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Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial: Lori's Lies | "48 Hours" Podcast

April 26, 2023 / 21:32

This episode covers the ongoing trial of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, focusing on the emotional testimony of Colby Ryan, Lori's only living child, regarding the murders of his siblings, JJ and Tyler. Key discussions include the prosecution's presentation of evidence, including a jail phone call between Colby and Lori, financial motives behind the alleged crimes, and Lori's alleged lies about her children's whereabouts.

Colby Ryan's testimony is particularly heart-wrenching, as he identifies photos of his deceased siblings and confronts Lori about her actions. He expresses anger and betrayal, stating, "you murdered my siblings" during a recorded jail call played in court. This call reveals Lori's dismissive responses and her claims of innocence.

The prosecution also highlights financial motives, including a million-dollar life insurance policy on Lori's late husband, Charles Vallow. Testimony reveals that Lori attempted to file a claim shortly after his death, raising questions about her involvement.

Witnesses testify about Lori's alleged lies regarding JJ and Tyler's whereabouts, including claims that they were with friends or attending school, which investigators later disproved. The episode details the chilling implications of these lies in the context of the children's murders.

As the trial continues, the prosecution aims to establish a timeline and motive for the alleged crimes, with more testimony expected in the coming weeks.

TLDR

Colby Ryan testifies against Lori Vallow, revealing emotional confrontations and financial motives in the trial for his siblings' murders.

