In the past several months, the case of Chad Daybell, Lori Vallow, and her missing children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, has dominated headlines. A couple of weeks ago, authorities issued a major update regarding the case, as they reported that human remains belonging to JJ and Tylee were found on Daybell’s property. In light of this heartbreaking update, Melanie Gibb, who knew Daybell well and was Vallow’s former best friend, spoke to Dateline about the case and, subsequently, shed more light on who Daybell and Vallow are.
Dateline‘s latest special on this case, What Happened to JJ and Tylee, is set to air on NBC on Monday night. In advance of the episode’s release, Dateline released a preview of their interview with Gibb, who explained that she felt betrayed by her former friends. She also said that she initially subscribed to the same beliefs that Vallow and Daybell share and that she was shocked that she ever believed what they had to say. According to Gibb, she saw Vallow and Daybell as a “good fit” because of the destructive nature of their relationship. She explained, “I saw him as the hand and her as the puppet on that hand. They were both, like, gasoline and fire – equally destructive to each other. And they both lie. And so, that was their common thread, is that they were really good lying to each other. [It] seemed a good fit, for them to be like that with each other.”
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On June 9, Daybell was arrested and charged with two felonies in this case after two sets of human remains were found on his property in Rexburg, Idaho. He was charged with two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence. It was later determined that both of those sets of remains belonged to JJ and Tylee, both of whom had been missing since September. The Woodcock family, including JJ’s grandparents Kay and Larry Woodcock, have since released a statement about this update, in which they expressed, “We ask that you respect our family’s privacy while we grieve — we have only just been told of the loss of our loved ones and need time to process. We are not granting interviews at this time and hope you all understand that this is the worst news we will ever get in our lives and want to be left alone for the time being. Thank you.”
Like her husband, Vallow has since been arrested in connection with this case. Vallow was previously arrested back in February and was charged with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, arrests and seizures, resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime, contempt of court, and willful disobedience of court process or order.
