Wood asked Ballance what a cell tower does. Ballance said that a cell tower is constantly emitting radio frequency in a given area. He explained that cell phone towers connect with each other to enable calls to be made. He said that the range of a cell tower depended on the area and that higher populated areas have more cell towers. He said that towers are divided into three different sectors. He said that a cell phone is constantly scanning the environment to look for the strongest tower and sector. He said that the phone makes the decision of which tower and sector to connect to, but the phone will choose the strongest tower it can find.
Ballance confirmed that cell companies keep records on their users' phone activities. He said that most cell providers capture the majority of user data, but Verizon does not capture the location information of text messages when other companies do. Cell companies also have lists of all their towers.
Ballance said that in populated cities cell phone companies provide overlapping coverage from tower to tower, so calls don’t drop.
Ballance said that he was contacted by law enforcement in June of 2020 after the bodies of JJ and Tylee were found. He gathered up equipment and did a drive test to measure cell towers in the Rexburg and St. Anthony areas. He said that he used a specialized piece of equipment that had sensors, antennas, scanners, a computer and software to get raw measurements that map out cell phone towers. He said that the equipment was called GAR, Gladiator Autonomous Receiver.
Wood asked Ballance if a phone could be located 24/7 by identifying the tower and sector it used. He said no, he needs the time, tower and sector.
Wood asked Ballance if the phone will always use the closet tower. Ballance said no, it will use the one with the strongest signal it "sees".
Wood asked Ballance if he could describe what Google location records were. Ballance said that Google provides a service that provides location history. He said that users can opt in to have their locations recorded, which are tracked using Wi-Fi and cellular signals.
Ballance said that you can find the general location of a phone using Google location services. Ballance said he looks for devices/phones. not a specific person.
Ballance said that in this case he has examined numerous call detail records from multiple phones as well as Google location history. He said that the records were voluminous. Wood submitted the report with Ballance's findings.
The first slide showed the locations of cell phone towers in the Rexburg area.
The next slide showed what cell phone towers look like and how they were split up into sectors.
The next slide showed the seven phone numbers Ballance investigated in this case.
Next was a slide that showed the geographical area where he did the drive test.
Then next slide was a list of locations of interest appears on the screen.
- Burn pit in Chad’s yard.
- Tylee body location.
- JJ's body location.
- Chad’s residence.
- Lori’s residence.
- Alex’s residence.
- The Salem LDS church.
- Holiday Inn Express in Springville, Utah.
- Evergreen Cemetery in Springville.
- Wireless Revolution in Rexburg.
- Walmart in Rexburg
- BYU library
- Sportsman’s Warehouse in Idaho Falls
- Marriott Residence Inn in Kansas
Ballance testified that Tylee was last photographed alive on September 8th, 2019.
The next series of slides were shown all depicting locations and activities from Alex, Chad and Lori's devices on September 9th, 2019.
Alex’s device- 2:42 am- at Lori’s apartment
4:37am- at his apartment.
Chad’s phone- between 7:20am and 8:04am- multiple text messages with Lori and a call at 8:03 a.m.
Wood asked Ballance how often Chad and Lori communicated with each other. Ballance said pretty regularly.
Chad to Alex- 8:11am- A call lasting 180 seconds.
Chad to Lori- 8:58am- a text. There were also texts at 8:15am and 8:39am.
Google location history with Alex’s device- 8:49am- in the area of his apartment. 9:15am- just south of Chad’s house.
Alex’s device- between 9:21am and 10:57am- on Chad’s property. Multiple spots were picked up on the property including areas close to where Tylee was found. Ballance testified that he had gone to the Daybell property, and that there was a gate that allowed access for a vehicle.
The court took a break. When they returned there were more slides from September 9th.
Chad’s phone- Between 10:30am and 12:20pm multiple text messages and one call with Lori. The activity was during the same time frame that Alex’s device was on the property.
Alex’s device- on Chad’s property at 11:42am. Around 11:46 and 11:47am- traveling southbound away from the property.
Chad’s device- 11:45am- called Lori. An outgoing call was also made from Alex to Lori around this time.
Chad’s device- between 12:32 and12:34 pm- received a text from Lori’s device. 12:39pm- received a text message from Lori’s device.
The next few slides showed the cell phone towers that were utilized by devices belonging to Chad, Lori and Alex.
Ballance testified that JJ was last seen alive on September 22nd, 2019. The next several slides showed activity for Chad, Alex and Lori the next day, September 23rd.
Chad’s device- 9:25am- a 38 second call to Alex's device.
