My transcript of detective Stubbs' bodycam footage from November 26th:
[Court testimony: DS: This is my bodycam footage as myself and Lt Ball approach the apartment #175 the first time on the 26th.]
DS: Her car’s out there too.
RB: Where?
DS: In the back. It’s blue. Blue Subaru.
Knocking.
RB: Hi!
LVD: Hi.
RB: You alright? Lori I’m Lt. Ball, police department, how are you? You got a minute?
LVD: Yes sure. Come in.
RB: You all alone or got help or?
LVD: Er my brother’s here.
RB: Okay. This is Detective Stubbs.
DS: Hello.
RB: So, we’re here…
LVD: Wow this is a big mess, I just talked to the guy on the phone.
RB: And what did he ask you?
LVD: He was just saying that he wanted to do a well check on JJ.
RB: So...JJ would be where?
LVD: He’s in Arizona, with my friend.
RB: Who is he with in Arizona?
LVD: He’s with one of my friends in Arizona.
RB: Oh…you got a notepad?
DS: No, want me to get one?
RB: Uh, no, no, come here, do you mind if he comes in?
LVD: No. Come on in.
DS: Thank you.
RB: So, who’s the friend he’s with?
LVD: My friend Melanie. Her son has autism. Her name’s Melanie Gibb. I gave him all that information on the phone.
RB: Okay, so he can call?
LVD: Yeah that’s fine. Yeah, what is all this?
RB: We’re a little concerned…
LVD: Right,
RB: Because, well, the officers who were here earlier...
LVD: Yeah
RB: ...were checking and they got a bad vibe like something was going on here, because nobody knew anything about a child, didn’t want to talk to him,
LVD: It’s because a…
RB: What’s going on?
LVD: …lot of stuff has gone on, if you want to know, it’s a lot of stuff, so
DS: Well that’s why we’re concerned because...
LVD: It’s very…
DS: ...this was kind of weird
LVD: It is very weird. I’ve had to move around a lot, one of my brothers is trying to kill me, not the brother that lives here obviously, he’s kind of my protector
[laugh] my other brother was in with my husband who was trying to kill me for my $2million life insurance policy.
RB: Now…
LVD:
[laugh] So a lot of stuff is going on and this last year has been a horrible year for us, I’ve had to move around, and so I was going to move back to Arizona, put my son back into school there cos I tried putting him into school here, public school at Kennedy,
RB: Okay
LVD: He went for 2 months, we tried it but he had such a hard time. Now, the person who called is my sister-in-law but she’s his natural grandmother, he’s adopted, by us, ‘k, so her son, who is a drug addict had a baby with a girl who’s a drug addict and they took him, you know, CPS took him, gave him to the grandmother she came by and then she wanted us to adopt him. Which we did. We’ve loved him and taken care...
RB: By 'us'?
LVD: My husband and I…who died earlier this year.
RB: Okay.
LVD: He passed away.
RB: Sorry to hear that.
LVD: Since he passed away she’s been trying to fight me for him, and being really horrible to me, and that kind of stuff.
DS: The?
LVD: So she’s kind of the paternal grandmother.
DS: Okay, thank you...
LVD: Does that make sense?
DS: ...that’s what I needed.
LVD: I’m sorry.
[laugh]
DS: The paternal grandmother.
LVD: Yes, he has autism and ADHD, he has, he doesn’t really talk to people, like, he’s, he’s very special needs. So I had him in a special needs school there, she was trying to t, so what happened was, my husband, who we were married for 15 years and had raised all these five kids together, switched his life insurance policy to HER, right?
[laugh]
RB: To?
LVD: To his SISTER!
RB: Okay.
LVD: ...who got a MILLION DOLLARS when he died, and we got nothing for me to raise JJ, and all the kids got nothing, and everybody got nothing. SHE got a million dollars. So I knew she was going to try to sue me for him, or…
RB: Who JJ?
LVD: Yeeah, because she now has this million dollars so she can hire people to help, him, and I have nothing, cos the life [inaudible] nothing [inaudible]
DS: But you have legal custody
LVD: He’s my SON I adopted from, he was two years, we had him from the time he was eight months old till two years old. So she does nothing [inaudible] to cause me trouble. So I don’t tell people the truth about where we are and what we’re doing because of those reasons. So I LOOK like a suspect but I am n, a good person, raised ALL OF MY KIDS, I’ve done EVERYTHING that I’m supposed to do in life,
[laugh] but EVERYONE is causing me trouble right now (pity me voice) So.
RB: We don’t want to cause a lot of trouble. How long have you been here?
LVD: We’ve only been here since September. We moved up here in September, [for?] my daughter to go to BYU-I
RB: Your daughter goes to BYU-I?
LVD: Yah.
RB: Does she live here?
LVD: Mhm. So we just, it’s been a nightmare. But I’m gonna go back to Arizona so I can put him back into special needs school, he couldn’t do his school here, it was too hard for him, he would scream and cry I’d take him to school, the Principal would have to come out and try to drag him out of the car
[laugh] like, it just was too hard. But I just don’t tell people where I am, I don’t tell her where I am EVER,
DS: Okay.
LVD: And she doesn’t have any legal rights to, anything. Like she’s been horrible to me since my…
RB: I don’t…
LVD: …husband died.
