Chad Daybell: 'Doomsday prophet' appeared emotional during murder trial

PHOENIX - April 23 marked day nine in the Chad Daybell murder trial, and witnesses from Arizona took the stand to testify against the Idaho man accused of murdering two kids and his first wife, Tammy.

In what was probably the most shocking revelation of the day, Daybell appeared visibly emotional in court as evidence was revealed to the jury.

Listening to his own voice on the 911 call for Tammy Daybell's death in October 2019, Daybell appeared to get emotional. It was body language no one in court has seen from the murder suspect.

Prosecutors said Tammy was an obstacle in Daybell's plan to be with Lori Vallow, a woman who used doomsday beliefs to justify the deaths of her two children: Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, while conspiring in Tammy's death. Evidence revealed how the three victims were deemed as dark spirits by co-conspirators.

Among those who testified on April 23 was Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow's niece who was shot at outside his Gilbert home weeks before Tammy's demise.

"There was, like, these documents that talked about, like, light and dark spirits, and it was, like, rating my family and myself, and then my extended family, like Lori's family and things like that," Boudreaux testified.

"After you provided those emails to law enforcement, did you do anything else?" the prosecutor asked.

"I wanted to figure out more," Boudreaux replied. "So I got into Google and and searched for Chad Daybell, because I didn't know him. So I wanted to see more information about this person that was sending the information."

"Right. And what did you find?" Boudreaux was asked.

"When I typed his name in, an obituary popped up for a Tammy Daybell, and something inside of me was just shocked," Boudreaux said.

Gilbert Police officer Ryan Pillar investigated the attempted murder against Boudreaux, locating a suspect vehicle and a possible shooter.

"Based on the information that you had as the lead detective, who was that person of interest?" Officer Pillar was asked.

"Person of Interest was Alexander Cox," Officer Pillar replied.

Cox, who was Vallow's brother, moved with her from Arizona to Idaho after shooting and killing Lori's fourth husband in Chandler, claiming self-defense. His cell phone pinged in Daybell's backyard, where authorities discovered JJ and Tylee's remains in June 2020.

Meanwhile, the defense cross-examined the officer who took photos in Daybell's home after Tammy's death. Daybell never asked for an autopsy, and his lawyer cited possible health concerns for Tammy, as well as bringing up Daybell's reaction to her passing.

"He was pretty shook up about this, wasn't he?" the officer was asked.

"Yes," the officer replied.

"Far more shook up than anybody else in the house, right?" the officer was asked.

"Yes," the officer replied.

Since then, an exhumation and autopsy reveals Tammy's death was a homicide, and the cause was asphyxiation.

The trial is set to continue on April 24.