SALT LAKE CITY ā Daniel Coons, with the Chandler Police Department, testified Tuesday about multiple items found at the scene of Charles Vallow’s death ā including the baseball bat Alex Cox and Lori Vallow Daybell claim he was threatening them with in interviews with police that day.
The jurors were also shown photos of the scene during his testimony, which also showed Charles Vallow’s body on the floor. Coons said he took photos of the entire house, and over 100 photos were admitted into evidence of the home including one with a bullet lodged in a baseboard.
The officer said the shell casings at the scene matched a .45 automatic pistol found at the scene. The casings and the gun were in the courtroom as evidence on Tuesday.
Coons talked about the scene and being present for Charles Vallow’s autopsy, and he said he believes Charles Vallow was shot once while lying on the ground based on his two entry and exit wounds.
Vallow had been shot by his brother-in-law, Alex Cox, the caller who told dispatchers he had begun CPR. Daybell, Vallow’s then-wife, is on trial for conspiring to kill Vallow with Cox’s help.
Daybell was found guilty in Idaho of murdering her two children ā Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7 ā and conspiring to murder them along with Tammy Daybell, the wife of her current husband Chad Daybell.
Vallow died before Lori Daybell’s children were murdered, before Tammy Daybell was murdered, and before Lori and Chad Daybell were married.
Scott Cowden, of the Chandler, Arizona, Fire Department, testified on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning that he performed CPR on Vallow, who had been shot twice, for about five minutes before it was ultimately determined that Vallow could not be revived. Cowden said, though dispatchers told him the caller said he had started CPR, it did not feel to him like anyone had initiated the lifesaving technique.
Cowden is one of three emergency responders who testified on the first day of trial for Lori Daybell. He returned to the stand on Tuesday morning for questioning from Daybell, who is representing herself.
Kent Keller, with the Chandler Fire Department, said the heart monitor showed Vallow had no electrical rhythm in his heart and that his pupils didn’t not react. He said Cowden performing CPR led to more blood under his body but that there was no active bleeding because his heart had stopped.
He made the decision to end steps to resuscitate him, saying he believes Vallow was dead before he arrived, and it was unlikely anyone had performed CPR on him beforehand.
In the conspiracy trial on Monday, prosecutors showed body camera footage of the home where Lori Daybell lived in Arizona, and where Vallow was shot. The video from Chandler Police Sgt. Irwin Wierzbicki’s body camera shows the moments after Vallow died.
Wierzbicki testified that Cox was “nonchalant,” compliant and “extremely calm” when he came out of the front door of the house. The police sergeant said he found Vallow lying on the ground dead in the front room of the house, a room with no other furniture.
Robert Krautheim, another officer who spoke with Cox outside the home, testified that Cox was calm and “not emotional at all.” Krautheim said he noticed a bump or laceration on Cox’s head that was “bleeding a little bit,” noting that Cox held a mostly white paper towel to his head.
According to Cox, Vallow had hit him in the head with a baseball bat and Cox had shot the man in self-defense.
Krautheim said he also spoke with Lori Daybell and Tylee Ryan after they arrived at the home. He described Daybell’s demeanor as calm, nonchalant, and “just matter of fact,” despite multiple emergency vehicles in front of her house.
In her opening arguments earlier in the day, Daybell told jurors that collecting Social Security benefits, having life insurance policies, and acting in self-defense are not crimes.
“A family tragedy is not a crime; it’s a tragedy,” she concluded.
However, prosecutor Treena Kay cited texts between Daybell and Cox, their actions after Vallow’s death, and conflicting stories to explain why the state believes she conspired to kill her husband. Kay said Daybell kept Vallow’s phone so he couldn’t leave the house, saying she and Cox had planned when Vallow would die, and holding the phone was her role.
Kay said Daybell used “religion ā¦ as justification to kill Charles Vallow,” citing times she had said that he was possessed by an evil spirit.
Tuesday is the second day of Daybell’s jury trial, which is scheduled to last until mid-May.
One juror was excused on Monday for work reasons, and a second juror was excused from her role on Tuesday, with no reason given publicly, meaning there are now 14 jurors ā two women and 12 men, Nate Eaton, with EastIdahoNews.com, reported from the courtroom. A third juror was not excused after reporting he was reminded he had seen a YouTube video about the case in the past.
The trial began at 11:30 MST, but the judge ordered a half-hour delay on the livestream. You can watch Tuesday’s trial here:
This story will be updated.
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