Social Media. The place where your life can be envied by so many and look picturesque. Where you can pick and choose what your followers, friends, and family can see. I mean is what it is for right? To show your journey of weight loss, the restocks of your pantry, your kid's birthday parties, and even a cross country journey in a van. Just remember two things. Nothing is ever what it seems and what is done in the dark, will always come to light. You probably remember seeing the Gabby Petito missing posters everywhere, the news and media coverage as they were looking for her. and the riots going on right on the front lawn of her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie's house. On YouTube and Instagram, it seemed the perfect relationship. However, when the video and camera were off, it seemed a whole different life was taking place.
Gabrielle Venora Petito was born on March 19, 1999, in Blue Point New York. Gabby was a light and loved everyone she ever met. Including Brian Laundrie in 2017. They did not begin dating however until 2019, when Gabby decided to move to Florida to live with Brian and his parents. They both worked a grocery store called Publix. He was in the grocery department, and she was a pharmacy technician. When the pandemic hit in 2019, they both quit their jobs and decided to drive cross country from New York to California. Gabby was very insightful, and her dream was to become a blogger and social media influencer. Travel was something she had always planned for life, and she was ready and willing to make it happen. Gabby celebrated her 21st birthday in Nokomis, Florida while on the road, and She and Laundrie visited Sope Creek, Georgia, in June 2020, and the two were engaged the following month. The engagement shocked everyone in their lives. Gabby had not told anyone her news but had posted it on Instagram. Some of her family and friends stated she told them they were engaged prior to the Instagram post. I wonder if that was her own choosing or Brian not wanting anyone to really know.
After Gabby and Brian returned from their trip, Gabby had decided she wanted to travel again cross country but this time she wanted to purchase a van to live out of. She worked two jobs, Taco Bell and as a nutritionist. Brian worked at a juice bar. Ok so flag number one, here she is working all of these hours and he was just working part time a juice bar. My opinion here, but he seemed like a lazy douchebag from the beginning. Throughout this entire story, I have always felt that she was WAY too good for him. Gabby loved fitness and clean eating. That (besides traveling) was what she wanted her social media content to be about.
Hard worked paid off and in December of 2020, Gabby was able to purchase a 2012 Ford Transit van. They worked on the inside of the van to make it a home on wheels and Gabby did a great job of decorating it and keeping it clean. She was a lot like me in the sense that she had OCD and always wanted things clean and tidy. After going to Blue Point for her brother's graduation, Brian and Gabby set out on their second cross country adventure on 07/02/2021.
Along the trip, Gabby took beautiful pictures and videos that she uploaded to social media. In all of these photos and videos, she and Brian looked like the perfect couple traveling and making their dreams come true. No friction, no control, no abuse. But little did we all know.....
On August 12th, 2021, a passerby called the Moab Utah police and stated that they had encountered a domestic dispute between a man and woman and that the male had slapped the female in the face. The caller explained that they got into a white van and left. Moab police got the license plate number and tracked down Brian and Gabby up the road. The officers were wearing body cams as they approached the van. Gabby was crying hysterically and when asked what was wrong, she stated that they had been fighting all morning and she was just upset. The officer removed her from the car and placed her in a police cruiser to speak with her alone. The officer noted that Gabby had a scratch that was bleeding on her arm and a cut on her face. It sickens me to watch the body cam footage because throughout all of it, Gabby claims it is her fault because she irritates him sometimes with her OCD. She stated it was all her fault and none of it his. RED FLAG! Most abused persons will take all of the blame so that the partner will not get into trouble and then make the situation worse. She was scared. You could see it. She was avoiding answering the police's questions and even told them she hit Brian first. But she did tell them that he grabbed her face. That is indicative of previous abuse, control, and even attempted strangulation. WHY THE FUCK DID THE POLICE NOT SEE THIS??? THIS MAY HAVE BEEN PREVENTED!!
When Brian was speaking with the police, he stated that Gabby often gets " worked up" over the van being messy and gets upset and has to be controlled or restrained. Those two words, controlled and restrained, are words of ABUSERS. In the end, the police decided this was more of a "mental health issue" than a domestic issue. Thanks for nothing Moab Utah police. The police did feel they needed a break and told them they needed to separate for the night. Gabby was given the van and Brian went to a motel.
On August 27th of 2021, a Louisiana couple vacationing in Jackson, Wyoming, said they saw Gabby and Brian involved in a “commotion” as they were leaving the Merry Piglets Tex-Mex restaurant.
