Judge mulls wrong date of child’s death in triple murder case against Chad Daybell

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A judge is considering what effect a paperwork snafu should have on one of the three murder charges against Chad Daybell, an Idaho man accused of killing his wife and his new girlfriend’s two children.

Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce alerted attorneys Thursday afternoon that the date of 7-year-old JJ Vallow’s death was wrong in the indictment. The news came just after prosecutors rested their case in the weekslong trial.

The indictment had the correct date — on or between Sept. 22 and 23, 2019 — when it was first filed back in 2021, but it was amended in February to say the boy was killed “on or between the 8th and 9th day of September, 2019.” Those are actually the dates that prosecutors believe his big sister, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, was killed.

Boyce gave prosecutors two hours to prepare their arguments on why the charge should stand or how the court should deal with the mistake. They called it a clerical error that the court could simply correct, while Daybell’s attorney said prosecutors had lost their chance and that the charge should be dismissed.

JJ Vallow’s grandfather, Larry Woodcock, told reporters outside that he was distraught by the development.