BOISE — Former neighbors of Chad and Tammy Daybell testified Tuesday about unusual ways they say Chad Daybell reacted after his wife's death.

Alice and Todd Gilbert were neighbors and went over to their Salem, Idaho, home the morning that Tammy Daybell died on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019.

Alice Gilbert said she received a call from a sobbing child about 7 a.m. saying her mother had died in her sleep. She said Chad Daybell then took the phone.

"He told me not to tell anybody and to wait for about an hour. I said, 'Well, I need to call the bishop and he said, 'Nope. Don't call.' But I still did," she testified, adding that she and her husband went over to the house at 8:30 a.m.

She said the children were stunned and could hardly speak, but said Chad Daybell did not seem stunned. He told them his wife had died of an embolism and said she fell off the bed. He also told them a funeral would be held on Tuesday, Oct. 22, and a memorial would be held the next day.

"I said, 'Did you plan this?' He said, 'No,' but I knew somebody planned it," she said.

"He seemed like he was business-like, more so than someone who had just lost his companion, his wife. And that things were all, well, pretty planned out (for) the funeral," Todd Gilbert added.

The testimony was presented as part of the case against Lori Vallow Daybell, who is on trial for murder, conspiracy and grand theft in the deaths of her two children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old JJ Vallow. She is also charged with conspiracy in connection with the death of Tammy Daybell, her new husband's previous wife. Chad Daybell is charged with murder for the same three deaths and will face a separate trial at a later date.

Todd Gilbert said after the death, he remembered a statement Chad Daybell had made about a vision he had that his wife would die before she turned 50. She was 49.

Following a memorial the day after the funeral, the Gilberts went back to the Daybell house with food. While they were there, Chad Daybell announced he was moving to Rexburg where he had a friend he could stay with. Alice Gilbert said he led her to believe that it was a male friend.

"He told the kids to go through Tammy's things that afternoon, which I was surprised," she testified.

Gilbert said she returned on Oct. 25 to check on the children and said Chad Daybell didn't seem to want much to do with his children. One child said he was hoping he wouldn't lose his father, too, she said.

The next day, a week after Tammy Daybell's death, Alice Gilbert said Chad Daybell came to her house and told her and her husband he was "doing really good" and had found a woman he was going to marry.

"Yes, we were shocked. He went on to say how beautiful she was, and we asked him where he met her. He said at a conference in St. George in October" of 2018, Gilbert said, adding that he didn't initially want to tell them her name but eventually said it was Lori Vallow.

She said Chad Daybell brought his girlfriend to their house later and she described a brief and awkward meeting. She said the two were "quite affectionate" with each other like teenagers and said Lori Vallow was giggling and laughing.

Gilbert said she asked the woman about her family and was told that her husband had died of a heart attack.

"Then Chad said, 'And she just recently lost a daughter.' I said, 'I'm sorry.' She said, 'Thank you.' I asked how many children she had. She stammered ... like there were step-children involved. So, I didn't get a number," Gilbert told jurors.

Todd Gilbert described another conversation he had with Chad Daybell about his deceased wife when he told him "she visited him in spirit and she was fine with everything, and that her mission was complete on earth and that he was to move on."

Months later, after Lori Daybell had been arrested, Alice Gilbert said Chad Daybell asked her and her husband if he could move in with them, and later asked if they would put their property up for bond. She said she responded by asking for more information about the then-missing children, and at that point Chad Daybell denied telling her about the recently lost daughter.

"I asked him ... 'Where are they? Where are the kids, Chad? Doesn't Tylee want a life, a job, a car, a boyfriend?'" Alice Gilbert testified. "And he said, 'She didn't like people and she didn't like me.'"

Alice Gilbert said it struck her then that Chad Daybell used past tense when talking about Tylee.

Monday testimony:

Tammy Daybell may have been restrained when she died, Utah medical examiner says

Witnesses in the Lori Vallow Daybell murder trial testified Monday that hair attached to an adhesive was from Daybell and Tammy Daybell may have been restrained when she died.

On Monday, jurors learned that bruises on Tammy Daybell's body indicated she may have been restrained when she died from being deprived of oxygen. Dr. Erik Christensen, Utah's chief medical examiner who performed her autopsy after her body was exhumed from a Utah cemetery, said she had bruises from acute injuries that occurred likely in the hours before her death.

Christensen continued his testimony Tuesday, saying that while it is still possible Tammy Daybell died from natural causes, pulmonary edema, which was listed by the coroner, is an insufficient explanation for her death. His autopsy determined she died from asphyxia.

Fremont County sheriff's detective Bruce Mattingly testified Tuesday that Tammy Daybell's medical records are "completely opposite" from statements made by Chad Daybell indicating that his wife suffered from dizziness and seizure-like activity. He also looked at data from her Fitbit device and said she was very active until her death.

"There was no slowdown," he said.

Mattingly said Tammy Daybell was doing Zumba, a clogging class and had recently done a 5K.

Chad Daybell received $380,000 from insurance policies on Tammy Daybell, he said, adding that he was not aware of any efforts from an insurance company to retrieve the money.

Tweets by NateNewsNow

Contributing: Lauren Steinbrecher

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