Summary of tweets for Trial Day 3, Wednesday, 4/12/23 - State Witness:
Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo/cross examination
Nate Eaton
@NateNewsNow
·
1h
Back in court this morning. Sitting on the left side of the courtroom directly behind Lori. She is wearing black pants, a black jacket and black boots. She is smiling and chatting with her attorneys. Det. Ray Hermosillo is back on the stand this morning for cross-examination.
Larry Woodcock is in the courtroom with extended family members. Kay Woodcock is not here. The attorneys from both defense and prosecution are meeting outside of the courtroom. Jury has not been brought in yet.
Lawyers have entered the courtroom. Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake is not here today. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tawyna Rawlings is sitting at the table along with Madison County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Spencer Rammell.
John Prior, Chad Daybell's attorney, just walked in the courtroom. He is casually dressed in a t-shirt and is watching from the audience gallery. I'm told Chad is not watching the trial from the Fremont County Jail.
Judge Boyce is on the bench. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the state has requested some modifications to the trial schedule. The state would like to end early today and not hold trial on Monday.
I'm told Lindsey Blake had a death in the family and this is likely why there is a modification to schedule.
The jury has been brought in and are seated.
John Thomas continues cross-examination of Det. Hermosillo. He's asking which detectives and officers were helping dig at the fire pit.
Hermosillo says they began digging early on June 9 and had everything out of the ground by the afternoon of June 10.
Thomas asking where Tylee's teeth and bones were found in relation to the firepit. Hermosillo says he does not recall and he was not the actual person who recovered them.
Hermosillo says when they arrived at the Ada County Coroner's Office it was after hours. They met an employee who took custody of the remains of JJ and Tylee.
Boards were found on top of JJ's body. Hermosillo said similar-style boards were found in Chad Daybell's garage area but they were never able to find the identical, matching boards.
Thomas asks Hermosillo if photos were taken of their searches at Daybell's property. The detective says yes.
Thomas asks Hermosillo if any trace evidence was collected from JJ's autopsy. The detective says they stood in the back and was not directly involved in the autopsy as the medical team was doing it. Hermosillo says he did not ever personally take trace evidence off JJ's body.
Thomas has no further questions.
Wood is now asking Hermosillo questions on re-direct. He asks the detective if he knows if the weapons found at the house belonged to Lori. Hermosillo says he did not know.
"It was extremely suspicious to have those guns along with everything else we located. We took photographs and took teh guns out of the residence because when we went inside the residence, the door was broken and unable to lock. We held on to the weapons for safety."
Lori is looking back and forth between Wood and Hermosillo as questions are asked. She also looks down at the notes her attorneys are taking during questioning.
Hermosillo recalls the events of the day they first went to Lori's apartment on the welfare check. He says they knocked on three doors at the apartment complex - Lori, Alex and Melani - and nobody was there.
He and Det. Hope drove to the prosecutors office to try and get a warrant but they made contact with Lori and she was told to open the front door because detectives wanted to speak with her.
Wood asks about Melanie Gibb. He recalls Lori telling police that JJ was with Gibb watching 'Frozen 2' and that's why Melanie was not answering her phone. Police eventually reached Melanie and she said she did not have JJ. I spoke with Gibb in May 2020.
Hermosillo explains how the police department handled tips received on the missing kids and says all of them were followed up on.
Hermosillo explains the process of sifting through the dirt at the firepit. He says the FBI brought a sifter with them so they would scoop up dirt and solid objects (teeth, bone) found in the sifter would be laid out on the blue tarp.
Photos would be taken, it would be logged into evidence and then police would go back to sifting.
Hermosillo says the warrant was served at Chad's house between 8-8:30 a.m. on the morning of June 9, 2020.
Hermosillo says none of the tips police received from the public aided in finding JJ and Tylee.
Hermosillo says there is no evidence to suggest JJ was alive after Sept. 22/23, 2019. He says there is no evidence to suggest Tylee was alive after Sept. 8/9, 2019.
Wood has no further questions. Thomas asks if he can re-cross Hermosillo.
Thomas asks if there is evidence of an attempted homicide on Tammy Daybell on Oct. 9, 2919. Hermosillo says they believe it was an attempted homicide.
Thomas has no further questions.
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