SERIALously - 74: Chris Watts' New GF, Idaho 4 Roommates Were Texting During The Murders?, Chad Daybell Wants Cameras in Court, & Monster Parents in Arizona

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Welcome back to this week’s Headline Highlights! In today’s episode we are going to talk about Chris Watts new girlfriend, Chad Daybell, aka the biggest loser in Idaho, a horrific case out of Arizona, and the latest regarding  Steve Goncalvez & The Idaho Murders Airmail Publication that has everyone up in arms. Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise SERIALously Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/ All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_ About Me: https://annieelise.com/ SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/ For Business Inquiries: [e-mail] 

Hey true crime besties, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to this week's episode of Headline Highlights. So if you're new here and you're new to the podcast, welcome. Let me just kind of give you the skinny on what Headline Highlights is. My name is Annie. I am your true crime bestie here to break down all things true crime for you. And what I do here in addition to the deep dives and the singular episodes on cases is we do headline highlights where each week we go over all of the latest news in the true crime world. And we do it in like a bite-sized amount of time so that you don't have to spend a very long time listening to get caught up with everything that's going on this week, whether

it's brand new cases, case updates. It doesn't matter. We're trying to just give you this bite-sized version so that you can be fully up to speed. Now, in today's episode, we are going to talk about things, guys, that I feel like I can just tell you as true crime besties and like my true crime BFF. It's shit that I never thought I was going to be talking about again. It's stuff that I thought we put to rest. I never thought I would be uttering the name Chris Watts again. I thought we were done with stupid Chad Daybell, but we have got a lot to talk about because a lot has happened this week. So in today's episode, we're going to talk about Chad Daybell,

who is the biggest loser in Idaho. We also are going to be talking about a horrific case coming out of Arizona. We also are going to be talking about a horrific case coming out of Arizona. We also are going to be talking quite a bit about the Idaho 4 murders because there is some new information regarding Kaylee's father, Steve Gonsalves, and an airmail publication that has everyone up in arms. believe I'm saying this, Chris Watts' new girlfriend. So buckle up because today, if this is your first time ever listening to Headline Highlights, boy did you pick a week because today is one of the crazier ones. So let's start with my favorite loser in Idaho, Peter Griffin, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Chad Daybell. So Chad Daybell was back in court this week as his trial is moving forward. To remind you of who Chad Daybell is, if you don't know, he is the one who is standing trial. His wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, already did. They are the horrific cult leader murderers that murdered Lori's two children in Idaho. So this week, he was

back in court. So the status hearing was very procedural, and it mostly sets dates for future hearings and plans for how the jury questionnaires will be sent out to the potential jurors. However, there was one thing that took me by surprise here. Apparently, Chad wants cameras in the courtroom. Now, back when his trial and Lori's trial were scheduled to be together, the judge had banned cameras. But as we know, their trials were later severed. Before the cases were severed, Chad's attorney, John Pryor, had filed a motion requesting cameras in court proceedings. When the judge asked if that was

still the case this week, his attorney said, Mr. Daybell has not changed his position since I filed this motion. He still maintains his feelings about having a public trial. Unsurprisingly, the prosecution still stands by their objection to not allow cameras in the courtroom. The judge set a hearing for late November to go over that issue, and we'll see what comes of it, because we know that there were not cameras in Lori's trial until the sentencing and verdict portion of it, so it's going to be really interesting to see what happens here. Chad's trial is currently scheduled to start on April 1st next year in 2024, and it's estimated to last as long as eight weeks. If convicted, his trial will move immediately into the penalty phase since he is facing the death penalty.

When they were discussing the length of the trial, Chad's attorney also said, Make no mistake, we will be putting up a defense in this case, referencing how Lori's attorneys did not put up a defense at all. And honestly, that has my interest piqued, because I'm honestly curious about what his defense is going to be, because I have covered this case and Lori's trial extremely in depth, and I really just do not believe that this is going to pan out very well for him, considering a lot of the same evidence in Lori's trial is going to be used against Chad, as well as much more evidence regarding just Chad himself. Lori is definitely guilty, don't get me wrong.

