Chad Daybell trial: Lori Vallow’s friend confronted with subpoena outside court in cult prophet case
Chad Daybell’s trial comes one year after Lori Vallow was convicted over the murders of Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell
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Melanie Gibb, the former friend of Lori Vallow, was served with a subpoena during a break in Chad Daybell’s triple murder trial in Boise, Idaho on Thursday.
Daybell’s defence attorney John Prior told her she had to accept to the papers. Ms Gibb was called by the prosecution to testify in the case a year after she testified at Vallow’s trial about the couple’s extreme religious beliefs.
Daybell, 55, is on trial for the murders of Vallow’s children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and JJ, seven, as well as his then-wife Tammy Daybell, who died suddenly in her sleep in October 2019. Weeks later, Daybell married Vallow.
Nine months after the children were last seen, they were found on Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho.
Prosecutors say his “desire for sex, power, and money” led to their murders. Mr Prior, however, said his client was manipulated by Vallow.
Last year, Vallow was convicted in the three murders and sentenced to life in prison. Jurors heard how she, Mr Daybell and her late brother Alex Cox were fuelled, in part, by their bizarre cult beliefs.
If convicted, Mr Daybell faces either the death penalty or life in prison.
Who is Melanie Gibb?
Melanie Gibb is Lori Vallow’s former best friend.
She has said they became friends at a church event in 2018 but that Vallow’s spiritual beliefs soon veered away from what they had been taught at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She testified at Vallow’s trial that Chad Daybell called her in November of 2019, warning her not to answer her phone if Rexburg police called because Vallow Daybell had told investigators JJ was visiting Ms Gibb in Arizona.
Ms Gibb later confronted Vallow about JJ’s whereabouts in a recorded phone call that was played in court then and again at Daybell’s trial.
Vallow claimed on the call that she was trying to protect her son because his grandmother, Kay Woodstock, was trying to “kidnap him.”
She then reassured Ms Gibb that JJ — who investigators believe had already been killed months earlier along with Tylee — was “safe and happy.”
Melanie Gibb testifies about how Chad Daybell labeled people as ‘light’ or ‘dark’
The state asks about the recording of Chad Daybell making comments that Tammy Daybell was going to die.
Ms Gibb says when Tammy died in October 2019, she reached out to Vallow and it seemed like she already knew of the death.
Prior to Tammy’s death, Vallow said Tammy was supposed to continue her mission on the other side of the veil and Tammy would be OK with Vallow and Chad being together.
Ms Gibb says she heard from Vallow that Daybell referred to Tammy as “dark” at the end of September or early October 2019.
Defence questions Melanie Gibb about visions and LDS faith
Daybell’s defence attorney John Prior is conducting cross examination of Melanie Gibb.
Mr Prior asks about dreams and visions, but Gibb says she doesn’t have those experiences but her faith believes people can have them.
She says her husband has this gift and she believed, at one point, that Daybell would have dreams and visions.
Melanie Gibb testifies that Daybell said at religious conferences that wife Tammy Daybell was going to have a short life
Lori Vallow’s former friend testified that Chad Daybell said at religious conferences – like the one where he met Vallow in 2018 – that wife Tammy Daybell was going to have a short life.
Tammy died suddenly in October 2018 of what was originally reported as natural causes.
Emergency dispatchers and first responders described how Chad Daybell appeared distraught when he reported Tammy’s death, telling authorities that he’d woken to find his wife’s body hanging halfway off of their bed after she’d spent part of the night coughing and vomiting.
He told the coroner that the 49-year-old school librarian had recently had fainting episodes and low blood pressure and that she sometimes had leg convulsions or seizures. Based in part on that information, it was determined Daybell had died of natural causes.
Authorities later grew suspicious and had the body exhumed for an autopsy, which determined Tammy died of asphyxiation.
Defence asks Melanie Gibb about her 340 texts with prosecution in 2020
Mr Prior asks Ms Gibb about her text messages between her and Prosecuting attorney Rob Wood.
“Would it surprise you to learn that between May 20 and November 4 of 2020 the two of you exchanged text messages over 340 times?” he asks.
Ms Gibb replies that it’s possible but she really doesn’t know.
Mr Prior asks if any time during her communication with Mr Wood she needed to protect a person or organization as part of whether or not she was going to testify.
Ms Gibb says her intent was not to protect anything other than to share what she knew.
Texts reveal Melanie Gibb told the prosecutor that she and Dateline’s Keith Morrison wanted to protect the LDS church
The defence questioned Ms Gibb about her texts to prosecutor Wood, including one following her interview with Dateline’s Keith Morrison.
Ms Gibb says it was meant to clarify that these teachings Daybell and Vallow were engaged in were not consistent with the teachings of the LDS Church.
Prior reads the text Ms Gibb sent to Mr Wood:
“Keith, the guy from Dateline, and I want to make sure the church is protected. He has done a good job so far. That’s why I feel comfortable talking with him.”
“Why did you send that to a prosecuting attorney who is prosecuting Chad Daybell,” he says.
Ms Gibb says she felt comfortable talking to Rob to let him know what she was up to.
Chad Daybell’s suspicious Google searches exposed in court
FBI Tactical Specialist Nicole Heideman testified in the Boise, Idaho courtroom that Mr Daybell searched Google for “ssw wind” and “what is the definition of ssw direction” from his Google account on 8 September 2019.
It’s believed Tylee was burned and buried in his yard the next day.
Mr Daybell also searched for malachite jewelry, which is the ring he gave Vallow, months before his then-wife Tammy’s mysterious death.
Just a few weeks after her death, Mr Daybell and Vallow got married on a beach in Hawaii.
What are Chad Daybell’s charges?
Daybell was arrested on 9 June 2020 and booked into the Fremont County Jail after the remains of Lori Vallow’s children were found in his Rexburg, Idaho backyard.
He had left the house during the search as Rexburg Police, Fremont County Sheriff deputies and the FBI swarmed the property and began a dig that lasted for hours. But he was arrested a short time later.
Daybell has shown little to no emotion at his court appearances over the past four years.
On 21 March, he was transferred from Fremont County Jail to the Ada County Jail in Boise in preparation for his trial.
Daybell is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of the two children and the death of his former wife Tammy. He’s also charged with insurance fraud.
Prosecutors say that the couple conspired with Vallow’s brother Alex Cox to kill the children and Daybell’s wife both as part of their doomsday beliefs – but also to collect life insurance money, the kids’ social security and survivor benefits.
Netflix’ Sins of our Mother circulates on the streaming service
Netflix’ Sins of our Mother is circulating on the streaming service as Chad Daybell’s trial is now under the microscope.
Lori Vallow, his wife, was a doting mom, churchgoer, beauty queen and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant.
Then her children vanished and a shocking saga unfolded.
Watch the trailer:
ICYMI: Chad Daybell trial sees video of ‘cult dad’ telling his daughter ‘I’m not coming back’
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