Gilbert Drops Documents, New Charges

November 18, 2021

Hello Friends! Just when you think nothing is happening this week, things pop.

I want to do a little housekeeping before we dive into the Gilbert document dump and the filings from this week.

First, some of you may not have heard that our friend, Justin Lum, from Fox10 News in Phoenix, won a daytime Emmy for his coverage of this case. Since Charles Vallow’s death, Justin has been reporting on this case and has been tireless in pursuing sources and telling the story. You can see the moment he heard the news on his Facebook page. He was in a store buying diapers when he heard and decided to take a quick detour down the champagne aisle.

Next, I want to congratulate Dr. John and Lauren Matthias on their appearance on Dateline last week. Lauren and John did a great job, but the show’s highlight had to be Keith Morrison saying, “loin fire.”

I also want to shout out to Gigi and Fruit Loop and their YouTube channel Pretty Lies and Alibis. They’ve done an enlightening deep dive into the Chandler document dump.

We’re all working for the same goal – to raise awareness and tell the story for Charles, Tylee, JJ, and Tammy because they can’t. We’re better when we collaborate instead of competing.

First, we had the Chandler document dump, and now, Gilbert. For those unfamiliar with the suburban Phoenix area, Gilbert and Chandler are suburbs of Phoenix, located to the southeast of downtown Phoenix and situated one above the other. If you picture downtown Phoenix as the center of a clock, Mesa is at about 3:30, Gilbert at 4:00, and Chandler at 5:00. Because Chandler and Gilbert are so close, some events, in this case, occurred in Chandler, like Charles’s murder, while others happened in Gilbert, like the attempt on Brandon Boudreaux.

We also had some court filings. Before we get into the Gilbert documents, let’s look at the filings. Mark Means issued a subpoena for John Dalling, the Stake President of the Rexburg Henry’s Fork LDS Stake. Means appears to be fishing for information. He asks for information about the circumstances around Chad’s excommunication, but buried in the subpoena, are some interesting requests that have nothing to do with Chad’s excommunication. Means wants information about prosecutor, Rob Wood. He’s fishing to find out if Wood had anything to do with the decision to excommunicate Chad. Wood is far too smart, and I hope, ethical, to allow that to happen. Even if the subpoena comes to nothing, Means chips away at Wood’s credibility and reputation. Means also asks for information about Heather Daybell, although it’s unclear her relevance to the case. Means has tried to get to Heather Daybell before. It appears to be because she has spoken out about Chad. Perhaps Means thinks Heather may support his narrative that Chad was the mastermind and Lori, the victim. Means is also trying to get information about Lori’s call to the LDS church attorney through the back door. He has no authority to subpoena someone in another state or demand that they appear for a deposition, but he can ask about the local church’s contact with the Utah attorney. I don’t think either ploy works.

Some have asked about whether there is a religious privilege. Any information that a person shares in confidence with their religious advisor is considered privileged. It’s often called the confessor/penitent privilege. It covers things disclosed in confidence in the course of seeking spiritual guidance. However, the privilege does not give churches the blanket right to refuse to produce records or information in a criminal investigation. For example, suppose a person goes to their pastor/priest/bishop/imam/rabbi and unburdens themselves and seeks absolution or advice about a crime they committed. In that case, the religious leader cannot reveal what they have been told. On the other hand, if the church secretary is accused of skimming the collection plate or the youth director is accused of inappropriate sexual contact with a minor, the church records are not protected, and church personnel must answer law enforcement questions. Once again, I think Mr. Means is tilting at windmills. I wish he would focus on his client’s case.

When a lawyer receives a case, their first step is to review all the evidence and determine questions that might require further investigation. You see, while the prosecutor is required to turn over everything, including exculpatory information, they are not required to go out and find that information. When I received discovery in a case, the first thing I did was read everything once, then go back through, page by page, image by image, and make a running list of the questions that discovery raised for me. I would then give those questions to my investigator, either in person or by email. It would then be my investigator’s job to answer those questions by re-interviewing witnesses, reexamining physical evidence, and reporting back. If those questions required further experts, such as the retesting of forensic evidence, or other reexamination, I would take steps to get those professionals involved. In my jurisdiction, court-appointed attorneys were entitled to state-funded investigators or other experts, with pre-approval from the state administrator. It’s unclear how that works with the state of Idaho and Means’ strange, retained-but-representing-an-indigent-client status. It doesn’t seem Means has any clear system for working his case. Instead, he appears to be wasting his time responding to every little thing that develops. Let’s be clear: Means’ job is to develop a case theory that responds to and raises reasonable doubt about the evidence presented at trial. Yes, new evidence sometimes develops in a case after it’s charged, lab testing is completed, or reluctant witnesses come forward. What Means should not do is get wrapped up responding to things that appear in the media.

