Lori Vallow murder trial day 13: Arizona detective among those to testify
BOISE, Idaho - Witness testimony resumed Thursday in the trial of Lori Vallow, the so-called "Doomsday mom" accused of murder conspiracy in the deaths of her two young children.
Among those to take the stand on April 20 is Chandler Police Det. Nathan Moffatt, who was the lead investigator in the murder case of Charles Vallow, Lori's late husband.
Moffatt's role in the investigation is significant, because he interviewed Lori's brother, Alex Cox, after Vallow was shot and killed by Cox. It is now known that Lori was at the scene when the shooting that killed her now-ex husband happened, but left and returned to the scene an hour later. Lori has been indicted in Maricopa County for conspiring with Cox to kill Vallow.
Moffatt was asked by prosecutors if money could be a motive in a murder. He said yes, and that Chandler Police learned about Vallow's sizable life insurance policy.
"On or about July 17, I contacted the life insurance, and Lori had tried to file a claim on that million dollar policy," said Moffatt.
"Did you learn whether or not that claim was paid out?" Prosecutors asked.
"I later did, and it was not paid out to Lori," Moffatt replied.
Vallow had changed the beneficiary to his sister, Kay Woodcock, before he was killed.
Another person who took the stand on April 20 is David Warwick, Lori's former friend. Warwick and his wife Melanie Gibb, a key witness in her own right who testified the week prior, were two of the last people to see 7-year-old JJ Vallow alive, on the night of Sept. 22, 2019.
On that night, Warwick and Gibb visited Lori's apartment in Rexburg, as they stayed over to record a podcast. Warwick said Lori did not want to be interrupted, and Cox was watching JJ. JJ would not be seen again until June 2020, when he, along with his sister, Tylee Ryan, were found dead in the backyard of Lori's current husband, Chad Daybell.
Other people who testified on April 20 include a Rexburg Police detective, JJ's former babysitter, the principal of the elementary school JJ attended for two weeks, an intelligence analyst with the FBI, and a Fremont County Sheriff's detective. Thus far, prosecutors have called 18 witnesses.
In addition, jurors saw body camera video of Rexburg Police's interaction with Lori in late November of 2019, when police said she lied about JJ's whereabouts.
On Wednesday, law enforcement officials testified about Lori Vallow's suspicious financial moves.
The trial is being held four hours away from Fremont County, where the bodies of her kids, J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan, 7 and 16, were found. The judge on the case decided in order to find a fair and impartial jury, the trial venue should be moved to Boise in Ada County, the largest county in Idaho with about 25% of the state’s population living there.
There are no trial proceedings scheduled for April 21. Court is back in session on Monday, April 24.
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Murder, Money and the End of Days: The Lori Vallow story
Murder, Money & the End of Days. Why investigators believe religion, greed and an affair led an all-American mom on a trail of death. This is the Lori Vallow story. FOX 10’s Justin Lum walks us through the crucial timeline on the eve of Vallow’s trial.
For all previous and extensive coverage on this case, visit https://fox10phoenix.com/vallow + watch the in-depth special here.