The Moscow Murders and More

Day six of Chad Daybell’s trial was dominated by testimony from Melanie Gibb, Lori Vallow Daybell’s former close friend, who gave jurors an inside look at the belief system Chad and Lori developed as their relationship intensified. Gibb described how Chad assigned people “light” and “dark” ratings, taught that evil spirits could possess human bodies and participated in “castings” intended to drive those spirits out—rituals that, according to Gibb, carried the expectation that the possessed person might die afterward. She said castings were performed involving Charles Vallow, Tammy Daybell and Brandon Boudreaux, and testified that Charles was eventually labeled...

Madison Moye, a University of Idaho student and sorority sister of Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, recalled seeing Mogen at the Corner Club in Moscow on the night of November 12, 2022, only hours before the murders. Moye said Mogen had spent much of the night laughing and socializing with friends and that nothing about the evening had seemed unusual or threatening. She described it simply as “a normal night in Moscow,” reflecting how safe the college town had felt before the killings. Mogen had later left the bar with Kaylee Goncalves at about 1:30 a.m., stopped at a food truck and retu...

​Bryan Kohberger's defense team has intensified efforts to prevent the imposition of the death penalty in his upcoming trial for the alleged murders of four University of Idaho students. Recent legal maneuvers include motions to prohibit the use of potentially prejudicial terms such as "murder," "psychopath," and "sociopath" during the trial, as well as references to "bushy eyebrows," which a surviving roommate used to describe the intruder. The defense argues that such language could bias the jury against Kohberger. Additionally, they seek to limit the display of crime scene photographs to avoid inflaming jurors' emotions.

In a separate mo...

Day four of Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing, held July 9, centered on some of the prosecution’s most consequential evidence yet, including a recorded interview with Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs. In the interview, Twiggs described Robinson’s behavior after Charlie Kirk was killed and authenticated text exchanges in which Robinson allegedly admitted responsibility for the shooting, discussed the rifle and expressed concern that investigators would find his DNA on it. Twiggs also said Robinson later confirmed the confession in person and expressed regret about what he had done. Prosecutors additionally introduced Robinson’s handwritten note to Twiggs...

The filing was the Justice Department’s October 12, 2026 memorandum asking the federal court to dismiss New Mexico’s lawsuit over access to unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records or, alternatively, grant summary judgment in DOJ’s favor. The department acknowledged that New Mexico had begun investigating possible crimes at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in 2019, had turned its investigative material over to federal prosecutors, and had agreed to refer matters to the Southern District of New York with the understanding that state-related matters would later be referred back to New Mexico. DOJ also acknowledged that no such referrals had been made. After New Mexico r...

The filing was the Justice Department’s October 12, 2026 memorandum asking the federal court to dismiss New Mexico’s lawsuit over access to unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records or, alternatively, grant summary judgment in DOJ’s favor. The department acknowledged that New Mexico had begun investigating possible crimes at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in 2019, had turned its investigative material over to federal prosecutors, and had agreed to refer matters to the Southern District of New York with the understanding that state-related matters would later be referred back to New Mexico. DOJ also acknowledged that no such referrals had been made. After New Mexico r...

The filing was the Justice Department’s October 12, 2026 memorandum asking the federal court to dismiss New Mexico’s lawsuit over access to unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records or, alternatively, grant summary judgment in DOJ’s favor. The department acknowledged that New Mexico had begun investigating possible crimes at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in 2019, had turned its investigative material over to federal prosecutors, and had agreed to refer matters to the Southern District of New York with the understanding that state-related matters would later be referred back to New Mexico. DOJ also acknowledged that no such referrals had been made. After New Mexico r...

The filing was the Justice Department’s October 12, 2026 memorandum asking the federal court to dismiss New Mexico’s lawsuit over access to unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records or, alternatively, grant summary judgment in DOJ’s favor. The department acknowledged that New Mexico had begun investigating possible crimes at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in 2019, had turned its investigative material over to federal prosecutors, and had agreed to refer matters to the Southern District of New York with the understanding that state-related matters would later be referred back to New Mexico. DOJ also acknowledged that no such referrals had been made. After New Mexico r...

