Beyond The Horizon
ICYMI: Juror # 18 From The Lori Vallow Trial And The Book He Wrote About His Experience
Lori Vallow gained significant media attention due to her involvement in a complex and tragic case involving the disappearance of her two children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua "JJ" Vallow. Lori Vallow was married multiple times and had a history of unusual beliefs, including her involvement with a religious group known as Preparing a People.
The case unfolded in late 2019 when concerned family members reported Tylee and JJ missing. Lori and her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, became the focus of the investigation after they were found to have misled authorities and exhibited suspicious behavior. The situation escalated when investigators discovered the bodies of Tylee and JJ buried on Chad Daybell's property in Idaho in June 2020.
Lori Vallow was subsequently arrested and faced multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit murder and various counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children. Her husband, Chad Daybell, also faced charges related to the concealment of evidence and the children's deaths. The case drew widespread attention due to its intricate details, including allegations of cult-like beliefs, doomsday prophecies, and suspicious deaths of individuals associated with Lori and Chad, namely Lori's children.
Throughout the legal proceedings, Lori Vallow's defense maintained her innocence, claiming mental health issues and coercion from Chad Daybell. However, as the investigation progressed, evidence mounted against both of them, leading to their eventual indictments and court appearances.
After a blisterning presentation by the prosecution in Idaho, and a weak wristed attempt at a defense by Vallow, she was found guilty. In this episode, we hear from Juror # 18 who discusses what he went through while sitting on the jury and his plans to write a book after the conclusion of the Chad Daybell trial which is slated to get started in April of this year.
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Juror #18: Man shares experience serving on the Lori Vallow trial | ktvb.com
- Duration:
- 14m
- Broadcast on:
- 27 Jun 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. In this episode we're going to swing over to Idaho once again, and this time we're going to get an update. From a man named Tom Evans, who was Juror No. 18 during the Lori Valo trial. So let's dive into this article from KTVB7 and let's see what they have for us. Juror No. 18, Boise man shares experience serving on the Lori Valo Daybell trial. This article was authored by Maggie O'Mara. Tom Evans of Boise is one of the jurors that served on the Lori Valo Daybell trial in the spring of 2023. When Evans received his Jerry Summons in March, he said he could not have predicted that he would serve on the jury for one of the most high-profile trials in Idaho history. Oh, there's no doubt, this trial had it all, and it disgusted me at every turn. And honestly, I was just straight up sickened the whole entire trial. Every time something new came out, I wanted to vomit. We've covered a lot of gross, disgusting people here, but Chad DeBell and Lori Valo, they're right at the top of the heap, as far as I'm concerned. There were hundreds and hundreds of people in the jury room, and I just thought this is business as usual in the courthouse. They have trials that needed to be tried, and they need jurors. I had no idea it was the Lori Valo Daybell case, said Tom Evans, a juror on the Lori Valo Daybell case. By the time I actually got called to court, Lori was there, so then I knew for sure because I did recognize her, so I knew what we were in for. I could see it on other people's faces too. It was just kind of dawning on us that we were on the jury. There were people crying, and in a lot of shock. And if you remember, there were some jurors who were dismissed early on because of the brutality and the nature of the evidence that was going to be presented. Not everybody's built for this. If you have kids, and honestly myself, somebody who's been completely desensitized with all the cartel videos, the terrorist videos, what's going on over in Ukraine, the evidence that they presented here had your boy a bit green around the gills. And I think it always hits different when it's children, right? You have kids out here who are being murdered by their parents, that's going to hit a little bit different, at least for me anyway. 18 jurors were chosen that day. He was juror number 18. The way it worked is there were 18 of us, and six of us would be alternates. But we wouldn't know who the alternates were until the trial ended, he said, and they do that specifically in case people get thrown off the jury, or if somebody's sick, something happens, they have alternates. That way they don't have to start the process from Jump Street. Evan said he wasn't familiar with the details of the case, he recognized Lori Valo from the news, but he didn't know much. Once the trial started, he said he learned a lot, and he caught on fast. Not knowing a lot about her going in, made it hard on me. And I was really trying to keep up with the testimony and everything that was going on. Evan said, "There was just a time with all the evidence coming together that I felt she was definitely guilty. She would sit there with her head to the side and with her wavy hair covering her face, and was just kind of sitting there with a sad look on her face." He saw her react a testimony, but not often. Only a few times did I actually see her react. When they showed the pictures of the exhumed bodies, she was really slumped down and looking away with her head down, that seemed