Summary of Testimony of Ray Hermosillo
Detective Ray Hermosillo (will be called Det. H) has been a detective at Rexburg PD, for five years. Before that, he worked eighteen years law enforcement officer for the Rexburg police department. Ray identifies Chad Daybell, the defendant.
Re: Initial involvement with case involving Chad Daybell. In October 2019, a neighboring town asked for assistance to locate a jeep related to a shooting in Utah. The jeep was wanted related to the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux, who is Lori Vallow’s niece Melani Pawloski’s X-husband. Ray H and his partner Detective Dave Hope surveilled 565 Pioneer condos occasionally. This turned out to be the condominium of Lori Vallow. Her brother Alex Cox, and her niece Melani Pawloski also lived in the same condominium complex.
On Nov. 4th, Det. H saw the jeep outside 565 Pioneer (Lori Vallow’s condo), and had it impounded.
Prosecutor Rob Wood asks Detective Hermosillo if he ever saw the children while surveilling the condo of Lori Vallow. Det. H says NO, he never saw any children.
Det. Hermosillo and Det. Dave Hope went to 565 Pioneer to conduct the welfare check. When they approached they saw Alex Cox and Chad Daybell, both whom were loading a truck outside the condo’s.
Det. Hermosillo approached Alex Cox (Lori’s brother), who was standing outside his pickup truck and asked if Lori Vallow was home. Alex stated the Lori was not home. Det. H asked if JJ Vallow was home and Alex looked surprised and looked at Chad Daybell. Neither Alex nor Chad would answer any questions about JJ. Finally, Alex Cox blatantly lied and said that JJ was with his grandmother.
Det. H told them that was unlikely as it was the grandmother, Kay Woodcock, who had asked for the welfare check. Alex Cox told Det. H he did not have Lori’s cell phone number. Chad Daybell also stated he did not have Lori Vallow’s phone number. Det. H called for other detective so they could knock on doors and get to the bottom of where JJ was.
Now talking about Melani Boudreux. She lived in apartment 170, right next door to Lori Vallow. There was no answer at Melani Boudreux unit. (Note: In my psychic readings I saw JJ killed in unit with a bunkbed. Listen to see if they ever discuss interior.)
Det. H called for more detectives and in addition to det. Dave Hope, Det. Ron Ball and Det. Stubbs also joined the canvassing of condo’s at 565 Pioneer. Detectives called Lori on cellphone, Chad had finally given them the number. Lori was instructed to open her door and talk to detectives. Lori stated that JJ was with Melanie Gibb, a friend of her and Chad.
Det. H attempted to call Melanie Gibb. Finally, Det. H called Gilbert, Arizona detective and told him the situation and about Melanie Gibb.
Eventually the detectives obtained a search warrant for the condo’s. In Lori’s condo, there were furniture and food in the kitchen, but zero clothes in the closet. It appeared that Lori may have left suddenly.
Det. H was asked if there was any evidence that JJ had ever been there. Det. H testified they located a child’s star war suitcase under a crawlspace under the stairs, as well as a childs scooter. They also found an empty prescription bottle of Risperdone prescribed to JJ.
In apartment 175, Lori’s apartment, they found several firearms, as well as some army knives in the garage, and a halloween mask. In unit 175, they found a storage unit receipt which listed D-52 unit rented to Lori Vallow, so they obtained a search warrant for that. In the apartment they also found a rental agreement for Lori Vallow.
In the storage unit they found children’s bikes, boxes of children’s things, and photo albums of Lori’s children, Tylee, JJ, and Colby Ryan. Other than that nothing of value was found in the storage unit.
Next they searched apartment 174, Melanie Boudreaux apartment, and Alex Cox apartment 107, which was nearly empty except where they found large amounts of cash in the closet, which they took for safekeeping.
BREAKING FOR LUNCH RECESS
After lunch Prosecutor Rob Wood wants to show pictures of the interior of Lori Vallow’s rental condo. Defense attorney John Prior objects due to the fact that Det. Hermosillo does not know the name of the photographer so cannot testify when the photos were taken, or if items had been rearranged. Judge Boyce rules that the photos can be shown.
Personally, I am hoping that they show photos of Melani Boudreaux (Lori’s niece) apartment as well. Like I said, I saw JJ murdered at the entrance to the room with the bunkbeds, and I am looking for confirmation of that.
After showing the photos of Lori’s apartment, photos are set to be shown of the garage. Defense John Prior asks Hermosillo who took these photos and Det. Hermosillo says “Detective Dave Hope”. The photos being shown are in black plastic bags and there is a gun, rifles, a silencer, (belonging to Alex Cox), and some knives. They also found a mask, and a passport belonging to Alex Cox.
Now talking about an email from October 30, 2018. Issue seems to drop off…
Prosecutor Wood asks Detective H what the next step is to look for JJ Vallow. Det. H states “they” spoke to Brandon Boudreaux, Melani Boudreaux Pawloski, and Tylee’s brother Colby Ryan.
Objection by Prior: This is creating a narrative.
Objection: Hearsay, as it may have been another detective that actually talked to the above listed people. Judge: Sustained.
Prosecutor asks if they ever met Tylee Ryan. Det. H says no. After speaking with Colby, the search then included Tylee. Tylee was born in Texas, September 04, 2002 to Lori Vallow and her third husband, Joe Ryan.
December 11, 2019 both children were entered into NCMEC for missing and endangered children. The Rexburg detectives also contacted the FBI.
Prosecutor asks about trying to contact Lori regarding her children. Det. H says, yes, but her cellphone was turned off. Chad Daybells phone was also shut off. Neither Chad nor Lori ever contacted police to report the missing children.
Question about TIPS called in to detectives. Specific question “Did any of those tips ever lead to finding JJ Vallow, did any tips lead you to find Tylee Ryan?” Det. H says, “No”.
Now they are looking at photos of children found on Lori’s Icloud account, Prosecutor Wood is asking about metadata stored in the photographs for purposes of determing the dates the photos were taken. Rob Wood is showing Det. Hermosillo a photo of Lori, Tylee, JJ, and Alex, at Yellowstone, taken September 8th, 2019. This was the last known sighting of Tylee Ryan. The photo is one later released by the FBI during the search for the children. Another photo, dated September 22, 2019, showed JJ Vallow sitting on a couch, which matched the couch in Lori Vallow’s condo unit. JJ was never seen alive after the date of that photo.