The piece argues that Ghislaine Maxwell’s U.S. citizenship could potentially be challenged because of answers she gave on her naturalization application before becoming a citizen in 2002. According to the story, Maxwell answered “no” when asked whether she had ever committed an offense for which she had not been arrested and whether she had been involved in procuring prostitution or related conduct. The article contends those answers were contradicted by evidence introduced at Maxwell’s 2021 federal trial, where prosecutors established that her involvement in recruiting and grooming underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein stretched back into the 1990s, years before she file...

Newly released High Court documents showed that Thames Valley Police feared Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor could obstruct searches of his properties by arguing that officers needed permission from King Charles because the residences or property belonged to the Crown. Police searched Royal Lodge in Windsor and Andrew’s home on the Sandringham Estate in February while investigating allegations that he improperly shared sensitive government information with Jeffrey Epstein during his time as the UK’s special representative for trade and investment. Investigators specifically sought paperwork, diaries, business records and other documents connected to Andrew’s official work, telling the judge who issued the wa...

Day five of Chad Daybell’s trial focused heavily on financial and travel records prosecutors said helped establish the timeline surrounding the disappearances of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan and the relationship between Chad and Lori Vallow. Rexburg Police Detective Chuck Kunsaitis walked jurors through bank accounts, Social Security payments, airline records, hotel stays and credit-card activity tied to Lori, Chad, Alex Cox and the children. Prosecutors showed that Tylee had been actively using her bank account before she disappeared, but that her Social Security benefits were redirected into Lori’s account shortly before her death and continued to be coll...

Day four of Chad Daybell’s trial focused heavily on the digital trail prosecutors said connected Daybell and Lori Vallow to the beliefs and events surrounding the deaths. FBI tactical specialist Nicole Heideman continued walking jurors through internet searches and electronic records tied to Chad and Lori, including searches for “Ned Schneider,” the name associated with the entity they believed had possessed Charles Vallow, as well as a search asking whether bodies could be possessed after the original occupant died. Chandler Police Detective Nathan Duncan then testified about the investigation into Charles Vallow’s July 2019 shooting death and reviewed text mes...

One of the strangest unresolved episodes surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s death involved an anonymous 4chan user who appeared to announce his death before the news became public. Epstein was officially pronounced dead at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital at approximately 7:36 a.m. on August 10, 2019, but at 8:16 a.m.—roughly 38 minutes before ABC News reporter Aaron Katersky first reported the death publicly—an anonymous 4chan poster wrote that Epstein had died about an hour earlier from hanging and cardiac arrest. When other users questioned the claim, the poster supplied unusually specific medical details, saying Epstein had been found in asystole, had been worked...

Jeffrey Epstein’s early financial career is cloaked in mystery, with only fragments of fact piercing through layers of rumor and myth. After leaving Bear Stearns in 1981, he founded Intercontinental Assets Group Inc., a consulting firm where he claimed to “recover stolen money for wealthy clients.” What exactly that meant was never made clear, but the business quickly drew speculation that Epstein was dealing in murky worlds where stolen wealth, corrupt regimes, and shady operators overlapped. In a 2025 DOJ interview, Ghislaine Maxwell went further, alleging that Epstein built his fortune partly by working with or for African warlords in the 1980s. She...

Jeffrey Epstein’s early financial career is cloaked in mystery, with only fragments of fact piercing through layers of rumor and myth. After leaving Bear Stearns in 1981, he founded Intercontinental Assets Group Inc., a consulting firm where he claimed to “recover stolen money for wealthy clients.” What exactly that meant was never made clear, but the business quickly drew speculation that Epstein was dealing in murky worlds where stolen wealth, corrupt regimes, and shady operators overlapped. In a 2025 DOJ interview, Ghislaine Maxwell went further, alleging that Epstein built his fortune partly by working with or for African warlords in the 1980s. She...

