When Gabby Petito set off on a four month adventure of a lifetime, with high school sweetheart Brian Laundrie, she was bubbling with excitement.
The 22-year-old, from New York, had saved enough money to convert a van into a campervan and was about to set off across America, following her dream of becoming a travel video blogger.
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“She was all packed up, ready to go, and I went into the driveway and she gave me a long hug,” recalls her mum, Nicole, in the three-part ITV documentary, The Disappearance of Gaby Petito. “It was like she was saying goodbye.”
Tragically, that was the last time Nicole would see her beloved daughter in the flesh.
Two months later Gabby was found dead, strangled by fiance Brian after sustaining severe head injuries.
The grim discovery followed an 18 day search which had police and internet sleuths combing for clues, after Gabby’s worried parents reported her missing.
Bizarrely, Brian had returned home without her and was seen mowing the family lawn, seemingly without a care in the world.
As increasing fury towards him swept the country and spread around the world, he went into hiding and his parents refused to say what had happened to Gabby.
Laundrie later took his own life, leaving a strange ‘confession’ note which added a further twist to the curious murder case and left a series of unanswered questions about the couple’s relationship and the bizarre behaviour of Brian’s parents.
Van Life star
Gabby was the daughter of Nicole and her first husband Joe, who split up six months after her birth but remained on good terms. Nicole went on to marry Jim Schmidt, while Joe wed Tara and Gabby considered all four to be her parents.
Nicole had been a little apprehensive about Gabby setting off on 2 July 2021, but had encouraged her to follow her dream and was comforted by the thought that she was in safe hands with easy-going Brian.
“I thought he was very nice and kind and I figured they had known each other long enough,” she says.
Gabby had also become close to Brian’s parents, Chris and Roberta and took the effort of sending them traditional postcards on their travels, playfully signing them, from ‘Aunt Gabby’.
Her daily updates of the couple’s cross country journey on social media, including their Van Life blog, became an internet sensation, with young people envying her free-wheeling, fun-loving lifestyle.
But the glossy, carefree posts were hiding a dark secret about their abusive relationship.
As time went on, there was a noticeable lack of details in Gabby’s online posts and messages to her parents.
Her final post on Instagram and the last time Nicole spoke with Gabby was on 25 August.
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Telling text
Two days later, Nicole was unsettled by a text she received from her daughter’s phone, referring to her grandad, which read: “Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls.”
Gabby had never referred to her grandfather by his first name and the meaning of the message has never been made clear.
A second text three days later said that they were in Yosemite but that there was ‘no service’.
I forced myself to watch the entire video and I wanted to jump through the screen and rescue Gabby
Gabby’s mum Nicole
Blunt and to the point, it did not bear the bubbly hallmarks of her usual messages, which were full of ‘Hi moms’ and excitable exclamation marks.
Then, suddenly, all communication dropped. Had Gabby really sent these or was Brian trying to cover his tracks?
Increasingly worried, Nicole and Joe started texting Brian’s parents but got no reply. Fearing the worse, Nicole reported her as missing and was shocked when a detective turned up and told her that Brian Laundrie was back home with his parents in Florida.
He had returned without Gabby and a neighbour had seen him casually mowing the lawn.
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Vicious fight
Taking a leaf out of her daughter’s book, Nicole used the power of social media to help find her, raising awareness to such an extent that it went around the world.
TV and radio stations extensively covered the story and an army of ‘internet sleuths’ studied Gabby’s video footage for clues.
But there was a deathly silence from the Laundries. When police and reporters visited their house they were told they would have to speak to their attorney, family friend, Steven Bertolino. But he, too, gave nothing away.
Their silence infuriated so many people that there were daily protestors with placards and tannoys pitched outside the Laundrie house demanding answers.
Then came some shocking body cam footage from police in Utah who had received two calls on 12 August from independent witnesses who had seen Brian slapping Gabby outside their van before they got in and drove off.
When they pulled them over, she was crying uncontrollably but seemed to be protecting Brian, explaining they had had an argument that morning because she was trying to keep the campervan clean and had been ‘mean’ to him, complaining that he had trodden dirt in. But she insisted that she had hit him first.
In contrast, Brian was cool and calm with the police, joking that Gabby was ‘crazy’ and it was no big deal.
They were puzzled as to who was the victim, as she had a bruised eye but he had scratches to his face and arm. Eventually they decided to give them time to cool off, putting Brian up in a hotel room for 24 hours while Gabby stayed in the campervan.
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“I forced myself to watch the entire video and I wanted to jump through the screen and rescue Gabby,” says Nicole.
“It showed the reality behind the social media personality. You see the happy, fun life in their posts on Instagram and YouTube and we got to see what can go on behind the scenes that you would never know.
