It’s a place where you felt safe and secure.'ĭaybell had drawn a handful of followers to Rexburg after he moved there with his family in 2014.
'I mean, nothing happens like this in Rexburg, Idaho. 'We thought, the national news, in Rexburg, we've got children missing, and their bodies were found in Chad’s backyard. Jeanine Harrop Hansen, a close friend of JJ's grandparents who has was born and raised in Rexburg, said: 'As the story unfolded, no one could believe what was happening in this small town of Rexburg.
#DOOMSDAY ACTION FIGURE TRIAL#
He's so faithful in the Gospel, there is no way he is he would have anything to do with any of this.'Īnother local, who has followed the trial in Madison County Courthouse, said those who remain loyal to Daybell have gone 'underground'. Chad is the most amazing, strong individual. Some 'would put their hands up, physically put their hands up, and say, 'don't even go there with me. Jeppesen would ask people in Rexburg: ' are not being found, what's going on?' The perplexing case was further compounded by the fact Vallow's former husband, Charles, was shot dead by her brother in mysterious circumstances months earlier. Daybell had married Vallow on a beach in Hawaii just weeks later. The appeal hinted their disappearance was linked to the death of Daybell's wife, Tammy, 49, in October.
The case gained national attention in December 2019, six months before the discovery, when Rexburg Police Department and the FBI issued an appeal to locate Tylee and JJ, who had not been seen since September. 'They slaughtered them, allegedly, from what we're hearing. 'I cannot believe that someone in our community that is supposed to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and a faithful believer in God, could possibly be any part of murdering those children. 'Horrifying, disgusting, disturbing,' Jeppesen said. Peggy Jeppesen, who also helps keep the memorial, said: 'I cannot believe that someone in our community that is supposed to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and a faithful believer in God, could possibly be any part of murdering those children' She recalled the heartbreaking morning of June 9, 2020, when Tylee and JJ's remains were unearthed in Daybell's backyard. Like many families in Rexburg, their home is decorated with symbols of their faith. Jeppesen, a grandmother with two adult sons, lives with her husband in a tidy, rural bungalow just a couple of miles from the Daybell property. But I wonder, because even now, there are people that just don't want to discuss it, just really choose to believe that he isn't what he's accused of being.' Peggy Jeppesen, a local who helps maintain a memorial wall for JJ and Tylee beside the Daybell property, said: 'I hope there isn't skepticism anymore. The fallout in Rexburg is a town desperate to shake off its newfound infamy, but still gripped by the troubling case whose central figures were once friends, neighbors and fellow worshippers.Ĭity leaders talk publicly about the desire to find justice and 'move on', while locals watch screenings of Vallow's trial in the Fremont County Courthouse and gossip over the chilling-but-captivating testimony.īehind closed doors, there is soul-searching about Vallow and Daybell's manipulation of the Mormon faith, which an estimated 95% of the town's 33,500 people subscribe to.Īnd, what's perhaps most jarring, it's said there is still a small 'underground' sect who refuse to believe Daybell - once viewed as a nothing more than a weird but 'faithful' follower of Christ - is guilty. Vallow, whose murder trial began on April 10, and Daybell told followers they were chosen by God to lead 144,000 humans through the second coming of Jesus Christ - and Rexburg was the sanctuary where 'warriors and soldiers' should gather. Their mutilated bodies - Tylee's burned beyond recognition and JJ's bound in trash bags and duct tape - were buried in shallow graves at Daybell's yard on the fringes of Rexburg. Vallow and her husband, doomsday obsessed author Chad Daybell, were convinced the children were 'zombies' possessed by evil spirits. Lori Vallow, a blonde beauty pageant-winning mom from California, allegedly murdered her two children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua Jackson 'JJ' Vallow, seven. For years, the small Mormon enclave of Rexburg in east Idaho has proudly dubbed itself 'America's family community' - a slogan that's emblazoned on municipal buildings around the city as a symbol of its fierce embrace of traditional values.īut in 2019, that reputation was upended and the little-known community gained national attention for another reason: the epicenter of a 'murderous cult' which shocked America.
0 kommentar(er)