Day four of Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing, held July 9, centered on some of the prosecution’s most consequential evidence yet, including a recorded interview with Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs. In the interview, Twiggs described Robinson’s behavior after Charlie Kirk was killed and authenticated text exchanges in which Robinson allegedly admitted responsibility for the shooting, discussed the rifle and expressed concern that investigators would find his DNA on it. Twiggs also said Robinson later confirmed the confession in person and expressed regret about what he had done. Prosecutors additionally introduced Robinson’s handwritten note to Twiggs...

Day four of Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing, held July 9, centered on some of the prosecution’s most consequential evidence yet, including a recorded interview with Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs. In the interview, Twiggs described Robinson’s behavior after Charlie Kirk was killed and authenticated text exchanges in which Robinson allegedly admitted responsibility for the shooting, discussed the rifle and expressed concern that investigators would find his DNA on it. Twiggs also said Robinson later confirmed the confession in person and expressed regret about what he had done. Prosecutors additionally introduced Robinson’s handwritten note to Twiggs...

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the U.S. Department of Justice on August 5, 2026, accusing the federal government of obstructing the state’s renewed criminal investigation into alleged abuse, trafficking and other crimes connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The lawsuit seeks access to unredacted federal investigative files that New Mexico says are necessary to identify victims, witnesses and possible co-conspirators tied to Epstein’s activities in the state. Torrez argues that DOJ’s refusal to turn over the material violates the Administrative Procedure Act and interferes with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate crimes committed within its...

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the U.S. Department of Justice on August 5, 2026, accusing the federal government of obstructing the state’s renewed criminal investigation into alleged abuse, trafficking and other crimes connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The lawsuit seeks access to unredacted federal investigative files that New Mexico says are necessary to identify victims, witnesses and possible co-conspirators tied to Epstein’s activities in the state. Torrez argues that DOJ’s refusal to turn over the material violates the Administrative Procedure Act and interferes with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate crimes committed within its...

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the U.S. Department of Justice on August 5, 2026, accusing the federal government of obstructing the state’s renewed criminal investigation into alleged abuse, trafficking and other crimes connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The lawsuit seeks access to unredacted federal investigative files that New Mexico says are necessary to identify victims, witnesses and possible co-conspirators tied to Epstein’s activities in the state. Torrez argues that DOJ’s refusal to turn over the material violates the Administrative Procedure Act and interferes with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate crimes committed within its...

Jane Doe #2’s 2007 statement to Marie Villafaña and federal investigators described a pattern of recruitment, abuse, and normalization inside Jeffrey Epstein’s operation, beginning when she was a minor. She said she was introduced to Epstein under the guise of paid “massage” work and quickly realized the encounters involved sexual acts, including being directed to perform sexual contact on Epstein. According to her account, the environment was controlled and transactional, with Epstein dictating the terms and presenting the abuse as routine, while payments were made in cash after each encounter.


Jane Doe #2 also told investigators that she was n...

The circumstances surrounding Jean-Luc Brunel’s death are extraordinarily difficult to separate from the unanswered questions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s own death. Brunel was one of the most important figures in Epstein’s modeling-world network and was facing serious criminal allegations in France when he was found hanging in his Paris jail cell in February 2022, before his case could ever be tested at trial. That alone would have been enough to generate scrutiny, but Brunel was not just another defendant. He was accused of helping recruit young women into Epstein’s orbit and was positioned to know far more than most peo...

Brad Edwards repeatedly held Courtney Wild up as one of the clearest examples of how badly Jeffrey Epstein’s victims were failed by the federal justice system. Wild was only 14 when she was drawn into Epstein’s Palm Beach operation, and Edwards represented her for years in the legal fight over the secret 2007 non-prosecution agreement. He described her as extraordinarily determined and central to the effort to force the government to account for the way prosecutors negotiated Epstein’s deal without informing his victims. Wild became the face of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act challenge, arguing that prosecutors had violated her righ...

The affidavit submitted by attorney Bradley J. Edwards in the Southern District of Florida lays out a detailed argument for why the U.S. government should be compelled to produce documents related to the federal handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Edwards, representing Jane Doe No. 1 and Jane Doe No. 2, explains that the requested records are essential to proving that federal prosecutors violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA) by secretly negotiating and finalizing Epstein’s 2007–2008 non-prosecution agreement without notifying the victims. He asserts that internal DOJ communications, emails, memoranda, and investigative records would show what prosecutors knew, when they knew i...

