Chad Daybell Children: Testimony, Money Transfers, and Life Now

Chad Daybell’s children are the five adult sons and daughters he had with his first wife, Tammy Daybell: Garth Daybell, Emma Murray, Seth Daybell, Leah Murphy, and Mark Daybell. All five have publicly defended their father against the accusation that he murdered their mother, and two of them testified for his defense at the 2024 trial that ended with his conviction and a death sentence. Since then, they have largely withdrawn from public view.¹

Who the Five Children Are

Chad and Tammy Daybell had five children together, all adults by the time the criminal case unfolded. Garth works as a science teacher in Idaho. Seth works in graphic design and is married with one child. Emma is married to Joseph Murray. Leah Murphy and Mark Daybell have maintained the lowest public profiles of the five, staying off social media and largely avoiding reporters.¹

Prosecutors never alleged that any of the five had knowledge of the killings or of the graves on their father’s property in Fremont County, where the remains of Lori Vallow’s two youngest children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, were found in June 2020.²

The 2021 48 Hours Interview

In August 2021, all five siblings sat down together with CBS’s 48 Hours for their first and only joint interview. The episode, titled “The Secrets of Chad Daybell’s Backyard,” aired that September and remains the most extensive public statement any of them has made about the case.³

Their position was that Chad had been “fooled in the worst, most deadly way possible” by Lori Vallow, and that the children’s remains had been “secretly buried there to frame him.” Emma Murray told the interviewer that if her father “were to commit a crime, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to put the evidence in his own backyard.” Seth Daybell argued that the shallow graves didn’t match his father’s knowledge, noting Chad “knew how to dig graves and that just doesn’t sound believable to me.”⁴ They directed blame at Lori Vallow and her brother, Alex Cox, with Emma saying “none of the events would have happened if Lori had not entered their lives.”⁵

On their mother’s death, Leah Murphy said, “My dad loved my mom very, very much. He could never do that.” Mark Daybell added, “Anyone who says that my dad could kill a person doesn’t know my dad.”³ Garth described the difficulty of calling his grandfather to confirm that his mother’s grave had been disturbed for exhumation. The siblings acknowledged briefly entertaining doubts about their father but said it “all came down to our trust in our father.”

They also said they had no prior knowledge of the “zombie” beliefs prosecutors would later describe: the idea, shared by Chad and Lori, that certain people had become bodies possessed by dark spirits who could only be freed through death. Garth stated, “the first we ever heard of it was in a news report.”⁴

Garth Daybell’s Trial Testimony

Garth took the stand for the defense on May 20, 2024. He testified about the night Tammy died, October 19, 2019. He said he came home from a night job around 1:00 a.m., stayed up watching YouTube until about 3:00 a.m., and heard his father snoring as he passed the master bedroom. He saw no signs of a struggle. Hours later, he said, his father woke him by shouting for help; he entered the bedroom to find his mother “tangled up in the sheets,” stiff, cold, gray, and not breathing.⁶

Garth also told the court prosecutors had pressured him before charges were filed. “It was pretty plain that I needed to change my story to fit theirs,” he said, adding that they had threatened him with a list of charges and possible grand jury indictment. He maintained he never changed his account between two grand jury proceedings and was not charged.⁷

The prosecution called a rebuttal witness, Jason Abegglen, a friend and coworker from a haunted house where the two had worked in 2019. Abegglen testified that shortly after Tammy’s death, Garth told him a different version: that Garth had found his mother dead upon arriving home from work and did not know where his father was, and that Tammy was “pale” with “blue” lips.⁸ That contradicted the courtroom version in which Chad was present throughout. During his testimony, Garth also initially said his mother was the primary driver of the family’s Dodge Dakota truck after 2017, then corrected himself, telling the court he had it “backwards” and that his father had been driving the vehicle around the time of Tammy’s death.⁶

Emma Murray’s Trial Testimony

Emma testified the same day. She told the court her mother’s health had been declining, saying she was “really worried about it” and describing Tammy as unable to “meet the demands of daily life without being exhausted,” sometimes going to bed at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m.⁹ She also acknowledged that Tammy was a private person who never discussed health issues with coworkers and had been attending Zumba classes and taking up clogging in the weeks before her death.¹⁰

Emma testified that she had opposed an autopsy on her mother, calling the process “distressing” and noting it would delay the funeral because the body would need to be transported to Boise. She said, “I don’t think autopsies should be done on anyone.” She acknowledged her father’s “inappropriate” relationship with Lori Vallow while still married to Tammy, and said it would not surprise her to learn Chad had sent a text saying he was “sad but not for the reasons everyone thought” less than 24 hours after Tammy’s death.¹¹ She said she did not believe her mother’s death was a crime.

On the family’s spiritual practices, Emma pushed back on how “casting out a spirit” had been characterized. “The goal of it is so that way you have your own body back and can be in control of yourself,” she said, telling the jury it was not intended to cause death.⁹

Joseph Murray and the Money Transfers

Emma’s husband, Joseph Murray, also testified for the defense. He told the court that on June 9, 2020, just before Chad’s arrest, Chad transferred $8,000 into Murray’s checking account and gave Emma $9,000 in cash. Murray believed all of Chad’s children received similar payments. Chad had also given Murray a truck in December 2019, and Murray’s family later moved into Chad’s house.¹²

Where the Children Stand Now

On May 30, 2024, an Idaho jury convicted Chad Daybell on all counts, including three counts of first-degree murder and insurance fraud tied to $430,000 in life insurance policies on Tammy. Two days later he was sentenced to death.¹³ Since then, the five siblings have retreated from public life. Emma, Leah, and Mark do not appear to be active on social media and have not spoken publicly to reporters since the 2021 48 Hours interview.¹

Emma reported during that interview that she had faced daily threats since the case became public, including messages that threatened her young son.³

The conviction also carries financial consequences under Idaho’s slayer statute. That law treats anyone determined to be a “slayer” as having predeceased the victim, so they cannot inherit property or collect insurance benefits from the victim’s estate. Because Chad was convicted of murdering Tammy, any property or insurance proceeds that would have passed to him as her surviving spouse would instead pass to her children. Court records showed Chad collected at least $430,000 in life insurance proceeds after Tammy’s death.¹⁴

Chad Daybell’s attorney, John Prior, filed a notice of appeal with the Idaho Supreme Court on June 3, 2024. Idaho law also requires an automatic Supreme Court review of every death sentence.¹⁵ Whatever the appellate courts decide, the record of what his five children said, in a television studio and on a witness stand, is now part of the case.

1
People. Where Are Chad Daybell’s Children Now
2
CBS News. Chad Daybell Graves: Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow Not Dug by Dad
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CBS News. Chad Daybell Children Claim He Was Fooled by Lori Vallow
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Paramount Press Express. CBS News 48 Hours Release
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Deseret News. Lori Vallow Chad Daybell Children
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Yahoo News UK. Chad Daybell Trial Live
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KPVI. Chad Daybell’s Kids Take the Stand
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Idaho Press. Daybell Trial: The End Is Near, Defense Rests Case
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KIVI TV. Chad Daybell’s Daughter Testifies About Her Parents’ Beliefs
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Insurance News Net. Daybell Trial: Daybell’s Children Testify, Reveal Contradictions
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Fox 10 Phoenix. Chad Daybell’s Children Testify at His Murder Trial
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East Idaho News. Live Updates: Son-in-Law, Pathologist, Neighbor Testify
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CNN. Chad Daybell Murder Sentencing Death Penalty
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ABC News. Jury Reaches Decision on Chad Daybell Sentencing
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KSL TV. Chad Daybell’s Appeal and Death Penalty Gets Public Defender