Chad Daybell trial hears how his family was aware of light and dark spirit ratings

Chad Daybell’s former wife and their children were aware of the ‘Doomsday cult’ author’s light and dark rating scale, which he used on multiple people close to him prior to their untimely deaths.

Vincent Kaaiakamanu, an officer with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, testified at Mr Daybell’s death penalty trial in Boise, Idaho this week how the defendant would label people either light or dark, based on how much he believed a person had been taken over by evil.

The court saw a message sent by either Mr Daybell or his then-wife Tammy Daybell in a Google chat with their children, that rated one of their 12-year-old students as “4.2 dark.” The couple had been teaching a class at church at the time and was referring to one of the participants.

“I will enjoy watching his growth to world terror and domination,” the message read.

Officer Kaaiakamanu testified that several messages in the chat showed Tammy and the Daybell children knew about the light and dark rating system.

Another message in the family chat was from Daybell’s daughter Emma, who expressed she liked a boy they had labelled as “dark.” A response came from either Daybell or Tammy that said perhaps that boy was influencing her, Officer Kaaiakamanu testified.

Mr Daybell, 55, is charged with murder in the sudden 2019 death of Tammy, as well as the deaths of Lori Vallow Daybell’s children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, seven, whose bodies were found buried on Daybell’s Rexburg property in June 2020 after being missing for nine months.

The light and dark rating system has come up multiple times in the trial as well as the trial of Lori Vallow that took place in the same Ada County Courtroom a year ago.

The couple, who married just two weeks after Tammy died in her sleep in October 2019, had rated Tammy, Vallow’s children, and Vallow’s then-husband Charles Vallow, who was killed by Alex Cox, each as “dark” before their deaths.

Vallow was convicted of the three murders and sentenced to life in prison. Jurors heard how she, Mr Daybell and her late brother Alex Cox were fuelled, in part, by their bizarre cult beliefs. If convicted, Mr Daybell faces either the death penalty or life in prison.

On Friday, it was revealed in court that Mr Daybell’s defence attorney John Prior now owns his client’s property where the children were buried.

A cross-examination with the state’s witness, a realtor named Ron Arnold, became heated when Mr Prior asked about the acreage of the land.

“So the acreage that you’re talking about, do you have any recollection of how much acreage we’re talking about that surrounds Chad’s house?”

The witness clapped back: “You own it! How many acres is it?”