45. Vivacious

Notes from opening statements on Day 1 of Chad Daybell's trial

Chad Daybell and his attorney, John Prior from a Zoom hearing in 2020.

Long before When the Moon Turns to Blood was a book, it was an idea — and that idea started with Chad Daybell.

When I first heard about the missing children from Rexburg, Idaho, and that their mother was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had “cult-like” beliefs, my mind kicked into overdrive. If it was true that she had fringe Mormon beliefs, were hers like those held by people I’d written about in the past? Were they anti-government beliefs? Paranoid? Doomsday?