IDAHO — A hair found stuck to duct tape wrapping the body of a 7-year-old JJ Vallow matched that of Lori Vallow Daybell, a DNA analyst told jurors Monday in the woman's triple murder trial.
Later in the day, Utah Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Erik Christiansen testified that Tammy Daybell's death was asphyxiation caused by homicide.
The hair, found on tape attached to a black plastic bag wrapping the body of Joshua “JJ” Vallow, contained a partial DNA profile that was compared to three DNA samples, including one from the boy's mother, said Keeley Coleman, a DNA analyst for Bode Technology. The results showed the hair came from the mother.
“The partial DNA profile matched the DNA profile provided from Lori Vallow Daybell,” Coleman said. “The probability of randomly selecting a random individual in relation to that profile 1 is 71 billion.”
In her testimony, Coleman said she received several items of evidence, including a hair that was attached to a piece of duct tape that wrapped around the body of JJ Vallow, the East Idaho News reported.
East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton later clarified, saying the duct table with the hair was found on the outside of the black plastic bag wrapped around JJ Vallow's body.
Last week, a forensic pathologist testified in the case and said JJ Vallow died of asphyxiation caused by a plastic bag being placed over his head and duct tape over his mouth.
Coleman said during the investigation, she received DNA profiles from Lori Vallow Daybell, Tylee Ryan and Melanie Gibb as well as the hair attached to the tape.
Through a series of tests, Coleman testified that it was determined the hair matched the DNA profile provided for Lori Vallow Daybell, East Idaho News reported.
Later, Coleman was cross-examined in which she said out of the 22 different DNA alleles tested on the hair, 13 had no result.
Tammy Daybell died in October of 2019, and her death was initially reported as being from natural causes. But investigators became suspicious after Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell married two weeks later and eventually had Tammy's remains exhumed. An autopsy showed she had been asphyxiated.
Based on her medical history, Tammy was a relatively healthy 49-year-old female who had no medical record of seizures. Toxicology tests (from liver samples, as no blood was available due to embalming) did not detect any poisons or medications that would have contributed to her death.
