Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #32

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True, but

I still think knowing how the message from the 30th came in is important. The search warrant wouldn't have the wrong info in it. It may have left out the message on the 30th, but that may have been intentional. I think it was purposeful in saying the last contact from her on her phone was the 27th

Yeah everyone agrees, but the phone was not operational. So the theory is that ipad/laptops other devices connected can send messages even if a phone is broken. Hence, he could send a message on the 30th, even if he dumped or destroyed her phone
 
Looking at the map, it was quite a distance from North Port to Orlando. Quite a distance to go to see their attorney who travelled to FL to see them. Why travel so far to see the attorney? Why didn't the lawyer fly into Fort Meyers? What I'm wondering is, if the Laundries have Brian hidden somewhere, could it be in the area of Orlando?
If I understand correctly, the police trailed them to and from Orlando. Not sure they could see BL unless he was in the lawyer's office.
 
Thank you for pointing this out- my Mac sends text messages just like my phone does - BL sure is a taker IMO- he took her Van and he took her money…
JMO
really makes me wonder what happened to all of Gabby's things from the van, Were they recovered with the van, just some of it. Or was it dumped somewhere along the way or even in FL somewhere
 
Makes sense indeed, although he offered 200 dollars to the person who first came forward to say they picked him up so he had money at least - he may have had both phones too
It's possible they withdrew cash at an ATM on the 27th when they were in Jackson. Do we know if they paid with cash at Merry Piglets?
 
Hey everyone, Happy Friday. Here’s hoping LE find BL today!

I just wanted to weigh in on some of the YouTube comments and questions I've seen floating about. I was a ‘YouTuber’ for about 8 years. The time taken to make ONE video, when it's just ONE PERSON doing all of the work, can be HOURS!

I still occasionally make videos for clients. Last week, 57 total minutes of footage took me close to 6 hours to make into a professional looking finished 12-minute video that was suitable for YouTube — editing all of the misspoken words and “ums” out, finding music, adding closed captioning, the introduction, the end screen, adding a description, finding optimal keywords to use in the description. Finding suitable royalty-free music ALONE can take me hours. GP would have been going through hours of footage to find the right parts, snipping them, jigsawing them together, editing photos… And then there are voiceovers (if she was doing those). It can be such a long process. It's a damn hard graft. Some of the YouTubers I know have multiple people working on the channel. (Side note: There's probably quite a lot of footage for LE to go through.)

And all of this is BEFORE we get to the promo side of things. GP had a website (which can be many, many, many hours of faffing around for a relative beginner, ESPECIALLY to get it off the ground, and looking “perfect,” and even with WordPress/SquareSpace/Wix, etc.) Then there’s TikTok (more editing and caption-creating), and Instagram (requires consistent+regular content to gain any traction). Comments need to be replied to. Posts and videos need to be scheduled at “optimal” times to get the most reach+engagement. Influencing (I use the term loosely and never referred to myself by that name) is a full time job when you have wifi, so I can only imagine how stressed out someone could get, on the road, without wifi.

The work quickly depletes the batteries on my devices. I’m not clued up on solar chargers and whatnot, but that side of things would have quickly become an issue (for me) in the wilderness — phones, iPads, computers, drones, other recordable devices, Apple Watch,etc. Some of my external hard drives also require a power source although I don't think that's common now.

To make money from YouTube, GP would’ve needed to have at least 1,000 subscribers AND 4,000 hours of viewing in the past 12 months. Her channel wouldn't have been eligible for monetisation before that. I don't see sponsored posts [ad/gifted/affiliate/spon/other disclosures], so I'm assuming GP wasn't making any money from the van life venture. I’m not aware of how many followers, etc GP had before the story made headline news, but it would have been (IMO) a truckload of work for very little reward at the beginning. If she were being belittled by BL at the same time… stress city, I imagine.

Some people have said that GP’s first video was an odd choice — you can create an Introduction/overview-style video that sits permanently on the top of your Channel. It looks to me as though her video would've been used for that.

I think what GP started was beautiful, and she clearly had a lot of talent.

She was just getting started with YouTube and her website, but was well-established on other social media platforms. I think the reason she never released a second video is because she was too busy dealing with an abusive relationship.