But she also wasn't the one that was texting about shooting raccoons and burning limbs. And I honestly think his kids will be called to testify as well. The same kids that fully believed that Chad was framed for Tylee and JJ being found murdered in the most heinous way imaginable, buried in their own father's backyard, in a location that you could literally see straight from the kitchen window. And also, remember that their mother died of natural causes, allegedly. This was, of course, before their mother's autopsy came back and revealed that she actually died of asphyxiation. I'm also not sure if they know about all of those Amazon searches for wedding outfits, wedding rings,

all that were purchased while their mother Tammy was still alive. And for their sakes, I really hope they haven't heard the cringe, disgusting text messages of Chad wanting to be taken by his storm. That is a direct quote, guys. He wanted to get pulled by his wiener and taken by his storm. He referenced his penis as the storm. It's sick. It's sick. It's sick. Like I told you, today is a crazier one, guys. So we're going to see what happens. The only thing that I can actually foresee happening with a defense that he puts up is kind of what I had called before that I think now that the trials have been severed, I think he might flip on Lori. I think he's going to say that he was completely,

you know, infatuated with this woman, that he was under her spell, that she wanted to do these murders. She wanted the kids out of the way and his wife out of the way so they could be together, and he was taken by her, but that he had nothing to do with it. That Alex Cox, Lori's brother, was the one who committed the murders. He simply helped aid in the cover-up or something to that degree. I don't see it faring very well for Chad, but I also don't see him sticking on Lori's side. She remained basically mute the entire trial, put up no defense for her side, trying to be loyal and stand by her man and stand by these, in my opinion, batshit crazy ideas that they both had. But I don't know, just a gut feeling, and I could be wrong.

I don't think the same is going to go for Chad. So we'll see. Now, shifting over into the case coming out of Arizona right now, there is a really horrific and severe child abuse case that has recently made the news out of Maricopa County, Arizona. The parents are 24-year-old James Lawson III and 21-year-old Stephanie Comfabay. They were arrested after their two-month-old baby girl, yes, two months old, had fractures

all over her body and even bite marks on her left arm and right leg. According to court documents, the abuse began in July when the baby had a bloody upper lip. By July 18th, her forehead was cut and swollen. The following week, both of her tiny arms and legs were broken. She also had a fractured skull and fractured ribs. The dad, James, allegedly sent pictures and messages to people about how he was hurting the baby as well and made some very extremely alarming Google searches, like, if you choke baby, hit the head, get lumpy, and can you put ice on a newborn's head? And that's exactly how the searches were, bad grammar and all. Additionally, the documents stated that when the baby would cry, James would grab her by the jaw area with both hands, squeeze her mouth shut,

lifting her by the jaw area, causing both feet to dangle while stating he knew what he was doing. Apparently, the mom, Stephanie, was worried about her baby's injuries and brought them up to James as he brushed her off and said things like, oh, the baby hurt herself, which, I mean, hello, this is a two-month-old child we are talking about. Their mobility is extremely limited, and they solely depend on their parents for everything, including movement. They aren't walking around bumping their heads. I don't know. It is just ridiculous to even say that. And if Stephanie was truly worried about her baby's injuries, maybe take your baby out of his possession and call the authorities. So Stephanie said that she eventually stopped asking James

about those injuries because they would get into arguments, saying that she kept quiet because James would get upset and become defensive. And at one point, he apparently told her to keep her mouth shut. The documents continued saying all of this took place for an entire month, yet Stephanie did not report or stop James, causing the victim to obtain further, more severe injuries. Eventually, on August 1st, Stephanie took the baby to Phoenix Children's Hospital because her left eye was so swollen and it was not healing. James was allegedly extremely angry that she was being taken to the hospital, which, hi, duh, go figure because he's about to get caught. And when the hospital saw the baby's condition, they immediately called the police. Stephanie and James were interviewed but couldn't explain the injuries. So that's when officers started to investigate this further, and they got a search

warrant on both James and Stephanie's phones. Luckily, this was a case that we don't often hear about, because the baby girl made a recovery. She is now in the state's custody. Stephanie and James were arrested on October 5th, and James is still in custody with a bail of $50,000, and it's believed that Stephanie has in fact been bailed out. Just two true monster human beings and monster parents. It's just unbelievable to me. Which, speaking of unbelievable, I guess that is kind of the perfect segue into the next topic we're going to be discussing today, and it's in regards to the Idaho Four Murders, the quadruple murder that happened in Moscow, Idaho of the four university students. I'm going to be talking about an article during this segment from this publication called

