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.
Doomsday cult, murders and children buried in a pet cemetery: The twisted case of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell
Is Chad Daybell a doomsday cult mastermind? Trial for the murder of Lori Vallow’s children and ex-wife begins
Did a doomsday cult really drive Lori Vallow to murder her children?
Chad Daybell, Lori Vallow and Alex Cox: Key players in the ‘doomsday cult’ murder case
Chad Daybell searched for malachite wedding bands for Lori Vallow months before death of his wife, FBI Specialist testified
FBI Tactical Specialist Nicole Heideman testified about her search of Daybell and Vallow’s online searches from October 2018 - 2020.
Heideman said that on 5 May 2019, Daybell searched for malachite ebay and malachite jewelry. She said Daybell and Vallow’s wedding bands were made of malachite. They were married less than three weeks after Tammy Daybell died.
At the point they were searching for malachite, Tammy was still alive.
Daybell searched for wind direction day before Tylee Ryan was burned, buried on his property
Heideman testified that Daybell searched for “ssw wind” and “what is definition of ssw direction” on 8 September 2019.
She said this was important to the investigation because investigators believe that Tylee Ryan, 16, was killed, and that her remains were burned and buried on Daybell’s property the next day.
Other searches included “Ned Schiender” which Heideman said was an entity name for Charles Vallow, Lori Vallow’s fourth husband who said she had referred to him as that name, according to police reports. The name also showed up on her gmail account.
Another search of Daybell’s account revealed the word “hiplos” which Heideman said is another entity name for Charles Vallow, replacing Ned Schiender.
Defence asks why searches don’t include Melanie Gibb or David Warwick
Daybell’s defence attorney is cross examining Heideman about his client’s google searches.
He asks why the searches don’t include Melanie Gibb or David Warwick.
Gibb and Warick were around on the day JJ Vallow died, as was Vallow’s late brother Alex Cox.
Heideman said she doesn’t write the search warrants.
Defence says Daybell texted wife about burning limbs day after checking wind conditions
Derfence attorney John Prior pointed out on cross with Heideman that Daybell sent text to his wife Tammy Daybell on 9 September, that he was going to “burn some limbs in the yard.”
This was a day after he searched the wind direction, Prior said.
Heideman had testified that Daybell searched for “ssw wind” and “what is definition of ssw direction” on 8 September 2019.
She said this was important to the investigation because investigators believe that Tylee Ryan, 16, was killed, and that her remains were burned and buried on Daybell’s property the next day.
No searches on killing children, defence claims
Prior is going through Daybell’s searches and points out there were no searches on life insurance for children - which was found in Lori Vallow’s searches as presented to court.
He asks Heideman:
“There’s no email or search on ‘let’s kill two children’ is there?”
Heideman responds there is not.
Next witness is Arizona detective who investigated Charles Vallow’s death
The next witness to take the stand is Detective Nathan Duncan.
He was the Chandler, Arizona officer who investigated the shooting death of Charles Vallow.
This investigation led to Lori Vallow to be indicted on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
Detective says amount of blood was not consistent with CPR claims
Detective Duncan is describing what he saw when he arrived at the Chandler home in response to the shooting of Charles Vallow on 11 July 2019.
Lori Vallow’s brother Alex Cox made the 911 call. He said he shot Charles in self-defence after Charles struck him with a baseball bat.
It was claimed that Alex Cox had done CPR on Charles.
But the detective testified that he did not see a lot of blood, and he says he would expect more more blood if CPR had been done as claimed.
Detective said indentation on floor indicated Charles Vallow was shot while lying on the ground.
Detective Duncan said indentation on floor indicated Charles Vallow was shot while lying on the ground.
Alex Cox told police he was standing in the southwest corner of the living room and that he and Charles Vallow were face to face with each other when he shot Charles twice while they were standing up.
However, Duncan testified says that as police were cleaning up the scene, he noticed an indentation in the floor that would have been consistent with Charles being shot while lying on the ground.
Charles Vallow’s phone was centre of argument with Lori day of shooting, detective says
Detective Duncan testified that he had determined that Charles Vallow’s phone was the catalyst of an argument that happened between him and Lori Vallow on the day he was shot by Alex Cox in Chandler, Arizona.
Lori Vallow left with his phone after the shooting and later returned it to police who did an extraction.