Gabby Petito

Gabby Petito appeared to be living the dream vanlife travelling across the country with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. Originally from New York and then living in Florida with Brian's parents the couple decided to set off heading West on their road trip after visiting Gabby's family back in New York. She posted smiling photos and stunning scenery with a strong social media presence on Instagram and a vanlife blog she was working on. That was until they reached Teton National Park Wyoming in late August and the regular contact Gabby had with her family stopped suddenly after the 25th. When they couldn't get hold of her, Brian or his parents they reported her missing on 11th September and soon after it emerged that Brian had returned to Florida on the 1st September without her driving the van that had been their home and was registered in her name. When stopped by police driving it he refused to say where Gabby was or even where and when he'd last seen her and instead appointed an attorney.

Soon after police body cam footage emerged showing a domestic incident on 12th August which began with a 911 call where the caller said he'd witnesses a man slapping and hitting a woman as they ran up and down outside the Moonflower Health Food Store in Moab before they drove off in a van. The police tried to flag them down as Brian who was driving went over the speed limit and then finally stopped after swerving and hitting a curb. Gabby was instantly apologetic to the police and said she had distracted him seeming to take all the blame for the incident but as she was questioned in the back of the police car she said she had not been trying to hurt him but had been trying to get him to calm down. Had she been trying to make him slow down and stop for police? She appeared very distressed throughout in stark contrast to Brian who laughed and joked with police as if to get them onside while portraying her as the mentally unstable female. He stated that tentions had begun earlier in the day however when he became annoyed that Gabby wanted to remain in an Internet cafe to work on what he referred to has "her little blog" minimising the website she was working on to try to fund the lifestyle they were living. Gabby also stated they were rowing because she had OCD and liked to keep the van tidy. Brian mentioned being dirty, having dirty feet, and needing a shower. Despite the 911 call clearly stating that the male was the aggressor in the incident the police immediately assumed Gabby to be the one who had attacked Brian and attributed this to her mental health issues as they spotted scratches on Brian's arms and face which appeared to confirm to them that she had been the one to assault him. They didn't question Brian when he said he had attempted to lock Gabby out of her van, which was their home, and hung her backpack on the back suggesting to her that he had the intention to drive off without her and leave her behind very far from home. He again portrayed her as mentally unstable telling how she had fought to get in the van and not be left behind and managed to open the driver door, the only door he hadn't locked. He admitted himself, again minimising and justifying his actions, that he had held her back and pushed her out by placing his hand on her face. A second 911 report said that the couple had been fighting over a phone and it seems from what they said that Gabby was trying to get her phone from Brian. When the police asked Brian for Gabby's phone he mumbles something along the lines of "it's in a place" and goes to get it. Had he taken her phone and hidden it from her and tried to drive off leaving her behind without it? The police decided to separate them for the night putting Brian up in a hotel and giving Gabby the keys to the van and directing her to somewhere to go to get a shower and relax.

It's unclear whether the couple reunited the following day on the 13th as police suggested but a relative of Brian's mentioned him flying home to Florida from the 17th August for around 5 days to move his and Gabby's possessions, or potentially just Gabby's, out of his parents house and into storage. On the 24th August he was apparently back as they were both seen together again checking out of a hotel in Salt Lake City. On the 25th of August Gabby FaceTimed her Mom saying they were heading towards Yellowstone but she didn't know where the relationship was going. A store owner in Victor spoke to the couple in her store and they told her their travel plans were to go to Teton National Park and Yellowstone. She told them about the West Gate entrance to Yellowstone. It's unclear which direction they took from Victor, a man claims to have had an encounter with someone he thinks was Brian with a "strong New York accent" and a distain for Republicans sitting alone and appearing annoyed in Bullwinkle's bar in West Yellowstone late in the evening of the 26th August. He was still there at 11pm when they left the man said. However another couple took a video confirmed to be of Gabby and Brian on the 25th August at String Lake South of Jackson Lake in Teton National park meaning if they did go through Yellowstone it was a very brief trip as they were sighted in Teton the day before and the day after. They were supposed to meet friends in Yellowstone for a birthday on the 30th of August but never showed up. I'd be more inclined to believe that they never made it to Yellowstone. There are multiple hiking route trails around Jackson Lake in Teton NP saved to Gabby's Alltrails app including two at Coulter Bay though it's unclear whether these were saved prior and whether they actually walked them. On the 27th August a couple travelling in an RV filmed their drive along a narrow dirt track and camping area called Forest Road at Spread Creek. They noticed at the time a small white van with Florida plates and as they are from Florida themselves considered saying hello but nobody appeared to them to be home at the van.On 29th August a couple picked Brian up hitchhiking alone from Coulter Bay near Jackson Lake at 5.30pm. They thought he said he wanted to go to Jackson and oddly he offered them $200 to give him a lift. Making small talk on the journey he said his fiancé was at their van working on her blog "to the North near Snake River". He said he'd been hiking alone for "multiple days" up Snake River with only a tarp to sleep on. He then "freaked out" when his lift approached Jackson Lake dam as if they were not going the way he wanted to go. He got them to drop him off immediately at the dam and said he'd get another lift, this was at 6.09pm. The road forks just before Jackson Dam and if his ride was going past the dam in appears they were taking Teton Park Road instead of continuing on highway 191. It makes sense that Brian became distressed because he wanted to remain on the highway as just South of the fork in the road Forest Road turns off the highway by Spread Creek. That's the spot that the RV couple filmed the small white van two days prior. If Brian returned to the van on the evening of the 29th and was back in Florida 35 hours drive away by the 1st September it's likely he set off driving back that night and hardly stopped en route. On 17th September Brian's parents reported that he had also gone missing 3 days prior and directed police to a local nature reserve. A search failed to find him there however and he remains missing.

On 19th September, realising they had likely caught Gabby's van on their video the RV couple posted it on YouTube after sending it to police and them being slow to respond. I spotted the video early that morning and managed to locate the site of the van on Google Earth maps and pin it at 43°46'32N 110°29"54W. Shortly after this the news coverage stated a search had begun in the Spread Creek area. That evening the search discovered a body which was confirmed by her family as being Gabby Petito. At the time of writing cause of death remains unconfirmed and Brian Laundrie remains missing with no word from him as to what happened to Gabby and why he left her behind and drove home across the country doing such a long journey barely stopping to sleep along the way. Hopefully answers will come in the following days and weeks but in the meantime the family of Gabby Petito are mourning the loss of a vivacious and bright young woman at just 22 years of age and people around the world are wondering how and why this happened.