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Ex-friend says Lori Vallow Daybell threatened to kill her

Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell were found in Hawaii in early 2020, after a months long national search for Lori’s two children. They both are now charged in the children’s murders. (East Idaho News)
By Alex Brizee Idaho Statesman

The criminal trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, a 49-year-old Rexburg mother accused of killing two of her children, took an emotional and unexpected turn Wednesday morning.

Audrey Barattiero, Daybell’s former friend, said in her testimony that Vallow Daybell told her she’d take her life and cut her up.

“She threatened to kill me,” Barattiero said.

Lori Daybell, and her husband, Chad Daybell, are charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan.

To be convicted of the first-degree murder charges, the jury will need to conclude that they killed, encouraged or commanded someone else to kill Vallow Daybell’s children.

“She said to me, ‘You’re so naive and too trusting,’ ” Barattiero said, recalling a 2019 conversation. “ ‘You’re like a little child, you believe anything.’ ”

Barattiero alleged that Lori Daybell told her that she wasn’t in the right head space to kill her, but that she’d get there.

Jim Archibald, an attorney for the defense, aggressively questioned Barattiero on why she didn’t mention the threat during previous hearings under oath.

“I was scared,” Barattiero responded.

“You want the jury to believe that you didn’t make this last crap up?” Archibald pressed.

“I did not,” Barattiero said.

The prosecution objected to Archibald’s line of questioning several times, saying that it was argumentative. But 7th District Judge Steven Boyce allowed the questions.

The Daybells are also accused of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of the two children and Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell’s former wife.

Chad and Lori Daybell – who had a months-long affair – got married on a Hawaii beach two weeks after Tammy Daybell’s body was buried in a Utah cemetery, according to witnesses throughout the trial.

Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial, in the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, began early April and could last another three weeks. Chad Daybell – who is also charged with first-degree murder in Tammy Daybell’s death – has a hearing scheduled Thursday.

Authorities said they believe Vallow Daybell’s brother Alex Cox also conspired to kill JJ, Tylee and Tammy Daybell, according to the indictment filed by prosecution teams from Madison and Fremont counties.

Cox died of natural causes in 2019. Vallow Daybell also faces a felony charge for allegedly conspiring to kill her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, with her brother.