Summary of tweets for Trial Day 1, 4/10/23 - State Witness:
Brandon Boudreaux.
Nate Eaton
@NateNewsNow
·
11h
Brandon is sworn in. He's dressed in a white shirt and light purple tie. Brandon was married to melani Pawlowski, Lori's niece. Prosecutor Rachel Smith is questioning him.
Brandon was married to Melani for a little over ten years. They got married in 2008 and have four children.
Smith asking Brandon about Melani's family - her aunts, uncles, grandparents. Brandon says he met many in the family in Arizona and they spent most holidays together.
Brandon said he lived with Lori and Charles for part of his marriage to Melani. They spent a lot of time together and Brandon got to know Lori's children - Colby, Tylee and JJ.
Brandon holding back tears, chokes up when he says his oldest son was very close to JJ and they spent a lot of time together. JJ loved to hang out with Brandon's kids, he says. JJ was fascinated with traveling -- Lori grins -- and he loved hanging out with Braxton, Brandon's son
Brandon says he was close with Tylee and when Tylee was eight, she asked Brandon to baptize her. He performed the baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Brandon says Melani looked at Lori like a mom figure - she was always trying to be like her. Brandon and Charles both had a passion for business/sales.They both loved their families so "it was easy for us to spend time together." The Vallows & Boudreauxs spent time together often
Brandon says the last Christmas his family spent with Charles and Lori was in 2018. He says other people were there, including Melanie Gibb and her family. Brandon says everything felt different and the relationships were "not very close."
Brandon says when he first married Melani, her religious level was "low" & she didn't enjoy going to church. He says for most of their marriage, he pushed to go to church. In the fall 2018, she started getting "really passionate" about going to church and certain ideas at church
Melani began attending "firesides" -- meetings -- that were not sponsored by the church. "She was coming home with different ideas about what she was going to do to be a faithful member of the church."
Brandon says Lori was at the firesides, but Charles did not attend. Melani told Brandon the firesides were "her thing and was very clear I was not welcome to come."
Brandon says Melani felt a need to go to the temple "every single day - which is a little extreme."
Brandon says during trips to Disneyland, Melani would need to go to the temple & she was focused on the idea that the world was going to end soon. He says they had a disagreement about buying $10,000 worth of food storage because she thought the world was going to end right away
Brandon says things got "more bizarre" into 2019. In Jan., Brandon got a call and text message from Charles that Lori was accusing Charles of infidelity. Brandon says things went from zero to 100 "really quick" and Melani was adamant not to takes side in the Lori/Charles split up
Brandon says in June 2019, he, Melani and kids went to Utah to stay at Melani's parents home. Brandon's grandfather died unexpectedly on June 23. Brandon's mom called to tell him about the death & Melani said she would not go to funeral - "she didn't want anything to do with it."
After an argument, Brandon went on a walk and came home. He says he wanted to break through to Melani and begged her to tell him what was going on. Melani said she had a revelation from God, "she didn't feel safe with me at the house and accused me of being a homosexual."
It ended with Melani going to sleep and Brandon was overwhelmed.
Brandon says he texted Charles and Lori expressing his frustration. Lori never responded but Charles spoke with him on the phone. Brandon went to a counselor and spoke with his bishop about the situation. Brandon tears up while saying this was the last time he spoke with Charles
Brandon never saw Tylee or JJ again. Melani and Brandon used a mediator to get a divorce. They searched out the lowest-conflict way to get a divorce.
Brandon got a rental property and custody arrangements with Melani were "complicated." Melani said she was scared of Brandon and he didn't get a lot of time with his children.
Brandon says on the morning of Oct. 2, 2019, someone shot at him in front of his house. Thomas objects and says this isn't relevant to the issue at hand. Attorneys now meeting in a sidebar conference with the judge.
Court taking a 15-20 minute recess. Be back shortly.
