Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #4

[LeeJay55]

If he killed her he would not drive that.van back here!
He would call a d a plane ticket home and say they had a fight a d she left him there!

He arrived back in Florida on September 1, alone and driving her van. How exactly could she have left him if he had her van? If she was leaving him, she would have taken the van.

we do t know that!
I think she wAs alive the last time he saw her
But that’s just my 2 cents

 

[Emerald1328]

Still watching. This made the hairs on my arms stand up:

GP: “This never happened before.”
Officer: “There’s a first time for everything.”

 

[MsBetsy]

People use the word “text” now as shorthand for other kinds of messages as well as cellphone SMS, like insta/fb/twitter DMs, WhatsApp/Kik etc.

True, but it still doesn't make sense that Gabby would want him to have the charger to be able to use his phone. She had her phone with her.

 

[Cloudydiamond]

So, what would you do if your SO took your phone, locked you out of YOUR vehicle and threatened to abandon you nearly 2000 miles away from home?

Are you telling me you wouldn't fight back?

Absolutely..reacting to situation.

 

[penguinface]

Very odd the newlyweds were murdered the day B was separated from G.

Apologies if this has been covered, I’ve only managed to half catch up. Initially I saw reports they were pulled over 08/13, the cam footage shows 08/12.

I think all the reports yesterday said the incident was the 12th, as that’s what all the discussion here was about. You might have seen like the one site that got it wrong or something.

 

[keeponsearching]

Gabby said she wasn’t use to driving the van far. So I doubt she would want to drive it back to Florida or NY. Per the police cam.

Gabby said she slapped him because she wanted him to stop telling her to calm down. I didn’t see the part she said she was afraid he would leave. Was that just someone’s opinion?

I haven’t posted here for a long time. But my curiosity peaked on this case. <modsnip>

Also violence is never ok, not for any excuse. We have feet and we can walk away.

 

[SuziQ]

Anyone else get a CW vibe from BL when watching him on the videos, contrasted with Gabby's demeanor?

Yes!

 

[ardean]

I see a couple things missed by police they should have and normally would have asked... maybe one of the other officers did do this. Maybe I missed it. They should have asked if there were any weapons in the vehicle. Being a domestic assault situation where they didn't find her a threat to him she would quickly become a threat if she had a weapon at the height of emotional breakdown. They should have asked if it was OK to search the vehicle, even if they did not intend to search as this will cause a reaction that they can read into further. These police have a super tough job and I can see they were doing diligence and working with compassion.

 

[allmybecsloveme]

I haven't fully caught up on this thread yet so if it's been mentioned, I apologize.

I have a wild theory - LE hasn't ruled out a connection between her being missing and the double murder. It seems like a big coincidence. Gabby was beside herself and crying...it almost makes me wonder if she saw something, or was told something by boyfriend. If he really did go on the trip and modeled it after the book on his IG. Maybe she knew too much and threatened to turn him in so the only thing he could do at that point was get rid of her.

Definitely an "out there" theory, but it would make sense *if* the cases are connected, because I don't see him deciding to do something to her premeditated as it would up the chances of him being caught significantly. So maybe he was left with no choice.

 

[Misy]

I registered to make a few comments. This is moving SO fast, when I went to register, there were 6 pages. When I finished, there were 20, so my apologies if this has already been floated.

Regarding: BL’s trip back to FL to move items to-from a storage unit. I don’t buy it. I think he flew back because they were fighting/broke up. BUT - I think that possibly, he flew back to Utah because she begged him to come back so she didn’t have to make that drive back alone. This is plausible and I think his parents would fund it to be sure there was no liability on their part if something happened to her, driving alone. And I think his family ponied up her $$ for her hotel stay. Also, it will be revealing to know if it was booked as a round trip flight, or one way in each direction. Time will tell.

What did she tell her parents while alone in SLC for a week? Not much. I know from personal experience - I never told my parents much about my fights/breakups, because if I did, they held a grudge against my BF, and if things turned around, it was an impossible situation. She may not have even known he didn’t intend to return.

