Kay Woodcock first witness in Vallow Daybell murder trial

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Kay Woodcock, who hails from Lake Charles, was the first witness to testify in the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell.

The highly-anticipated trial is taking place at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, where Vallow Daybell is charged with second-degree murder of her two children, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and three counts of conspiring to commit murder in her children’s deaths and the death of her husband’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. Vallow Daybell also faces a charge of conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the death of her former husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona.

Woodcock, the grandmother of JJ Vallow who he called “Maw Maw,” took the stand yesterday to testify.

In her testimony, Woodcock said she and her husband were the ones who raised JJ until the age of 2. The boy, whose biological father is Woodcock’s son, was born 10 weeks early on May 25, 2017, in Lake Charles. JJ spent six to seven weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit after he was born with drugs in his system.

It was in 2013 that Charles Vallow, Woodcock’s brother, and his wife at the time, Lori Vallow, adopted JJ as they “wanted to have a child of their own,” said Woodcock.

Woodcock testified that Lori was “doting mom,” and, initially, there were no problems. She told the court she became worried about JJ’s well-being after her brother Charles Vallow was shot to death in 2019, and she could not get in touch with Lori or JJ.

According to Woodcock, she and her husband became so concerned they hired a private investigator and put out a $20,000 reward for information about JJ’s disappearance.

Several months after Charles died, Woodcock testified that she logged into his browsing history and saw searches for wedding dresses, bathing suits, and wedding rings. She said the date of the searches were October 2, 2019, which was before Tammy Daybell had died.

Shortly after the deaths of her two youngest children, and each of their respective spouses, Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell got married on a beach in Hawaii in late 2019.

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