Why Keith Morrison says his ‘Dateline’ interview with Lori Vallow Daybell is unlike any other he’s done
Published at
IDAHO FALLS — Keith Morrison has spoken with dozens of inmates over his career but says nothing comes close to his jailhouse interview with Lori Vallow Daybell.
“I don’t think I’d try to compare it with anything. She is a very interesting person to talk to,” Morrison tells EastIdahoNews.com.
The veteran Dateline correspondent admits he was surprised when Daybell agreed to speak with him. Morrison and his producer, Shane Bishop, had worked for years trying to secure an interview. After several letters and emails, Daybell said yes.
Dateline associate producer Brittany Morris worked with the Maricopa County Jail and the Dateline team was given 90 minutes to interview the woman at the center of one of the biggest criminal cases in Idaho history.
“I thought that would be plenty of time to get what we needed from anybody, but it turns out, it wasn’t enough time to get what we needed from Lori Vallow,” Morrison explains. “I could have gone on with her a lot longer.”
Daybell winked at the camera when she walked into the room, according to Morrison, and the interview became combative. A preview video posted on Dateline’s Facebook page Wednesday shows Daybell repeatedly challenging the journalist by saying, “Get your facts straight, Keith,” “I thought we were going to be friends, Keith,” and “Aren’t appearances not what they might seem to be, Keith?”
“She’s no dummy. I think she decided ahead of time that she was going to tell this shaggy dog tale that would take up the time and I wouldn’t be able to ask all my questions and she could lay out this, frankly, big lie about what happened to Tylee and JJ,” Morrison says.
Daybell is awaiting trial in Arizona for the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Her current husband, Chad Daybell, is on death row in Idaho.
She was sentenced to life in prison in Idaho in 2023 for the murders of her two youngest children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, along with Chad Daybell’s former wife, Tammy Daybell. A separate jury found Chad Daybell guilty of the same crimes, and he was sentenced last year.
“She bounced all over the map in discussion of those topics but she had her own agenda,” says Morrison. “The chore was to get her off that train track and get her on to what we wanted to talk about…She wants everybody to know what the truth is, but the truth is in her head.”
Morrison says Daybell was charming, humorous, upbeat, friendly and intelligent. She does not see herself as mentally ill, even though she was declared incompetent for trial two times in Idaho and spent ten months in a Department of Correction mental health facility.
“I could see how she could be the ringleader in a group of people who are addicted to some kind of ‘out-there’ idea. If they could be sucked into an idea of that sort, Lori could certainly be the person who could charm them into following her down the yellow brick road,” Morrison explains.
When the interview was over, Morrison was mentally exhausted. Daybell told him he would have to come back so he could ask any remaining questions.
“I came out of there thinking, ‘I never want to do that again.’ But curiously, even though I was terribly frustrated at the end, I would go back and do it again. It’s weird,” he says.
The two-hour “Dateline” special also features interviews with Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo, Madison County Sheriff Ron Ball, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood, retired FBI agent Douglas Hart, EastIdahoNews.com reporter Nate Eaton and Colby Ryan, Lori Daybell’s oldest son.
“It was a heartfelt conversation about what he has gone through and how he’s trying to rebuild his life,” Morrison says. “I must say I felt for Colby so much more after having spoken to his mother than I could have before.”
This is the seventh episode “Dateline” has produced on the Daybell case since 2020. It airs Friday on NBC at 8 p.m. MST and is available for streaming on Peacock the following day.
Watch our entire interview with Keith Morrison in the video player above.
EastIdahoNews.com comment boards are a place for open, honest, and civil communication between readers regarding the news of the day and issues facing our communities. We encourage commenters to stay on topic, use positive and constructive language, and be empathetic to the feelings of other commenters. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Click here for more details on our commenting rules.