Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #33

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It's possible that BL had no intention of pulling over. They had just got into a physical alteration, he was most likely irate and had lost control of himself. He may have decided to try and out run the cops! C'mon, one doesn't accidentally go 30+mph over the speed limit.

They only pulled over due to GP hitting his arm. He had lost control of himself and Gabby snapped him out of it.

Why his speed didn't warrant a Super Speeder ticket has me baffled...??
 
\people stay for many years in DV relationships for well documented reasons.
There is no magic bullet about 72 hrs or realistic expectation that it will do more than 12 hrs or 20 minutes.
One size does not fit all.
Every case is different.

Had she informed LE that day that she was a victim, they would have acted immediately.
Without that, their hands are tied in the moment.
They did a lot more than many other police forces would do.
They showed her kindness, didn't destroy her life with a DV charge, provided her with a woman to talk to, gave her a drink, probably made sure she was made safe for the night.

They're not mind readers. They are not trained psychiatrists.

I recognised what was going on because I know it, personally and professionally.
But I reckon an awful lot of people would not have recognised it...
Bottom line is that she wasn't ready to leave him or face the truth of the reality she found herself in.

And that paralysed 'syndrome' seems to go with the territory as the victim is constantly being forced into a state of cognitive dissonance, skilfully programmed to believe only in her own sense of powerlessness.

When you don't believe you have any power...

ETA- all of the above is my opinion.

I completely agree with this post and have a confession & a question.

When I watched the bodycam video I saw what I perceived to be a male DV victim and hysterical/unstable female perpetrator. I saw marks on his body and none on hers. Obviously I was wrong, for which I feel terrible, but hindsight is a thing.

My question is: what should I have seen? What did I miss (& not just me but experienced/trained police officers too!) I thought they’d handled the situation extremely well, but there’s old hindsight again.

RIP Gabby, I hope your family gets justice.
 
Going n this long and stretching to every corner of the globe when it is one of the most common experience in the world of bad human relationships?

I cannot for the life of me understand it. I've been pondering it for ages trying to understand it- blank.
Meh. Bring up the Buffalo News ( buffalonews.com | Read the latest Buffalo, NY, and Erie County news from the Buffalo News. Get headlines on local weather, entertainment, and events. ). It's not at all a featured story. Nor do I think it should be.
 
It’s not too much to ask for LE that are trauma informed. Their actions would have looked much different that day if they had been.

They may have been able to get Gabby to leave him and/or reach out to parents who may have had her come home.
They may not have changed the outcome at all.
But the chance that it could have or could in the future is 100% worth it.
IMO that lack of training needs examined and immediately corrected.


Agree, and want to add
IMO - nobody can make a DV victim leave, they have to come to a point where they WANT to see the reality of the situation.
It’s very similar or the same as being brainwashed. Look at Stockholm Syndrome.
First safety away from the abuser, permanently. Then they need to be de-programmed from the abuser(a). This takes professionals.
I agree that LE could have called her parents and gave them info about the incident.
 
It's different because the law Brian is charged under prohibits unauthorized access. There isn't a law that prohibits unauthorized access to cars.

I think the breadth of 18 U.S.C. 1029 (unauthorized use of an access device) is really illustrated here. NPPD said they did not think they could charge Brian with theft under Florida law because there is evidence that he was authorized to drive the car and it was "commonly controlled." That is his interpretation or the interpretation of the NPPD lawyers, not mine.

The feds had no problem charging him under 1029 because the "access" comes from the bank. The bank is a third party that can say the access was unauthorized because the Card and PIN were not issued to Brian.

In my personal completely biased opinion, I think the feds ARE properly using the unauthorized access law (1029) but it shows why the statute is overly broad and bad IMO. You can charge under it when you couldn't charge theft. JMO
Thank you! I've been trying for an answer all morning!
 
