It’s only been a month since one of Missouri’s top prosecutors joined the Idaho case against the Mormon newlyweds whose two children were found dead, but in that short time, the investigation has turned to DNA testing of blood samples, according to media reports.
District Judge Steven Boyce is allowing Rachel Smith to assist in Idaho state’s case against Chad Daybell who married Lori Vallow on Nov. 5, 2019, just two and a half weeks after his first wife, Tammy Daybell, died on Oct. 19, 2019, reportedly while sleeping.
Vallow is the mother of the two children who were discovered deceased and buried in Daybell’s Salem, Idaho backyard in June 2020. She is detained in Madison County, Idaho jail.
“This is a case that obviously would fall into Rachel Smith’s wheelhouse with her experience as a seasoned homicide prosecutor,” said Missouri Attorney John Davis, a former federal and state prosecutor who served as an assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of Missouri for more than 23 years.
A 1992 graduate of Washington University School of Law, Smith served as a special assistant attorney general and special prosecutor with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office before joining the Community Affairs Bureau of the St. Louis City Circuit Attorney’s Office, according to Washington University’s website.
“We've never crossed paths so I don't know Rachel Smith personally but I suspect that she will bring an expertise to the state of Idaho that Idaho needs because I also suspect they will change those charges to homicide,” Davis told the St. Louis Record.
Smith appeared in a Zoom hearing posted on YouTube last week concerning DNA testing of blood samples found at an apartment and on tools retrieved from Daybell’s property. When Judge Boyce requested a temporary stay on DNA testing until it’s determined traces of the evidence will remain for the defense to review, Smith and Madison County, Idaho prosecutor Rob Wood nodded in agreement.
“If there's not going to be any evidence left, I would have a defense expert present when the state is doing the testing,” Davis said. “That’s one of a whole slew of options the judge could choose.”
Neither Wood nor Smith responded to requests for comment.
Daybell, who was once a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is currently detained in Fremont County, Idaho jail where he has pleaded not guilty to felonies related to the alterations, destruction, and concealment of the bodies of 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan who are the deceased children of Vallow.
“In changing the landscape from the destruction of evidence to probably a death penalty case, the discovery is going to be voluminous and I think Rachel Smith will bring an expertise to the table that will sincerely help the prosecutor Rob Wood,” said Davis, a partner with KesslerWilliams law firm in St. Louis.
Smith is also an adjunct professor and co-director of the Washington University Law School’s Prosecution Law Clinic.
“In any murder case, you don't necessarily have to prove motive but it sure helps when the jury hears why this happened and it's more likely to inch them down the road towards ‘beyond a reasonable doubt',” Davis said.
As previously reported, Daybell and Vallow are both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, however, Daybell branched out and founded a specialty sect based on his doomsday books, which include Living on the Edge of Heaven, One Foot in the Grave, Evading Babylon, and The Great Gathering.
“You've got horrible homicides and you grapple with why,” Davis added. “What motivated this? The trial is going to be very interesting to hear all that and I’m sure Ms. Smith will help with regard to coming up with a theory of a motive to play to the jury."