Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #49

[zoomom2]

It could be. But he may seriously be having a psychotic break. He killed his best friend, the girl he loved and planned to live his future with, and he’s wanted by the FBI. His world has imploded.

Yes, I agree. Imploded. No regular meals, sleep, or interaction with society or family. Maybe he has been hiding in the woods or forests during the daytime and finally stumbled on a truck he could steal but now drives only at night in the dark. Too paranoid to use vehicle gps or his phone for directions (might be tracked.) I'm pretty sure he has not accessed a tv long enough to watch news reports (like in a diner or bar) to realize the jig is up. I bet he's starting to really lose his marbles. I would be. JMO. JMO. JMO.

 

[customCF]

My odds would be about 50/1 that he comes clean, should he be caught alive. There is nothing to gain for Brian, and that would be the driving force.

Perhaps even more remote odds, depending on the conjunction of the planets. Mood is everything to these kind of peoples.

My only hope is that when Gabby was found that the ME etc got enough evidence from her and the scene to at the very least point at a person other than her being there. After 3 weeks it's hard to say what they could have found. I don't know enough about that kind of thing to say one way or the other.

 

[Bekind89]

I know one thing. If this goes to trial he will throw everyone under the bus. He will blame mental illness, Gabby, his parents, the troopers who let him go, ect. Everything and everyone he can . This is just my opinion.

 

[ThoughtFox]

Yes, would be very difficult to follow the TAT without purchasing the paper maps or downloads. No GPS navigation system that I know of has an option for “dirt roads only”.
I wish there was one!
The above video shows the original route of the TAT, but the Trans America Trail “has since been modified by an open source community with start points on the New York and North Carolina coasts, and end points in Oregon and California.” Maybe Brian decided to cross from NC to California on back roads where no one would be looking for him, few people would even see him, and in a vehicle no one would recognize. If he was smart he would get ahold of a motorcycle and wear a helmet to cross the country. No way he’d be recognized then.

That's a very good point! If BL switched to a motorcycle and helmet he would be unrecognizable and fit right in along the TN-NC border. There's a huge motorcycling community of all ages that rides up there every weekend (look up videos about "Riding the Dragon" and the Cherohala Skyway over the mountains). And they all help each other and can be almost anonymous if they use nicknames. They probably wouldn't camp out in the woods but they might help him find a camping place or give him directions, food, or money.

 

[EvieIvyOver]

Does anyone else feel like, IF he ended it all, he meant to deny Gabby's family closure?

I know it's very easy to get caught up on the emotions of what's happened, but if you believe Brian has no soul, why do you think Gabby was with him for so long? What you are saying is that she was a poor judge of character? Somehow, I don't believe that.

 

[zoomom2]

Or has it on airplane mode or off as a precaution? MOO

Yes. I think so too.

 

[Bekind89]

I know it's very easy to get caught up on the emotions of what's happened, but if you believe Brian has no soul, why do you think Gabby was with him for so long? What you are saying is that she was a poor judge of character? Somehow, I don't believe that.

I believe she was a very young, trusting soul. Women much older than Gabby get caught in abusive relationships everyday, that is not judging her, it is judging HIM JMO

 

[zoomom2]

While of course I hope the guy was BL and that he's captured soon, I also feel a bit skeptical, more of whoever was in the pickup truck than of the guy who reported it.

As for how the engineer could simultaneously be hiking the Appalachian Trail and apparently in a vehicle, there are some possible explanations. He could have been driving either to or from a trailhead. He could have been hiking on the trail but not hiking the whole thing or a large segment, and for that reason, he could have been based in a particular location that he reached by vehicle and doing day hikes from there.

Like others here, I hope other media outlets pick up the story and get more details, and that LE/the FBI investigate as well.

Finally, if the guy really is BL, as far as I am concerned he is not welcome here in California.

JMO

Sometimes I think some journalists aren't really clear in their articles....vs what the witness actually was trying to say or said. JMO.

 

[Trooper]

I agree he is a coward, I just wonder if he would choose a trial for murder over suicide.