Episode

21:32
00:00:00
foreign [Music] [Applause] welcome to another special episode of 48 hours I'm Jonathan Vigliotti you just
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heard the voice of Kobe Ryan Lori Valerie Belle's only living child and brother to JJ and Tyler
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Lori's trial for the murders of her two youngest children Joshua J.J valo and Tyler Ryan is currently in its third
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week She's accused along with her husband Chad dabell of JJ and Tyler's murders as well as Chad's late Wife
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Tammy dabell they've both pleaded not guilty Chad dabell's trial will be happening at a later date for two weeks
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we've covered opening statements and the prosecution's first set of witnesses again our team is reviewing the audio
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from the proceedings and sharing highlights of the prosecution's Witnesses in this third special episode
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today producer Richie Fetzer is back he's been working with 48 hours for almost a decade and has been covering
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this case from the start a lot happened last week despite there being no court Monday or Friday 17 Witnesses took the
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stand so yes there are 17 Witnesses by far the most heart-wrenching testimony this past week came from 27 year old
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Colby Ryan he's Lori's only living child and the brother of JJ and Tyler and it was reported that Colby avoided looking
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at his mother Lori while he was in the courtroom and it was also reported that when he first walked in Lori mouthed the
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words oh my baby hmm and Colby's testimony was emotional especially when he was asked to identify the photo of
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his sister he was also asked to identify JJ let's listen to a clip do you recognize that person
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yes who is that oh that's my sister Tyler Brian okay what was your specific relation with
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Tyler Ryan she was my half-sister okay Mr Ryan I'm gonna show you what's been marked previously and admitted it states
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exhibit four do you know that person yes who was that my little brother JJ fellow and
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prosecutors presented what we've never heard before a phone call between Kobe and his mother after the remains of JJ
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and Tyler were found on her husband to adiebel's property Lori had already been arrested on child abandonment charges
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and was in jail this is the first time this call has been played and we will say this audio it's a little bit hard to
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hear a reminder this is a jail cell recording being played back in the courtroom
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you think you can hunt for me siblings Colby says quote you murdered my siblings those are strong accusations he
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goes on to say I thought I could trust you I thought that you were a completely different person
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I don't know I don't know a murderous mother to make judgments when you weren't there and you don't know what
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happened and Colby does not seem to be holding back I trusted every chance limitations as a human being
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I pushed half all of everything to try to get to you help my own money Glide to me
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specifically to me more times than I can count so no they've been gone and you knew
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and my phone's being texted by my little sister who's not even alive my little brother who's the sweetest
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little kid ever hmm Colby then asks Lori if Jesus Christ is on her side after everything that you try to tell me
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you can tell me right now that Jesus Christ the savior of the world is on your side
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you tell me that with all the condition in your heart that Jesus Christ is on your side right now please
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I can't tell you that Lori replies after a little pause I can tell you that you might also have heard
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some sniffling in this recording and that's actually Kobe crying on the stand while listening to this audio played
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back in the courtroom yeah that's right something that really stands out to me in this audio is how
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Lori responds to Colby during this conversation and at one point it even sounds like she's laughing
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and one day is this funny this is funny this is funny you're laughing like this is funny well it's just
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incredible to hear after this Lori tells Colby no one knows what happens except her JJ and Tyler the police weren't
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there you're right they know they know exactly what happened and they love me and we are
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still together forever they love me and they are fine and they do know the truth
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and I know the truth and emerging all the people that do so you can judge me Colby all day long go ahead and suggest
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me the whole world listen to me after this Lori goes on to tell Kobe how she's always been there
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for her children I'm the one that was there doing everything with JJ every day I was the one who did it all these years
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you did it all to throw it in a garbage they're not you don't know what happened
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no matter what happens if they're buried in your new husband's backyard tell me that matters what happened you you tell
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me that you did this in Jesus name mom what's clear from this jail cell recording Colby is not only angry and
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his mind it seems he knows what happened accusing his mother of murder yeah I don't think there's a question
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after hearing this and even through his anger Colby goes on to say he's praying for his mother and I pray that you see
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him and fall into his grace I pray every day I pray no matter how mad I am at you no matter how bad I want
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to hit your husband in the face with a shovel I pray for you I pray for him you rip my heart out and you've ripped
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out everyone in the standings heart out when I listen to those recordings from that jail cell I mean it's what sticks
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with me is that anger yeah it's anger and you also just hear you're hearing from
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somebody that feels like they've been deceived by their own mother that's that's something that's hard to listen
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to and listening to Colby talk to her I don't think there's any question in his mind at least that she's responsible for
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what happened to JJ and Tyler during cross-examination Lori's attorney asked Kobe if he ever heard Lori talk about
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the alleged extreme religious beliefs raised by prosecution witnesses the previous week remember in our last