to affect her. The other time I saw her with one of the witnesses Lori was staring daggers at her in a really intense way. It looked like she was trying to stare down, maybe manipulator, he said. And there's no doubt about it, Lori Valo's reactions in this courtroom were beyond bizarre. Imagine being accused of murdering your kids, and then the evidence is presented and you sit there stone-faced? Just like no big deal, and if you didn't do it, you don't show any emotion that somebody else murdered your children in such a way. So for me, there's no doubt that Lori Valo is guilty here. Never mind the reaction, but the evidence that was presented. It was ironclad, and from the minute they started with her opening statement, as far as the prosecution goes, it was a wrap for Lori Valo. She never had a defense here, she never even put forth a defense, and we see the end result. So there is zero doubt in my mind anyway, that Lori Valo is exactly where she belongs. And frankly, she's lucky that there was some prosecutorial missteps in the early goings, because if not, she would be facing the death penalty, and she probably would have gotten it. There was a lot of emotional testimony from people like Lori's oldest son Colby, Kay Woodcock, and Tammy Daybell's sister. He said he was the witness to so much pain in that courtroom. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what else I could possibly say besides just agree with the guy. Talk about horrible. Everything that was happening in that courtroom made me want to just drink bleach. That's how gross it all felt. And everything about Lori Valo and Chad Daybell really turns me off. I try not to get too caught up in, you know, emotions here on the podcast because I don't think it's healthy for the most part for people like me to do that. But some people are just so vile that you can't help yourself. And these people, Chad Daybell and Lori Valo certainly fall into that category for me. Then you add in all of the other manipulation and all of the rest of the bullshit that we saw take place in the aftermath of these kids going missing or as we know now being murdered. That was really hard. There was a lot of testimony that was really tough. Evan said these were actual people and they were victims of her also Evan said the worst part was the day the jury was exposed to the autopsy photos of the victims. It was something he couldn't prepare for. And I just don't know how you prepare for something like that. We're talking about two little kids and we're talking about the way they were murdered being just beyond this world gruesome and brutal. And then you add to the fact that they were murdered by people that they trusted implicitly. Alex Cox comes and gets JJ and we all know the story. I'm not going to rehash it once again right here right now, but we all know the story. And imagine that little boy that night, how he was feeling thinking he's going to his uncle's house only to end up being murdered. Oh yeah, I say this in the strongest terms possible. Buck Chad Daybell and fuck Lori Vallow. That was a really hard day. We kind of knew what we were going into that day in court, but obviously you can't be prepared for that. And it was really hard seeing those pictures. Evan said, I felt like I had to look. It was my job, but I told myself ahead of time I'm going to take the quickest glance possible, but every one of those images is burned into my mind and will never go away. And unfortunately, there's no way you can prepare for something like that. We're talking about regular people here, these jurors, you know, Tom Dick and Harry working at the grocery store or at the car parts joint. And then they're expected to come in here and look at these kinds of pictures. Just a shit situation for everybody and these jurors that deal with cases like this, there's a lot of these jurors that they go through it afterwards. Some of them even have PTSD, especially when you're talking about crimes that were committed against children. He said he was very impressed with the people who brought the case to trial from law enforcement to the lawyers involved. It made me so proud of the state that I live in to see the system working so well. The people within the system doing their jobs, the FBI, the detectives, the Rexburg police, the prosecution team, everybody, he said, the defense team, those guys. I think they gave Lori her due process. I think that's all they could do. I don't think they had much of a defense. No, technicalities and loopholes. And it doesn't matter how good of a lawyer you are. You're not going to turn chicken shit into chicken salad. And that's what these lawyers were asked to do. After weeks of being in that courtroom, day after day, the prosecution and the defense gave closing statements. It was time to deliberate, but six of the jurors had to go. Only 12 of the 18 would decide Lori's fate. The trial ended and almost immediately there picking numbers for the alternates out of the hat. Evan said he said his number number 18 was called as an alternate juror and he was terribly disappointed. Yeah, I think I would be too at that point sitting in for the trial for all these weeks and then finding out you're an alternate. I'd want to render justice. I want to be somebody that sends somebody like Lori Valos asked a prison for the rest of her life. So I'd be disappointed too. At that moment, I was shocked. I was hurt. It felt unfair. Evan said, I did not want my number called at that point. I wanted to be part of deliberations after having gone through all of that. Evans was free to go and he went back home to wait for the jury's verdict. When the verdict was announced, he was able to go back to court. I arranged with the jury administrator