Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
When you here the name Gaby Petito, what comes to mind…..
a young aspiring blogger, who loved life, loved advetures , hwo´s life tas tragically taken from her….
The FBI announcing a medical examiner says the body found in Wyoming was indeed that of gabby patito, the coroner calling her death a homicide…
dr chris : Brian landrie, i believe made his decision to kill himself after he killed Gabby Petito….
Investigators say human remains was found in florida this week are those of bryan laundrie the only person of interest in the death of his fiance ,Gabby Petito.
Gabby petito has been gone for over a year, is this case over…..?
No , this case is far from over ….
There ares still a lot of questions for gabby´s parents ,the primary one being would Gabby petito still be a alive today, if the case have been handled differently
We came to know gabby petito and brian laundrie, because they were putting themself out there in social media documenting their travels throughout america.
Dr chris mohandi/ forensic psychologist
dr chris : young couple in love living out of their van seeing what the world had to offer, living the dream. But what we come to learn is that was a veneer…
Rose :“anyone that´s met the two of them has been like they seem like such a nice couple …but lot of couple looks nice on instagram.
About a month into their trip ,Gabby and brian have a lot of arguments it get´s physical
A wittness reports it to the Moab police, they respond….
and now we can see that there´s trouble in paradise….
But Gabby didn´t want to take a breather.
And Could that Moab police stop, then a game changer….
former federal prosecutor , mary fullgeniti
former federal prosecutor , mary:it´s har not to wonder what would happened uh to gabby if either gabby or brian had been arrested that day .
Two people went on a trip one person returned and that person that returned isn´t providing us any information….
FBI:” we believe the circumstantial evidence demonstrates that the laundrie family was aware that their son had murdered Gabby and that they were aware of the location of her remains
former federal prosecutor , mary fullgeniti: they refused to communicate to the petito family . as human beings how could somebody not pick that phone and say:
” i´m so sorry, we don´t know what happened ,what can we do to help. and the only reason why you wouldn´t is if obviously something went a foul”
Gabby´s road trip in the summer of 2021 stared as an adventure story…
Months later it turned to a nationwide search for a missing women….
The search for missing 22 year old gabby petito is now a multi-state effort . ..
…Before ending here .
With the discovery of her remains and Grand Teton National Park….
It is now become a cautionary tale.
former federal prosecutor , mary fullgeniti: ultimately her death will hopefully lead to many being rescued and saved from this situations well before it gets to murder.
former prosecutor and CBS consulant mary fulginti says Gabby´s s tory is really about recognizing the warning signs of domestic violance ,which are often hard to read.
former federal prosecutor , mary fullgeniti: There are people who believe that Gabby petito´s story didn´t had to end the way it did . if only the warning signs have picked up on would it have been different?
To most eyes Gabby petito and her fiance, brian lanudry were compatible in every way.
Gabbys dad jospeh
joseph:” the cooles chick you ever met.
22 years old , a new york girl from long island
an appetite for adventure.
Gabby and her mom , Nichol schmidt
Nicole:” she knew she wanted to this trip . she had told me about it.probably a year before it started.
One of Gabbys close friends rose davis , they met soon after Gabby moved to florida .
rose: ” she texted me one of the sweetest messages , i think i´ve ever got from someone and it was just like ..” you seem so cool i really want to be your friend” and just was just ” absolutely”.
They made tick tock videos together for fun.
Rose says gabby was good friend with brian back in high school in new york, then after brian moved to florida gabby moved there too, to be closer to him.
Soon they were in love and living together
In july of 2020 they got engaged they even got tatttoos together .
But roses says brian could sometimes exhibit what she calls toxic traits
rose:” when brian wants something ,he´s gonna get it and i don´t mean in a physical way he´s gonna force it he´s just gonna …i don´t want people to say i´m calling him a manipulator but he´ll manipulate the situation to get what he wants out of it
and you know , he didn´t want her to go out one night with me and … he stole her ID. because you can´t get in to the bar without your ID.
and this was really upsetting to her , you know , you´re engaged it´s not supposed to be like that .