Between 9:27 a.m. and 9:57 a.m., three cell phone towers near Chad's house residence picked up activity on the devices. A tower near Lori’s Rexburg house was also utilized for Lori's device.
Chad’s phone- Between 9:30am and 10:27am- Multiple calls and texts between his device and Lori’s device.
Wood had no more questions.
Prior was up for the was up for the cross. He asked Ballance what the significance of October 9th, 2019. Ballance said that was the day of Tammy's reported an assault attempt. Prior asked Ballance where Alex's device was between 5:30pm and 10:30pm. Prior showed a slide that displayed Alex’s device on the day in question between 5:16pm and 11:53pm at his residence.
Prior said that there were 8 or 9 other times that Ballance had put Alex's device near or at Chad's house. Ballance said that there were five other occasions. He confirmed that it was August 7th and 24th, September 6th and 25, and October 15th.
Prior asked Ballance what the difference between a tower and a cell site was. Ballance said that the cell site included the tower and sector whereas the tower was just the tower itself.
Prior asked Ballance when was it that he did the drive test. Ballance said it was done the week of June 16th, 2020, and was over multiple days. Ballance explained that the drive tests were done to show where a phone could have been, not exactly where it was.
Prior asked Ballance if the tools he used from Gladiator Forensics could be used by anyone else besides the FBI. Ballance said no. Prior stated there was no way for the public to verify the tests. Ballance said that yes there was the public could go buy the sensors and do a drive test.
Prior showed the slide of Chad’s property with a focus on the irrigation pond where the Alex's homerjmaximus device was recorded. Prior had Ballance point out a driveway and the fire pit.
Prior showed another slide from Alex's homerjmaximus account between midnight and 5am on September 9th, 2019. Alex was inside or very close to Lori’s apartment that morning.
Prior asked Ballance if we know the content of all of the text messages. Ballance said no, but confirmed there was a significant amount of communication between Chad and Lori. Prior asked Ballance if he was aware Chad and Lori had an affair. Ballance said yes. Prior was done with his questioning.
Wood was up with the re-direct. He asked Ballance to explain again why he used 100 meters as a margin of error. He said he found it much more precise to use 100 meters or less.
Ballance confirmed that he did an analysis on any possible changes from September 2019 and June 2020 in the cell towers and cell sites and he found nothing to make him less confident in the results of his drive test.
Ballance confirmed that GAR is made up components and anyone can purchase the primary components. He confirmed that are civilian companies that do drive testing. Ballance also confirmed that a civilian that had experience could take his raw data file and compare it with their own testing.
Wood asked Balance if the geolocation settings could be altered on a cell device. Ballance that on a device there were multiple ways that location information could be stored. He said that the user can decide what was stored on the device. He confirmed that it was possible to opt out of geolocation services.
Ballance confirmed that he has been involved in multiple criminal investigations. Wood asked Ballance if it was common for people engaged in criminal activity to opt out of geolocation services on their devices. Ballance said that he had seen that numerous times. Wood was done with his questioning.
Prior wanted to re-cross but was denied.
The court took a break and when they came back Hannah Parker was called to the stand. She said she preferred to go by Munoz. Munoz lives near Springville, Utah. Munoz is a freelance photographer and Tammy was her mom’s cousin.
Munoz testified that she was with her mom when she heard Tammy passed away. She said that she was very saddened by the news and very confused.
Munoz said that when she was young, she saw Tammy at family events, and she would play with Tammy's kids.
Munoz said that she attended Tammy’s funeral and the viewing in Springville. She said that she went through the viewing line twice with different people. She said that Chad was first in the viewing line along with the Daybell children. Munoz said that her and her dad had a conversation with Chad.
Wixom asked Munoz if Chad's kids could have overheard the conversation that her and her dad had with him. She said no, because Chad was on one side of the casket and the children on the other.
Munoz said that Chad said that Tammy had been sick day and she had been vomiting and coughing, and then around 10pm, she vomited again. Chad said that she had come to his office and said that she was feeling a little bit better. Chad then said Tammy went to bed, but he stayed in his office working. Munoz said that Chad said that around 1am, he went upstairs and found Tammy on the floor, and she had rolled out of the bed and that he found her cold.
Munoz testified that Chad's demeanor was calmer than she had expected. He would only get emotional when her dad got emotional and then would stop. She said that she expected Chad to be a little more distraught.
Munoz said that around two hours later she went through the line with her mother. She said this time Chad told them that Tammy had been coughing violently and he was worried about her. He said that between 9pm and 10pm, she came down to his office and said she was going to bed. Chad said he was worried about her and went to bed with her, but around midnight, Tammy rolled out of bed onto the floor, and he had found out that she had passed. Munoz was confused because the stories were inconsistent.
