Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #35

[Parsnip]

So upon locating her remains she’s thought have been deceased for ~10 days(???). Is that about right? Given that, how narrowly can “time” of death be estimated??

I don’t know, @Mike in WNY . It’s not my area of expertise, for sure. But there have been some sightings at restaurants. Perhaps that could play in?

 

[wasnt_me]

There's a lot unknown publicly that is likely far better known within the investigation team/s. By now, surely someone at least has it on their to-do list to check all the reasonable places to see if he flew. Charges on his/parents'/Gabby's cards for flights or uber, airline records, etc.

But that also might not yet have been done, as whether or not he flew back would be of interest mostly to sketch out a full time frame and to develop a line of investigation into the nature of their relationship/plans. It's not the most directly relevant thing with respect to when/how/by whom she was killed.

Yes, of course. I think all of this goes without saying, and here we are, doing what we love to do, which is going over what we have and making theories.

 

[Sunset]

Gabby Petito case: North Port redacts records on Petito, Laundrie family

I do find the timing of the abandoned vehicle report very odd. If he LEFT on Tuesday (The 14th), it is unlikely that at on 9/14 at 2:42pm the NPPD would already be marking the car as abandoned. This leads me to believe it was there Monday or before. Otherwise, it's quite likely the driver of that vehicle could have still been in the park "hiking".
MAYBE... since BL's Mom and Dad had the Thursday wrong as the day they picked up the car (Confirmed by https://twitter.com/BrianEntin, car was back at the house EARLY Wednesday 9/15) they were a day late on their whole timeline? He left on Monday, note on car Tuesday, picked up car Wednesday)
All IMO MOO.

Yes yes yes. I wish they had footage to prove that the car was not in their front yard before Tuesday. Time to look for the old news footage. Think about it, they probably mixed up the dates because they didn't want to look worse, not reporting him missing for 1 week or something. It is very crucial for us to find when the car not on the front lawn. This way we have some form of evidence to make such claims .

 

[Cardinal47]

@bellyup Transcript and video of the Cassie Laundrie “flight” comment at this link: ABC Exclusive: Full interview with Brian Laundrie's sister on Gabby Petito

Clipped from transcript:
Question: Did you know that the van was back and you're...?

Cassie Laundrie: No.

Question: So you didn't know that he came back without the...?

Cassie Laundrie: I assumed he flew back, because that's what he did when he is - actually I don't want to say that.

Questioner: No problem. No problem.

Cassie Laundrie: I think that's more police stuff.

When he IS not when he Was makes me try to finish the sentence over and over!

 

[borndem]

I wasn't actually meaning that BUT that's a great point you've raised regarding maybe GP did lie because she felt embarrassed that they'd run out of money? Perhaps that's a plausible option.

However, what I was getting at was did BL tell GP he was flying home, but he didn't actually go home?

He took the van though. We know he liked to be out in the wilderness doing his own thing. Did he tell her he was flying home, left in the van, and just literally hiked for a week somewhere?

I don't believe there are ANY confirmed sightings of him during the week that he was supposedly back home in FL.

As always, happy to be corrected on this as there has been so much info to mull over and digest with this case.

MOO

bbm -- That's what I think. I just think he wanted his own time and to get away from her for a while. Why would he go home? And money for a ticket -- spend his money? Or did he take money from her and stash it away?
As for sightings, I think he could hide successfully even with the van -- people wouldn't necessarily notice it and remember it.
Why he did it, we'll never know. Making future plans?

 

[LAhiker]

Yes, someone linked a professional upthread that can do that based on bugs and bug age. But, I don't know that it is done to the hour, but possibly days I presume.

Warning: the following is gross and I'm no forensic expert... Another thing that might help determine time of death is the contents of the stomach and intestines, assuming those were still able to be checked. If GP had been known to have eaten a meal at a particular time (for instance, in a restaurant), and the contents of that meal were still in her GI tract, that might help pin down the time of death.

JMO

 

[SuziQ]

Agree! With only one “additional”, The PUBLIC “disrespect” that HE SAW when Gabby continued to apologize for his “bad behavior” toward employees at the Tex Mex restaurant, IMO, was his complete UNDOING. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gabby was never allowed to exit that van alive after that event. And if she was, I think her death was premeditated from that point on; from the ride from the restaurant to their camp spot on the side of the road, where if premeditated, he encouraged her to walk to the area near the creek/river where her body was found. I think he then, may have exploded on her in rage, blindsided her and may have taken her life right there. The only credence I give to the idea he was controlled and patient enough to plan her demise and that he may have waited to carry it through, is that taking her life from her where she was found consumes less of his own energy. Also, passers-by seeing a guy carrying what could be a dead body wrapped in a tent or other camping equipment to hide that she was a body, could also cause him to “do it” where she was found. JMO. And a terribly sad and regretful theory at that. RIP Gabby. Sorrow for your love ones.

