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

[Devil In The Details]

Individuals that “offer up” money are honestly often pointless aside drawing attention. They have no way to confirm during an active investigation what “tip” did or did not lead to an arrest. And LE isn’t going to give them that information. Which is why less than 7% of reward money is ever paid out.

Exactly what I was thinking. There's a recent case I can think of in which the private individual has refused to pay out the million dollar reward they had offered.

 

[RickshawFan]

RSBM
Reminds me, @borndem, of the North Woods Hermit, that made national news. The guy was a hermit for 27 years in northern Maine. He suddenly left his home and walked into the woods at the age of 20, not seen or heard from until arrested. He lived in an elaborate and hidden compound he created and stole provisions from houses. This article I picked out has a more psycho-social focus to it, as we may see some similarities between the famous hermit and BL. In other words, what is the long game?

‘North Pond Hermit’: Choosing to spend life in isolation

Occasionally, it does seem as though someone manages to be a mountain man for a number of years. However, I can't see BL doing that. He ran home to momma; he doesn't seem ever to have been out of his parents' orbit; and it's not clear when he would have acquired outdoor skills that would keep him going in the woods.

 

[ShadyLady]

Do we know if the person reporting was in fact a "he"?

I heard a 911 called...sounds like a guy to me. Also, if Gabby had been slapped numerous times on the face, there would have been physical evidence. Gabby said he grabbed (showing hands on her jaw)....he did not hit me.

 

[kittythehare]

Yes. It reads to me that he used a debit card to access two accounts.

It was described as an access key as far as I remember. We use those here too.

 

[Sleuthypsych]

No. He stalks off from campsite because they’ve been fighting. When he returns, she’s gone. She had told him she’s leaving. Maybe even taunted him as how she could do it. So he jumps into van snd heads home. Unaware that she is dead 200 yards from van.

It’s not a likely scenario, IMo, but MOO, possible. He clearly left the campsite alone as he was found and given a ride going back to it at least twice.

Unless there is some evidence that can point directly to BL as the one who killed GT, there are such possible scenarios. That’s what the fed prosecutor has to prepare for

I just don’t understand why you would be unwilling to talk in this situation?

 

[SouthAussie]

Luckily our justice system convicts people based on the prosecution being able to prove the defendant committed the crime at hand beyond a reasonable doubt and not on the prosecution being able to disprove the defense’s theories.

However, we will find that if the defense theory is enough to create reasonable doubt, the prosecution will need to come out swinging and remove that doubt.

<modsnip>

 

[TheGardener]

If BL had a criminal record, previous charges, arrests, or jail time, would this be something that could be divulged to the public by LE?

Is there any way to find this out?

Actually, many towns and cities have public records that are easily accessible. Pick your jurisdiction. Locate the county court and check to see whether there's a cost to view the records. If not, you're in.
I do it all the time on the Port St. Lucie, Florida court site.

 

[diggndeeperstill]

Well, I'll be. Here's something interesting, interesting to me at least.

Here's the website that has the video and transcript. The headline says it's the "full interview." ABC Exclusive: Full interview with Brian Laundrie's sister on Gabby Petito

You have to scroll down to the second video for the interview. The transcript is further down and contains all of the questions that the producer asked along with all of the responses.

The video was edited to remove questions about the van. The whole interview tracks word for word except for that in some cases, the questions were just cut out AND there is also a whole section that was cut out at around the 2:55 mark, and skips right to her assessment of how he behaved in the body cam video (maybe at the request of LE?).

Everything italicized is cut:

Question: Did the police say anything else about...?

Cassie Laundrie: No, I only had their initial questions and I haven't been contacted again and, and whenever they want to contact me again I'm here waiting they have my number.

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.

Question: Okay, um, but is it is it like out of his behavior to go on a trip with her and then just leave her somewhere like has anything like this ever...?

Cassie Laundrie: No, I mean. No, nothing like this has ever happened before.

Question: But I'm saying he doesn't really have. Does he have like the personality to where he would?

The video picks up after the cut with her answer to the last question: "No, he's very um... He's very. He always does the right thing, like in the body cam he's - he cooperates with the police, and he - he's is a wonderful uncle. He's always been there when I need him. He's, I mean, he's been there every time Gabby needed him."