Probably the most significant release from the Gilbert police was the announcement that they had referred the case involving Brandon Boudreaux to the district attorney for prosecution. They recommended that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell be charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. They note that if Alex were alive, he would have been arrested and charged. Interestingly, the DA did not believe there was sufficient evidence to charge Chad in Charles’s murder. The Gilbert report notes that as of that time, charges were not being recommended against Melani Boudreaux-Pawlowski. Law enforcement will only refer things to the DA when they believe the DA can prove the case. We know that Melani may have been one of the only people who knew where Brandon was living, but law enforcement may be unable to prove that she gave that information to Lori or Alex. Charges could be filed if additional information is developed later. That sometimes occurs when new information comes out during a trial. If, as expected, the DA brings charges, that will mean a second potential capital case in Arizona for Lori and the first for Chad. Lori is already charged with conspiring to murder her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.

The police reports from Gilbert are enlightening; when read with the Chandler documents, a picture emerges. By October of 2019, Lori and Chad were deep into their belief that the end of the world was at hand and that anything they did was justified. Charles was dead, and so were Tylee and JJ. Lori needed Melani’s complete attention. She began to tell Melani that their prophet, Chad, knew Brandon was involved in gay activities. Even though there was no proof, Lori insisted it was true. She likely convinced Melani that she and her children were at risk of eternal damnation if she remained married to Brandon. But Lori wasn’t satisfied with just getting Melani away from Brandon. She knew Melani had received a sizable property distribution in her divorce and that Brandon had at least a million-dollar life insurance policy. Without Charles’s life insurance, Lori needed a new cash cow. With Melani entirely under Lori and Chad’s spell, it would be easy to access all that money if Brandon died. So Lori and Alex conspired to murder Brandon.

While the family boasted of Alex’s prowess with firearms, it appears he wasn’t that good at it. Lori and Alex prepared the gray Jeep for the attempt. They removed the third-row seat and the spare tire. Video from the storage unit shows them putting both items in storage. They also had the Jeep windows tinted to mask who might be inside. Highway cameras and other evidence show that the Jeep traveled from Idaho to Arizona just before the attempt on Brandon’s life. Alex waited for two hours outside Brandon’s home in Gilbert, AZ, for Brandon to come home. Brandon had just moved into the house, and few people knew where it was. The court had ordered Brandon to give Melani his address because their children were living with him.

Alex took shots at Brandon and sped away, but Brandon didn’t die; Lori’s hope for a big insurance payout was dashed. Chad and Lori were desperate to be together, with enough money to live the good life until July 2020, when the world would be thrown into the tribulation. Eight days after he shot at Brandon, Alex was back in Idaho, taking shots at Tammy Daybell. Despite his recent trips to the shooting range, once again, he missed. Ten days later, his phone would ping in the middle of the night at a church near the Daybell home. Early the following day, Tammy was dead. Chad Daybell collected $430,000 from Tammy’s life insurance and married Lori two weeks later, using the malachite wedding rings Lori had purchased months before.

Now let’s look at the DA’s response to John Prior’s discovery request. There is always a tension between the defense and the prosecution about what the prosecution must obtain. The general rule is that the prosecution is not required to obtain information that the defense can get for themselves. In the rare occasion where the information is not available to the defense, the prosecution has a responsibility to provide it if the information is in their possession or is reasonably obtainable. Much of the discovery response tells Prior to do his own leg work and get the stuff himself. The prosecution is correct. To the extent that the information is readily available on the crime lab website or from the crime lab, it’s Prior’s responsibility to obtain it.

The prosecution filed a motion to present additional information to the court about jury sequestration and Prior responded. In this instance, I think Prior is right. The state had the opportunity to present their information. The judge had previously said he wanted to see cost projections. When the hearing on the change of venue was held, the state was not adequately prepared and didn’t present that information. Now, they want a second shot at it. The judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to order a change of venue. The Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court issued an order to move the case to Ada County. Sorry, prosecution, that ship has sailed.

Chad has several hearings set back-to-back on December 2, 2021. We all hope a trial date will be set at that time. Unfortunately, there is no way to know if Lori will be competent to stand trial by that time. If she is not, John Prior is right; Lori’s availability should not interfere with Chad’s ability to go forward with the trial. However, if Lori is not restored to competency by the time of the trial and the judge declines to delay Chad’s trial further, it will mean that there will be a de facto severance of the cases.

The wristbands are in! I'll be sending the first round out to anyone who sent me a self-addressed stamped envelope. If you live outside the U.S. and send me an envelope with sufficient postage for a first-class letter, I will send you one. You can send your self-addressed envelope to:

Lori Hellis
1042 N. Higley Rd., #102-446
Mesa, AZ, 85205

Lastly, I want to remind you that tomorrow at 7 PM Pacific time, I will appear on YouTube on Hidden True Crime with Lauren Matthias. We will be joined by several of the regular moderators for a pre-Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, recipe swap, and pajama party. We'll be talking about case developments and drink recipes. Don’t miss it.