The state called Detective Colin Nesbitt to the stand to testify Thursday, May 4 in the prosecution of Lori Vallow Daybell. Nesbitt works in the Major Crimes section of the Kauai Police Department on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell moved shortly after their marriage.
Vallow Daybell and Daybell are on trial for three counts of first-degree murder: Daybell’s first wife, Tammy, and two of Vallow Daybell’s children — 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan.
Nesbitt is the officer who, on Jan. 25, 2020, served Vallow Daybell with court papers requiring her to produce JJ and Tylee. At the time, Vallow Daybell claimed that she had left the kids with a friend in Arizona.
On Jan. 26, the Kauai Police Department secured a warrant, allowing Nesbitt and several partners to search Vallow Daybell’s apartment, car and person. They conducted the searches Jan. 28.
During the search, the officers found several things that were of interest to the state prosecutors, including:
— A credit card belonging to Tylee
— Three iPads, two of which had children’s cases, and the third had “JJ” written on the back of the case
— Social security cards belonging to Tylee and JJ
— About 15 copies of the death certificate of Charles Vallow, Vallow Daybell’s late husband
— Over $5,000 in cash
— About half a dozen sticky notes with writing on them, including the name “Hiplos” — the name that Vallow Daybell and Daybell had given to an alleged evil spirit possessing Charles Vallow’s body
The state prosecutors did not offer any conclusion on the significance of these items.