Munoz testified that she didn't say anything at the time because she didn't feel comfortable.
Munoz said that that night she had spoken to her mom about the inconsistencies. Munoz said that she later she mentioned the inconsistences to Tammy's sister, Samantha.
Wixom had no further questions.
Prior was up for the cross. He asked Munoz if she ever gave a report to law enforcement. She said that yes, she did in August 2020, and she has also met with investigators twice since then.
Prior asked Munoz if she was aware that Chad's house was only one story. Munoz said no, that she had never been there.
Wixom had follow-up question. He asked Munoz if she or her dad asked Chad any questions about the layout of the home. She said no. She testified that there was no doubt in her mind that Chad talked about going downstairs.
Next witness up to the stand was Patricia Later she is Hannah Munoz's mother. Patricia was Tammy's first cousin. Wixom asked Patricia if she had a strong relationship with Tammy when they were younger. Patricia started to cry. Through the tears she said they were seven months apart and were like sisters. She said that they grew up together.
Patricia said that her mom was a single mom and her Aunt Phyllis use to watch her and Tammy. Patricia said as they got older, she'd spend weeks during the summer with Tammy. She said that they also went on family trips together and wrote letters back and forth. She said that she went to high school with Tammy. and they were best friends and drove to school together every day. She said that Tammy encouraged her to join the school band and take classes with her. Patricia said they went on double dates together and would hang out on weekends and go to movies.
Wixom asked Patricia if as adults had they stayed in contact with each other. She said yes. She said that when Tammy lived in Springville her and Tammy both taught at the school. She said that Tammy would leave little notes for her in the classroom. As she cried Patricia said that she still had one.
Wixom asked Patricia how often she had spoken with Tammy after the Daybell family moved to Idaho. She said that at first it was every couple of weeks and then it went down to a month.
Wixom asked about the day that Tammy died. Patricia emotionally said that her mom called her that day crying hysterically and told her that Tammy passed. Patricia said that it didn't register with her at first because it didn't make sense to her that Tammy had passed. Patricia said that it didn't make sense because Tammy was so young and healthy.
Patricia said that she went to the viewing and the funeral. She said that went she went to the viewing she went alone and was really upset so she looked for someone comforting. She met up with Munoz and went through the viewing line. She said that she noticed Chad talking with people and when someone would cry, he would cry. Patricia said she felt like Chad should have been sadder.
Patricia said that she went with her daughter and talked with Chad. Patricia told him that she was sorry for his loss, and they hugged. She said she then asked him what happened. She said that Chad said that Tammy wasn’t feeling well, and she was coughing a lot. That Chad had asked Tammy asked if she was OK, and she threw up. Chad had told her that Tammy said she was going to bed and that he asked her if she was OK, and she said yes. Tammy had told Chad that she was feeling better after she threw up, and then she went to bed. Patricia said that they both started crying and Chad told her that Tammy loved her so much.
Patricia testified that Chad had said that Tammy had went to bed around 10pm and he stayed up working. He went to bed later, and he woke up in the morning to the sound of Tammy rolling/falling out of bed. He told Patricia that Tammy was half on/half off the bed.
Patricia said that when she went to the funeral there was a couple things that Chad had said that she thought weren’t very nice. Chad had said that Tammy wasn’t easy to live with and that she was lazy. He also said that she had depression, which Patricia said that Tammy did, but to say it out in front of the whole congregation was embarrassing.
Patricia said that after Emma told a story about Tammy wanting more pets and that she would just sneak them in. Patricia said that she looked at Chad, and he looked a little concerned but then laughed. Garth told a story about Tammy playing video games, and he would be the lookout for when Chad got home. Patricia said that Chad again looked concerned but then started laughing. Patricia said she felt Tammy had to hide what she was doing so she wouldn’t get in trouble with Chad.
Patricia said that when she and Tammy both lived in Springville from 1995-2015, she would visit Tammy at least once a month. She said that she would stop by a quick visit but would end up staying for hours. She said that they'd chat about their kids and life. She said that Chad would eventually get home and sit down to chat with them, but she always got a feeling she needed to go home.
Wixom had no further questions.
Prior was up for the cross. He asked Patricia if it would surprise her to learn that in the last year of Tammy’s life, phone records show there was no communication between her and Tammy. Patricia said that was not correct, that they would message on Facebook and text. Patricia said that Tammy would also call her.
Prior asked if Patricia recalled any discussion at the viewing about Tammy or Chad going upstairs or downstairs in the house. Patricia said no.
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