Author who worked with Chad Daybell says he’s been deceived and needs to ‘do the right thing’

SALEM — As autopsy results for Tammy Daybell are still being finalized, a woman who knew and worked with Tammy and Chad Daybell years ago is revealing new information about their past.

Suzanne Freeman was one of the first authors to have her work published by Spring Creek Book Company, which the Daybells launched in 2004. The first book, “Led by the Hand of Christ,” focused on Freeman’s near-death experience, and over the next eight years, she partnered with Chad on two more projects.

“He was interesting. He was very humble. When we were writing the first book, he called me up one day and said, ‘Do you think maybe, possibly it would be OK . … Do you think maybe we could put a subtitle on the book?” Freeman recalls, explaining Chad’s hesitancy to make the request. “I thought that was interesting. Why didn’t he just come out with it? I didn’t care what he did as long as he didn’t change my story.”

Chad wrote about meeting Freeman on his website in August 2015. After discussing “that a humble housewife from a small Utah town had actually died, met the Savior, and returned,” he wanted assurance that Freeman’s experience was authentic.

“Before I’d even consider publishing her story, I wanted to make sure her account stayed consistent within itself,” he wrote. “I began asking her many questions to see if she would slip up or change her story, but throughout the ‘interrogation,’ she looked me in the eyes and was straightforward with her answers. After about 30 minutes, I felt satisfied and said, ‘I believe you. I feel we should publish your experience.'”

The book was released, and Freeman began speaking about her story at different events. Years later, she learned Chad claimed to have two near-death experiences, and she found it odd that he had never said anything to her about them.

“He never mentioned he had a near-death experience. We had a lot of conversations, and I would think that might come up,” Freeman says. “Having an NDE (near-death experience) myself, people come to me and tell me their stories, but he never once told me a story. He only said he had some sacred experiences of his own, and I respected that. Usually, in my experience, if you had a near-death experience, people want to share it because they can’t share it just to anybody, and I would totally be understanding.”

Leaving Spring Creek Book Company

Over the years, Freeman remembers Chad’s religious views aligning with the mainstream teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But in 2014, after releasing her third book, “The Spirit of Liberty,” Chad suggested they combine all three of her publications and remove LDS references to make the story more mainstream. He also began working on projects that concerned Freeman.

“He started publishing non-Mormon doctrine stories – people’s different experiences and stuff, and I just told him there’s something that’s not quite right,” Freeman says. “Plus, we were working on a book of mine together to take out of the LDS stuff, and I was kind of surprised by that because he was an LDS author.”

Chad came to Freeman and said he would be closing his business because the “call-out” was coming. The idea, which is not Latter-day Saint doctrine, is that the president of the church will one day call on members who are prepared to gather.

“The prophet one day, before any tribulations … we’ll be called out to go to the (LDS Church-owned) girls’ camps,” Freeman says. “Only those that have their food storage and a temple recommend will go. He felt that was going to happen, I think it was July, so he was going to stop publishing books.”

Freeman says Chad believed the righteous would live together until earthquakes and calamities happened ahead of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. She had heard this idea in online chatrooms and forums, but it didn’t make sense to her.

“It seems to me that if you want to be safe, you wouldn’t go where the government knows where the church has camps,” Freeman says. “I thought, ‘I’m not going where the government knows that.’ I just never felt that was for me.”

Chad and Freeman went their separate ways, but she says he promised to give her book rights back. When he didn’t, she sought legal advice to discuss her options.

at it and really kind and really genuine,” Freeman says. “He would tell me she was his soulmate, and he knew her in the pre-existence, and when he met her, they knew each other. I was impressed by that. I thought, ‘Wow. They have a really sweet relationship, and that’s really tender.’ I was impressed by him, how humble he was, and how he felt about his wife. That’s not very common. I really was honored to be Chad’s friend early on because I love to see good men. There’s good men out there,

and I like associating with good people.”

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