Unless he himself has been murdered... it would be interesting to have the last people who saw, and spoke with him interrogated under some very hot lights.

 

[borndem]

I didn't realise he was on the most wanted list, but there Gabby's name is at #12.

(Though, technically, BL's name is not included ... it is more of a request for information, which includes her unnamed boyfriend.)

Wanted Collection | Federal Bureau of Investigation

Thanks for the link, @SouthAussie.
Oh, to see her sweet smiling face again now gives me such a sad, sad feeling. There she is, smiling, young, beautiful. And we know that she is no more. And then there's her family... her daddy so sad.

And when I see his face, I want to scream and slap him (even though I've never slapped anyone in the face before).
It just makes me so damm angry.

Please sooner than later on this one. We need good news now.

 

[Tigerlily75]

I believe a person that is exhausted, lack of food, desperate to make his way in the dark might behave this way. Why say he had a fight with his girlfriend. ... People weave in half truths all the time. If you had to live with killing your fiance, then be on the run, would you not expect to become a little psychotic under those conditions.

It kind of matches the behavior described when Miranda Baker says she picked him up hitchhiking. He sounded quite erratic, offered $200, talked about his fiancé (who was most likely deceased), and then exited the car suddenly.

Without further information… right now I wouldn’t be surprised this encounter was true.

 

[zoomom2]

I can see the coward part but he sure was a danger to Gabby

Agree 100%. But I think he was an idiot Rager, and went too far this time to his utter shock. JMO.

 

[Hyway]

Hmm, looks like that trail is mostly for motorcycles and he would need maps to stay on it. It's very twisty and windy, and if he is up near the AP Trail he needs to head into Tennessee near Murphy which unfortunately would take him close to where I live, eek. Here's a YT video showing some road conditions.

That was pretty cool. I was having dreams of a van trip until I saw some of those roads. Yep, looks like a motorcycle trail or 4x4.

 

[zoomom2]

Since BL likely can't read paper maps (this takes acuity, patience, and will) because he's always used GPS, and may not have a phone, this may indeed be BL.
Who, for gosh sake, would ask for backroad directions all the way to CA from TN? Someone who doesn't know where different states are located?

This.

 

[Bekind89]

This.

Poor Gabby. You just know she had to do everything. Sigh.
Jmo

 

[BreakingNews]

I didn't know about it until the last hour or so.

Signal for Help - Wikipedia

This image is from Wikipedia:

Not only for domestic violence. Is a generic help eg for kids being taken against their will too.

 

[Hyway]

Since BL likely can't read paper maps (this takes acuity, patience, and will) because he's always used GPS, and may not have a phone, this may indeed be BL.
Who, for gosh sake, would ask for backroad directions all the way to CA from TN? Someone who doesn't know where different states are located?

I don't know why we have to assume BL is some sort of babbling idiot. He had just made two cross country road trips in 2 years. And who knows how many trips up and down the east coast between Florida and New York. He probably knows more about long distance road traveling than 80% of the country does.

 

[sanders]

Yes, I think it would be the milder climate though. I really don't know why he would go there otherwise.

The milder & drier climate would sure be a lot easier to survive in over the winter. The kidnappers of Elizabeth Smart took her to the San Diego area for the winter during the time she was missing. They ate free meals with the homeless, and weren’t caught until they returned to Utah in the spring.

I sure hope Brian will make a mistake and be caught soon!

 

[silverau]

So if Brian had been spotted in Boone, NC and is now spotted in around Cosby TN, that's about a 3 hour drive. But I'm not sure where he would have gotten a truck. I suppose it would make sense as to why his parents picked up his car instead of leaving it there for him at the Carlton Reserve.

If he paid for it cash in hand, if we knew more about the trucks description, surely the call would go out to people who recently sold a truck cash in hand of that type in a certain area at a certain time?

 

[scorpius]

With him being in S. Florida supposedly. Would it not make sense that perhaps he fled to Cuba? Maybe with good funding from mom and dad?