ADA COUNTY, Idaho — Warning: This story contains graphic content that may be disturbing to some readers.
It's the seventh day into the murder trial of Lori Vallow, or Lori Vallow Daybell, after opening statements started Monday.
The prosecution's first witness of the day is Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo.
Vallow is charged with murder, conspiracy and grand theft related to the deaths of her two children, Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and her husband's late wife, Tammy Daybell, in eastern Idaho. Her husband Chad Daybell is also charged in the murders and will be tried separately in Ada County at a date still to be determined. Prosecutors were previously seeking the death penalty against Vallow but it was later taken off the table by a judge as a way to sanction the prosecution for late discovery disclosure.
On Monday, the prosecution called two witnesses -- Kay Woodcock, the grandmother of JJ Vallow, and Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow's niece.
For a full recap, click here.
Live updates
Update 3:30 p.m.: Court is adjourned for the day after Lori Vallow's defense attorney John Thomas started his cross examination of Hermosillo.
Thomas was asking about the timeline, about the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux and what type of shovel was used to excavate the gravesite of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow.
Update 2:30 p.m.: Sensitive content warning --
Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo continues his testimony. He describes placing flesh and charred bone of Tylee Ryan's body onto evidence tarps.
The jury and audience sees photos of bits of bones, flesh and skull. Hermosillo points with a laser to an area of the remains and says, "These are organs that weren't completely burnt through all the way."
Prosecutors move on to JJ Vallow's autopsy. The jury and audience are shown photos of JJ Vallow, laying on a medical examiner's table as soon as he was unwrapped from the black plastic bags he was buried in. JJ Vallow is wearing red pajamas. His arms are crossed over his torso covered in duct tape and his head is wrapped multiple times around with more duct tape. The removal of duct tape uncovers a white plastic bag wrapped around his head, Hermosillo says.
When the first layer of duct tape came off, JJ Vallow appeared to have more duct tape over his mouth.
A children's blanket is also draped over his legs.
Hermosillo said he knew this was JJ Vallow just based on the features he could still see. The jury is shown a photo of his face. Some began to cry.
Larry Woodcock, JJ Vallow's grandfather, doubles over and starts crying when the first photo of his grandson appeared. He did not look at the photos for the remainder of the time.
Update 1:58 p.m.: Lori Vallow has requested to waive her right to be present for the rest of the day, given the nature of the evidence that is being shown.
Her defense attorney, Jim Archibald, said that her past mental health history is "fragile" seeing the evidence in front of her. The prosecution pushed back, saying there is a requirement for a defendant to attend trial and there is not a right for them to be absent. Judge Steven Boyce overrules the request, and Lori Vallow remains.
"Her presence can and should be required to ensure her due process rights and a fair trial," Boyce said.
Update 1:07 p.m.: Court takes a 30 minute recess. The defense, prosecution, judge and Lori Vallow looked like they went back in the chambers and are speaking to each other. No one has been told why.
Update 12:51 p.m.: Lori Vallow defense attorney John Thomas asks for a brief recess after lunch to speak with Vallow. She appeared upset, crossing her arms. Larry Woodcock, JJ Vallow's grandfather, is sitting next to reporters. He says, "I know it’s gonna get worse today, but we’ll make it. This isn’t about me. It’s about JJ."
Prosecution is now in the chambers with the defense, Lori Vallow and the judge.
Update 12 p.m.: Rexburg PD Detective Ray Hermosillo tells the court how they found Tylee Ryan's body. It was not near JJ Vallow's body.
Crews located "areas of interest" near what Hermosillo described as a "pet cemetery."
He said crews decided it was too risky to keep excavating the way they were, so police officers got down on their hands and knees and began digging. That is when they smelled the odor of a decomposing body, Hermosillo said. They started to uncover bits of flesh and charred bone.
“We uncovered bits and pieces of what we assumed was Tylee," Hermosillo said. “Just globs of flesh that were falling apart.”
