Chad Daybell trial live: Medical examiner testifies about bruises on body of ex-wife Tammy

Text messages between Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow 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 Daybell’s anatomy, reportedly drawing a smile from the 55-year-old murder suspect at the defence table.

Rick Wright, an FBI special investigator, testified on Tuesday about the location of Lori Vallow’s brother Alex Cox.

He said data specifically places Cox’s phone near where children’s bodies were found on dates investigators believed they were killed.

On the first day JJ was absent from school, 23 September 2019, Cox’s phone showed it was located behind Chad Daybell’s home between 9:55am and 10am.

He testified about a few other times where Cox’s phone location showed Daybell’s residence but for shorter periods.

Dr Lily Marsden attended the exhumation of Tammy Daybell and assisted Dr Erik Christensen, Utah’s chief medical examiner at the time, with the autopsy.

They concluded that Tammy died from asphyxia, and the manner of death was homicide.

But in their initial examination, Dr Marsden said she and Dr Christensen were not able to see anything that would have caused Tammy’s death.

On the stand Tuesday, Dr Marsden said that smothering, a bag over her head or weight on her chest would not have left any obvious signs of asphyxiation on the body.

Chad Daybell’s adult children have mostly stayed out of the spotlight in the wake of their father’s arrest in the death of their mother Tammy Daybell and Lori Vallow’s two children.

But almost all of them will testify in his death penalty case in his defence.

Daybell’s attorney John Prior says they will detail their mother’s “health struggle” before her sudden death in 2019.

Daybell had told police his wife had died suddenly in her sleep after battling an illness, but an autopsy later revealed she died of asphyxiation.

“They’re going to talk about their mother’s use of various medical treatments she would use—oils she would put on her leg, medicine, and different herbs she would take, and that their mother was suffering from a number of maladies, and she would refuse to see a doctor,”Mr Prior said during opening statements.

Chad Daybell’s trial is now on break for lunch.

Court will resume at 2pm.

On Friday, Samantha Gwilliam testified about the conversation she had with Chad Daybell after the “shocking” death of her sister Tammy Daybell.

She asked him in a phone call about his quick marriage to Lori Vallow just two weeks after Tammy’s death and said he responded to her in a “spiritual-like tone.”

“Samantha, I am telling you now that when I was at the cemetery, Tammy showed herself to me and said that I should move on,” he said.

Ms Gwilliam said she responded with: “When most women say that to their husband, it’s in two years from now, not two weeks after I’m dead.”

Tylee Ryan’s best friend Ashlyn Rynd testified on Monday in court that Tylee’s relationship with her younger brother JJ Vallow, seven, was “almost maternal.”

“She was there for him. … he was going for anybody who was going to provide for him, and Tylee would always be the one to show up,” Ashlyn said.

Ashlyn temporarily moved to Texas in 2017, but the two friends remained close, and she moved back to Arizona.

However, when Tylee moved to Idaho in 2019, they “tried for two weeks” but fell out of contact.

Dr Lily Marsden, the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner at the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office, who attended the exhumation of Tammy Daybell’s body, took the stand on Tuesday.

She said the bruises on Tammy are consistent with someone being restrained and could mean more than one person was there when she was killed. She said the bruises indicate someone was kneeling on her chest while another person was holding her down.

Dr Marsden also testified that she had information that Tammy may have been experiencing seizures or shaking.

“It is extremely unusual for a 49-year-old woman to just spontaneously develop seizures without a reason like a tumor,” she said.

Prosecutor Lindsey Blake ends her questioning by asking Dr Marsden, “In your experience, do dead bodies roll out of bed?”