But the couple seem to put any drama behind them as they got ready for their adventure.
Gabby worked hard at Taco Bell and with brian at publix supermarket saving money for their trip
Nichol schmidt; they´ve bought the van they converted it.
The Goal was to spend four or five months crisscrossing the country having adventures even working on organic farms and chronicling it all in real time on social media .
They rolled out officially on july 2nd gabby posted constantly, every little detail.
But all those selfies may have been hiding a darker story…..
Six weeks into their trip on the afternoon of August 12th in Utah near the arches national park. Gabby and brians instagram road trip came to a shuttering s top.
It was around 4.45 in the afternoon according to this poilce officers body cam.
Officer: currently doing 45 miles an hour zoned through here is 25.oh, subject jsut hit the curb . correction speed limits is 15.
It was the stop that could have changed everything…….
This 911 call was made on august 12, 2021, in Moab Uath for weeks before gabby petito was reported missing
The caller reports seeing what appeared to be an alarming confrontation betweeen gabby and brian.
dispatcher: he´s was slapping her?
caller: yes and then we stoppped, they ran up and donw the side walk , he proceeded to hit her , hopped in the car ,and they drove off.
Officers from the Moab police departement are dispatched and within minutes gabby brian´s white van spotted driving erratically ouside the arches national park.
They pulled over. the officers separate the couple and begin questioning them.
Gabby is visibly shaken.
gabby says that brian wouldn´t let her in the car before, because of her OCD.brian told her to calm down.
Brian tells police that gabby attacked him,scratching his face and his arm as she tried to get back into the van .
another officer ask gabby for more details about what happened.
The officers never directly asked brian if he slapped or hit gabby, they also didn´talk to the 911 caller hwo reported seeing brian hit Gabby.
but one of the officers did speak with a second eyewitness that day .
In Utah if officers find evidence of a domestic violence assult,they are required to make an arrest or issue ass citation, an independent investigation would later conclude that the officers did not have a clear understanding of the law.
They misstakenly believe that Gabby had to intend to harm brian to require an arrest .
Ultimately officers decided to separate the couple for the night.Gabby was told to stay with the van .
As the assumed victim….
brian was sent to a hotel.
No one was arrested or issued a citation .
Forensic psychologist chris mohandi has worked closely with law enforcement on issues of domestic violence
dr chris : the officers that responded to Gabby and brian were compassionate, their hearts were in the right place of wanting to ” help”.they were trying to do what they misstakenly believed was the right thing ,by cutting them a break.
Weeks later when the body cam footage was released there was a public uproar.
news anchor:newly released video shows what looks like the aftermath of an argument between gabby petito and brian laundrie.
For her friend rose , those images were almost impossible to watch.
Rose: it takes a lot for her to get that hysterical, and so when i saw the body cam , i knew it was more than jsut a little argument , she´s not gonna slap him for no reason
the release of the 911 call drew outrage her followers ot the story on social media erupted in anger .
Mohandi says the officers seem to mis signs of domestic abuse.
And Gabby accepting the blame ….
Dr Chris: domestically vilent relationship it´s not uncommon for one partner to take the blame for what really is the behaviour oth the other partner.
The indepedent invesgitator later wrote that it´s likely that Gabby was a long term victim of domestic vilolence.
The ramification of the officer´s action during that stop would play out in the days ahead and month later would be Question by gabby´´s parents and lawers and they lawyers.
Just days after that traffic stopp Gabby were back on track on the road
headed to North salt lake city.
On August 19th Gabby posted an edited eight – minute showing their jerney together shows no signs of Gabby and bryant.
Later Gabby told her mom, their were leaving Utah and driving to Grand Teton National park in Wyoming.