The affidavit submitted by attorney Bradley J. Edwards in the Southern District of Florida lays out a detailed argument for why the U.S. government should be compelled to produce documents related to the federal handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Edwards, representing Jane Doe No. 1 and Jane Doe No. 2, explains that the requested records are essential to proving that federal prosecutors violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA) by secretly negotiating and finalizing Epstein’s 2007–2008 non-prosecution agreement without notifying the victims. He asserts that internal DOJ communications, emails, memoranda, and investigative records would show what prosecutors knew, when they knew i...

Larry Visoski was far more than Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime pilot. For nearly three decades, he occupied a critical logistical position inside Epstein’s world, flying him between New York, Palm Beach, New Mexico, the Virgin Islands and other destinations while gaining firsthand familiarity with Epstein’s properties, travel patterns, employees and associates. Visoski’s importance was underscored by his testimony at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, where he described Maxwell as essentially Epstein’s number two and helped prosecutors explain the internal structure of Epstein’s operation. His connection to Epstein also extended beyond the cockpit, including reported property and financial ties...

Larry Visoski was far more than Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime pilot. For nearly three decades, he occupied a critical logistical position inside Epstein’s world, flying him between New York, Palm Beach, New Mexico, the Virgin Islands and other destinations while gaining firsthand familiarity with Epstein’s properties, travel patterns, employees and associates. Visoski’s importance was underscored by his testimony at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, where he described Maxwell as essentially Epstein’s number two and helped prosecutors explain the internal structure of Epstein’s operation. His connection to Epstein also extended beyond the cockpit, including reported property and financial ties...

Day four of Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing, held July 9, centered on some of the prosecution’s most consequential evidence yet, including a recorded interview with Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs. In the interview, Twiggs described Robinson’s behavior after Charlie Kirk was killed and authenticated text exchanges in which Robinson allegedly admitted responsibility for the shooting, discussed the rifle and expressed concern that investigators would find his DNA on it. Twiggs also said Robinson later confirmed the confession in person and expressed regret about what he had done. Prosecutors additionally introduced Robinson’s handwritten note to Twiggs...

A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Robert Garcia, with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie also backing the measure, introduced the Epstein Wall Street Records Act, legislation aimed at forcing federal regulators to examine the financial institutions and executives that maintained ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The bill would require agencies including the Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Epstein-connected firms and individuals for possible violations of banking, securities and illicit-finance laws. Regulators would also be required to publicly disclose records relating to Epstein and his associates, refer potential criminal violations to the Justice...

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the U.S. Department of Justice on August 5, 2026, accusing the federal government of obstructing the state’s renewed criminal investigation into alleged abuse, trafficking and other crimes connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The lawsuit seeks access to unredacted federal investigative files that New Mexico says are necessary to identify victims, witnesses and possible co-conspirators tied to Epstein’s activities in the state. Torrez argues that DOJ’s refusal to turn over the material violates the Administrative Procedure Act and interferes with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate crimes committed within its...

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the U.S. Department of Justice on August 5, 2026, accusing the federal government of obstructing the state’s renewed criminal investigation into alleged abuse, trafficking and other crimes connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The lawsuit seeks access to unredacted federal investigative files that New Mexico says are necessary to identify victims, witnesses and possible co-conspirators tied to Epstein’s activities in the state. Torrez argues that DOJ’s refusal to turn over the material violates the Administrative Procedure Act and interferes with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate crimes committed within its...

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the U.S. Department of Justice on August 5, 2026, accusing the federal government of obstructing the state’s renewed criminal investigation into alleged abuse, trafficking and other crimes connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. The lawsuit seeks access to unredacted federal investigative files that New Mexico says are necessary to identify victims, witnesses and possible co-conspirators tied to Epstein’s activities in the state. Torrez argues that DOJ’s refusal to turn over the material violates the Administrative Procedure Act and interferes with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate crimes committed within its...

