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Lori Vallow Daybell trial: Vallow said she was 'done with JJ,' friend testifies

April Raymond, Lori Vallow's friend from Hawaii, took the stand on Wednesday.

BOISE, Idaho — Week two of testimony in the Lori Vallow, or Lori Vallow Daybell trial, continued Wednesday with pages of financial records to prove Vallow took her children's social security benefits after they died.

Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom, but KTVB investigative and courts reporter Alexandra Duggan was there:

Live updates

3:24 p.m.: Court recesses for the day and will resume Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

3:09 p.m.: Raymond said Lori Vallow told her she found evidence of Charles Vallow having an affair. As a result she canceled his credit card, took his keys and moved his truck from the airport lot where it was parked, Raymond said.

Raymond also says Lori Vallow tried to "gather" her so she could join the 144,000, which is a group in certain religions who are believed to be holier beings sent to Earth to assist with the second coming of Jesus Christ. Many friends testified that Lori Vallow thought she was the leader of the 144,000.

"She had some experiences in the temple that had changed her view of herself and her life, she had found a group of like-minded people who shared those same experiences," Raymond said. She told Lori Vallow she didn't believe it.

"She just thought I wasn't ready to hear it, maybe," Raymond said on the stand.

3:00 p.m.: The state has called April Raymond, Lori Vallow's former friend.They were both members of a branch in the LDS church in Hawaii.

Raymond had to disclose that she saw part of an interview a reporter did with Lori Vallow's cousin about the LDS church. The exclusionary rule in this case means witnesses cannot watch or read testimony from the trial before they are called to the stand. Judge Steven Boyce said he doesn't believe Raymond's exposure to that interview violated the exclusionary rule.

Raymond said the two became fast friends -- they did activities together and spent holidays together. Raymond also spent time with Lori Vallow's children and her husband, Charles Vallow, fairly frequently.

Lori Vallow came to stay with Raymond after she moved back to Hawaii. The conversation "evolved" Raymond said, into Lori Vallow saying her husband was a demon named Ned Schneider.

"She said the demon was kind of using his body as a host," Raymond said. "When I asked 'how do you know' she said 'because he was shorter.'"

Raymond said Lori Vallow also told her she didn't bring JJ Vallow on this short trip back to Hawaii because "she was done with JJ." 

2:00 p.m.: Cassandra Ynclan, a detective with the Chandler Police Department, is called to the stand. She also responded to the killing of Charles Vallow, who was shot by Lori Vallow's brother Alex Cox in what he said was self defense.

Lori Vallow told her she was present at the shooting, which was "new information to detectives," Ynclan said. Other police testified Lori Vallow had left the home before 8 a.m., meaning if she was present during the shooting, it would have taken place a little under an hour before 911 was called.

"She was not really upset, even laughing at one point," Ynclan said.

Ynclan was tasked with interviewing Lori Vallow after the shooting at the department's family advocacy center.

"She was calm, unemotional, I would say," Ynclan said. "She was almost nonchalant."

Lori Vallow told Ynclan she heard one gunshot inside the house, walked into the room and saw Charles Vallow on the floor. She said she took Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow to Burger King and dropped her son off at school.

Ynclan said there were discrepancies from Lori Vallow's story and her brother Alex Cox's story.

Jim Archibald, Lori Vallow's defense attorney, steps up to cross-examine Ynclan.

"Is there a correct or incorrect way to act after your estranged husband is shot? he asked.

"It left an impression upon me how unemotional she was," Ynclan replied.

Lori Vallow has already been indicted in Arizona for conspiracy to commit murder in Charles Vallow's death

1:30 p.m.: Chandler Police Det. Ariel Werther is now on the stand. He responded to the shooting of Charles Vallow.

He was tasked with speaking to Lori Vallow to provide basic information about JJ Vallow, her son, who was in the car when the shooting happened. After the shooting, Lori Vallow told police she went to Burger King to get JJ Vallow food and take him to school. She then went to buy flip flops at Walgreens.

