What Chad Daybell’s children have said about his charges

“Sins of Our Mother” includes Lori Vallow Daybell’s son, Colby Ryan, confronting his mother over what happened to his siblings, Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow. While Ryan speaks out against his mother in the Netflix documentary, the series does not focus on Chad Daybell, who also faces murder charges along with Vallow Daybell. His children earlier defended Daybell.

J.J. and Tylee, children of Vallow Daybell, went missing in September 2019. Their bodies were later found on June 9, 2020, in Chad Daybell’s yard. Vallow Daybell and her husband, have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder in the deaths of J.J., Tylee and Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell. Their joint trial is scheduled for January 2023 in Ada County, Idaho.

Both Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

What have Chad Daybell’s children said?

Chad Daybell’s five adult children — Mark Daybell, Leah Murphy, Seth Daybell, Garth Daybell and Emma Murray — sat down with CBS’ “48 Hours” in August 2021 for an interview with investigator Jonathan Vigliotti. Here’s some of what they said:

• Murray stated she did not believe Chad Daybell had a physical relationship with Vallow Daybell before Tammy Daybell’s death.

• All five children expressed the opinion that their father did not kill Tammy Daybell or J.J. and Tylee.

• Murray added that the family has an alternative theory of what happened to J.J. and Tylee: “I think it’s pretty clear it was Lori and Alex. … Alex came and left for periods of time. … We don’t know — what exactly he was doing.” Alex Cox is Vallow Daybell’s brother who killed Charles Vallow, Vallow Daybell’s ex-husband in what he said was self-defense in July 2019. He died of natural causes on July 11, 2019.

• Morgan Loew, an investigative reporter, offered a counterperspective and told CBS, “There are a lot of pieces of circumstantial evidence that tie Chad Daybell to these murders.” He listed pieces of evidence like the bodies being found in his backyard, the mysterious death of his wife and a text message where Chad Daybell states that he shot a raccoon and buried it in the pet cemetery on the date of one of the alleged murders.