Witness testifies to Chad and Lori's physical relationship

Cox’s widow Zulema Pastenes testified during Chad Daybell’s triple murder trial Tuesday at the Ada County Courthouse to her husband’s sudden change after speaking to his sister and her new husband, Chad Daybell.

“Chad and Lori called him that Tammy’s body was being exhumed,” Pastenes said.

Pastenes asked him why they would be exhuming Tammy’s body.

“That was very odd and weird to me,” she said. “I asked (Cox), ‘Are you going to be tied to anything that happened to Tammy?’ He said ‘No.’”

After Cox got off the phone, he went from being the family’s clown to down and depressed, Pastenes testified.

“His demeanor just changed completely,” she said. “He started saying certain things to me that didn’t make any sense at the time. The things he said, ‘I think I’m going to be their fall guy.’ I asked him what that meant. He wouldn’t say anything to me. I was very frustrated with him because he wouldn’t say anything. I was trying to get him to explain to me again one of the things he said, ‘I think I’m going to be the fall guy.’ After I was walking out of the room, he said ‘Zulema either I am a man of God, or I am not.”

Cox died on Dec. 12, 2019, the same day that Tammy’s body was exhumed. It was later determined Tammy had been asphyxiated, and Cox had died of blood clots.

Pastenes met Alex November 2019 at Vallow-Daybell’s home in Arizona. She had met Chad in Mesa in 2018. Pastenes didn’t stay in touch with Chad but continued a friendship with Vallow-Daybell.

When Lori and Chad met, Pastenes noted the pair just talked, but eventually Lori became “really flirtatious toward him. It appeared she was putting the moves on him.”

Pastenes reported how physical Chad and Lori got with each other. At one point “they were holding hands, hugging and sitting on the couch with their legs entangled. They were physically romantic.”

On a trip to Mesa Falls with Chad and Lori, Pastenes sat in the front seat while Cox drove.

“They were hugging and kissing and (were) romantically physical,” she said.

At one time Vallow-Daybell was playing basketball and asked Chad to join in.

“It was very uncomfortable for me,” Pastenes said. “I said I was going to go inside the house. Chad said he was going to go inside the house with me. Lori said, ‘Why are you going inside? Are you scared of me?’”

When Pastenes eventually confronted Chad about the romantic relationship he had with Lori, Chad told her the two had been married in previous lives thus justifying what appeared to be an adulterous relationship. Chad’s wife Tammy Daybell was still alive at the time as was Lori’s husband Charles Vallow.

“Chad had told (Lori) they had been married, and he was ‘James the Lesser’ who was one of Jesus’ disciples, and that she was his wife,” Pastenes said.

Chad Daybell also told Pastenes that he expected Tammy to die young, and that J.J. and Tylee were dark spirits. He noted that his five children were light spirits. They also discussed “castings” which involved removing the dark spirits from a person’s body. From there the body was expected to die.

“If the casting was unsuccessful, it would mean the demon was still in the body,” Pastenes said.

Police believe that Vallow-Daybell’s daughter, Tylee Ryan, was murdered on or around Sept. 19, 2019, and that her son J.J. Vallow, 7, was killed on Sept. 23, 2019. Tammy Daybell died on Oct 19, 2019.

Last year, an Ada County jury found Vallow-Daybell guilty of killing her children and was also convicted of conspiracy in the murder of Tammy Daybell.

Chad Daybell stands accused of similar charges with the added penalty of murdering Tammy Daybell as well as insurance fraud. Police say he accepted $430,000 in life insurance funds following Tammy’s death.

The trial continues Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. in Ada County.