"We had to take turns digging because the smell was so bad," he said.
Once crews removed that, there were more pieces of burnt flesh and bone in what appeared to be in a green bucket. The bucket melted so "it was kind of deformed" and the flesh and bone were “all kind of stuffed in that melted bucket," Hermosillo testified. They continued digging to find a skull and teeth.
Lori Vallow keeps her eyes on Hermosillo as he speaks.
Update 11:15 a.m.: Hermosillo recalls getting a search warrant for Chad Daybell's property on June 9, 2020. This is when police found the bodies of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan.
Hermosillo describes this day. Crews were searching around a pond at the back of Daybell's property when they found uneven weeds with soil on top of uneven grass, below a tree. Because this raised questions, an evidence team began digging into the soil until they reached a "black object" that looked like the crown of a head, Hermosillo said on the stand.
"There was a strong odor... A decomposing body," Hermosillo said.
The plastic was cut into in a methodical way to find a body of a small person inside, who Hermosillo later identifies as JJ Vallow.
"We were able to see what looked like brown human hair," Hermosillo said.
The jury and audience sees a photo of JJ Vallow's body, which is wrapped in black plastic and buried in a shallow, square-shaped grave.
Hermosillo says during the excavation they took Chad Daybell into custody when he was leaving his daughter's house "at a high rate of speed." Hermosillo goes back to the property, helps lift JJ Vallow's body out of its shallow grave, and into a body bag to give to the coroner.
Lori Vallow does not seem to be reacting at this point.
Update 10:00 a.m.: Hermosillo says when he obtained a search warrant for Lori Vallow's apartment, he was present for photos taken of her residence.
The jury and gallery views photos of her garage, which contained a camouflaged suit and gun silencers, along with clothing, rounds of ammo, weapons and a rifle. The end of the rifle is threaded for a silencer. Other photos included printouts of emails from Chad Daybell and books he wrote as an author. Inside a grocery bag was rope and duct tape.
Alex Cox, Vallow's brother, also had belongings in one of her spare rooms.
Rexburg PD tried to contact Vallow and Daybell, but no luck, Hermosillo says. That's when they found out -- through tips and cell phone data -- the two were living in Hawaii. Hermosillo makes the trip to Hawaii in January of 2020 to assist the police there in searching the couple's condo. There was no evidence any children had been living there, he said. Hermosillo said the children were still missing, and Vallow had not contacted the police department regarding anything about JJ Vallow or Tylee Ryan.
Vallow was then served with an order to produce her children.
Update 9:10 a.m.: Rexburg PD Detective Ray Hermosillo is on the stand. He said he began an investigation into JJ Vallow's disappearance because of the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux, who is the ex-husband of Lori Vallow's niece. Hermosillo went to speak to Lori Vallow and found Chad Daybell and Vallow's brother, Alex Cox. He spoke with Cox, and Cox told Hermosillo that he didn't know where Vallow was and he didn't have her phone number.
Hermosillo said, "I walked up to Alex, i asked him if Lori was home, he said she wasn't home. I asked Alex if he knew where JJ was at. At that point Alex got a blank look." Hermosillo spoke to Chad Daybell, who said he barely knew Lori Vallow. The two had been married for two weeks at this point. Neither said they knew where JJ Vallow was. Cox suggested he was with his grandmother, who reported him missing.
Daybell finally gives Hermosillo Vallow's phone number, and Rexburg PD gets a search warrant for her apartment, Hermosillo says. He said everything looked normal, but there were no clothes on the hangers.
The search later morphed to include Tylee Ryan, when her brother Colby Ryan said he hadn't heard from her "for a while."
Update 8:41 a.m.: Court is in session. Lori Vallow is wearing a pink top, glasses and her hair is wavy. She has been laughing with her attorneys this morning.
Watch more Lori Vallow Trial:
Watch more coverage of the Lori Vallow trial on the KTVB YouTube channel: