J. had duct tape from his eyes down to his neck, around his wrists and ankles.

Warren told the court that when Tylee’s body came into the medical examiner, her body was in multiple bags. He described the contents of each bag, containing vertebra, organs and soft tissue, charred bone fragments, and the melted green bucket where Tylee’s skull was found.

To identify Tylee’s body, they called in an expert in the field of dental evidence.

“We had a forensic odontologist come to our office on the day of the autopsy to try and identify Tylee via dental comparison of antemortem records that we requested. The forensic odontologist was able to make a positive identification based on dental x-rays.”

Also called to testify was Tara Martinez, she is an Idaho State Police forensic scientist, whose specialty is processing latent prints.

She testified that she collected hair and fingerprint samples from the bags and duct tape removed from J.J.’s remains.

Martinez said that on the black plastic where J.J.’s body was found, there was a print that matched Alex Cox.

Detective Werther testified again on May 8 about cell phone data and text messages between Chad and Lori on the day that Charles Vallow was shot and killed.

The court adjourned for the day shortly after 3 pm and will resume Thursday morning, May 9.

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