BOISE, Idaho — Content warning: This story contains graphic language that may be disturbing to some readers.
Week three of testimony in the Lori Vallow, or Lori Vallow Daybell trial, started back up Wednesday morning revealing the cause of death for JJ Vallow, which was never known previously -- asphyxiation by a plastic bag and duct tape. Tylee Ryan experienced "sharp trauma" in her pubic region and her remains were burned. Her cause of death was revealed as "homicide by unspecified means."
Lori Vallow is charged with murder along with her husband Chad Daybell in the killings of her two children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, and Chad Daybell's former wife, Tammy Daybell. They also both face conspiracy and grand theft charges.
Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom, but KTVB investigative and courts reporter Alexandra Duggan will be there Wednesday morning bringing any updates.
Live updates
3:26 p.m.: Christensen said "typically sharp traumas in dismemberment cases occur around joints."
Tylee Ryan's injuries are not typical of dismemberment -- "all of the sharp traumas are in the pelvic region," Christensen said.
In a 2-D scan of her pelvic region, there are visible marks and cuts along with the area near the pubis. This area is below the belly button in the pubic region.
This is also inconsistent with dismemberment, Christensen said.
Court adjourns for the day.
3:15 p.m.: The jury and audience is seeing pictures of Tylee Ryan's right and left femur as well as her jaw bone that still shows teeth.
Sometimes there is thermal damage to parts of the bone, and no thermal damage to others -- one side of Tylee Ryan's face was more exposed to fire than the other side, Christensen confirmed.
She said the left and right hip bones and the bottom of the spinal area had "sharp trauma" -- meaning "something with a small surface area" with a possible point was the tool that could have made these cuts.
One one bone, there were five "sharp traumas," Christensen told the jury. This came completely from one external force -- this was not caused from any type of internal issue.
3:00 p.m.: Christensen said she received more than 100 bone fragments of Tylee Ryan to analyze from police in Idaho in order to conduct a more in-depth examination.
"All major parts of the skeleton were represented," Christensen said, like the cranium, the arms and legs.
She identified three bones with "sharp trauma" and said one of the bones were "bent" at or around the time of death. This tells Christensen that some type of tool was used on Tylee Ryan's body.
One bone had "carnivore activity" indicating a "meat eating animal" was gnawing at the remains at some point.
2:55 p.m.: The state calls Angi Christensen, a forensic anthropologist with the FBI in Quantico, Virgina. A forensic anthropologist does a more in-depth analysis of skeletal remains.
2:17 p.m.: Thomas asks how Warren can come to a conclusion that JJ Vallow was suffocated with a plastic bag.
Warren said based on everything he ruled out, and that there was a plastic bag over his head, "it was reasonable to conclude that was the cause of death."
Thomas continues to press Warren on how he could have definitively known the suffocation was due to the plastic bag if Warren didn't swab JJ Vallow's nasal cavity. Warren tells him he wouldn't do that in this circumstance.
"Well I'm just basing this off of what I've seen in movies," Thomas tells him.
Warren replies, "That's scary."
Thomas asks, "Why is that scary? What are you basing this off of?"
Warren says, "My knowledge."
Again, Thomas presses Warren on why there is no plastic in JJ Vallow's nasal cavities.
Warren tells Thomas, "You're not breathing in plastic, you're breathing in air and that's why you die. There's no air."
2:05 p.m.: John Thomas, Lori Vallow's defense attorney, is cross-examining Warren.
Thomas asks if Warren is not an independent pathologist since he works with law enforcement.
"You can't do an autopsy in a black box... We often rely on information from law enforcement to help us determine the manner of death," Warren said.
1:42 p.m.: Warren is describing the remains in the photos. "There is blackened, charred pieces of the bone as well as some decomposed tissue," he said.
He said there are also pieces of "unidentified" bone he found, maybe of a hand or foot.
All these remains were sent to the FBI for further testing, Warren said.
Lori Vallow appears to have her head down when these photos are shown.
1:30 p.m.: Warren said there is just not enough of Tylee Ryan's body present to determine a complete cause of death.
He collected multiple samples of DNA to pass along to law enforcement -- Warren found a strand of hair, the melted bucket the remains were in and other pieces of tissue. The jury is looking at these photos of Tylee Ryan's remains now.
Once again, some of these photos are not projected to the gallery to prevent an "inflammatory effect."
12:05 p.m.: Warren said the cause of death for Tylee Ryan was "homicide by unspecified means." He believes she was dismembered.
This means the examiner knows a murder occurred, but cannot pinpoint exactly where or how it occurred due to the nature of the remains.
11:55 a.m.: Once Warren finished JJ Vallow's autopsy, he began Tylee Ryan's autopsy.
"This autopsy was different, the vast majority of the times I get an entire body... Tylee's remains were received in three separate sealed bags," he said.
Warren said he was looking for debris or projectiles from a gun in the remains using an X-ray.
"You could see there was a lot of mud, dirt," Warren said.
A toxicology exam was conducted, even though there was no blood or urine to send. Examiners can use skeletal muscle -- and in this case, there were large pieces of muscle that were sent to toxicology.