Werther said based on video surveillance, the Burger King trip was made at 7:54 a.m. The 911 call of the shooting came in between 8:36 a.m. Lori Vallow was back at the scene at 8:48 a.m.

Werther said they obtained data from Charles Vallow's phone indicating his phone made the same trips that Lori Vallow did that morning. His phone was in the area of the Burger King when Lori Vallow was there and was also in the area of the Walgreens when she stopped to buy shoes.

Charles Vallow's phone was not recovered on his body when he was found, Werther said.

12:55 p.m.: The state calls Scott Cowden to the stand. He is a firefighter and paramedic with the Chandler Fire Department. He was there the day Charles Vallow was shot on July 11, 2019.

"I would've been the first one to make it to Charles," Cowden sad. "He had two gunshot wounds."

Alex Cox, who shot Charles Vallow, told police he did do CPR.

Cowden said if you are doing effective CPR, there are injuries that can occur to the sternum. He didn't notice that. Cpwden said when he began CPR on Charles Vallow, he "felt a crunch," meaning the sternum wasn't broken before Cowden arrived. Chandler Police Department has previously said Alex Cox did not do CPR on Charles Vallow.

11:15 a.m.: Douglass said when the children's bodies were found on June 9, 2020, Chad Daybell transferred $8,000 each to his three oldest children. These transfers happened while police were on Daybell's property, searching.

11:00 a.m.: Douglass tells the jury that JJ Vallow's social security benefits were being paid directly into her account in September, when the children went missing.

Douglass said Lori Vallow made two Venmo accounts, both attached to different banks -- and there were failed attempts to transfer some of those funds. A day after Tylee Ryan was presumed to have been murdered, Vallow adds a new account to her daughter's Venmo, and this was active until the end of 2019.

Douglass said he also dug through Chad Daybell's bank accounts, where he found that Lori Vallow was purchasing multiple flights for Daybell to travel to Arizona. 

10:45 a.m.: Doulgass shows the jury that the children's social security benefits were still being deposited into Lori Vallow's account after the children's deaths. 

Douglass said Tylee Ryan had also previously indicated she "doesn't have the money" in her account because her mom was taking it, she told her brother via text message.

Douglass also said on Sept. 9, 2019, Tammy Daybell's life insurance policy was increased.

9:50 a.m.: Mike Douglass, an FBI forensic accountant agent, takes the stand. He is here to testify more about Lori Vallow's financial records. He has prepared a "grand theft timeline" to aid the jury in understanding his testimony.

He said he reviewed nearly 80 bank accounts from multiple people in the case.

9:34 a.m.: On Nov. 8, 2019, Chad Daybell sent an email to a realtor in Hawaii. He said the couple has "no pets or kids." 

This was four days after he and Lori Vallow were married.

Vallow also tried to purchase glow in the dark malachite rings from Etsy in August of 2019. Her card was declined. Kunsaitis said "they appear to be wedding rings," but the defense objected for speculation purposes. The detective was not cross examined by the defense. He is not yet released from his subpoena, so he will be called to testify later in the trial.

9:07 a.m.: On Sept. 9, 2019, Lori Vallow sent an email to her accountant asking about a tax refund because she was changing her address.

"This (email) is just hours after Tylee would've been buried in the backyard after Chad Daybell," Kunsaitis said.

8:47 a.m.: Rexburg Police Det. Chuck Kunsaitis is back on the stand Wednesday morning, explaining a long list of bank transfers to and from Lori Vallow's account. Kunsaitis said that through their investigation, they figured out Vallow accompanied her friend Melani Pawlowski on a trip to Missouri sometime in October of 2019. During this time, Venmo transactions were still coming from Tylee Ryan's account, sending money to her brother, Colby Ryan.

Kunsaitis said police were able to trace the IP address from those transactions back to Missouri, where Vallow was staying during her trip. The two missing children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, were not with their mother on this trip, Kunsaitis said. The two were last seen in September of 2019.

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