RB: ...my understanding is she never called to try to get the child, you know, hey I’m interested child back, you know, but that
LVD: I know but she sends me these emails with like the date, and like, she’s putting up court stuff, you know, like, she’s documenting, 'I haven’t heard from him in all this time' and so, I’ve told her that he’s fine, but
DS: See we haven’t heard any of that as far as,
LVD: I’m just saying she’s doing this as part of THAT
DS: Right.
LVD: is my understanding.
DS: And our only concern in this whole thing…
LVD: Yeah, is that he’s fine
DS: …is the child…
LVD: I got it.
DS: ...and so that’s, that’s where we’re at on that. And then…
LVD: So I called her
DS: …WE were just a little weirded out when, you know, and I understand now that we’ve heard your side of the story…
LVD: It’s awful, they just,
DS: Yeah
LVD: I feel like I’m being tracked all the time, like why are police coming to my door?
[laugh]
RB: Well they were, they said they were out visiting with two guys, and I assume one’s your brother?
LVD: Who was visiting? Yeah.
RB: Who was the other one? The other guy they were visiting with? There was two…
LVD: Who was visiting?
RB: Well we had two detectives over here trying to
DS: Looking for you
LVD: Oh,
DS: A little while ago
LVD: Oh cos I was at the store
RB: And they ran into, probably one of your brothers, in the back here
LVD: My brother and his friend, probably, they’re moving
RB: Who’s that?
LVD: Chad.
RB: Is Chad from round here?
LVD: Mhm.
RB: What’s his last name? Daybell? okay. Alright…
LVD: So it’s just a mess, but just constantly causing me trouble.
RB: Chad Debe, Chad Daybell, D-A-Y-B-E-L-L?
LVD: Mhm…He’s an author.
RB: Doesn’t he live like out in the…he’s not the Chad Daybell that uh…didn’t his wife pass away recently?
LVD: [
didn’t say?]
RB: Is that him?
DS: I, I don’t know.
RB: […] he is, Chad D-A-Y-B-E-L-L
DS: But it sounds familiar as an author
RB: I think I know...
LVD: Right
RB: ...I think I know one of his…has he got a couple of daughters?
LVD: Uh, he has lots of kids.
RB: Alright. Well, need anything else? Sorry to bother you.
LVD: Thank you.
DS: We don’t mean to be a problem.
LVD: I’m sorry that people are constantly knocking on my door
[laugh] what am I doing, looking for me and I just don’t want to be found, so…
DS: Have you had problems [inaudible]
LVD: My b…well the reason I’m moving is cos the brother that was going to kill me that we found emails and texts with my ex-husb, my husband at the time, came showing up here, so he found out where I live and he was knocking on my door.
DS: Now this was your brother?
LVD: One of my brothers.
DS: He showed up here and was knocking on your door
LVD: Mhm. He lives in Kansas.
DS: And you said something about you were getting threatening emails?
LVD: Well, no, just, after my husband passed I found emails and texts between them that they were planning all this stuff, to get rid of me.
RB: Do we need to worry about him coming over?
LVD: Well that’s why I’m moving back. I’m moving and I’m not going to be in a place, I’m going to live with my friend Melanie, don’t tell [interference]
RB: […] you can call, take care of it.
LVD: That’s why I’m saying like, I just like, just a nightmare, I mean I cancelled the insurance policy since my husband passed so there’s no money, that they can
[laugh] and what are they going to do with JJ an Tylee, like, what, do people think?
[laugh]
RB: Well, if you have a problem [inaudible], feel free to call us,
LVD: I will
[laugh]
RB: We’ll come and run him off or something. Okay? Alright,
LVD: Appreciate it.
RB: Okay, we’ll get out of here, sorry to bother you
DS: Thank you
LVD:
[laugh] Thank you
DS: See ya.
Officers leave house.
DS: Uhuh, not. Not.
[Court testimony - DS: When Det. Hermosillo and Det. Hope could not contact MG, a few minutes later from this encounter, we went back to her door to enquire about how we could get a hold of MG.]
DS: […] want us to ask Lori if she would get a hold [inaudible]
[inaudible conversation]
DS: Melanie is the friend
RB: Wasn’t Melanie the one living up here supposed to be her daughter, Lori’s daughter?
DS: No. This was the friend that she’s going back down to live with, she said.
RB: Right. She’s got a daughter named Melanie. I thought.
DS: Let’s just see if she will call and have Melanie get a hold of Hope and just do a verification. Because apparently she’s not answering the phone down there.
Knocking
RB: Lori?
Door opens
RB: Hi Lori sorry to bother you again. We’re having […] get hold of your friend down there, Melanie
LVD: Oh Melanie. Well they were going to Frozen2 today. So they may be at the movies.
DS: Could you get a hold of her at some point and say can you please call back the officer that’s been trying to call you?
LVD: Okay, sure. Yeah cos I think they are at the movies right now.
DS: That, he’s been trying to call her, our other officer, she’s not answering.
LVD: Okay.
DS: But if they’re at the movies that’s…
LVD: Probably at Frozen2 right now, because that’s the one thing he wanted to do.
RB: I’m frozen too!
LVD: It’s so cold here, I don’t know if I can handle a whole winter here, that’s probably why
[laugh]
DS: So if she’ll just return his call that will be great.
LVD: Okay.
DS: Okay thanks.
Author