Nicole ( gabby´s mom) : She was haapy , she was exited,to keep going her joiurney and um..thats the last time i spoke to her .verbally.
On august 25th gabby e series of photos on instagram infron a butterfly mural in Ogden Utah. it will be her last final post on Instagram
The instagram post august 25th, 2021 ,was rgw last time Gabby petito would puvlish on social media and shortly after she said she and brian were headed to Grand Teton National park
Gabbys parents stopped hearing from her .
former federal prosecutor , mary fullgeniti: she seemed to have been in communication with her parents on a regular basis throughout the totaly of this trip , and they were checking in on her regularly
Then on August 27,2021 ,her mother says she received a strange text message from Gabbys phone. it read:
Stan is Gabby´s grandfather
former federal prosecutor , mary fullgeniti: her mother thought it was odd because she never referes to a grandfather as stan
it was out of character and disconcerting.But as far as the petito family knew, Gabby and brian were still together on their trip.
miranda baker / tic tok
miranda:” hi my name is mirandas baker and on august 29th, my boyfriend and i picked up brian at grand teton national park at 5.30 at night. at coulter bay.
48 hours after gabbys moither received that cryptic textmiranda baker said she and her boyfriend picked a man she believe was brian laundri.
she said , he was alone.
Miranda; he approached usking us for a ride because he needed go to jackson before he came in the car he offered pay us like 200 dollar to give him a ride.like 10 miles so that was kind of weird he then told us he´s been camping for multiple day without his fiance and she was working on their social page back at their wan
Suddenly says miranda , things took a turn . when there were confusion over where they were going.
miranda: he freaked out he´s like nope. i need to get out right now.like pull over. we dropped him of at 6:09 pm on august 29th
meanwhile Gabby´s mother did resceive one more text from Gabby´s phone.it said that there was no service in yosemity.
Nichol: the last text i received from her phone was august 30th.
During Gabby´s travels she had been staying in touch with her friend rose davis.
Rose was expecting to hear from gabby on her birthday
rose: my birthday is august 29th ,so we decided” call me then”
But no birthday c all or text came.
rose: i honestly didn´t think anything of it when she didn´t text me or anything because she´s traveling cross-country and once it got later into it around like 8th and 9th of september that was the point where i was like” she would have called me , why haven´t i heard rom her yet
What Rose did not know was that on september 1st brian was back in north port florida
He had driven the van there and he was alone.
The petito family knew non of this.but they had been already alarmed when they stopped hearing from Gabby alltogether and her cell phone had stopped working.
family petito gave no comments´s on if they reach out to the boyfriend to figureout what happened and where their daughter was.
But Gabby´s mother did reach out to police.
Nichol:It was actaully friday the 10th that i decided to call police because i had 10 days ,10 almost 11 days was enought for me to not to hear from my child and i got the run around, noboddy wanted to report her missing.um she´s an adult,traveling,as a mother i said i”it´s not like her”
finally that saturday i um…. went personally to suffolk county,fifth precinct and now this is where we are .
Gabby patito was officially declared a missing person on september 11th just over two weeks after her last instagram post .
As the nation remembered ,so many lives lost 20 years earlier…..
…the petito family focused on one life. that of their missing daughter ,
Nichol: we´re looking for her and only her.not the van , not two of them , just her. keep your eyes out and we´ll find her.
On monday september 13,2021, the story of Gabby petito disapearance hit the news.
Gabbys mom and stepdad,nichole and jim shmidt held up her photo for reporters
Rose davis was devistated to see her friends picture on TV.
Rose: i kinda of just went into shock .
What happened to Gabby Petito….?
Once it became clear that Gabby Petito had gone missing ,her mom and stepdad….
joseph petito and stepmom Tara….
… set up a find Gabby page were people could post tips and information
She was reportedly last seen near Grand Teton National Park in Whyoming around august 27,2021
Within days videos about Gabby´s disappearance exploded across social media , even people with no contection to Gabby join the search to help find her .