Warren said the results of this report came back positive for ibuprofen, a decompositional product that is common, a type of carbon monoxide level -- which is common in fire deaths.
"The level was very low, which means there was no indication Tylee was alive when she was burned," Warren said.
He found a heart, pieces of a kidney, lungs and some brain matter -- but the organs were charred, shrunken.
"Presumably the rest of the organs were burned away," Warren said. He also found the pelvis, parts of the femur, portions of the skull, some teeth, lower leg bones, portions of the sternum and rib fragments.
"These weren't nice clean bones," Warren said. "They were blackened, charred. The artifact was due to the dismembering process as well."
11:45 a.m.: JJ Vallow had bright red bruising underneath his fingernails, Warren said. "It means there was trauma to that area," he said. Warren thinks most bruising occurred antemortem, which means before death.
"When someone dies there is no longer circulation, so if someone is picked up after they're dead by the arms there would be no bruising like there was in this case," Warren said.
Abrasions taken on post-mortem has a much different, "more yellow, waxy" appearance, he told the jury. The ones on JJ Vallow's body were not consistent with post-mortem injuries.
11:32 a.m.: The jury is looking at a photo of JJ Vallow's face on the autopsy table. Warren is describing the discoloration on his skin as part of decomposition.
The jury now sees JJ Vallow's neck. Warren said you can see the impression of where the duct tape was wrapped. Some light brown and red hemorrhages and abrasions that are most consistent with scratching are on the left side of his neck and jaw, Warren described to the jury.
11:17 a.m.: Warren is describing JJ Vallow's body to the jury as they look at the autopsy photos. He was wearing red pajamas with a blue children's blanket draped over his lower body. The pajamas were soaked with decomposition fluid, Warren said. JJ Vallow was also wearing a diaper when he was found.
He has a plastic bag wrapped around his head, which is covered and sealed with duct tape.
10:50 a.m.: The jury is shown autopsy photos of JJ Vallow. The photos will not be available to those in the gallery watching because the defense objected to the nature of the photos being possibly prejudicial.
10:00 a.m.: Warren said a "red flag" was that there were scratches on JJ Vallow's neck.
"Was JJ trying to get the bag off his head? It could be scratch marks of him trying to get it off his head," Warren said. There was bruising around his wrists and ankles, which were duct taped, along with additional bruising on JJ Vallow's upper arms.
According to Nate Eaton with East Idaho News, a toxicology report was conducted that showed JJ Vallow had GHB in his system, but Warren said there was no way to tell if JJ Vallow was given GHB or if it was naturally occurring based on the levels.
9:55 a.m.: Warren said he conducted JJ Vallow's autopsy on June 11, 2020 at the Ada County morgue. It lasted four hours, he said. The cause of death was asphyxiation by a plastic bag and duct tape over the mouth, Warren said.
JJ Vallow was also bound at the wrists and ankles with duct tape. He was buried in red pajamas with a blue children's blanket over his body.
Warren said there was no indication of rib fractures or any disease within the body.
9:38 a.m.: Garth Warren, the chief forensic pathologist with the Ada County Coroner, is now on the stand.
9:26 a.m.: Daniels said there were huge differences between JJ Vallow's remains and Tylee Ryan's remains.
"Such a big contrast to us as a team, going from JJ's remains...very precise... versus Tylee's remains... a melted, charred mass," Daniels said.
8:55 a.m.: Further excavation of the site revealed a body inside multiple garbage bags held together with duct tape. Daniels said he could see human hair sticking out of the bag, later discovered to be 7-year-old JJ Vallow. The jury has yet to hear the cause of death for him.
8:46 a.m.: FBI Special Agent Steve Daniels is back on the stand Wednesday morning. He is explaining the excavation process of JJ Vallow's remains. The jury is seeing photos of the process -- the top soil being scraped off of the ground, revealing four large rocks below, and multiple roots in the soil that looked to be cut.
"What's interesting is the precise way these rocks are laid out," Daniels said. "Somebody's taken time an effort to cut through these roots."
Daniels said someone deliberately placed those rocks there. It was a good indication it was a burial site, Daniels said. Under those rocks, there were two wooden planks.
Out of all the burials that Daniels has excavated, he said "this one was the most precise."
"By placing these planks and rocks... You would do that to prevent wildlife from getting to the human remains. If they were scattered, a neighbor or something could find them," Daniels said.
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Court ended Tuesday after Vallow's younger sister, Summer Shiftlet, testified on the stand to discuss Vallow's relationship with her children.
The testimony was emotional and a phone call recording between the two sisters, while Vallow was still in jail, was played in court. Shiflet testified to the jury that Vallow had told her she knew where the children were and that they were safe.
During the cross-examination, Shiflet told the defense that her sister was a loving mother and that her children adored her. She also said she could never have imagined Vallow doing anything to harm her children, let along kill or conspire topathol kill them.
So far, the jury has heard from some family and friends including Lori Vallow's only surviving child Colby Ryan, as well as multiple police officers from Rexburg and Arizona. The jury has also seen body camera footage of law enforcement searching her apartment as well as some autopsy photos from Lori Vallow's children.
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