Air Mail, and the author is Howard Bloom or Howard Blum. I don't know how you say it, but I just want to be clear because apparently good old Howard likes to go legal crazy and gets very litigious. So everything I say is alleged or it was exactly quoted in his article. Otherwise, it's my opinion. So don't come sue me, Howard, but this is unfortunately your own doing with all the backlash that's coming right now. So another publication from this airmail series called The Eyes of a Killer by Howard Blum was released, and this covers the Idaho murders. And it recently made some extremely bold claims about the two surviving roommates, saying that they were actually awake during the murders, that they

could hear the whole thing, and in fact, they were even texting each other throughout this. Additionally, the publication claimed that Steve Gonsalves, Kaylee's father, was conducting his own investigation into the murders in conjunction with the official investigation that was being conducted by law enforcement. The Gonsalves family attorney, Shannon Gray, also said that this author accuses Steve of taking liberties with the case, potentially jeopardizing Brian Koberger's case. So before I get into some of the details, I want to pause here. And this is why so many people are having a problem with this article, not only because it's become contradicted in certain aspects with Kaylee's father speaking out, but also

because the two surviving roommates have already been under such scrutiny and under a magnifying glass by people, literally ripped to shreds on the internet, as if they're not already having survivor's guilt enough. But constantly, videos being made daily, hourly about these girls. Why didn't they do more? Why'd they wait so long to call the police? Why didn't, how could they not have heard anything? So now that this article comes out, basically saying that they were awake during the whole thing, so much so that they heard the entire murder happen of all four of the students that they were texting during it, it has now made those existing horrific rumors that people already were sensationalizing really take flight and almost just kind of add fuel onto the fire of this narrative they're spinning. Which,

let me just say, we don't know the truth. We don't know why there was such a long delay in the 911 call. We don't know what really was heard in that house. That will all come out in trial, I believe, especially because of the gag order. But now with this airmail series and this new article coming out, people are grasping onto it because everybody has been so thirsty for details because of the gag order. So it's really, like I said, catching flight and it's getting very messy very quickly. So let me break down some of the details of this and also what the big problem is here in this and why so many people are up in arms. So according to the Daily Mail about the contents of this airmail publication, it says, and I quote, The two surviving people inside an Idaho house where four college students were slaughtered were texting each other during the massacre.

The details of the messages have not been released, but apparently were exchanged as the killer went room to room in the spree. The texts were revealed by a grand jury source. The piece was written from Kaylee's father's point of view, and the writer made reference to a grand jury source who allegedly told Kaylee's father, Steve, that the surviving two girls were texting one another as the murderer methodically went from one room to the next. Howard then emphasized the possibility that two people had a sense of the horror while it occurred and had not acted, calling neither friends nor 911, left Steve floored. At the beginning of his piece, he also dramatized words in the first person as if they were being written by one of the victim's family

members. And a couple words, too, that really irk me because, again, it just, to me, tries to make this whole crime, which is already horrible, more sensationalized, more salacious by using the words slaughtered, massacre, in the killing spree. It's just, I get it. You are a writer. I understand it. But it is just very, I don't know, to me, just tactless. I don't know. Tell me what you think. So after this publication was made known by literally everyone on the internet, an official statement was released in which Steve, Kaylee's father, said, most of the time my family and I just ignore the chatter and the noise, but lines have to be drawn somewhere. I was recently sent an article on airmail by Howard Bloom, or Howard Blum, whatever his last name is, describing Kaylee, apparently quoting me, and completely making up

a fictional story about FBI letters, etc. Mr. Blum recently has used the murders to get back into the spotlight, appearing on an NBC show as well as a book that he is writing. He has reached out through our attorney several times to speak with us, but we have declined. I just want to make it clear to the public that we have not spoken to Mr. Blum about the death of our daughter. This is nothing more than grandstanding and a very, very poor attempt at getting attention. This piece is obviously fictional, but written in poor taste. The Gonsalves family would ask that everyone please respect the victims of this tragedy and continue to support trustworthy journalism. I mean, pretty heated,