For Gabbys parents this spotlight in the media and online was invaluable.
But as former federal prosecudor mary fulginiti points out , not all missing persons cases received this level of attention.
But there was a person who wasn´t helping solve the mystery of what happened to Gabby.
Ryan laundrie.
Northport florida police spokesman ,josh taylor said invesigators were frustrated .
Neither he or nor his parent would answer their questions even though Gabby lived with them.
Josh taylor: we were essentially handed the information for their attoreny, that is the extent of our conversetion. with them.
Rose:first word that popped in my brain was coward to be honest ,you supposed to love her, you´re suppose to marry her , whewew is she?
Police confiscated the white ford wan, searched it for evidence. and then released it ,posting
Laundrie family attorney , steven P. Bertolino, spoke briefly to the press
steven P Bertolino :on behalf of the laundrie family ,i will hope that miss petito is located and she´s reunited with her family.
Gabbys parents, through attorney rick stafford with a scatting letter .
Rick:“we believe you know the location of where brian left Gabby.we beg you to tell us. as a parent how could you let us go through this pain and not help us.
Six days after Gabby declared missing the laundrie family reported that they didn´t know where brian was.they said, he´d left for a hike at the carlton Reserve days earlier.
A massive search more than 50 officers and FBI agents combing a 24 000 acre park near Sarasota florida looking for brian laundrie.
Anger at the laundrie family silence,prompted protesters to gather outside the laundrie home demanding answers.
While authorities were searching for brian……
in florida the search for Gabby and around wyoming intensified.
In this case all off that social media attention ultimately helped investigators locate Gabby.
When kyle and jen bethune came forward with information
They had spotted gabby and brian´s van.
The bethune had been in wyoming´s Grant Teton national park around the time Gabby´s family last heard from her .
On august 27,2021 the bethunes had their go pros´s rooling for their youtube channel when they wore looking for a campground .
jen: we´re driving down this road , past this van and had florida plates.however the van was completely dark,we assumed that they were just hiking or doing something else.
Ones the bethunes left the park,they didn´t think about the van again , until late saturday september 18th when checked her phone and was stunned to learn authorities now believes gabby had been in the Tetons the very same night the Bethunes were there.
Jen instantly remembered the white van.
Kyle:” we just soime reason instantly knew that was hers.
Jen: when i called the FBI i was like i have found gabby´s footage like patched me acroos to somebody like this is huge because i knew deep down what it was and i knew how important thiis fotage to finding Gabby.
As instructed the bethunes uploaded to the FBI website.
They also it on youtube and and facebook.
Just hours later came the devastating announcement
FBI :” Earlier today human remains were discovered consistent withthe description of Gabrielle Gabby Petito.
The FBI says Gabbys remains were found at the spread creek camping area inside Bridger Tenton national forest in wyoming
An autopsy confirmed the remains were gabby´s and the coroner determined her death was a homicide by manual sstrangulation
The family asked for privacy , but her father joseph sent out a tweet that stummed up the moment.
It read simply” she touched the world.”
Hours after ut was announced ,Gabby had been found over a dozen FBI agents and police officers swarmed the home of brians´parents.
News anchor:“police arrived, the FBI arrived. they were carrying a battering ram , they also annonced that they had a warrant i think seeing these FBI agents and police here you wonder, do they now know where he is ?
The next day
Northport police ,the FBI and other agencies ramped up the search of the nature preserve near brians home.
Terrains very difficult essentially 75 percent of it´s under water.
49 days after brian had returned home without Gabby on October 2oth 2021 THE fbii made an announcement
FBI:” earlier today ,investigators found what appear to be human remains”
An autopsy revealed brian laundrie had died from a self -inflicted gunshot to the head and there was something else.
FBI:” Along with personal items such as a backpack and notebook belonging to brian laundrie.
That notbook contained writings from brian explaining what he says really happened to gabby petito writing….
