Live Updates: ‘Is JJ safe?’ A jury in the Vallow Daybell trial listens to a recorded phone call

Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial was cut short Wednesday, but a crowd returned to the Ada County Courthouse on Thursday morning to continue listening to testimony.

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The 18-person jury — 12 jurors and six alternates — has heard from five witnesses over the last three days, including nearly seven hours of testimony from Rexburg Police Det. Ray Hermosillo. He was the lead investigator on the months-long search for Vallow Daybell’s children, 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, whose remains were located on Chad Daybell’s Idaho property.

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At the end of the trial, the 12 remaining jurors will decide whether Vallow Daybell is guilty of the first-degree murders of her two children. Vallow Daybell is also charged with three counts of conspiring to commit murder in her children’s deaths and the death of Tammy Daybell, the former wife of her husband, Chad Daybell.

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Chad Daybell — whose trial date has not been set — is charged with the first-degree murder of Tammy Daybell, JJ and Tylee. He is also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the children’s deaths. The Daybells have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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Vallow Daybell also faces a charge of conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the death of her former husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona. Check this story for live updates on Vallow Daybell’s trial.

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Vallow Daybell’s then-friend Melanie Gibb began testifying Thursday morning. In November 2019, when police began searching for JJ, Vallow Daybell told police that her son was watching the movie “Frozen” with her friend Gibb. But Gibb eventually told police that JJ was never with her.

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Check this story for live updates on Vallow Daybell’s trial.

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11:20 a.m. — Defense attorneys want to strike Gibb’s testimony

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Three hours into Gibb’s testimony, Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney John Thomas requested to strike Gibb’s testimony. He accused prosecutors of withholding the witness’s oral statements from the defense team.

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The prosecution denied that account.

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“All statements of a prosecution witness have to be turned over,” Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake said. She argued that they are allowed to meet with their witnesses and said there was nothing new in Gibb’s testimony.

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Seventh District Judge Steven Boyce denied the request.

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10 a.m. — Gibb questions Daybells during recorded call

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When Rexburg police knocked on Vallow Daybell’s apartment door in November 2019 and questioned her about JJ’s location, the 49-year-old mother told them JJ was with her friend, Melanie Gibb, at the movies.

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But he wasn’t.

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Chad Daybell called Gibb and told her that the police department was going to call her.

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During Thursday’s testimony, Gibb said she’d previously been told by Vallow Daybell that JJ was with his grandmother, Kay Woodcock. Chad Daybell during the call explained to Gibb that JJ was not with his grandmother, she said. Kay and her husband, Larry Woodcock, were the ones who had asked the Rexburg Police Department to perform the welfare check.

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Gibb said she initially didn’t pick up the call from law enforcement.

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“I wasn’t sure what in the world to do,” Gibb said.

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Gibb during her testimony said she first lied to police and told them that JJ had been with her, but that she’d given him back to Vallow Daybell. Gibb eventually told police she’d never had JJ.

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The jury listened to a phone call that Gibb recorded between herself and the Daybells. In the tense, 20-minute call on Dec. 8, 2019, Gibb questioned the Daybells’ recent behavior and demanded why they asked her to lie to the police.

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“I was wondering what happened,” Gibb asked Vallow Daybell.

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“I had to move him somewhere else because of her actions,” Vallow Daybell responded, referring to Kay Woodcock.

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“Is JJ safe?” Gibb asked.

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“He is safe and happy,” Vallow Daybell responded.

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Throughout the conversation, they began to talk about scripture, and Gibb told the Daybells that she believes they’d been tricked “by Satan,” and cited the odd circumstances of both Tammy Daybell and Charles Vallow’s death.

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“I believed that you have been very deceived by Satan,” Gibb told the Daybells. “I believed that he has tricked you.”

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Vallow Daybell said Christ would be coming soon, and that she hadn’t been deceived.

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Chad Daybell chimed in and said Tammy Daybell had been getting weaker and sicker, and that he begged her to go to the doctor.

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“All these conspiracy theories just make me sick to my stomach,” Chad Daybell told Gibb.

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Just before the phone call ended, Gibb told Vallow Daybell that she wasn’t acting like someone who had seen Jesus Christ.

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“We’re both standing here with Jesus Christ,” Vallow Daybell said just as the phone call cut off.

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8:30 a.m. — Gibb outlines Daybell’s religious beliefs

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In January 2019, Vallow Daybell told her then-friend Gibb that she’d had a dream about her fourth husband. In the dream, Vallow Daybell said Charles Vallow — and possibly JJ — died in a car accident and he wouldn’t be coming back.

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Gibb asked Vallow Daybell what happened following the dream.

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“He didn’t (die) because Satan interfered with the plan,” Vallow Daybell responded. Charles Vallow was shot and killed seven months later by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox.

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Throughout her testimony, Gibb, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, explained the religious beliefs of the Daybells. Gibb became friends with Vallow Daybell in October 2018 at a church event.

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Gibb said the Daybells met in 2018, and there was “definitely an attraction” between them. Gibb said the Daybells would later share with her that they’d been married in other lives and that they “very much loved each other.” Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell were still married to their previous spouses at the time.

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Gibb also said that the Daybells believed they were leaders of the 144,000 — which is a reference to the people in the Book of Revelations who would be saved during the second coming of God.

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Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake asked Gibb whether it would be a big deal if someone was the leader of the 144,000.

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“Absolutely,” Gibb responded.

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Gibb also said that Vallow Daybell began to believe that people could be either light or dark, and that Charles Vallow, Kay Woodcock, Tammy Daybell, Tylee, and eventually JJ would all be considered dark. Gibb said that typically Chad Daybell would have a revelation that someone was dark and then tell Vallow Daybell.

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The Daybells believed that their spouses would die, and Chad Daybell believed that he’d known for years that Tammy Daybell was going to die young, Gibb said.

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Blake asked Gibb whether she knew why the Daybells didn’t just get a divorce.

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“That was not the lord’s will for them to get a divorce,” Gibb said. She added that Chad Daybell believed he’d be penalized for getting a divorce and would lose his standing with God.

This story was originally published April 13, 2023 at 9:05 am.