New interview with Fremont County Sheriff:
Still listening to it myself. Only new bit of information I've picked up on is mention of Chad "heading up" an organization in the area and having a surprising number (to the sheriff) of followers living in the area. I'm pretty sure he was referring to AVOW, but as he didn't specifically name this group then we can't officially discuss them here...
For reference this part of the interview starts at the 4:50 mark. Transcript as follows (BBM):
Q: And on social media there's been some kinda weird rumors about what's happened, one I saw like several times was about
some sort of cult that they might be in, is there any type of, I don't know, any sort of truth to that?
A: Well I think
there was an organization here that Chad Daybell was promoting or heading. I don't know a lot of details about it.
I didn't know they existed here, but it has become apparent that he did have a significant following.
Q: And was it kinda like a
doomsday type of thing, or the second coming, was something like that?
A:
Yeah, along those lines. I don't know a lot of the details. I know that he was a publisher of a number of books along that topic.
Q: What would you say a pretty good following is?
A: I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say
more than 10 and... I don't know... I have no way of knowing how many people there were,
but I have been surprised by how many people did know him and followed his uh... teachings I guess would be the word I'd use.
Q: Huh. So he was I guess
pretty known around Rexburg or the county?
A: I... I didn't... Like I said I didn't know him, but
there were certainly a number of people in the area who did know him.
The *organization that demands to not be named or associated with Chad and Lori* does not match the sheriff's description as Chad was only a guest speaker/podcaster with them. However, there is another organization *cough*AVOW*cough* that is headquartered in the area *cough*Rigby*cough* that focuses on doomsday and second coming type of things, of which Chad has/had a prominent position wherein he can promote and/or control the narrative, thereby gaining a "significant following," which more perfectly matches the sheriff's description. MOO.
FWIW some corroborating evidence of Chad's involvement in this organization that is headquartered in Rigby may have been shared with a certain news/media outlet that also has a presence in that part of Idaho...