His sister heard he was home, and assumed he had flown and left Gabby with the van. So the allusion to thinking he flew was about how she thought he got to Long Island when he returned home after Gabby went missing. It isn't about the trip from Utah to "clean out the shed."

Interesting that even his sister wasn't told that he drove home.

I don’t know if I’m lost or not. Did you mean when he got back home to Florida, not Long Island?

 

[davewooderson]

So many "if's". I hope at some point the not redacted bodycam footage is released between GP and the female senior park ranger.
She spent a lot of time with GP alone at the stop and based on what the ranger indicated she offered GP as advice in regards to it appearing to be a toxic relationship, I doubt GP shook that off.

If the situation at the restaurant between BL, the staff and GP took place as stated this may have brought that conversation to the front of her mind and she was acting on it putting BL over the top.

I'm glad Dog is inserting himself. He knows people and methods LE can't use to find someone. If the Gambino's or any other NY/Long Island family want to exercise the network fine by me as well.

I laughed about BL's friends talking about his weeks on the AT with a pack of Ritz crackers. Kid is all hat and no cattle as an outdoorsman. As someone who has lived in terrible conditions outdoors in many scenarios I don't believe it for a minute. He is holed up in a ranch house or a boat cabin. Asking for info in FL for anyone who has been delivering food to a location for a couple weeks where the person has never been seen would take them a ways I think.

All the above is pure speculation from an old f@rt who has taken a keen interest in seeing BL brought in.

 

[Sleuthypsych]

Actually, many towns and cities have public records that are easily accessible. Pick your jurisdiction. Locate the county court and check to see whether there's a cost to view the records. If not, you're in.
I do it all the time on the Port St. Lucie, Florida court site.

I already looked him up in the county in New York where he lived and North Port and there is nothing. Not to say that he doesn’t have a record elsewhere. Would be nice if all the court records were consolidated across districts and localities so you could do one quick search.

 

[Loveallmyhorsesdogsandcats]

"What is it about BL that you think he is not capable of killing her or do not want him to be her killer?"
I have never ever ever stated that I don't think he is capable of killing her, I actually do think he is capable. I think most people are CAPABLE of murder. Most make better/different choices for a variety of reasons.

These threads, like the information we have access to, often get taken out of context and I can appreciate that. I have only ever theorized other possibilities when asked. Sometimes my answers jump posts and lose context.

I don't really care one way or the other if he is the killer. But he hasn't been charged with any of that yet, no one has, so he IS legally innocent.

As such, I am able to view him that way until concrete facts & evidence begin to sway towards him and him only.

By that I mean, I can no longer formulate ANY argument or theory that it "may not" have been him.

I am not there yet, but it is getting harder. And that is GOOD! That means IF he did do this, the legal walls are getting harder to escape.

Playing devil's advocate isn't meant to take one side or the other, it is meant to investigate, examine and rule out any other possibilities. It challenges people to defend WITH FACTS, and allows us to find those as well.

This case is mess because we have SO little to work with.

I hope this makes some sense. I realize that I don't always express my intentions in the best way and often miss writing parts that are in head. Please feel free to disagree or point out mistakes! These are ONLY MY possible theories, and most are becoming even more unlikely by the day and that is a good thing. MOO!!!

A thousand times disagree that most people are capable of murder born from rage, anger, situations that get out of hand, as seems to be the case with Gabby and Brian. If that were true, our murder rate would be 10 times what it is. Most people have enough control, character to stop before it gets to violence, murder, murder never enters their mind. That is way off base and flat out wrong. To clarify, I am not referring to self defense or self defense of another.

 

[acutename]

From what I have read, he is asking people to contact him with tips/sightings of BL. IMO tips should only be called in to local LE or the FBI. However he does draw eyes to the cases he works on and the more people who are on the lookout for BL, the better.

also, maybe some people who would hesitate to call LE for a variety of reasons, might call somebody else

 

[ShadyLady]

And then later on he most likely murdered her, so there's that....

I am not arguing against that. Though I think it might be manslaughter...I will wait for more evidence.

 

[SouthAussie]

Exactly what I was thinking. There's a recent case I can think of in which the private individual has refused to pay out the million dollar reward they had offered.