Someone mentioned that maybe she disappeared and his family summoned him home. Who would do that? If I were on vacation with my boyfriend and I left him alone briefly and he disappeared, driving back home would be my LAST resort. I would call the authorities. Even if they blew me off, at least there would be a record that i tried.
Obviously, this is all speculation. IMO

I had question myself about the trip back to FL. Did they have an apartment in FL? I thought they were living with his parents. If they did have an apt wouldn’t they have had to officially move out before they left for their months long journey? Why did BL have to fly back to move their stuff in the middle of their trip? It’s said they moved their stuff into storage but I read, sorry don’t remember where, that his father offered to have them store their things at his house. If that’s the case there wouldn’t have been too much stuff I wouldn’t think, if it would all fit into BLs parents house. I’ve seen pics. It’s a average size house. And WHY would it take 5 days?
Could there be a girlfriend in FL? Was that why GP was so angry, crying and slapped him on Aug 12th? I just don’t know.

 

[okbeachmouse]

It's been impossible to catch up for 2 days now but I agree with you, I think this is all pretty normal stuff, IMO.
What is NOT normal is him clamming up when his fiance/girlfriend is missing.
I cannot for the life of me come up with a single (innocent) reason he'd do that.

jmo

I agree it's not normal, and his lawyer is clamping down hard making it perfectly clear he will not be speaking to police, period.

Do you think this is possible: She had some kind of mental breakdown and wondered off, got accidently killed, or even suicide- and he couldn't find her, so after a couple days he gave up and went home? Maybe too scared to call the cops because of the incident in the truck??

Seems incredibly lame but sometimes truth IS stranger than fiction.

 

[swedeheart]

People Magazine:

Is Gabby Petito's Disappearance Related to Married Couple's Murder? Utah Police Are 'Not Ruling Anything Out'

 

[ZoriahNZ]

It's frustrating to see how different the body cam footage is compared to the officer's report.

Gabby's fear that he was going to abandon her, take her phone and her van (with all of her belongings in it) - leaving her stranded 1000s of miles from home - was entirely legitimate. I think anyone could have reacted in a panicked way to such threats. I'm not trying to excuse Gabby for possibly assaulting BL, but my gut feeling is that she was likely in fight or flight mode when the altercation escalated.

It reminded me of some of my own experiences with DV. One time my ex physically shoved me out of our apartment and locked the door on me. I was shocked and confused. It was late at night in a dodgy neighborhood. I screamed and banged on the door, pleading to be let back in. Even kicked at the door a few times. I had no phone and no coat. I was scared witless.

If the cops had been called in, I wonder if they would have assumed I was the aggressor, being a crazy hysterical woman and all.

He charmed all of my friends. No one had any clue he was hurting me. He was good at not leaving any marks.

So perhaps it is my bias showing, but I do find the footage unsettling. BL's behavior just feels a bit phony, like he's putting up a front. I can't really put my finger on why, though.

Ugh, no doubt we're going to get a lot more she was crazy/unstable theorizing now. As if that makes the whole stealing her vehicle/home, abandoning her and refusing to say where he last saw her thing more justified.

 

[wnk]

From the body cam footage

14:10 BL specifically states "I don't have a phone" to explain why HE had the van keys (turning the situation around - making him look like the one that was going to get left behind)

54:50 BL pulls his phone out of his pocket to give the police the number

55:20 GP's phone is shown on her lap in the police van (so the one BL pulled out was not hers)

 

[Theswt1]

This doesn’t explain the reason for Brian Laundrie or the family that Gabby lived with for two years are not helping in the search.

 

[distracted]

Very odd the newlyweds were murdered the day B was separated from G.

Apologies if this has been covered, I’ve only managed to half catch up. Initially I saw reports they were pulled over 08/13, the cam footage shows 08/12.

I imagine that's just one of the reasons the Moab LE is not ruling anything out.