right? So quickly, let's talk about Howard Blum. Who is Howard Blum? Howard Bloom, Howard Blum, whatever. I'm going to say Blum. According to his Wikipedia page, Howard Blum is an American author and journalist, formerly a reporter for The Village Voice and The New York Times, and is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the author of several nonfiction books, including The New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner American Lightning. In a statement following the backlash from the Gonsalves family, Howard released his own statement, which said, 1. I have no wish to get into a public argument with Mr. Gonsalves. He and his family have already suffered too much pain. 2. We both agree on that I never interviewed him, as the article

clearly states. 3. My portrait of a grieving father was based on a trove of texts he wrote that were made available to Airmail, his public statements, and interviews with people close to him. Okay, so firing back. Now, this is just my opinion now, and everything from here forward is alleged, but Airmail has been publishing almost like miniature novels of the Idaho murders and putting them behind a paywall. They've been doing this for a while now. You can't read them until you subscribe to them. And honestly, I haven't paid much attention to the Airmail series since the first release on January 7th, before that gag order was put in place. I did read the first one. I even talked about it, I think, on my channel. I talked about it on a TikTok short because at that point, it did seem like there was some details he knew, but then it just

continued. There kept being little miniature bite-sized pieces released and all behind a paywall, which doesn't really sit well with me. So since then, there really hasn't been much new information coming out at all regarding this case as far as the details of what happened that night of the murders, all due to the gag order. Since then, there have been six additional parts, though, of Eyes of the Killer that have been released. Now, I'm not sure of the accuracy of many of the things discussed in these pieces, which, for context, I also haven't read them all, but I kind of became turned off by what was being published because it seemed so crazy, and almost like, how does the author know all of this? Maybe there is an anonymous source giving these details, sure, but it's just hard for me to imagine that this person,

who has all of this in-depth knowledge, would not be in major violation of the gag order at this point, given how close they must have been to the investigation to know all of these things. And interestingly, no other major media organizations have corroborated any of this information, or that this source even exists, nor have they republished any of the information after that first release of part one. Also, I think it's interesting that the Air Mail publication allegedly insinuated that Steve was the one potentially jeopardizing Brian Koberger's case, since Steve isn't the one that published all of this nonsense. But again, that's just my opinion. And playing devil's

advocate for a second here, I understand freedom of the press, freedom of information, freedom of speech, all of these things, say that this information was true. There is a gag order on this case for a reason right now. There are a lot of people who are already smearing these two young girls who, yes, technically because of their age are adults, but they are young kids. They are victims in all of this, even though they survived. So to then even be sitting on this knowledge and make it public when you know for certain that there is a reason why details are adamantly not being made public feels very much in poor taste to me. And maybe you won't agree with that, because I do believe there should be a level of transparency of the facts, certainly. But I think that that should happen once we are in the courtroom. Right now, all it's going to do, since trial isn't coming

for several months, all it's going to do is continue to spew rumors, or it's going to continue to spark rumors, spew more vitriol, and make these girls' lives living hell that they already are going through. I just have so many thoughts and feelings on this, and it really, really bothers me. But again, I also do understand why now it is catching flight so quickly, because people are hungry for details. People are hungry for answers. They want to know the why, the how, all the reasoning behind it. And because there is that gag order in place, anytime a small detail does get squeezed out, people jump on it. So I understand it. It's the nature of the beast. There's just something very,

very gross, in my opinion, about this whole piece. But again, that's just my opinion. If you don't agree, that is absolutely fine. Now let's move into something else that I find very disgusting and gross. To preface this next topic, I want to say this. It is no secret that there are fan pages made for murderers. It's also no secret that there is a special group of women who are sexually attracted to murderers for one reason or another. to murderers for one reason or another. Call it a savior's complex, similar to when a man wants to save a stripper or a sex worker and it's called a Captain Save-A-Ho, whatever it is. Maybe it's a savior's complex, thinking they can be the one to change this man. They can see the good in him. He's misunderstood. But there is this small group of women who, and actually it's really not even that small if I'm going to be honest, there is a select group of women who are infatuated with different male serial killers,