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podcast we heard from a couple Witnesses about how they say Lori talked about how
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evil spirits could inhabit people's bodies making them zombies and how she and Chad had this ability to rape people
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as light and dark did she teach you about zombies no did she teach you about casting out evil
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spirits no did she teach you about light and dark scales no so Kobe is saying he wasn't
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taught any of this but he has gone on the record saying that he did notice a shift in his mother's Behavior around
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the time that she met Chad dabel thank you we're going to take a quick break when
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we get back more testimony from the Lori Valor DeBell trial [Music] we're back there was a lot of talk about
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finances bank accounts Social Security payments and that one million dollar life insurance policy for her previous
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husband Charles Ballo yes so that was a big part of this past week's testimony the prosecution seemed to really be
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highlighting the money part of the money power and sex line that they said in their opening statements prosecutors
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seem to be suggesting that she had her brother Alex Cox kill her then husband Charles vallo to collect that life
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insurance policy one detective who testified said that money is often a motive at homicides this detective also
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looked into that one million dollar life insurance policy that belonged to Charles valo we heard about that policy
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last week did someone attempt to make a claim yeah when I contacted the insurance company
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on Earth hearsay of a real you can continue to answer thank you sir on July 17th I believe it's a honor
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around July 17th um I contacted the insurance company and and Lori had tried to file a claim on that million dollar
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policy now Richie dozens of documents were entered into evidence last week what else did prosecutors point to
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so while Tyler and JJ were missing prosecutors say Lori's new husband Chad Davis sent an email to a realtor in
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Hawaii this was just days after he and Lori were married on that same island and Rexburg police detective Chuck
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considus read that email in court Mr Davao writes we are interested in seeing this property would the others be
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interested in would the owners be interested in leasing this property to a clean couple with no pets or children
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please let us know thank you what is the date on that document that email is November 8th of 2019 three
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days after they were married okay um what was the significance of that to you and your investigation
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well they're looking for a residence and telling them that they don't have any children no children and obviously now
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what we know makes that all the more chilling yeah absolutely I mean the children
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hadn't been seen for two months now and Chad's saying that is just really incredible to hear
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yeah in November before the police conducted the welfare check on JJ and before the children had been reporting
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missing by anyone quote unquote No Children prosecutors they say Chad wrote something else that to prosecutors seems
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to have major implications and I remember learning about this as we covered this for the first episode that
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we did almost three years ago it's a text that he sent to his then Wife Tammy it was sent just one day after Tyler
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Ryan was last seen alive at Yellowstone National Park here's an FBI analyst reading it from the stand
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well I've had an interesting morning I felt I should burn all the limb debris by the fire pit before it got too soaked
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by the coming storms while I did so I spotted a big raccoon along the fence I hurried and got my gun and he was still
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walking along I got close enough that one shot did the trick he is now in our pet cemetery fun times one shot did the
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trick fun times those words are seared in my brain from that first episode we did to prosecutors this seems pretty
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damn it doesn't it I mean he's giving an explanation to his wife for a fire as well as a new Grave in their pet
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cemetery and then we just learned this past Monday that prosecutors introduced evidence about Chad daybell's search
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history which featured a search for what direction the wind would be blowing in that same day and it's important to
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remember how badly Tyler's remains were burned as well as the fact that she was found months later in what prosecutors
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call the day Bells backyard pet cemetery and prosecutors also spent a lot of time
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pointing out lies they allege lorries told about JJ and Tyler's whereabouts prosecutors bring in witness as a
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babysitter and school administrators what's the prosecution doing by bringing in these Witnesses
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so it seems that the prosecution is trying to pinpoint stories that Lori was telling people and investigators believe
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that Lori told blatant lies about where JJ and Tyler were because at this time the detectives believed that JJ and
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Tyler had already been murdered and were buried in Lori's new husband Chad dabell's backyard
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what did she say so according to prosecution witnesses Lori told many people that Tyler was attending Brigham
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Young University in Idaho which is in Rexburg prosecutors called the school's dean of students to testify he says that
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Tyler never applied to BYU Idaho and had never been a student there and then as for JJ Lori enrolled JJ in school but
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removed him about three weeks later and she told School administrators that JJ would be homeschooled with his
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grandparents in Louisiana that he'd be staying with them and we know that that probably wasn't true because you'll
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remember that K Woodcock JJ's grandmother is the one who initiated the investigation into the children's
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whereabouts when she asked for a welfare check for JJ and investigators say Lori didn't just
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lie to school administrators she lied to them yeah yeah true the police body camera video from that
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welfare check for JJ where Lori responds to Rexburg police detectives the officer
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remarks that Lori described her husband Chad dabell who she'd recently married as her brother's friend
