Lori Vallow trial: Court hears eerie call where cult mom 'lies' to best friend Melanie Gibb about her missing children's whereabouts
BOISE, IDAHO: A phone call between "cult mom" Lori Vallow and her former best friend was played in court during her trial for the murders of two of her children. Vallow, 49, is still on trial at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, nearly three years after she was accused of murdering her son Joshua "JJ" Vallow, her daughter Tylee Ryan, and her fifth husband Chad Daybell's first wife.
On Thursday, April 14, 2023, the prosecution aired a recording of a phone call between doomsday prophet Daybell, Vallow, and her then-best friend Melanie Gibb, who was testifying for the state. Gibb discussed the weird cult views of the pair during the early December 2019 call, which she covertly taped, and afterward confronted them for encouraging her to lie to the police about JJ's location, as per Independent.
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What did the cult mom claim in the phone call?
According to Vallow, she was trying to safeguard her son because his grandmother Kay Woodstock was allegedly attempting to "kidnap" him. She then told Gibb that JJ, who detectives believe was already dead along with Tylee months ago, was "safe and happy." "I'm just not telling anybody so that nobody has to say where he is or get questioned where he is so I can keep him as safe as possible," Vallow stated on the call.
'God doesn't work in darkness'
The two ex-friends then started quoting biblical verses at one another, with Gibb accusing Vallow of being duped by the devil and asserting that "God doesn't work in darkness." "If you really loved me, you would not have told the police I had JJ with me," Gibb stated. Vallow said, "You know me, Mel. This sounds like you have been influenced by somebody dark and obey dark things." The 20-minute discussion came to an end with Vallow berating Gibb for "not having the behavior of someone that sees Jesus Christ" after Gibb criticized her for believing in zombies and partaking in strange rituals.
What did Gibb testify?
Vallow's former best friend gave shocking testimony on day four of her murder trial. Gibb testified under oath that Daybell had contacted her a few days before Thanksgiving 2019 and advised her not to answer the call as it was from the Rexburg Police Department. He informed her that the police were interrogating Vallow about JJ's whereabouts, and when Gibb inquired if he was with his grandparents, Daybell seemed anxious and replied, "No."
When investigators questioned Vallow in November of that year, she told them that JJ was watching 'Frozen 2' with Gibb. Gibb claimed that Vallow requested her to photograph random children at the movies and transmit them to the police, whom she described as "dark and translated beings."
Lori 'tried to explain how he was changing into a more negative type of demeanor'
As per reports, Vallow's friend told the court that she did not answer the phone when the Rexburg police called because she "wasn't sure what in the world to do." JJ had not been with her, as per Gibb, who claimed that she eventually spoke with authorities at the end of November. Additionally, she testified in court that while she was visiting Vallow in Rexburg in September 2019, she informed her that JJ was possessed by an evil spirit. According to Vallow, JJ displayed more challenging behavior and frequently uttered things like, "I love Satan."
Gibb stated that Vallow also informed her that JJ was acting violently and would climb up on the refrigerator and the tops of the cabinets. In her testimony, Gibb stated that Lori "tried to explain how he was changing into a more negative type of demeanor," adding that he appeared to be an ordinary seven-year-old with autism. She thought his actions were typical.
No signs of Tylee
Tylee was not there when Gibb visited and she was informed that the 16-year-old had moved in with roommates at the BYU-Idaho dorms. Gibb said when she inquired about Tylee's possessions, she was informed that they were in storage. Tylee and JJ’s bodies were found buried in a pet cemetery on Daybell’s property on 9 June 2020.
Gibb's testimony about Alex Cox
Gibb's horrific testimony also includes information about a conversation she asserts she had with Vallow's brother Alex Cox when she started to worry about JJ, as per Daily Mail. She stated that after JJ's last sighting in September 2019, Cox informed her, "You don't want to know," when she inquired about the whereabouts of the missing youngster. Cox had "gradually began to learn about" Vallow and Daybell's ideas of "possessed" people and "zombies" over the preceding months, according to Gibb.
Cox had "talked about how Chad had given him a patriarchal blessing," she said. She testified before the court that Cox claimed to know people who were "hoping to pass away." They considered themselves to be a zombie, he said. Gibb stated, "I told him I didn’t 100 percent believe it was true and he said he 100 percent believed it."
Most of the people labeled as zombies ended up being 'gone'
Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake questioned Gibb if there was a "pattern" of people who were labeled as zombies ending up "gone". Gibb, who called Vallow "convincing", stated, "The pattern was as soon as they started questioning or just thought something suspicious was going on, all of a sudden that person became dark or a zombie." She claimed that "most of" the persons labeled as zombies ended up being "gone".