Mega Edition: The Chad Daybell Trial (Part 6) (10/19/26)

Day six of Chad Daybell’s trial was dominated by testimony from Melanie Gibb, Lori Vallow Daybell’s former close friend, who gave jurors an inside look at the belief system Chad and Lori developed as their relationship intensified. Gibb described how Chad assigned people “light” and “dark” ratings, taught that evil spirits could possess human bodies and participated in “castings” intended to drive those spirits out—rituals that, according to Gibb, carried the expectation that the possessed person might die afterward. She said castings were performed involving Charles Vallow, Tammy Daybell and Brandon Boudreaux, and testified that Charles was eventually labeled “Ned Schneider.” Gibb also described Chad and Lori’s belief that they had been married in previous lives and were destined to be together again, even while both remained married to other people. She testified that Lori appeared happy after Charles was killed and that Chad and Lori openly discussed their future together while Tammy was still alive. The testimony then moved directly into the children: Gibb said Tylee had been labeled dark, Lori told her JJ had also become dark, and she recalled seeing Alex Cox carry a sleeping JJ into the house on the night of September 22, 2019—the last time Gibb ever saw him alive.

Gibb also testified about the lies surrounding JJ’s disappearance and the moment she began turning against Chad and Lori. She said Chad called her in November 2019 sounding nervous and told her not to answer calls from Rexburg police, while Lori later asked Gibb to photograph herself at a children’s movie so investigators could be led to believe JJ was with her. Gibb initially lied to police and said JJ had been with her, but later admitted that was false and began cooperating with investigators. Jurors heard the December 2019 phone call Gibb secretly recorded in which she confronted Chad and Lori about JJ’s whereabouts, the lies told to police and the deaths of Charles and Tammy; Lori insisted JJ was safe and claimed she had done nothing wrong, while Chad defended his account of Tammy’s death. During cross-examination, defense attorney John Prior attacked Gibb’s credibility, emphasized her admitted lie to police and sought to show that much of what she knew had come from Lori rather than directly from Chad. After the jury portion ended, Judge Steven Boyce also sanctioned attorney Michael Ratliff for filing what the judge called a frivolous last-minute attempt to intervene in and delay the trial, ordering him to pay costs generated by the filing.


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