SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Based on a timeline in a newly unsealed affidavit for the arrest of Chad Daybell, his first wife was still alive when remains of Lori Vallow Daybell's children are thought to have been buried on the Daybell property.
Additionally, text messages were exchanged between Tammy and Chad Daybell on the same day investigators believe Alex Cox, the children's uncle, was tracked where the remains were later discovered on June 9, according to arresting documents. Tammy Daybell was believed to be living at the property when the children were buried. The last known sighting of Tylee Ryan was Sept. 8, 2019; JJ Vallow was last seen on Sept. 23, 2019.
Tammy Daybell died in her sleep at her Salem home on October 19, 2019. Investigators have called the death suspicious, and her body was exhumed from the Springville Evergreen Cemetery in Utah in December. Just two weeks after her death, Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow were married.
The court documents helped explain how investigators were about to find "sights of interest" where human remains were dug up on the property on June 9. Cellphone pings from Cox's phone put him at the Daybell residence on September 5, 9, 23, and 25 – specifically, in the areas where the remains were later dug up, according to the court documents. Cox died suddenly in December.
TEXT MESSAGES
Tammy and Chad Daybell sent messages to each other on Sept. 9 – on the day before the last sighting of Tylee Ryan. They read as followed:
Investigators explained in the unsealed affidavit they found the messages to be suspicious. They reasoned raccoons are generally nocturnal animals and would not be out in the day for Chad Daybell to shoot them.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 TIMELINE
The same day as those messages were sent, Cox's phone shows he was at the property just minutes before Chad Daybell sent the first message to his first wife. From midnight to noon, cellphone records show Cox moved from his apartment to Lori Daybell's apartment, back to his apartment, and then at the Daybell property, according to the court documents. Cox's cellphone ping locations from the affidavit read as followed:
PUTTING TWO-AND-TWO TOGETHER
Fourteen minutes after the last ping from Cox's phone, Chad Daybell started to text Tammy Daybell about burying the raccoon at the pet cemetery.
The court documents infer Tammy Daybell knew where the pet cemetery was that Chad Daybell claims he buried the raccoon. Samantha Gwilliams, Tammy Daybell's sister, was able to point on a map to the pet cemetery to investigators. When asked how she knew where the pet cemetery was located, Gwilliams said she knew about it because Tammy Daybell showed her.
Regardless of what Chad Daybell did - or did not - bury at the pet cemetery that day, investigators put two-and-two together: Cox's phone record put him near the pet cemetery the same day as when those messages were sent to Tammy Daybell. And that Tammy Daybell was still alive when the children are thought to have been buried.
Based on Cox's phone's location on Sept. 9, 2019, police visited another "site of interest" and dug down six feet to a layer of brick. Removing the brick, they found "charred tissue and charred bones." The anthropologist told investigators these appeared to be human bones, according to documents.