 

[OldCop]

Can't like this post enough..... laws need changin............imo

Playing Devil’s Advocate here. How do you know the van was stolen? Was it reported stolen? What is the evidence of a crime?
What if GP told BL that she was done? What if she said, “Take my van back to FL. I need time. I’ll catch up with you later.”
To be certain, I don’t think this is what happened at all. However, GP is an adult. She can disappear if she wants to.
These issues which are so frustrating to us are the ones that protect our rights. Right now, LE has no probable cause. When they get it you can be sure things will start to happen quickly.
In the meantime, LE cannot trample all over a person’s rights because they think they know what happened. Believe me, LE gets just as frustrated in these cases as we do. If we find out that BL has done something to harm GP, we don’t want the case to get thrown out because of LE errors.

 

[MsBetsy]

Very odd the newlyweds were murdered the day B was separated from G.

Apologies if this has been covered, I’ve only managed to half catch up. Initially I saw reports they were pulled over 08/13, the cam footage shows 08/12.

What day were the newlyweds murdered? I thought it was not known when they were killed, just when they were found?

 

[MollyDDD]

He arrived back in Florida on September 1, alone and driving her van. How exactly could she have left him if he had her van? If she was leaving him, she would have taken the van.

Didn’t I just read that she told the officer that she was “trying to get her keys from him.”?

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Important moments from body cam footage transcribed by me (with timestamps):

10:00 — GP to officer regarding driving over the curb: “We don’t drink or anything”

12:45 — BL: “The flies here are like pretty intense, so the flies have definitely been getting to her.”

13:33 — Officer: “what was the disagreement about?” BL: “I wouldn’t even call it a disagreement. I, I’m dirty and I can’t change being dirty, like I’ve got dirty feet, I got sand in my flip flops and stuff like that. Uh, it was that we were at the coffee shop for so long, ‘cause we were there from 9 to 3”

14:22 — BL explaining why he suggested GP take a walk after the incident at Moonflower cafe: “she got a little worked up. She had her phone in her hand and her keys in her hand and everything. She wanted—er, not her keys, her rings—and I was holding onto the keys cause I just, I didn’t want her to go anywhere and my big fear is, I don’t have my phone, uh, I don’t have a phone so if she goes off without me, you know, on a car ride, I don’t have a way home.”

15:50 — BL: “I’m fine, and I look it [good? audio muffled]. And I hope she doesn’t have too many complaints about me.”

20:47 — Officer to other officer: “so I just got off the phone with one of the two witnesses that reported it”

29:17 — Officer: “Do you guys have enough money for like a hotel room or anything like that? Because what we could do is, we’d cite her for this, and then I’d give her a ride over to whatever hotel of your guys’ choosing and on your way to pick her up, you stop over there at the PD, sign the paperwork that they’re requesting and then you can go pick her up, quite literally, within minutes.” Other officer: “unless you know someone else in town that’s a friend she could stay with.” BL: “You know, unfortunately not. I don’t, and I guess that [note: trails off at the end of the sentence and Officer interrupts]

31:06 — Officer: “You guys don’t know anyone in town? Guys been around long?” BL: “No, I don’t know anyone in town. If she went—[abruptly stops mid-sentence].”

44:30 — female officer to male officer: “She’s [GP] got her cellphone, she’s calling her parents to feel better. She doesn’t want to not be with him tonight.”

49:19 — Officer to GP: “Were you attempting to cause him [BL] physical pain or physical impairment? Was that what you were attempting to do?” Gabby responds: “No. Never.” Officer: “What were you attempting to do? What was the reason behind the slapping and stuff? What was it you were attempting to accomplish by slapping him?” Gabby: “I was trying to get him to stop telling me to calm down.”

1:00:06 — Officer asks GP if she has anything she wants him to communicate to BL, Gabby responds “Make sure he doesn’t forget a phone charger. Definitely dead.” Officer: “Oh, he’s mad about that too?” GP: “yeah”