The ongoing murder trial of Chad Daybell, who allegedly conspired to murder his wife and his now-convicted girlfriend Lori Vallow’s two children, took an intimate turn on Monday, as jurors listened to text messages the pair once exchanged.
The messages captured the two discussing romantic liasons after they met at a 2018 religious conference, and even appeared to reveal a nickname the couple had for Daybell’s penis, according to testimony from FBI tactical specialist Nicole Heideman.
One message described how “Elena,” a fictional name the pair used for Vallow when discussing their relationship, “gripped the storm and they stare into each other’s eyes as intense waves wash over them,” according to the FBI agent.
The agent added that “the storm” appeared to be a nickname for Mr Daybell’s anatomy, reportedly drawing a smile from the 55-year-old at the defence table.
The Idaho man’s trial began in April. He’s charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commite the murder of three people, to which he has pleaded not guilty. He could face the death penalty.
Prosecutors allege that Mr Daybell, an author of apocalytpic novels, was driven by a “desire for sex, power, and money” that eventually led him and Vallow to kill Mr Daybell’s wife Tammy, alongside Vallow’s two children Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow.
Vallow was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to life in prison for the three deaths.
Vallow’s children vanished in fall of 2019, and Mr Daybell’s wife died in her sleep later that year, a death which an autopsy later showed was due to asphyxiation.
After her death, Mr Daybell and Vallow married in Hawaii.
The following year, the bodies of Vallow’s two children were found buried in the backyard of what was then Mr Daybell’s home in Rexburg, Idaho.
The trial of Mr Daybell has featured other bizarre moments.
Earlier in the proceedings, jurors learned about the man’s system for rating people as “light” and “dark,” depending on his judgement of the degree to which they had been influenced by evil.