“People now saw her as a real person, struggling. I watched it once only and have never been able to watch it again.”
Gabby Petito Timeline
July 2, 2020: Engagement
December 11 : couple bought 2012 Ford transit van
July 2, 2021: Petito and Laundrie depart on road trip
Travels
July 4: Monument Rock, Kansas
July 8: Colorado Springs, Colorado
July 10: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado
July 16: Zion National Park, Utah
July 21: Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
July 26: Mystic Hot Springs, Utah
July 29: Canyonlands National Park, Utah
August 12: Arches National Park, Utah
August 12: ‘Altercation’ in Moab City, Utah – officers pulled the couple over but gabe them time to ‘cool off’
August 17-23: Brian flies to Florida without Gabby
August 27: Diner reported the couple had a fight at a Wyoming restaurant
August 30: Last communication with family mentions ‘Stan’
September 1: Laundrie returns to North Port
September 11: Family reports Petito missing
September 15: Laundrie named person of interest
September 17: Laundrie family reports Brian missing
September 18: Dual searches for Petito and Laundrie in Florida and Wyoming
September 19: Petito’s body found in Wyoming
September 22: Divers join the search for Laundrie
September 23: Arrest warrant issued for Laundrie
October 20: Possible human remains found
October 21: Brian Laundrie’s remains confirmed
Another glimpse behind the mask was when Gabby’s best friend, Rose Davis, revealed the controlling side of Brian Laundrie, raiding questions about why friends and family had missed the red flags.
“I do believe that as their relationship went on it was getting a little problematic,” says.
“There just seemed like there were more and more arguments. Everything she did, I felt like he thought was wrong.
“Once, we were supposed to be going to line dancing and that caused a really big argument because Brian didn’t want her to go out and it was a jealousy issue. It caused a huge argument between them and she came over and just cried.”
Sinister letter and notepad
On 17 September police arrived at the Laundrie home. The crowd of reporters and protestors all expected them to bring Brian out in handcuffs. But it turned out that he wasn’t even there. Now he too, was missing. How had he slipped away with the house under so much scrutiny?
Bertolino told police that he had gone for a hike in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. Leaving his Mustang at the entrance to the park, he set off on foot.
Strangely, his parents went to pick up and drive the car home without him and it wasn’t until a couple of days later that they reported him missing.
The police faced a huge challenge to find him. The park is 25 acres of mostly swamp with wildlife such as alligators, snakes and mosquitoes.
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Meanwhile, the campervan was spotted by another video blogger, Jenn Bethune and her family, in Spread Creek camping site in Wyoming. On 19 September, Gaby’s body was found not far from where the campervan had been sighted. She had been strangled.
On 20 October, after their son had been missing for 35 days, Brian’s parents finally broke cover and took police on a trail in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park that they had often walked as a family. They found his body instantly – leaving many questioning how quickly they located it.
There just seemed like there were more and more arguments. Everything she did, I felt like he thought was wrong
Rose Davis, Gabby’s pal
Brian had shot himself with a revolver. Nearby was a waterproof bag containing a notebook – leading to intense speculation amongst the public engrossed in this twisting and turning story. Would the notebook finally reveal what had really happened?
In the end, it sparked more anger. Incredibly, Brian’s notes claimed it was all a tragic accident and he even painted himself as being ‘merciful’ in killing her.
“I ended her life,” he wrote. “I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked. I was in shock. But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.”
He claimed that Gabby fell and hit her head as they tried to cross a stream and was “begging for an end to her pain.”
Also found in his backpack was a letter from mum Roberta, in which she poured out her love for him saying: “If you’re in jail I will bake a cake and put a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body. I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags.”
The undated note was in an envelope which read “burn after reading”.
With Brian dead and the Laundries still unwilling to spill any secrets, Gabby’s devastated parents may never know the truth of why he killed their beloved daughter.
“Looking back, I didn’t really see any signs,” Nicole told AP. “I think the only two people that will ever know what happened in that relationship was Gabby and Brian.
“And we can guess and we can make assumptions but we don’t really know what happened.
“Most likely the scenario ended that way because something was happening for a while.”
They have since set up a foundation in her name to help others in abusive relationships and have recently settled a lawsuit against Brian’s parents, after suing them for emotional distress following her disappearance.
“Gabby always thought she would make an impact on the world,” says heartbroken dad, Joe.
Read more on the Irish Sun
“She wanted to show people that the world is a bigger, more beautiful place than they can imagine. It’s just a shame she didn’t get to see how many people she would impact. We tell her now and I’m sure she’s looking down and seeing it.”
The Disappearance of Gabby Petito is on ITV from May 9
