On Thursday, Lori Vallow Daybell’s former friend testified that Daybell Vallow considered several people, including the two children she is accused of killing in 2019.
Melanie Gibb said that before she married Chad Daybell, Vallow Daybell said she was one of the leaders ordered by God to shepherd 144,000 people who would be present for the second coming of Christ. However, Gibb said Vallow Daybell’s narrative evolved to rhetoric about “light and dark” after meeting Daybell, according to KJZZ.
Gibb alleged that Daybell Vallow used the term “zombies” to describe those that were “dark.” Gibb said she spoke with Daybell Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, who said the people Daybell Vallow and her husband identified as zombies and hoped would die were Charles Vallow, Tylee Ryan, J.J. Vallow, and Tammy Daybell, the East Idaho News reported.
Vallow Daybell allegedly believed that she and Daybell’s first spouses would have to die for them to be together.
“Charles was dark, he needed to pass away,” Gibb recalled her saying.
For reference, Charles Vallow was Daybell Vallow’s first husband who Cox fatally shot; Ryan and J.J. are Daybell Vallow’s two children who she and Daybell are accused of killing; and Tammy is Daybell’s first wife who Daybell and Daybell Vallow also allegedly killed. All four people died in 2019.
According to Gibb, Vallow Daybell spoke about a “light and dark” scale and how people in the dark signed a contract with Satan before coming to Earth. However, Vallow Daybell allegedly said that someone can shift from dark to light and vice versa.
Gibb testified that Vallow Daybell claimed that J.J., 7, said, “I love Satan,” and was climbing on the refrigerator and acting aggressively. Vallow Daybell reportedly told Gibb that she learned from Daybell that J.J. had an evil spirit in him, the East Idaho News reported.
Before J.J.’s murder, Vallow Daybell allegedly told Gibb that she could not take care of J.J. and stay with her husband so she was going to ask J.J.’s grandmother to take the boy.
Melanie said she last saw Ryan, 16, and J.J. in July or August 2019 before Lori and Cox moved the family to Idaho. At some point, Melanie asked Cox about J.J.’s whereabouts — to which Cox responded, “You don’t want to know.” Cox died of natural causes in December 2019.
Gibb reportedly visited Vallow Daybell in Idaho in September 2019. At the time, Vallow Daybell claimed Ryan was at BYU-Idaho with roommates, the East Idaho News reported.
In June 2020, Rexburg police reportedly found the children buried at the pet cemetery on Daybell’s property. Ryan was reportedly dismembered and burned and her remains were located near a burn pit. J.J. was in a plastic bag that was wrapped in plastic; his face, arms, wrists, and feet were wrapped in duct tape.
Daybell is also charged with killing the two children. Additionally, the couple is charged with killing Daybell’s first wife in 2019. Vallow Daybell is also charged in Arizona with conspiracy to commit murder for the death of her first husband, Charles Vallow, who was fatally shot by Cox in 2019.
Vallow Daybell is currently on trial and her husband will stand trial separately at a later date.
Vallow Daybell said she was with Gibb, David Warwick, or Chad Daybell when her son and daughter died in her brother’s apartment in Rexburg, Idaho. Vallow Daybell allegedly said she was at her residence, also in Rexburg.
Vallow Daybell claimed she was in Hawaii when Tammy Daybell was killed at her husband’s home in Salem, Indiana. Vallow Daybell stated she was with two other people at the time.
Vallow Daybell — who is believed to have been involved in a so-called doomsday cult — allegedly told a friend that her children had become zombies and the only way to exorcise their bodies of evil spirits was to kill them.
Vallow Daybell underwent psychiatric treatment before she was deemed fit to stand trial. She is not facing the death penalty. Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom per a court order.
The trial continues.
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[Featured image: Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow/Facebook]