I agree that the incident at the restaurant had a direct link to Gabby's demise. It only takes a split second of thought for a murder to be premeditated.

So with children, Physical child abuse leading to death is murder one. The reason is any adult knows that any form of physical abuse can lead to death. So is there anything similar for DV related abuse leading to death in adults? I should research that.

All moo.

 

[tiara1972]

Has anyone been able to obtain the van's VIN?

I tried to find it but was unsuccessful....blah. Maybe someone else will have more luck.

 

[Fascinated1]

Gabby Petito case: North Port redacts records on Petito, Laundrie family

I do find the timing of the abandoned vehicle report very odd. If he LEFT on Tuesday (The 14th), it is unlikely that at on 9/14 at 2:42pm the NPPD would already be marking the car as abandoned. This leads me to believe it was there Monday or before. Otherwise, it's quite likely the driver of that vehicle could have still been in the park "hiking".
MAYBE... since BL's Mom and Dad had the Thursday wrong as the day they picked up the car (Confirmed by https://twitter.com/BrianEntin, car was back at the house EARLY Wednesday 9/15) they were a day late on their whole timeline? He left on Monday, note on car Tuesday, picked up car Wednesday)
All IMO MOO.

Unless they took the camping trip that second weekend in sept (the timeline indicates either the first or second weekend) and he never returned with them and the parents left it Monday.

has anyone asked if the mustang was gone when they went camping?

 

[Rthornhill]

All that is missing is the bounty hunter from the Casey Anthony case. I suppose they could now make a reality show titled "Finding Brian, proof of the ultimate Manhunter".

Dog the Bounty Hunter reveals how he would track down Brian Laundrie

Tricky part is that all that talk about his friends and past history is irrelevant. Since he doesn’t really seem to have had any friends, and he doesn’t seem to have a documented history of DV as far as we know. What we do have is what BL has tried to show us which is that he’s into living minimally, likes being outdoors, and has apparently told people he’s capable at surviving in the woods.

I have a hard time thinking he’s out somewhere in the woods with no means of food or fresh water. I don’t buy that he survived six weeks on a bag of cheese crackers nonsense. I don’t know how, but i could see him be somewhere like a family members house that isn’t being used or a family cabin or something. I guess if he did make it North, people will start closing up their cabins and cottages for the season and that would be ripe for a guy like him to break in and remain there undetected.

 

[acutename]

Bingo: that is what I believe the motive for the killing is. He was not only leeching off her, he was getting increasingly controlling as time went on. He very likely had control issues all along, but the nature of this trip, with Gabby probably taking things very seriously and wanting to spend time working hard while BL was just drifting (and getting bored, in all likelihood), made things become explosive.
I think Gabby got fed up with him and his lack of initiative and his controlling tendencies and his apparent black rages. I think she broke up with him and told him he was on his own to get back to Florida however he could. Faced with the prospect of being stuck in WY with no money of his own and no car, a complete loss of control for a guy who had become quite comfortable with controlling everything, and already in a rage, he attacked and killed her... and took her car and her money, which he had long since come to think of as his own.
There is a good chance that we'll never know exactly what happened. But this is what I think.

if so, why did he return after 8/23? why not stay in FL? I was also surprised... someone quoted GP's father's TV interview saying that they took a car trip out west in 2020...so they took a long trip together before and both survived... why was this one fatal?

 

[Skinley]

I'm from England and I've never been to the USA so this might seem like a dumb question, but; How easy is it to travel from state to state in the US?
Do you have to stop at the borders? do you have to show papers etc? or just keep driving?

 

[bellyup]

Many red flags, tho mine may be different than yours...
MOO: I am struggling trusting the information from the friend found on Bumble, something about playing both sides of the fence and opinions, and I am unsure if there are financial or other personally valuable benefits to her publicity.
If Gabby did find her through Bumble, I think, again, MOO, Bumble is a flag...may not be the only relationship app involved. Who knows, but it COULD help explain some of the dynamics, not excuse them, but give insight. My two cents ONLY!

We aren't allowed to sleuth the friend on WS but I find this friend to be entirely believable and without motive. She seems genuinely devastated on her own social media and doesn't appear to be capitalizing on GP's disappearance or trying to.

