Lori Vallow trial: Best friend testifies about accused 'doomsday' mom's extreme religious beliefs
BOISE, Idaho -- New testimony from a key witness in the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, the Idaho mother accused of killing her two children as part of a "doomsday" religious cult with her husband, Chad.
In court Thursday, Vallow's former best friend Melanie Gibb testified about the accused mother and Chad's extreme religious beliefs.
"She has shared with me that he told her that they had been married in another time period," Gibb said.
Gibb said Vallow believed her kids were "zombies" and that her son, "JJ," was possessed by an evil spirit.
"She told me he would climb up on the refrigerator and go top of the cabinets and he was acting just more aggressive," Gibb said.
Prosecutors also played a phone call Gibb recorded, where Gibb is heard asking the couple about JJ's whereabouts.
"Where is he? I've been asking, where is he," Gibb said on the call/
"I could tell everything - where JJ is right now. And that would not be good for JJ," Vallow responded.
The children's bodies were found on Chad's property months after they went missing.
During cross examination, Gibb tried to distance herself from the notion of "zombies," as the defense questioned her own religious beliefs.
"You were involved in some of these casting out of devils and, and evil spirits with Lori, right," asked Vallow Daybell's defense attorney, John Thomas.
"Correct," Gibb responded.
"Okay, and during the times that you were doing these castings or, or casting of evil spirits? Did you ever feel like this was the wrong thing to do," Thomas said.
"It felt very unusual. It was very innocent to me," Gibb said.
Gibb testified that Vallow told her she and Chad believed their spouses were going to die and then she and Chad could be together.
The couple also face charges in the murder of Chad's ex-wife, Tammy.
Vallow also faces charges in her husband's death in Arizona.
The trial is expected to last 8-10 weeks. She and Chad have pleaded not guilty.
