GATLINBURG

Cyberbullying, fraud and a surprise twin: Gatlinburg fire survivors clash on 'Dr. Phil'

Knoxville

TV's 'Dr. Phil,' Phil McGraw, on the set of his syndicated TV talk show.

Three women who survived the Gatlinburg wildfires appeared Wednesday on Dr. Phil McGraw's nationally-syndicated talk show to hurl accusations of scamming and cyberbullying at one another.

Darlene Verito Triail and Vicky Cowden accused Melinda Stites of being a "lying, mentally-unstable bully" who scammed fire victims out of $620 by using an alias to start an online fundraiser that falsely claimed she lost everything in the fire.

Stites denied starting the fundraiser and accused Triail and Cowden of "terrorizing" her by harassing her in social media posts that made her "shake with fear."

Dr. Phil shared some of those posts, including a photo of Cowden holding an assault rifle and a video of Triail, in an expletive-laced rant, telling Stites, "Your husband has no teeth because somebody probably knocked them out of his head."

Each side said the other had ruined their lives via defamation and harassment. Each side said they had reported the other to police — to no avail.

"I think this is childish," Dr. Phil said at one point. He later buried his face in his hands.

Darlene Verito speaks during a Gatlinburg Wildfire Survivors For Change group press conference in response to TEMA's loss of all emergency calls during the November 28 wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee on Friday, July 28, 2017. The group had booked a conference room at the Gatlinburg Courtyard Marriott but were forced to leave once Gatlinburg Police arrived after the hotel asked them to leave.

A 'generous woman'

Dr. Phil debunked Triail and Cowden's main issue with Stites: that she allegedly solicited money even though a television news report showed her home did not burn in the Nov. 28, 2016, fires that killed 14 people and damaged or destroyed more than 2,500 homes and businesses in Sevier County.

Stites said a "generous woman" created the GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her. Dr. Phil said he and his team found and spoke to a woman who said she started the fundraiser because she saw a Facebook post by Stites about her escape from the fires.

Dr. Phil shared a message from the woman, stating she initially "assumed" Stites had lost everything in the blaze. The woman didn't want to be identified, Dr. Phil said.

"When Melinda found out she didn’t lose anything, we closed the account and I released the $620 in donations to her so she could recover from the smoke damage the fire caused to her home and share whatever was left over with other survivors," the message read.

Dr. Phil also shared Facebook messages, purportedly between the woman and Stites, which corroborated that account.

That prompted Triail to apologize to Stites; Cowden took a different stance and said, "I'm not going to apologize to you ever."

Melinda Stites is hugged by her husband Eric after she spoke before the Gatlinburg City Commission on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. "Why were we not evacuated sooner?" Asked Stites. "My kids. They were put in danger, I was put in danger, my friends died. We wanted to know what happened and why and nobody will talk to us."

A surprise twin

At one point during the show, in a surprise twist, Dr. Phil called on Stites' identical twin sister in the audience.

Cowden, who said she had never met Stites in her life, remarked that she didn't know Stites had a sister.

Dr. Phil began to ask the sister whether she thought Stites was a con-artist. Triail and Cowden tried to interrupt, objecting that the sister would take Stites' side no matter what.

"There’s two of you up here with rapid-fire mouths and there’s one of her up here, and I have the right for her to have an ally here," Dr. Phil responded.

"I do support my sister 100 percent," the sister said, "and bullying, anything like that, regardless of your age, is wrong. I think both sides need peace."

The home that Darlene Verito Triail rented on Chestnut Drive stood here. It was destroyed in the Nov. 28 wildfires.

A hug

Near the end of the show, an emotional Triail, who said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after the fires destroyed her home and everything inside it, told Stites she needed "to put this to an end."

"I know you're a sweet person," Stites said.

The two stood up and hugged.

Cowden, on the other hand, maintained that she would never apologize, that she didn't do anything wrong, and that Stites had falsely accused her of threatening to kill her.

"I really hope that you guys will truly decide that you don’t have to react to whatever comes up," Dr. Phil said.

After the show aired, in a phone call with a reporter, Stites said she was the one who emailed Dr. Phil and asked to appear on his show in order to clear her name.

She said she was happy with how it turned out, and that she's proud to call Triail a friend. The two talk every day now, Stites said.

Cowden couldn't immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

"All I want to say," Triail said in a Facebook message, "is I left it all on the stage."

Reporter Travis Dorman can be reached at travis.dorman@knoxnews.com or on Twitter @travdorman.