(NewsNation) — It’s been almost three years since Lori Vallow Daybell, the so-called doomsday mom, and her husband Chad Daybell were accused in a bizarre triple murder case, and residents say they’re angry the case has drawn out for so long.
It’s been two years, nine months and 15 days since the remains of 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan were discovered in their backyard in rural Idaho.
Both Vallow and Daybell have pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges in connection with the deaths of her children.
Vallow currently sits in the Ada County Jail, where she will stay while awaiting her trial beginning April 3.
NewsNation sources say they’ve developed a highly-scrutinized procedure to get Vallow back and forth between the jail and the courthouse when her trial begins in a little over a week.
Despite being housed in the largest jail in the state, sources tell NewsNation that Vallow is considered a high-profile inmate, so she’ll be locked up in isolation with absolutely no contact with any other inmates.
Meanwhile, the waiting game continues for Daybell’s day in court, which further frustrates locals who have suffered through this tragedy day after day.
NewsNation talked with Boyd Price, a longtime neighbor of Daybell.
“I’m trying to get over it,” he said. “You get up in the morning and you look out and you see across the street what went on and you can’t believe something like that has gone on in this neighborhood.”
For those who live so close to the case, the nearly three years have felt like an eternity.
75-year-old Price and his wife Ria have lived across from the Daybell’s for decades.
A generation of humble farmers, they had no idea the horrors taking place so close by.
“Not a thing,” Price said. “You wouldn’t have believed anything was going on in that house. I mean, you had no idea.”
Price said he’s trying to get over it, “but my uncle and aunt built that home and lived there all their lives and then they sold it to the Daybells and everything went downhill from there.”
Price called the Daybells very quiet neighbors who would hardly come out outside.
“We didn’t see them out at all,” he said. “I guess he was busy writing his books or whatever, but we didn’t see them.”
After the deaths, Price says the public and media attention drove Daybell’s son-in-law to the edge.
One day, Price claims, Daybell’s son-in-law ripped down the memorial for JJ and Tyler that hung on the fence.
It didn’t take long before Price said he reassembled it on his own property, a tribute to the young lives lost for all to see.
“People would come and while they’d go look and he’d stand there and yell at them to get off the property,” Prince said. “So he finally took it down.”
Since Vallow and Daybell’s cases have been separated due to late-breaking DNA evidence, Daybell’s trial hasn’t been set yet.
“We feel like it’s going to go on forever,” Price said. “Nobody seems to be getting anywhere, and myself, I’m glad to see something come of it right now. I’d like to see them both go in at the same time, but I guess the judge knows better.”
NewsNation is told there is still a fair amount of support for Daybell in the area, and some residents believe he isn’t responsible at all.
“I think it’s kind of dwindling now,” Price said. “But at first, there was a lot of support.”
Despite his supporters, Daybell could face the death penalty if found guilty.
District Judge Steven Boyce, however, ruled to dismiss the death penalty as an option ahead of Vallow’s trial “to ensure the rights of the defendant to a fair trial are protected.”
JJ’s grandparents have publicly expressed their outrage with that fact, calling it an insult to the friends and family of those who lost their lives.