I did watch that entire video . Could you explain the "strange" in the "as if they kinda knew in their subconscious that something wasn't right" ... I remember that, but I do not think it would be fair to make the judgement as to what their subconscious would be thinking.

It seems as if he perceived or had the instinct that the video would be seen and judged by all.

His perception was correct.

Perception comes from subconscious.

The "strange" is that: How many officers do you think say that of their video stops?

edit: needed to specifically answer the "strange" question.
 
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I am surprised that FLIR has not "seen" him. I don't check often but occasionally and I don't see a plane or copter up at night.

Does anyone know the frequency of FLIR use?
 
It's possible! I'm not on the up and up when it comes to cars and technology, so I was poking around on the Ford website. I don't even know what year that Mustang is, it's definitely looking like an older model - the more recent ones have a sleeker design. I'm starting here too for comparison: https://www.cars.com/research/ford-mustang/
its a 2012 V6 convertible.
 
I'm skeptical that the infamous black over silver 'vert being discussed would have a constant on GPS with storage. Possibly, if they used the destination portion of nav. I'd imagine that it has an EDR... but that would only fire if there was a crash... and only record seconds worth of telemetry and control positioning.

I'm so not familiar with cars and the technology, but I'm learning a LOT. Is it possible to mod something like his model like someone would with a car to make it have autostart - do you know what I mean? I may not be asking it properly.
 
I think trying to remind the family that Gabby lived under that roof for 2 years.

Yet, the neighbor said that they had only just moved in a couple of months before. Gabby lived under a different roof with them - and it appears they were downsizing. BL had to say goodbye to the art he'd done on the walls of his room. I think the VanLife thing was already well under way. So the idea may have been that the parents would get a smaller place (it's a rental) and the kids could go off and adventure around the US.

That's probably why their stuff was in a storage unit - but the cost apparently started to bother them (or some other reason came up, to move the stuff back to the garage). BL's RT airfare wasn't that much - but of course, Gabby's hotel bill had to be significant.

BTW, Gabby did know how to drive the van and did drive it sometimes, according to their SM - she just preferred not to. She says BL did "most of" the driving. Surely she drove the van into Arches after that traffic stop?

Driving on interstates is a bit harrowing, IMO (particularly in Montana and Idaho - where they likely hadn't gone yet - speed limits are often 75 mph and tons of giant semi trucks going that speed - or faster. Strong winds, terribly unprotected turn-outs, it's fine if you're used to it, but most people from FL would not be. They really hadn't done a lot of actual mountain driving - something that may have been planned in advance. Canyonlands to Arches is mostly 55 mph and gently curving, with great marking on the roads and modern pull-outs that don't overlook cliffs (mostly) and have guard rails.
 
Interesting. To be clear, if you look for coverage, you can find it. It's commodity news, nothing more.

It’s surprisingly featured in a number of French news sources daily- not just those you’d expect. There was even an article in Le Monde. I don’t have to look for it, the alerts pop up
 
I wonder why the restaurant didn’t call the police on BL….if the couple were correct and he was acting aggressively toward the staff? Him inside berating waitress & hostess & Gabby outside, crying. Him leaving & returning 4 times!!!
I suppose that some day we will find out what Gabby was saying to family about trouble in the relationship. Sad
 
I was wondering and digging around on this last night.
Jackson definitely would have given BL more options to leave. Via hitchhiking or bus. There are multiple busses that run along there to other camping areas. Including one to Yosemite. And several that go straight south (closer to the border).

I think he was trying to get as far away as possible and when that didn’t happen quickly he had to shift gears. Had he made it to Jackson he would have had a better shot at getting away without a trace IMO.

I think if he really wanted to get away via hitchhiking he could have done it. He was picked up twice in the same day, so that wasn't a problem, and both rides seem to be an attempt to get back to the van, not away from it. Even if that meant ditching the van somewhere around Jackson, he could have still hitchhiked or taken the bus from there to get away quietly without a trace. <modsnip>
 
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