Episode Details

Zulema Pastenes, who had been one of Lori Vallow Daybell’s close friends and later married Lori’s brother Alex Cox, gave jurors an inside look at the increasingly radical belief system surrounding Lori and Chad Daybell. Pastenes testified that Lori claimed to have visions, communicate with heavenly beings and occupy an unusually high spiritual position, while Chad introduced ideas about reincarnation, “light” and “dark” spirits, zombies and the need to remove evil from people. Pastenes said she initially believed much of what Lori and Chad taught because she trusted them and viewed them as spiritually gifted. She described how the group participated in “castings” intended to drive evil spirits from people and said Chad’s teachings included the idea that spirits could be attached to bodies by cords that had to be severed. Pastenes also testified that Lori told her Charles Vallow’s death had been orchestrated by God and was part of events that needed to occur before the Second Coming.

Her testimony became even more important when she described Alex Cox’s relationship with Lori and Chad. Pastenes said Alex would do almost anything Lori asked and increasingly relied on Lori and Chad for direction, even quitting his job and moving to Rexburg after they urged him to do so. She testified that shortly before Alex died in December 2019, he told her he was worried Lori and Chad were making him the “fall guy.” When she pressed him to explain what he had done, Alex refused to give a direct answer and instead said, “Either I am a man of God or I am not.” Pastenes also described Chad predicting that JJ Vallow would die young and testified about teachings that portrayed the destruction of a zombie’s body as necessary to prevent another dark spirit from entering it. Taken together, her testimony gave prosecutors a firsthand witness who could show how the group’s bizarre religious ideas evolved into a system that dehumanized people, justified death and placed Alex Cox in the role of Lori and Chad’s intensely loyal enforcer.


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