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when we addressed um Chad day Bell she referred to Chad as her brother's friend however at this time number one I had
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seen the two of them affectionate together in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby number two at this time we also knew
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that they had previously been married also in this body cam footage Lori tells officers that her friend Melanie Gibb
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had JJ in Arizona and took them to see the movie Frozen now remember Melanie would later tell police that wasn't true
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and Melanie actually secretly recorded a phone call with Chad and Lori where she
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confronts them about JJ's whereabouts she later handed that recording over to police detective Stubbs the police
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officer wearing the body cam footage he sums up all of these alleged lies pretty
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clearly here did you find any of those statements um did were they by and large accurate
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or they by and large inaccurate by and large inaccurate so you've got police officers Friends School
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administrators the list of people Lori is accused of lying to is very long I know we heard from one more person she
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allegedly lied to and that's April Raymond who is April Raymond so April Raymond is Lori's friend from Hawaii
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she attended church with Lori and their children would socialize with each other
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April testified to a visit that Lori made to April in Hawaii in early 2019 where Lori says to April that her
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husband Charles was having an affair and that she needed a place to stay now who was visiting with Lori valo when
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she was at your home at this time Tyler where was JJ JJ was with Charles was my understanding okay and
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um did the defendant say why she didn't bring JJ uh she said that she was done with JJ
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and that Charles and his sister Kay would need to figure it out Richie what does she mean by done with JJ
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so April testified that the context of that was that Lori and Charles were about to get a divorce and that she'd be
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no longer responsible for JJ but it definitely sounds very ominous considering that
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JJ was murdered and that wasn't the only moment April Raymond said she found strange how about when she brought up
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Ned that demon Laurie claimed was inhabiting Charles body who we heard about last week let's listen to this
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clip um so she had said that Charles was already dead and that there was a demon
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living inside him and kind of using his body as a host come and that the Demon's name was Ned
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Snyder follow up on that um did she give you any sort of evidence of this when I asked how do you know that it's
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not Charles she said because he's shorter a demon named Ned who is physically shorter Richie helped me make
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sense of this so I mean the name Ned Snyder always gets me it sounds like an accountant more than it sounds like a
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demon um but it seems to be at least from April's testimony that Lori is saying that Charles was physically shorter
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which is hard to understand it's important to remember that this conversation April's testifying to is
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just five months before Lori's brother Alex Cox shoots and kills Charles valo and then two months before Chad dabell's
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Wife Tammy dabell dies there's records that were collected by police that indicate an email address associated
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with Lori was used to look up and even purchase wedding rings and then on the day of Tammy's funeral that same account
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was used to search for a wedding dress in Kauai this was all revealed this past Monday as a part of exhibits that were
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introduced by the prosecution and then later on Monday prosecutors also brought FBI special agent Nick balance to the
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witness stand balance works with the bureau's cellular analysis survey team which Maps out cell phone usage from
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cell tower records Google location tracking data and more we can expect them to continue to testify into Tuesday
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what else Richie can we expect in this next week of trial so that's going to be the big question it the witness list
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obviously as I've mentioned previously has been sealed the the thing that I wonder is when and if and how the
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prosecution can lay the foundation of what actually happened to JJ and Tyler we've heard about how they were found
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but I wonder if we're going to hear about how they believe they might have been killed and the circumstances around
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it all right we'll leave it there for now [Music] our team at 48 hours will be reporting
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on the Lori valo debal trial we plan to bring you the latest coverage and Analysis throughout the trial
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exclusively on the 48 Hours podcast in the meantime be sure to follow and listen to 48 Hours wherever you get your
00:20:45
podcasts you can also listen ad free on the Amazon music or wondering app Richie
00:20:50
thank you so much for debriefing us again we'll check back with you soon great thank you again for having me
00:20:55
Jonathan I'm looking forward to the next update on this trial foreign [Music] I was startled awake
00:21:08
I started screaming A 55-hour Reign of Terror I didn't Tire up and he was hurting mom and I said please I'll do
00:21:19
anything please don't kill me follow and listen to the 48 Hours podcast on Apple
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podcasts Amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 95
    Most heartbreaking
  • 90
    Most emotional
  • 85
    Most dramatic
  • 85
    Best performance

Episode Highlights

  • Colby Ryan's Heart-Wrenching Testimony
    Colby Ryan, Lori's only living child, delivers emotional testimony about his siblings' murders.
    “You murdered my siblings.”
    @ 03m 18s
    April 26, 2023
  • Lori's Disturbing Jail Call
    A jail cell recording reveals Lori's chilling responses to Coly's accusations.
    “I can't tell you that.”
    @ 05m 09s
    April 26, 2023
  • The Chilling Email
    Chad Daybell's email about seeking a home without children raises alarms during the trial.
    “No children.”
    @ 12m 14s
    April 26, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • You murdered my siblings.
    Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial: Lori's Lies | "48 Hours" Podcast
  • I thought I could trust you.
    Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial: Lori's Lies | "48 Hours" Podcast
  • This is funny?
    Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial: Lori's Lies | "48 Hours" Podcast
  • I pray for you, I pray for him.
    Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial: Lori's Lies | "48 Hours" Podcast

Key Moments

  • Emotional Testimony01:21
  • Jail Call02:57
  • Accusations03:21
  • Chad's Email11:15
  • Lori's Lies14:07

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown