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

[RedHaus]

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.

I LOVE that you ask this question @Purplepixii. I could probably write a treatise in response and I am sure others are more "expert" at explaining human behavior than I am. But I've been there, I know how Gabby was feeling. So I can try to provide you with the clues you may have initially missed.

1. Her defensive body language - clutching herself - around her waist, around her face - holding tight to protect herself and hang on to reality.
2. Her uncontrolled sobbing - she is in terrible pain from having someone she loves hurt her - it is a most penetrating and awful emotional trauma
3. Her difficulty communicating - making salient points is hard - her mind is overwhelmed with stress as she is probably in the midst of a "flight" survival response.
4. Her sitting posture- in the back of the police SUV is hunched over, head hanging low, silent, looking around scared - her terror has regressed her to a scared little girl.

If Gabby had been the true aggressor, and not a defender of her self - her life - her ego - she would have come across angry to LE... righteous, indignant, frustrated.

All IMO.

ETA: to correct acronym for LE

 

[Cardinal47]

Maybe that had to use the restrooms, who knows. jmo

But they were in there an hour. Gosh I can’t remember where I read that. But it stuck with me because it was so strange.

 

[RabidDogISC]

Does anyone know how far the campground that BL and his parents stayed at is from the search site?
I’m wondering if BL could have stashed things that weekend .

Where did BL and parents go camp? I’ve yet to see a report or location on this and was curious myself about this timeframe.

 

[DieHardChick1]

None of this adds up to me. I rented a couple of storage units last year and the cost per month was about $100 each. You can generally pay month by month, and unless there are large items of furniture in there it doesn't take two people to unload them. So the cost of BL returning, plus hotel for GP, let's say $500 all told, would have been far greater than the cost of keeping the the unit until, say, Thanksgiving. So I don't doubt they unloaded the storage unit but I very much doubt that was the only, or even primary, reason for his return.

Doesn't add up for me, either. Does anyone recall who originally reported he left for Florida to take care of the storage issue and then returned? Who actually said that?

 

[JMI]

Interesting. So a 72 hour separation would work where a 8-12 hour separation would not.

I'm not so sure about that. JMO.

It may not, I'm just thinking (brainstorming) how many times do people remain 'emotionally engaged' in their current conflict? Getting out of that 'emotionally engaged' phase and into a rational thinking phase would potentially lead to better decision making. I know at some point, it moves from a cooling off period to avoidance, and the root cause is not addressed, so that time-out period isn't a precise science, rather one that should err on the side of caution.

I'm just thinking of the times that DV situations dang near immediately return to the status quo. perhaps a longer period would truly allow someone that really wants to get out of a situation the means to get out. I'm sure there are some studies out there that could add more insight to what that appropriate time is.

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

Regarding the white Camper that the neighbors said had been bought recently and that the Laundrie parents and Brian left in, an idea came to mind that perhaps Brian's parents dropped off Brian and that Camper somewhere with supplies and the Camper as a shelter for Brian, and then the parents went to buy an identical Camper and drove it home so that even if LE searches the Camper, they won't find any evidence or anything suspicious

Was Brian ever seen again after he left with the parents on that trip?

 

[RANCH]

Correct, the word chase is not used. It does say ‘they ran up and down the sidewalk and he hit her some more”. What they viewed in this incident was BL being the aggressor, the one doing the hitting. I think whether he chased her or not is semantics.
MOO

I agree. I think the important part of the 911 call is it's clear that the caller is telling the operator that the man was hitting the woman.

Adding a false narrative that BL was chasing GP to the 911 call doesn't take that away. I just like to keep things factual.

JMO.

 

[tiara1972]

The difference is that Gabby protected Brian by blaming herself and admitting to hitting his arm, and Brian protected himself by not admitting he hit her at all. Imo

Brian protected her by trying to go to jail instead of her. I mean, he did ask for that. Not an opinion. Do I need a link for the video here?

 

[ShadyLady]

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.

I completely understand what you are saying. But, none of us know yet what let up to Gabby dying. It could have been an accident. Unintentional such as manslayer. They fought, it got physical, a man is mostly much stronger than a female, and it was unintentional.

Brian panicked, ran as is his first impulse when upset. Per his words on LE tape.

I remember LE asking Gabby what was your intent when you hit him, did you mean to hurt him, and Gabby said NO she did not mean to hurt him. Maybe in regards to the law, this is important? Officer seem to think so.

I really really hope he turns himself in soon.

AND, I am glad I live in a country where we have: Rule of Law. And not vigilante justice.

Brian needs to take responsibility. But, he also needs his day in court.

 

[tennyson77]

I really have no idea what Brian could be thinking at this point. I mean, how does he think this is going to end? The only real play, if he wanted to avoid going to jail, would be to get to a country that doesn't have extradition. That's hard during normal times when you are on the run, pretty much impossible when you have little cash, no phone, no wallet, and are in the middle of a global pandemic. So what, he's going to hide out in the woods for a month or two and then....?

<modsnip>

 

[Basil Columbo]

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 believe it was the neighbor who had just moved in, not the Laundries. According to the N.Y. Post, the 2017 pictures of the home are the same North Port residence they currently occupy and have owned since 2015.

"The Post has acquired photos inside the family’s three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in North Port, Florida, which was purchased by the Laundries in 2015 for $120,000. Two years later, they attempted to list the home for $215,000, with a price reduction a month later. The Laundries took the home back off the market shortly after, in January 2018."

Inside Brian Laundrie's bedroom as Gabby Petito's homicide confirmed

Edited for sp

 

[MLaps]

What place that serves alcohol wants to call the police (unless it's absolutely necessary)? No way. Too many calls/complaints... there goes your liquor license.

Exactly. I would think that if he came in there and started putting his hands on the staff then that would be a police phone call. Someone acting in the way it was reported that BL acted, owner would typically ask you to kindly leave.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

'We're not wasting our time out here' police commander says of Laundrie search

Gabby Petito case leads to rise of armchair detectives

eta:
Now, as new developments unfold regarding Brian’s parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, many are wondering what their role is in Gabby's homicide. So, Distractifyspoke with criminal defense attorney and managing partner of the West Palm Beach office of Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A., Michelle Suskauer, to learn whether Brian’s parents could be charged with a crime.

Like any parents, Brian's are worried that he’s not on the run but in fact, deceased. A source close to the family told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that Laundrie left without his cell phone and wallet, and that they were “concerned that he might hurt himself.” If that’s the case, investigators “can't try somebody who's deceased,” according to Michelle Suskauer.
Could Brian Laundrie's Parents Be Charged With a Crime? (EXCLUSIVE)

 

[branmuffin]

Isn't it strange that the police officers that did the stop said something like: we could be judged someday by everybody that watches this video...

as if they kinda knew in their subconscious that something wasn't right...

anybody remember that?

It kinda reminds me of the tragic situation where a young victim of Jeffrey Dahmer almost escaped but attending officers thought it was just a lovers quarrel and let Dahmer take him back home.

 

[hey-Debbie]

Regarding the white Camper that the neighbors said had been bought recently and that the Laundrie parents and Brian left in, an idea came to mind that perhaps Brian's parents dropped off Brian and that Camper somewhere with supplies and the Camper as a shelter for Brian, and then the parents went to buy an identical Camper and drove it home so that even if LE searches the Camper, they won't find any evidence or anything suspicious

I'm not so sure if that couple across the street have their information mixed up. I think the white camper could have been the one GP and BL had. I'm sure it was new to them. I thought that they all went camping with the camper shell and the truck. You have to put them both together to make a "camper". You can't do anything with the camper shell unless you have a truck. I think that Gabby's dad would know exactly if that's her camper. They have VIN numbers to track and identify a specific vehicle since they are unique to that vehicle.

 

[Veronica Sawyer]

He wasn't raging at Gabby. It seemed more like a male Karen situation and he was raging at restaurant workers

I understand that, but he was still raging. His girlfriend was in tears. If he was as manic and terrible as they seem to imply he was to complete strangers how was there no concern for his inconsolable girlfriend? By those witness accounts he sounds like a madman. /JMO

 

[cady]

Which raises the question as to why Gabby was even crying - which no one recalling the incident can even explain. Are we to believe she was crying b/c he was mean to the staff? I’m just not sure that makes sense to me. /JMO

Probably embarrassed, for starters, and of course, he had to escalate......and possibly hell to pay for her, later. jmo

 

[blueberryjam]

Regarding the white Camper that the neighbors said had been bought recently and that the Laundrie parents and Brian left in, an idea came to mind that perhaps Brian's parents dropped off Brian and that Camper somewhere with supplies and the Camper as a shelter for Brian, and then the parents went to buy an identical Camper and drove it home so that even if LE searches the Camper, they won't find any evidence or anything suspicious

Im sure the FBI has looked at large purchases or cash withdrawals of the parents, sister and anyone else close

 

[bellyup]

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. Instead he drove her van and used her debit card all the way with no attempt to cover up or hide anything.

Both times he was attempting to get to “Jackson” which depending which one he meant was going away from the van and Gabby.

 

[Amster]

Burn out/turn over rate for dispatchers is so high. We have a training program where I work - almost none of them last more than a month or two. Many dramatic stories involving how these caring people, who wanted to help, are immediately overwhelmed with the gravity if their job. Listening to people get shot, beaten, killed. Listening to people kill themselves - being the last person that person talked to. All the kids screaming in the background during DV calls. A lot of them do get really depressed or disassociated, which the public reads as "heinously indifferent," when in fact, their own emotional responses are shutting down so far that they end up in mental health treatment themselves.

This was part of a study of why they quit so frequently - I suggested moving them out of the basement of the jail and into a place with windows. The tech person on our team suggested hands free head phones (this was a while ago) and everyone agreed that having one extra person (who was not actively taking a call) was in general important, because they could sense when a really bad call went down and relieve that person. Of course, we organized mental health options for them - free psychological care, but most just quit.

Many people quit their jobs after lots of training - most of them are in their late 20's or early 30's when they start it.

I'm not sure why the Josh Powell call is relevant here, except to find an example of poor 911 handling - when there are so many examples of them doing a good job that are never on social media.

Most people who volunteer just to go a ride-along on a weekend night in a regular squad car quickly realize how difficult all these jobs are.

Thank you!!!!!
I’ve worked as a dispatcher. My training included several ride a longs with an officer. The scariest calls were traffic stops. Walking up to the car. High alert for any scenario.
Yes. I’ve taken DV calls…..and suicides…..and missing kids, etc. To say the job can be stressful is totally true. Information taken and dispatched to the officers can mean life or death. Few bad apples for sure….but they are usually phased out pretty quickly.