Jury selection underway in Daybell murder trial

BOISE, Idaho — The trial of a man charged with the deaths of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children began with jury selection in Idaho this week, serving as a second act in a bizarre case that has drawn worldwide attention and already resulted in a life sentence for the mother of the children.

Chad Daybell’s trial in Boise is expected to last up to 10 weeks, and jury selection began Monday morning with 7th District Judge Steven Boyce reading the charges to the potential jurors and telling them that it is up to prosecutors to prove the charges — Daybell does not need to prove his innocence.

The 55-year-old self-published author is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Tammy Daybell, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and JJ’S big sister, Tylee Ryan, who was last seen a few days before her 17th birthday.

The children’s mother, Lori Vallow Daybell — who married Chad Daybell shortly after the deaths — was found guilty last year and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The couple claimed they could tell if people had been possessed by dark spirits that could turn them into “zombies,” former friend Melanie Gibb testified in court. They believed the only way to get rid of a zombie was to destroy the possessed person’s body by killing them.

The children’s bodies were found buried in Chad Daybell’s eastern Idaho yard in the summer of 2020.

Daybell also is charged with insurance fraud in connection with Tammy Daybell’s death and two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception in the children’s deaths.

If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Daybell has pleaded not guilty.