Day three of Chad Daybell’s trial on April 15, 2024, focused heavily on his behavior as investigators searched his property and discovered the bodies of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. Madison County Chief Deputy Vince Kaaiakamanu authenticated a recorded jail call between Lori Vallow and Daybell from the morning of June 9, 2020, in which Daybell told Lori that police were searching the property and urged her to pray. Kaaiakamanu testified that Daybell’s tone during the call sounded noticeably different from his usual conversations with Lori. Rexburg Police Detective Eric Wheeler then described watching Daybell during the search, saying Daybell repeatedly looked towa...

Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo testified about how the investigation into Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell evolved from a welfare check for JJ Vallow into a search for two missing children and ultimately a murder investigation. Hermosillo told jurors that when officers first went to Lori’s Rexburg apartment in November 2019, they encountered Chad Daybell and Alex Cox, both of whom gave answers that immediately raised suspicions. Cox claimed JJ was with his grandmother Kay Woodcock, even though Woodcock was the person who had requested the welfare check, while Daybell initially downplayed how well he knew Lori despite having already ma...

Prosecutors opened Chad Daybell’s murder trial by portraying him as the architect of a conspiracy driven by sex, money and power. Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood told jurors that Daybell had gone from a seemingly ordinary religious author and family man to someone who believed he was destined for something greater after meeting Lori Vallow. According to the state, Daybell and Vallow developed an apocalyptic belief system that allowed them to label people as evil, possessed or obstacles standing in the way of their relationship. Prosecutors argued that those beliefs helped justify the deaths of Lori’s children, 16-year-old Tyle...

Jury selection in Chad Daybell’s capital murder trial began on April 1, 2024, at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, where the case had been moved because of concerns about finding an impartial jury in eastern Idaho. Judge Steven Boyce and attorneys questioned prospective jurors individually about their knowledge of the case, exposure to extensive media coverage, personal connections to the investigation and whether they had already formed opinions about Daybell’s guilt. Because prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, prospective jurors were also questioned closely about their views on capital punishment and whether those beliefs would prevent them from considering eith...

Jury selection in Chad Daybell’s capital murder trial began on April 1, 2024, at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, where the case had been moved because of concerns about finding an impartial jury in eastern Idaho. Judge Steven Boyce and attorneys questioned prospective jurors individually about their knowledge of the case, exposure to extensive media coverage, personal connections to the investigation and whether they had already formed opinions about Daybell’s guilt. Because prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, prospective jurors were also questioned closely about their views on capital punishment and whether those beliefs would prevent them from considering eith...

Dylan Rounds was a 19-year-old farmer from Idaho who had spent years working toward the goal of building a farming operation of his own in the remote desert around Lucin, Utah. Born in 2002 and raised around agriculture, Rounds had been described by his family as intensely hardworking, independent and almost singularly focused on farming. In 2019, while still a teenager, he partnered with his grandfather on land near Lucin and spent the next several years preparing the ground, moving irrigation equipment and getting the property ready to produce crops. By the spring of 2022, he had finally reached the point where he...

Veteran homicide prosecutor Matt Murphy, who was not involved in the Gilgo Beach investigation, believed Rex Heuermann may have taken deliberate precautions to avoid leaving DNA behind during the killings. Murphy compared the suspected methods to those portrayed by the fictional serial killer Dexter Morgan, theorizing that Heuermann may have worn protective clothing or a gown, used condoms and carefully cleaned crime scenes to limit the amount of nuclear DNA investigators could recover. Murphy based that theory largely on the forensic evidence available at the time, which had relied heavily on mitochondrial DNA recovered from hairs rather than stronger nuclear...

Day four of Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing, held July 9, centered on some of the prosecution’s most consequential evidence yet, including a recorded interview with Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs. In the interview, Twiggs described Robinson’s behavior after Charlie Kirk was killed and authenticated text exchanges in which Robinson allegedly admitted responsibility for the shooting, discussed the rifle and expressed concern that investigators would find his DNA on it. Twiggs also said Robinson later confirmed the confession in person and expressed regret about what he had done. Prosecutors additionally introduced Robinson’s handwritten note to Twiggs...