I'm not sure why people want to question finding a friend on Bumble. This is not at all uncommon for people who are new to an area and don't have friends and even those that do. Bumble has a business & community networking app, friend seeking app and a dating app.

 

[EmmieA]

This map indicates the road trip started in New York. Is it know that this where the van was purchased and/or outfitted and/or they prepared for the trip? Maybe somebody could clarify (sorry if it's been done already...) why the trip isn't viewed as originating in Florida where Gabby and Brian were living?

Also, random unrelated question that may have also been discussed, but is "storage unit" code-speak for that shed in the Laundrie's back yard? The whole 'moving things around for 5 days' is as puzzling to me as it is to everyone who is missing a lot of information about those days they two of them were apart.

They left from NY. I don’t know how long they were there but maybe they spent an extended period of time w GP’s family before leaving.

And good question about the storage unit. I always assumed offsite storage but it could very well be the shed, which would make sense as to why the FBI focused on it

 

[Cecelia]

Sorry, forgot the

Ah, yes, carry on.

 

[x_files]

There’s been some talk that BL went to Canada. The last time I checked Canada wanted proof that a person is fully vaccinated before allowing them into the country. Is that still true? I go to the Pacific Northwest fairly often and that was a condition the last time I was there, right after they allowed US citizens into the country.

That means he would need a fake passport or passport card and also a fake vaccination card, both in another name, even if he has been vaccinated (to enter legally). Unless they knew a pretty good forgerer it seems kind of a stretch they could handle this. If I forged documents I doubt that I would do it for someone who I knew was on the run from possible murder charges (although maybe done before the story broke).

I think he is in the US, likely someplace where he can avoid detection — and not roaming in the wilderness. There are many areas in the country where is this story is not widely followed. I know many people who don’t know anything about Gabby or BL.

jmo

FYI: You can easily hike into Canada bypassing border patrol it's NOT difficult to do on foot.

 

[carbuff]

I'm from England and I've never been to the USA so this might seem like a dumb question, but; How easy is it to travel from state to state in the US?
Do you have to stop at the borders? do you have to show papers etc? or just keep driving?

You just keep driving. As far as travel and day to day life are concerned, it mostly doesn't matter what state you're in.

New England where I live is rather compact and I've had days when I've been in four or five different states just driving to a vacation spot.

 

[Sassafrass]

Very tricky to answer this question but it is important to me. Very important that we show our kids what proper boundaries are in relationships. I think it is possible that those commenting or reporting might not have recognized that this was an unhealthy relationship. What we do know is that Gabby's dad referred to her having *boyfriends*, plural. And, that he never liked any of them, and didn't call them by their real names. Specifically calling Brian, Brianne.

What I am saying is that it may not have been completely evident to Gabby and those around her just how bad this relationship was because of what they were conditioned to believe was normal.

I completely agree with this. She would not be the first or last young person (or older person, tbqh) to be codependent and/or otherwise ill-equipped or unable to put rational thought and appropriate boundaries in their proper place above romantic ideals and desperate love or need/desire for love.

Add to that the often insidious way that an abusive partner can erode those poor boundaries and sense of self even further over time, and you have a very suckered-in mark.

And family can often not know (or not he in the habit to know) how much or how far to intervene, especially if the abuser-victim combination creates a sort of privacy wall around themselves.

 

[ChuckInHouston]

MOO: we have a couple who have been together off and on for years. Friends and family who report nothing in the way of red flags that something like this could have happened to GP. (Even Rose, who I think is the only one reporting seeing controlling behavior.) They’d even traveled together extensively before. What’s the new variable? VanLife SM? Any others?

I cant assign a reason, but if you held a gun to my head... I would thing something between the conversation with the couple on Aug. 10 and Aug 12 when the PD stopped them.

AUG 10: JF met Gabby and BL near Moab, Utah where they chatted about 40 min. JF and his girlfriend then set off on a hike to the Delicate Arch. When they got back to the parking lot, Gabby and Laundrie were gone. (source https://www.websleuths.com/forums/members/tiff23fr.175348/)

Maybe he got upset on the 10th. JF and girlfriend made a point to say when they got back they were gone. I'm not sure if they were expecting them to be there or just stating facts, but it could have been as simple as a look that BL didn't like.

all indicators seem to be that things were pretty rocky, or at least they were both upset after that point on more than one occasion.

 

[kittythehare]

Sorry if this has already been asked/answered -- just point me to those posts, if so: With all the searching LE has done in the Reserve, is it reasonable to assume that if he had gone in there and committed suicide, they would have found something with all the surveillance they were doing also?

ETA: If you asked LE that question, what would they say?

I don't know.
I speculate they would say
'NoComment'