Nina Angelo, who was at the restaurant with her boyfriend, said Petito was in tears and Laundrie was visibly angry, going in and out of the restaurant several times and showing anger toward the staff around the hostess stand. Gabby was seen apologizing over and over to staff members for his behavior.
Gabby's mom stated the last time she heard from her daughter was August 25th. On this same day, a final post was made to Gabby's Instagram. On August 27, a text from Petito's phone was sent to her mom which read, "Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls." The message raised concerns for Petito's mother, who said Stan was Petito's grandfather and that she never referred to him by his first name. The last message, sent on August 30, said, "No service in Yosemite." Her mother expressed uncertainty about who sent these messages.
On September 1st, Brian Laundrie returned to his parents' house in the van, but with no Gabby. No one even knew that he had come back at this time. Gabby's mom stated that she started to worry after about 3-4 days with no messages from Gabby and no social media posts. Finally, after not hearing from Gabby, her family reported her missing on September 11th. After only 4 days, Laundrie was suspect number one. I am sure it had something to do with police getting handed information for Brian's attorney and shutting the door in their face. That's not sketchy at all. Brian and his parents knew what he had done, and I have no doubt in my mind that his parents helped him in any way possible.
On September 17th, after several days of both Petito’s family and police pleading with Laundrie’s family to cooperate in the investigation, Laundrie’s family requests the police come to their home, where they share, they haven’t seen Brian since September 14.
“We’ve been trying all week to talk to his family, to talk to Brian, and now they’ve called us here on Friday, we’ve gone to the home, and they’re saying now they have not seen their son,” Taylor tells CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “It is another twist in this story.”
Bertolino, the Laundrie family attorney, tells CNN “The whereabouts of Brian Laundrie are currently unknown. The FBI is currently at the Laundrie residence removing property to assist in locating Brian. As of now the FBI is now looking for both Gabby and Brian.”
Local and federal authorities kick off a search for the 23-year-old man.
In October, the Laundrie family attorney told CNN that upon further communication with the FBI, the parents now believe that Brian left to hike on September 13, not September 14.
“The Laundries were basing the date Brian left on their recollection of certain events,” Bertolino, the attorney, said on October 6.
On September 19th, Gabby's remains were found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area in Wyoming. Her identity was confirmed, and an autopsy determined that the manner of death was homicide by "blunt-force injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation" which occurred three to four weeks before the body was found. I was not shocked at all about the strangulation. After all, on that video cam footage, we did hear from Gabby that he had grabbed her around her face. Red flags everywhere but no one helped her. On September 23, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie due to his unauthorized use of Petito's debit card to obtain $1,000 or more between August 30 and September 1. This piece of shit took her life and then used her HARD EARNED money to run back to his mommy and daddy. Pathetic.
On October 5, in an interview with ABC News, Laundrie's sister encouraged him to turn himself in to authorities. Two days later, Laundrie's father joined investigators in searching for Laundrie at the T. Mabry Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Florida, focusing on areas he used to frequent in the reserve and the adjacent Machattie Creek Environmental Park.
On October 20, Laundrie's skeletal remains, confirmed by forensic dentistry, and some of his belongings were found in the Machattie Creek Environmental Park in an area that had recently been underwater due to flooding. His cause of death could not be determined by an autopsy, and his remains were given to an anthropologist for further examination. On November 23, it was announced that the anthropologist concluded that Laundrie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that the manner of death was suicide. Of course, it was! He was a bitch that killed a beautiful soul, and he could not handle the consequences.
This beautiful, adventurous, kind woman was taken from her family and friends. She was taken because Brian Laundrie was controlling and had a hair trigger temper. It breaks my heart to think about how much she put up with and how many times she was abused without anyone knowing. To everyone out there reading this, it doesn't matter if you're a man or woman. It doesn't matter if your embarrassed and are worried about being judged. PLEASE REACH OUT! Please let someone know and get help. There is absolutely no reason to feel ashamed or embarrassed. Here are some resources to help:
The National Domestic Violence Hotline-The Hotline can be accessed via the nationwide number 1-800-799-SAFE(7233) or TTY 18007873224 or (206) 518-9361 (Video Phone Only for Deaf Callers). The Hotline provides service referrals to agencies in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Also, you can go to www.thehotline.org
Resources:
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