Is this a private reward fund that people are donating money towards? Something that can't be regulated by a crowd funding organisation or similar? (Sorry, I don't know the details of the reward accounts.)

Just wondering if it is a risky venture for genuine people wanting to help offer a reward.

 

[LeeJay55]

I.just.can not believe Dog the Bounty Hunter is here in North Port!
I have no.words!

 

[10ofRods]

BL"... she's trying to start up like her own little website blog and everything, so I gave her time...".

Why does he need to "give her time?" He seems that he is entitled to choose what they do when they do it, and on his time schedule. I think he considers himself gracious and giving that he would allow her to have time. It also bothers me that he can not do something seemingly minor for GP, like keep his feet clean.

BL's parents seem to cater to him. BL thinks the world should cater to him; as if everybody owes him something.

Yes - that phrase has pushed me off the fence (although there are many reasons why people become this controlling - it could be parental role modeling, but it's likely due to a larger context).

The driver's license thing, if it only happened one time is something I could have ignored at age 21. But the language here is something that had to happen constantly (plus Gabby says he was demeaning her efforts - without any attempt at constructive input, as far we can tell).

Socially inept, at the least.

 

[newsreader25]

Dog the Bounty Hunter went to BL's house and Knocked on the door? This IMO is too much now.
Link is Fox13 Tampa

Nice Jeep!

 

[tiara1972]

BBM
Thank you, @jamicat and @tiara1972 for sharing an alt theory to BL killing GP. I agree with you and others that this is a low probability scenario, but I feel as prudent sleuthers, we must always be flipping the proverbial coin around in our minds. And given the scant amount of directly incriminating evidence that BL killed GP, there is room for other options. So I am going to take a spin, as I think I did many threads ago, but this time building off of your ideas.

So here is an "Alternative" scenario, all IMO.

8/27:

• This day was a breaking point for GP after the ugly scene at the Texmex restaurant.
• Back at their campground on the side of the road, GP tells BL they are done.
• In a rage, BL packs and leaves for a hike to clear his head and avoid doing something bad to GP (leaves his flip flops outside the van for his return).
• GP is left in the van alone and may be the one closing the back of the van door as the Vloggers drive by 6/6:30pm - she just wants to be alone.

8/28:

• Sometime during this day or evening, GP goes for a walk alone across the river basin towards where she was found
• A nefarious character has been watching GP, perhaps since they were seen in Jackson Hole or from SM postings, and he stalks her
• The stalker catches up with GP, she has no defenses and he kills her (perhaps raping her first, sorry... I don't know if forensics could do a rape kit).

8/29:

• BL returns to the van via his hitchhiking rides - the story he has told the drivers is true, as others postulate could be the case... "he just needed a break".
• BL cannot find GP and comes to the decision that she has actually left him... this would have to presume he does not process information like most people.
• BL decides to wait for another day but believes he might as well head home if she went home... this would require a suspension of normal social expectations.

8/30:

• BL blindly, naively, and foolishly leaves the Tetons for home. He uses her debit card and van without concern

9/1:

• BL arrives home, tells his family GP left him and he blissfully returns to his life there, mowing the lawn, going for a trip, like nothing happened

Then all hell breaks loose and BL and his family realize something is very wrong. He looks guilty as all get out. NY family lawyer says stay quiet... then tells BL to get out of dodge and hide... Hide until the FBI completes their investigation and finds you did not kill GP. And so the family rallies around BL and helps him hide.

IMO.

Agree that this highly unlikely but cannot yet be ruled out, and would love to see some thoughts to dispute this. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Newsjunkiejen]

Conversely, what evidence is there to prove it?

Touché, though I feel the onus would be on the prosecution to prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that BL murdered GP.

I think it's going to be a tough task, unless forensic evidence is unearthed that cannot be disputed. Again though, with DNA, the defence could simply claim they were a couple, in a relationship, living in a tiny space together so it's natural that DNA will be found..

JMO

 

[TheGardener]

I already looked him up in the county in New York and North Port and there is nothing. Not to say that he doesn’t have a record elsewhere. Would be nice if all the court records were consolidated across districts and localities so you could do one quick search.

There are hundreds of search features on the web that offer lookups, but you have to be willing to pay a fee. They gather information including criminal records nationwide.