When I saw her intro video to her YouTube channel (before we knew her fate), I saw something was off, and that something was Brian. Every frame he's in is cringe-worthy and he sticks out like a sore thumb. I felt from the first time I saw him that there was something wrong with him. I don't know why... probably my own experiences with abuse.

I guess what I wanted to say is that Gabby's spirit was being crushed by her boyfriend. The content she was able to make was most likely a welcome stress-free creative activity, an escape from the troubled life she was living at the hands of Brian.
 
GP didn't seem to have a lot of physical abuse signs displayed in her shared social media (e.g., bruises, scratches, scars, etc). It did look like she had bags under her eyes or maybe swollen eyes indicating post-crying (e.g., perhaps indicating that it was so normal for her that she didn't think it was abnormal to look like she had been crying). It looks to me like there was a lot of emotional domestic violence. I am 50 now, but I remember in my early 20s in college knowing people that preyed on each other mentally - without any physical abuse.

My speculative guess is that they had yet another fight where he was emotionally manipulating her feelings, she fell for it _again_, she physically responded, he ran across the creek, she followed, and fate took its course (e.g., he snapped).

My speculative guess is that the "van life" was more likely the "pressure cooker life" for emotionally juvenile individuals on the edge of desperation.

Looking at the police footage and the witness accounts I just see two young fragile individuals who were codependent on each other and who were documenting a false life. Social media is quite the oddity. Within the pressure cooker of their tiny van and having to document a fake existence, the pressures of honesty got to be too much.

I doubt the murder was premeditated. My speculation is that he lost control and ended her life. He probably looks at it like an accident. Truly a tragedy borne out of naive juvenile minds.

I'm perplexed by my own interest in this story. In my early 20s I traveled with the Grateful Dead tours which is not dissimilar from a "van life." We lived out of vans and went to different cites every couple of days. Maybe its nostalgia for me. I also have 3 daughters who are about the same age. Maybe that's it.

Either way I find determining the moral of this tragedy to be equally perplexing. The perils of social media? The perils of codependency? The perils of life on the road? The perils of existing in your early 20s with no plan for the future? The perils of finding America in your youth?

I just keep hearing her say "juice bar" to the police officer and it hits me hard. She was _so_ young...
I love this post. Made my eyes well up. Thank you for writing this.
 
I don't want this to get lost in this fast moving thread, so I'm posting again. I wasn't here in the beginning, so maybe someone who was can tell me if this has been addressed or do we need to update the tineline?

a few thoughts—maybe phone was going to voice mail after the text thus the “not operational” comment. I’m not sure how operational is defined.

And if LE knew that BL was back with the van on 9/1 and the text was sent from Florida (which they may have known if it was turned back on to send the text or which Gabbys mom might have figured out if she used “find my iPhone”), maybe that’s how they knew the 27th was the last text potentially from her.
 
If I understand correctly, the police trailed them to and from Orlando. Not sure they could see BL unless he was in the lawyer's office.

Would BL stand out more or less in such a densely populated area? With all the places of wilderness in Florida, is putting him in a city really the best move?
 
I think it was purposeful in saying the last contact from her on her phone was the 27th
Again, it does not say that. The wording is very specific, as it should be. It says (in the screenshot you yourself posted): "This was the last communication anyone had with the subject." (Emphasis mine.) Not "from her phone," but "with the subject" meaning communication with Gabby herself.
 
a few thoughts—maybe phone was going to voice mail after the text thus the “not operational” comment. I’m not sure how operational is defined.

And if LE knew that BL was back with the van on 9/1 and the text was sent from Florida (which they may have known if it was turned back on to send the text or which Gabbys mom might have figured out if she used “find my iPhone”), maybe that’s how they knew the 27th was the last text potentially from her.
From how I read that statement it was more of a phone battery ran out or phone was busted/dumped. MOO
 
I am quite sure it’s been addressed, but I’ve missed it if it has. Where is the “the van”? Is it still being examined for evidence?
It may have been released to Gabby's parents. LE had said there was no evidence of a crime after they seized it, so I don't think anything of value was found. We don't know that for sure, but I think if they had found something significant, like blood, they would have obtained a search warrant for the home right away. Imo
 
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