Back from a recess. Judge addressing Thomas's objection before jurors are brought in. Smith says the info. about Brandon being shot at is part of a "common scheme and plan. The defendant with the co-defendant conspired and planned to kill multiple individuals in her world."
Smith says the shooting at Mr. Boudreaux is what got law enforcement involved and interested in the case. Thomas says Smith's argument is "a stretch at best" and asks Boyce to not allow him to testify about the shooting.
Boyce overrules the object and allows Brandon to proceed with his testimony but warns the state that they must show what they have alleged (that there was a common scheme and plan). Jurors are now being brought back in.
Brandon now recounting the events of Oct. 2, 2019. He got the kids ready for school, dropped them off, then took one child to daycare and took the last to Melani's house. Brandon then went to the gym. After he exercised, he left the gym to go to his new house.
Brandon said maybe five people knew where he was living - his neighbors, who helped him move in, and Melani, who he had to tell. As he turned the corner onto the street of his new house, he noticed a Jeep parked really close to a van that was parked on the street.
The Jeep Wrangler had a Texas license plate and there was no tire on the back of the Jeep. Instead, the window was kind of open.
Brandon noticed a gun with a silencer pointed out. Suddenly his window shattered and he head a gunshot. Brandon accelerated the car and called 911 as he parked next to the public pool. Brandon says he saw the Jeep come around the corner and tried to follow it.
The dispatcher told Brandon to park in front of his house and police then arrived.
Brandon met with a detective and remembered that Tylee had a green Jeep Charles had purchased for him with Texas plates. Brandon knew the VIN number so he gave it to law enforcement.
Charles gave the VIN to Brandon earlier as Brandon was an insurance agent and ran insurance quotes for all of their vehicles.
After the shooting, Brandon had some beliefs about who did it and he became concerned. He remembered a bunch of emails Charles sent him before he died about the religious groups Melani was in. Brandon went back to check the emails and most came from a man named Chad Daybell.
Brandon says "in my gut, something felt wrong." He contacted law enforcement after he did a Google search for Chad Daybell's name and found Tammy Daybell's obituary. After talking with police, he realized nobody had seen JJ or Tylee for some time.
Tylee's birth certificate is admitted as evidence.
Photo of Tylee from her teenage years is admitted as evidence.
When asked where Brandon was when he learned the bodies of JJ and Tylee had been found, he chokes up and says, "I was in my parent's home in their garage. It was the day before my wedding." Brandon went to Rexburg on June 11, 2020.
When he arrived in Rexburg, he met with Larry and Kay Woodcock and police asked Brandon to identify JJ.
Brandon is crying, sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes when recalling he was asked by police to identify JJ's body.
Smith is done with her questions. Thomas will now cross-examine Brandon.
Thomas asks Brandon about the Google searches he did after he was shot at. Brandon says he searched for Chad Daybell's name to try and get more information about him.
Thomas asking Brandon why Melani would think he was a homosexual. Brandon: "She told me God had told her I was a homosexual." Thomas follows up by asking Brandon about a video a friend posted on Facebook of him at the Pink Pony - a club in Alabama.
Brandon says that came about because he asked Melani to give him evidence that he was a homosexual -- and she pointed to this video.
Brandon says the Jeep was parked around 20-30 feet away from him when a shot was fired from the vehicle. Brandon says he's positive the bullet came from that Jeep. He did not see the muzzle flash but saw a silencer. "I was looking straight at it."
Brandon explaining why he had the Jeep's VIN. Charles asked him to price auto insurance plans for his vehicles.
Thomas asks Brandon why police had him identify JJ. "I think I was as close to JJ as Larry and Kay. We were all family." Brandon says they may have asked Larry but "it was a pretty overwhelming task to do."
Thomas has no further questions. Smith says Brandon does not live in Idaho and asks if he can be released from his subpoena. Nobody opposes. Boyce suggests we break for the day before the next witness - Rexburg Police Det. Ray Hermosillo. Court is dismissed for the day.
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