WATCH: Lori Vallow Daybell grills witness who dated estranged husband

Wednesday's trial continued with a back-and-forth exchange between Lori Vallow and the woman who went on a date with Charles Vallow the night before he died.
Published: Apr. 9, 2025 at 2:11 PM MST|Updated: Apr. 9, 2025 at 4:34 PM MST
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PHOENIX (AZFamily) — There were tense moments in the courtroom as Lori Vallow Daybell grilled a witness who went on a date with her estranged ex-husband, Charles Vallow, right before his death.

Vallow Daybell’s trial entered its third day on Wednesday in the murders of her ex-husband and brother, Alex Cox.

Nancy Jo Hancock took the stand and went on a single date with Charles the night before he died. She explained that she met Charles on a dating site for Latter-Day Saint members, where they began messaging back and forth. Hancock claimed that Charles was in the process of getting a divorce when they met up for their date.

Hancock explained that the following morning after the date, she had texted Charles to ask how his morning went but received no response. She attempted to call Charles a few hours later but didn’t get a callback.

“I was puzzled how I had misread what I had thought had been a good date that he would not even take the courtesy to reply. I wondered why but just figured that was what his decision was,” Hancock said.

She then said she didn’t know that Charles had been shot and killed until it was on TV. That’s when she saw his photo and his date of death.

PART ONE:

Vallow questioned Hancock about how she and her ex-husband met.

“You stated that your husband or my husband told you that he was going through a divorce. Is that correct?” Vallow asked. “That’s correct,” Hancock replied.

“Did you have any way to verify that?” Vallow asked. “No, I didn’t try to verify that,” she replied.

“So, did it surprise you later to find out that we were not in the process of a divorce?” Vallow said. “Charles was in the process of a divorce,” Hancock said.

“He was not in the process of a divorce. Would it surprise you to find that out? You’ve seen it all on TV where we’re not getting divorced,” Vallow shot back.

“Would you have gone out on a date with him if he would have said he was married?” Vallow continued. “If I would have realized how married he still was, maybe not. But, I just met for dinner. I wasn’t sleeping with him or anything,” Hancock replied.

The prosecutor intervened, telling the judge that Vallow was harassing Hancock. Vallow apologized and continued her cross-examination.

“So are you trying to tell me and this jury that you went on one date with my husband and he told you all the details of our lives?” Vallow asked. “I’m telling you the truth and that’s what I know,” she said.

“So you spent your whole date getting to know each other, talking about me,” Vallow said.

“Don’t flatter yourself. No. We did not spend the whole time talking about you,” Hancock replied.

PART TWO:

Lori Vallow Daybell continued to grill a witness who reportedly went on a date with her ex-husband, Charles Vallow, the night before his death.

The two then went back and forth about Charles’ job as a life insurance salesman.

“He did tell me that he changed the beneficiary of his life insurance policy at dinner,” Hancock said.

“Did he tell you how much his life insurance policy was for?” Vallow said. “Yes. He did. $1 million,” Hancock replied.

“When did you talk to him about me very much then?” Vallow continued. “If it wasn’t at dinner, was it in your text messages?”

“We were talking about what he was going through in the process of separating from you, not about what your life insurance policy was worth. And we talked about you on the phone, and when I say you, meaning what he was doing as he was going through this separation,” Hancock answered.

Vallow then asked what Charles talked to Hancock about, pushing for specifics. The judge paused the cross-examination and excused the jury, asking Vallow if she was sure about continuing to question the specifics.

“Are you sure you want her to answer that question? Because you’re opening up a really big door,” the judge said. Vallow pushed and said she would like Hancock to continue answering the question.

Shortly after the tense meeting, the courtroom paused cross-examinations for a lunch break.

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