to be there and actually have a seat in the courtroom. Evan said, they offered that to us and I took him up on it. I wasn't going to miss that. And I don't blame him. Look, if you sit through this and you're invested in it and you're a juror and you see all of this evidence, at that point, I would think that you have an interest in seeing justice being rendered. And it's nice to see that the state of Idaho gave these jurors that ability. Lori Valo Debel was found guilty on all counts. Evan said it was the right verdict. Months later in July, Lori Valo Debel was sentenced in Fremont County, Idaho. Evans made the trip to watch the sentencing in person. Valo was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for involvement in the murders of her children, JJ Valo and Tyler Ryan and Chad Debel's wife, Tammy. She made a stunning statement in the courtroom, claiming her children weren't murdered and that she still talks to them in heaven. This lady is a straight up wacko, a scafuzzo wacko who should be put underneath the prison for the bullshit she did. The first time I heard her speak in person, I was shocked. Evan said, I think in some sense, she is insane. She has to be. But then she is perfectly capable of manipulating and making things work in the way that she wants them to work. So in that sense, she's not insane. While he was in Eastern Idaho, he drove to Chad Debel's house in Rexburg. He said he wanted to see it in person to honor the children. I saw where Tyler and JJ had been buried. Evan said it was said. Larry and K Woodcock, JJ's grandparents were there. The media was there and they were interviewing people. There was a memorial set up for JJ and Tyler and Tammy there. I could see that Larry and K were being interviewed and when they were done, they came up to us and hugged us. They were so warm. That was a moment that meant a lot to me and it really made me feel better about the whole thing. They were comforting me. Evan said, I walked away thinking, I just can't go back to my life. What am I going to do? Then it came to me that there is a story to be told here. I thought I'm not a writer, but I'm going to write a book and that's what I'm going to do. Hey, good for him. And if you wait until after the trial's done and all of the dust settles, then I'm all for it. As long as you're not out here acting like a fool. So he did. Evan's book is called Money, Power, and Sex, the Lori Valo Debel trial by Jure No. 18. He said the title just made sense. The prosecuting attorney, her opening statement started out saying, this is a case of money, power, and sex. Those were some of the first words I heard as a juror and it resonated with me, I guess, Evan said, I wanted to tell the story of the police, the prosecution, and the court system, my experience as a juror. And being at the trial, Lori and Chad's past, I talk about Tyler and JJ and Tammy and Charles Valo. I talk a lot about preppers, fundamentalist offshoots, and other cults. He added that he felt writing the book has helped him as kind of a therapy. And there are so many weird ass cults out there, folks. So many different, like wacky groups like this. It's scary to think about. The book will be available on Amazon, but not until after the Chad Debel trial is over. He agreed with the police and the prosecution that he should hold off from releasing the book until Chad's fate is known. Evan said this won't be his only book. He plans on attending Chad's trial and said he will also write about what he sees there. The first book is about Lori. The second one will be about Chad. He said, I guess there's a lot more that's going to come out, so that's going to be interesting to see. From what I understand, there's more evidence and testimony. It won't be a repeat of Lori's trial. I hope it's a result is a repeat though, because if Chad Debel walks free, forget it. I'll have no faith left in anything. Evan said being a juror, he was truly confronted with evil in this case. Well, I can only imagine, as just an observer, I felt like we were confronted with evil. I was confronted with it, felt it, and I can't describe it to somebody who hasn't experienced it. It's dark and it's heavy, and it's all encompassing. It does something to you. Evan said, it takes a toll. Evan's plans to donate the proceeds from his books to Hope House and Marcing Idaho. He said he wanted something good to come from all of this. Hope House takes in children who are in need, in danger, they have no family, and they give them a home and an education, Evan said. We went out there and we got to meet some of the directors toward the place and got to meet some of the kids. They really do a great job. Even though his jury service is done, Evan said he just can't walk away from this case. Not yet. I think the idea is you go serve your time and then you go on with the rest of your life, he said. That's 100%. That's what I was expecting to do, but when I walked out of that courtroom, there was no way that that was going to happen. So I'm interested for sure to see what this guy's book has to say, and I can only imagine that he's going to have some nice inside information for us. So we'll definitely keep an eye on it, and when the book comes out, I'm going to pick it up and we'll talk about it again. But before then, obviously we have the Chad Daybell trial, and we're going to cover every aspect of it. We're going to cover it from the first day of jury selection all the way through the duration, just like we do with the other big trials. So that'll be coming up in April, and until then we'll keep adding some context episodes as we prepare for that trial to kick off. But that's going to do it for this one, and all of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.