BOISE — Discussions around the warping of the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dominated the Ada County Courthouse during Chad Daybell’s triple murder trial on Thursday.
Melanie Gibb took the stand Thursday and spoke about her friendship with Daybell and his wife, Lori Vallow, all of whom were members of the LDS church, although not all of their practices reflected that faith.
Everything came to a head when Gibb confronted Vallow and Daybell over the phone on Dec. 8, 2019. A recording of the call was played for the court. Daybell took notes throughout the duration of Thursday’s trial.
Daybell is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree murder, insurance fraud and grand theft in connection to the deaths of 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, 7-year-old J.J. Vallow, and Daybell’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. Thursday marked the sixth day of the trial, which is expected to last eight-10 weeks. Larry and Kay Woodcock, grandparents to J.J. Vallow, were in attendance.
Gibb met Daybell during the summer of 2017, but only briefly. Her introduction to Vallow was far more significant. After meeting Vallow at church in October 2018, the two became friends and stayed in consistent contact with each other, later attending a conference together in St. George, Utah — the same conference where Vallow met Daybell.
“They seemed to be attracted to each other, that caught my attention,” Gibb testified, talking about her observing Vallow and Daybell together at the conference.
Though the two were both married, Gibb recalled Vallow talking about how she and Daybell were together and married in a previous life.
During the confrontational phone call, Daybell referred to Gibb as “sweet Melanie,” as he answered the phone and quickly turned it on speaker so Vallow could join in the conversation. Gibb almost immediately asked for clarification on J.J. Gibb was previously told that J.J. was at his grandma Kay Woodcock’s home in Louisiana, but was then moved because Kay wanted to kidnap him, which Vallow confirmed over the phone. When Gibb asked where J.J. was, Vallow replied that if she told Gibb of J.J.’s whereabouts it would put them all in danger.
At that point, Daybell piped in and said that knowing J.J.’s whereabouts would put Gibb in a bad position and they wanted to keep her protected. When Gibb inquired why Vallow had told the police J.J. was with Gibb in Arizona during a welfare check on Nov. 26, 2019, Vallow said she needed a story to tell the police.
“Most of my family is working against me,” Vallow said over the phone. “... I don’t want anyone to know (where J.J. is) so nobody has to worry about it.”
During the first couple months of their friendship, Gibb observed Vallow with Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow and noted the differing relationships Vallow had with the children. Tylee and Vallow had a more difficult relationship and “didn’t necessarily get along very well,” Gibb said, but Vallow had a lot of affection toward J.J., even though he seemed a bit “busy” for her at times.
Vallow also told Gibb that J.J. was safe and happy, but also referenced Kay working to find her, noting that law enforcement was working with Kay in “some dark capacity.” Vallow also suggested that Kay was threatening her — upon hearing this in the courtroom, Kay shook her head.
Vallow and Gibb then began discussing prophets in the Book of Mormon, some of whom were asked to flee in order to be safe, which Vallow suggested was asked of her.
“God doesn’t work in darkness,” Gibb said in response.
“Darkness is knocking on the door all the time,” Vallow said. “And I promise you that I have done nothing wrong in this case.”
Throughout the phone call, Vallow repeatedly expressed love for Gibb.
“If you really loved me, you wouldn’t have told the police that I had J.J. with me,” Gibb said.
Gibb referenced the timeline of events connected to Daybell and Vallow’s relationship — the death of Charles Vallow and the death of Tammy Daybell and Vallow’s missing children — and said she was afraid for Vallow’s salvation.
“This doesn’t sound like God’s plan to me,” Gibb said.
At that point in the call, Daybell discussed Tammy’s death, saying that she had been getting weaker and that her heart was failing her.
“All these conspiracy theories make me sick to my stomach,” Daybell said over the phone. “... You just have to have faith.”
According to Gibb, Daybell had previously shared theories that Tammy was going to die young and that he would have a second chapter of his life, possibly referencing his marriage to Vallow
“You know me, Mel,” Vallow said in response. “This does not sound like you. It sounds like you’ve been influenced by somebody dark.”
Gibb recalls Vallow bringing up light and dark concepts with her in January 2019. Vallow got those concepts and ideas from Daybell, Gibb said. The idea was that light beings made contracts with Jesus Christ before coming to Earth and dark beings made contracts with Satan before coming to Earth. A light person could become dark, Gibb recalled in her testimony, and when a dark spirit would take over, a person’s spirit would go to the spirit world. Zombie was also a term used to describe someone who was “dark,” Gibb said.
Daybell also created a ranking system for light and dark beings, along with discerning how many times people had lived on Earth. It was around this time, January 2019, that Vallow reminded Gibb that she and Daybell had been married in a previous life.
“They seemed to be very interested in each other,” Gibb said.
Over the course of their friendship, Vallow shared that her mission on Earth was to gather 144,000 women, referencing the Bible’s description of gathering Israel in the last days, Gibb said. Along with several others, Gibb participated in “castings” where Vallow and some friends would cast out evil spirits from people, including her husband Charles Vallow, before he was killed on July 11, 2019. The person who was being “casted” was never physically present, Gibb said. Castings were also done on Tammy Daybell, but none were preformed for Tylee or J.J.
On the recorded phone call, Gibb continued to argue with Vallow, saying that something didn’t feel right.
“This is not the behavior of someone who has seen Jesus Christ,” Gibb said.
Court adjourned at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday. The trial will resume at 8:30 a.m. Friday and starting on Monday, online reservations will not be required to attend the trial.
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