‘Dateline’: Lori Vallow’s Former Friend Says She Called Chad Daybell an ‘Antichrist’
Notorious members of what many describe as a “doomsday cult” preparing for the end of the world, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, are both now awaiting trial on charges related to the disappearance and deaths of Vallow’s children, seven-year-old JJ Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan. Melanie Gibb, Vallow’s former friend and confidante, recently opened up to Keith Morrison on Dateline NBC about the case.
After months of searching for the children—with no help from Daybell or Vallow—law enforcement in Rexburg, Idaho, found the children’s bodies buried on Daybell’s property on June 9. Gibb, who has fully cooperated with law enforcement and the FBI over the course of the investigation, revealed that she actually referred to the couple as evil and “Antichrists” during a heated conversation after Vallow’s children disappeared.
Gibb claimed Vallow and Daybell asked her to lie to the police
According to Gibb, she forged a close relationship with both Vallow and Daybell over time—especially due to their shared religious beliefs. But it all changed one day, when JJ’s grandparents called the police to ask for a wellness check. They hadn’t seen JJ at that point in over three months, on video chat or otherwise.
Gibb claimed on the Dateline special that she got a call from Daybell, who “seemed nervous.” “I get this phone call out of the blue,” she told Morrison, explaining that Vallow’s new husband allegedly told her not to answer the Rexburg police when they called.
Vallow’s former friend claimed that he told her, “Lori’s gonna tell them that JJ’s with you.”
Then, Vallow allegedly asked Gibb something that made her jaw drop open. She reportedly asked her friend to take pictures of kids running around at the movie theatre and to claim she was watching Disney’s Frozen with JJ.
Gibb refused to lie, but now she was left with a major decision to make. Should she go to the police or not?
The ‘Dateline’ guest said it was like a ‘bomb’ dropped on her at that moment
Daybell’s and Vallow’s former friend said she had no idea what to do at first. She had once considered Vallow to be as close to her as a “sister,” so this was a devastating blow. “It’s like a bomb drops on you. What do you do?” she told Morrison on Dateline. “You just are in shock a little bit.”
Gibb added sadly, “I can’t even begin to tell you how horrible that moment was for me. No words can describe it.”
The couple’s former friend claimed they “betrayed” her. “They tried to use me as their escape,” Gibb said, adding that she was wondering at the time why she ever believed the extreme spiritual claims they’d made.
Shortly thereafter, Gibb went to the police with the information she had.
Vallow’s former friend referred to her and Daybell as Antichrist figures
After Gibb starting cooperating with law enforcement and the FBI, she had one final phone call with Vallow and Daybell.
“That was a very unnerving phone call,” the Dateline NBC guest admitted. “These were my friends, and now I was confronting them as potential killers.”
Gibb explained that she referred to a figure from Alma 30 in the Book of Mormon from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when she spoke with the couple. “From the teachings of my church, there’s a guy named Korihor,” Gibb told Morrison. “And Korihor was an anti-Christ. I called both of them a Korihor.”
After the call ended, Gibb confessed, she felt a little lost. “I was a little shaken,” she said. “I had confronted my adversary.” Most shockingly, she shared, that was the last time they talked.
