Episode Details

Day twenty-nine brought Chad Daybell’s defense case to an end and immediately opened the prosecution’s rebuttal. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Eric Bartelink was the final defense witness, testifying about the badly burned and incomplete remains of Tylee Ryan. Bartelink said large portions of Tylee’s skeleton were missing and that her body appeared to have been burned largely intact before being broken apart, but he could not determine whether that burning occurred on Chad’s property or somewhere else. He agreed with the prosecution’s forensic anthropologist that Tylee’s remains showed extensive blunt- and sharp-force trauma, including multiple fractures to her jaw and numerous sharp-force defects to her bones. Chad then formally told Judge Steven Boyce that he would not testify, and the defense rested. Prosecutors responded with rebuttal witnesses aimed largely at undercutting testimony from Chad’s children. Tammy’s former colleague Lisa Marie Jensen again described Tammy as active and healthy, while Garth Daybell’s former coworker Jason MacKay Abegglen testified that Garth had told him he found Tammy dead after returning home from work and that Chad was not there—an account that conflicted with Garth’s trial testimony that Chad had been home and called him for help. Detective Bruce Mattingly also testified about law enforcement’s efforts to provide Tammy’s children with her autopsy findings and disputed suggestions that investigators had threatened or improperly pressured them.

Day thirty finished the evidentiary phase of the trial. Utah medical examiner Dr. Erik Christensen returned as a rebuttal witness and stood firmly by his conclusion that Tammy died from homicide by asphyxia, rejecting defense expert Dr. Kathy Raven’s suggestion that Tammy’s death should have been classified as undetermined. Christensen said Tammy’s organs were healthy, toxicology and seizure-related explanations did not account for her death, her medical records contained no diagnosis of sleep apnea, and nothing he reviewed changed his homicide determination. Retired Rexburg detective David Stubbs then introduced evidence showing that the Chad Daybell Google account had searched for instructions on disabling location services and that a request was made in August 2019 to delete the account’s entire Google location history, evidence prosecutors used to answer the defense argument that Chad’s lack of location data during key dates meant he was not on the property. Detective Ray Hermosillo briefly returned to rebut suggestions that his presence around the Daybell property and Emma Murray had been improper. After the state rested its rebuttal case, Judge Boyce dismissed the jury for the day and spent the afternoon finalizing exhibits and 41 jury instructions. The evidentiary portion of the trial was officially over, leaving only closing arguments before the case went to the jury.



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