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.

I