” i ended her life , i thought iit was merciful”
Before brian put a bullet through his head he wrote a story describing how Gabby petito died.
former federal prosecudor mary fulginiti : ” it was dark, they were running acrooss the streasm,she must have fell and hurt herself and he went to help her,but she seemed to be in extreme pain.
In the small notebook found in a dry bag near brians remains he wrote:
” i ended her life ,i thought it was merciful, that it is sthat she wanted but i see now all the mistakes i made.”
Dr chris: self -serving narrative that portrayed that there had been accident and that there have been a mercy killing by him of her ,because she was suffering.it speaks tp selfishness and a degree of narcissism, that it was important for other people looked at him ,his image. you know he had the last word.
While Gabby´s parents will never see brian laundrie face a jury, they are seeking, their own version of justice. they are suing brian´s estate for wrongful death and his parents for intentional infliction of emotion distress.
Attorney patrick riley .
Patrick riley : its our belief that the laundrie family was asware that brian had murdered gabby and was aware where her body was located.
Riley says that belief is based on information from the FBI.
He says FBI believes that gabby was murdered on august 27,2021 and that brian made a lengthly phone cal to his parents on the 28th, he says according to the FBI brian´s parent´s then contacted an attorney, that same day.
The laundrie´s attorney issued a statement denying the allegegations made in lawsuit and saying :
But there´s more says riley .
A letter allegedly written to brian by his mother roberta laundrie.
riley says he and Gabby´s mom read it while reviewing evidence at the FBI´s Tampa office.
P.riley: there was one part that sticks out which is;“if you go to prison i´ll bake a cake with a shiv in it” and by the way ,the envelope that the letter came in had written ion the front of it ” burn after reading”
If it can be proven when and if brian´s mother did indeed write that letter it could be very damaging says mary fuginiti.
former federal prosecutor , mary fullgeniti: Because it shows the mindset of the mother, that she´ll do anything. to protect her child.
In additon to the pending cases in florida gabbys parents are in process of filing a lawsuit against theMoab police departement.relating to how they handled that domestic violence stop with Gabby and bryan.
Attorney brian stewart: the family believes that Gabby would still be alive today if the police officers had the proper training and had followed the law. in how they responded to Gabby´s situation.
According to stewart the body cam fotage footage shows, there was a fundamental problem
Attorney brian stewart:it´s clesar that the officers did no have a clear understanding of the law ,that they were supposed to enforce that day.
The moab police departement commissioned the capten of another Utah police departement to conduct that independent review of the officers actions that day.
among the report´s conclusions there was probable cause for an arrest
Attorney brian stewart: sby choosing not to apply the statue and effects and arrest the officers left gabby and brian in a dangerous situation.
The report cited other intentional mistakes says mary fulginiti .
former federal prosecutor , mary fullgeniti: they didn´t follow up with key wittness ,which is the 911 -caller . they did not follow up with Questions to brian laundri about wheter or not he grabbed her face or grabbed her arm, they didn´t document Gabby´s wounds, photograpgically or in the report.
mary fullgeniti believes they also missed some classic telltale signs of domestic violence.
mary fullgeniti: here is a girl who was hysterically crying who was immediately taking the blame hwo is also trying to minimize her boyfriends actions
mary fullgeniti:all of this while he remained calm, cool and collected , through his interview. so i think if you look at that in the totality it had all those things been adressed we might have a different outcome here.
Dr chris mohandi: this could have been a game changer ,we dont know for sure ,we´ll nwever know. but certainly intervention would have been more possible under that scenario.
One of the officers involved told the independent investigators after Gabbys death Quote;
In a statement the city of Moab said it believed the officers showed kidness, respect and empathy and their handling of this incident
The city intends to implement the recommendation of independent review which qhich include more domestic violence investigation related training and legal training to ensure officers understands Utah´s state laws
Gabby´s parents have formed the Gabby petito foundation which has partnered with the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
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