An Idaho detective testified on Thursday about finding Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow’s remains buried on Chad Daybell’s property months after their disappearances.
Rexburg Detective Ray Hermosillo recounted how investigators had to take turns digging on Chad Daybell’s property due to the strong smell of decomposition. The court also saw graphic images of J.J. Vallow and Ryan’s remains which were not shown on live-stream, according to East Idaho News.
“This is body composition. The body had begun to break down,” he said, referring to the moist soil underneath J.J. Vallow’s body after it was removed from the burial site.
The bodies were reportedly buried in a pet cemetery on Chad Daybell’s property.
Chad Daybell is currently on trial for killing his first wife, Tammy Daybell, and Lori Vallow Daybell’s two children in 2019. J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan, 7 and 16, were reportedly found buried on Chad Daybell’s property nine months after their disappearances; Ryan’s remains were dismembered and charred, while J.J. was in a plastic bag.
Hermosillo testified that they continued to dig and uncovered “globs of burnt flesh starting to protrude through the dirt.” They reportedly resumed their dig the next day and found more of Ryan’s charred remains.
“At that point, we saw what appeared to be the shape of a green melted bucket that appeared to have the remains of what we assumed was Tylee charred and burned inside that bucket,” he said.
Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell, who married weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death, created an alternate reality that permitted them to kill anyone who they thought was in their way.
Vallow Daybell was sentenced last July to life without parole for the September 2019 slayings of her two children. She also got a life sentence for conspiring Tammy Daybell’s murder in October 2019. Her death was initially ruled natural but later deemed a homicide.
Vallow Daybell is awaiting trial in Arizona for killing her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in July 2019. Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, fatally shot Charles Vallow and claimed self-defense. Cox died — reportedly of natural causes — in December 2019, months after J.J. Vallow and Ryan’s disappearances. Idaho prosecutors claimed Cox was also involved in the slayings.
Chad Daybell’s lawyer said during opening statements that Vallow Daybell is responsible for her children’s slayings while maintaining that Tammy Daybell’s death was natural. He also claimed Chad Daybell’s DNA was not found on Ryan or J.J. Vallow’s remains, and there is no indication Tammy Daybell’s death was a homicide.
Testimony continues…
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[Feature Photo: Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow/Facebook]