murderers, rapists, you name it. And Chris Watts is one of them. There have been so many fan pages created and dedicated to him, so much fan mail that goes and gets sent to him. People have talked about sending nude photos to him. There's Reddit threads about women actually fighting each other because they're in love with him. It really is sick because if you know anything about the Chris Watts case, he murdered his

pregnant wife and his two young daughters before throwing the two daughters' bodies in an oil container, all while he was having an affair with his mistress, Nicole Kessinger, who I did a deep dive on her interrogation on my YouTube channel like over a year ago. I know that a lot of people don't think she's involved in it. I'm not saying she is, but there are a lot of things that don't line up in her version of events. So take a look at that if you want to. So the newest information coming out in the Chris Watts case, which I thought I would never talk about again, is that apparently Chris Watts has a new girlfriend. So something came across my desk, and it was on one of the Chris Watts fan pages on Facebook. Yes, you heard that right.

A fan page on Facebook, which you would think at this point, too, that maybe Facebook would get their crap together and start banning some of these pages because it just glorifies these monsters who are proven to be guilty but whatever argument for a different day so this post is by a girl named Tiffany and I will leave her last name out just because I don't want people to go after her here's what she posts in it she says hi my name is. I'm Chris Watt's newish girlfriend. We have been together for the last year. I wanted to write this before the media comes out about this story as everything comes to light eventually. I met Chris two years ago while doing a pen pal to prisoners. We began talking on the phone and it started to become more serious.

We are getting married next year. Hopefully it started to become more serious. We are getting married next year. Hopefully, our plans don't fall through. Unfortunately, he has to marry me while he serves behind bars for the rest of his life. But I love Chris, and I think he's a wonderful person. Now, if you're not eye-rolling so hard that you see your brain right now, don't worry. I'm doing it enough for the both of us. But what kills me about this, no pun intended, is the reactions on this are mostly the laughing reaction because nobody's taking this chick seriously or they're just laughing at what a complete loser she has to be to want to marry Chris Watts and be in love with him. But then the comment section. The comment section does not disappoint because in enters Sarah to the chat and Sarah comments, I don't think so. I've been mailing him my panties claiming her stake on Chris.

seen crazier things. But it kind of just goes back to the fact that like, why are people glorifying these men, these murderers, these rapists, and then fighting over them because they want to be the main woman? It is so bizarre to me, and I don't understand it. So maybe Chris Watts has a new girlfriend. Maybe he has a boyfriend in prison. But I just don't understand this. So Tiffany, if you're listening, and if you are Chris Watt's girlfriend, please invite me to that wedding because I would love to ask him a few things in person myself. I will get the day off. I will travel to the prison. I will get all the credentials needed.

I would like to interview both you and your fiancé, Chris. Other than that, guys, please do not be pen pals with prisoners and fall in love with them. It is not good. It is in poor taste and you could do better. You can do better. All right. I know today was a little bit different of a headline highlights because got a little sassy, got a little crazy.

But honestly, some of these things, it's like it's hard not to because I get very passionate and very heated about that. But I also want to know from you guys, and I think I am going to put a poll over on Spotify. So if you're listening on Spotify, please go ahead and take the poll and answer it. And if you're listening on Apple or any other platform, can you please answer this in the review section and just take 30 seconds to leave a quick review and answer this? I'm wondering if I should be moving headline highlights to later in the week. Originally, I didn't want to publish them on a Friday, and that's why I chose Thursday, because I felt like sometimes Fridays get

overlooked. People are wrapping up their work week. They're heading out for the weekend. So I was like, I'll do it on Thursday. But now the more I'm thinking of it, I'm wondering if Friday does make more sense so that it's like a whole comprehensive overview of the week and can be as detailed as possible. So let me know in the poll if you would listen to it on a friday if it's easier to listen to it on a thursday or if you would rather hear it on a monday at the start of your week or even a sunday i don't know let me know what you guys think in the review section and the poll section all right thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of headline highlights it's me your true crime bestie annie

i have a new video dropping first thing tomorrow morning over on my YouTube channel, 10 to Life, where we are doing a deep, deep, deep, deep, deep dive, deep dive into FLDS and the FLDS cult that is FLDS. How many times can you say FLDS? Say it five times fast. guys it's a little late here I'm getting delirious I gotta sign off before I say something I really regret all right guys thanks for tuning in and I will talk with you very soon bye Thank you.