SEP 23, 2021
Brian Laundrie manhunt: Woman in Wyoming says she picked him up hitchhiking | Fox News
[...]
Norma Jean Jalovec, a seasonal Wyoming resident from Florida, told Fox News Digital on Friday that after seeing Baker's
TikTok video, she realized she had also picked up Laundrie on Aug. 29 and dropped him off around 6:30 or 6:40 MST at the Spread Creek dispersed camping area, where Petito's remains were discovered weeks later.
Jalovec said she spontaneously decided to visit a Catholic church called Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Grand Teton National Park that Sunday for its 5 p.m. MST service. The church is about 1.2 miles from Jackson Lake Dam, where Baker said she dropped Laundrie off after he "freaked out" and asked to get out of the couple's Jeep.
Jalovec said she picked him up around 6:15 or 6:20 past the dam near Pacific Creek Landing. He was walking backward and holding out his thumb, like so many do in that area of the National Park, she told Fox News.
[...]
Laundrie, who sat in the passenger seat of Jalovec's 4Runner, asked if she was going to Jackson. When she told him no because she lives in the opposite direction, he asked her if she'd drop him off at the Spread Creek dispersed camping area, which she agreed to, Jalovec said.
[...]
"Everything's legitimate. Everything's corroborated. I already talked to the FBI," Jalovec said, adding that she didn't realize she had given a ride to Laundrie until after she saw Baker's TikTok video and emphasized the important role social media has played in helping to solve this case.
[...]
Jalovec described having the same small talk with Laundrie that Baker reported in her TikTok. He told her that he spent time hiking near Snake River and that he had a
fiancé. He told her he had seen elk and moose but no bison, and when she asked him if he needed any gas money, he said no
[...]
The 23-year-old asked Jalovec to drop him off at the gate of the remote campground, which has a single dirt road that extends miles to various camping sites in the area; at 6:30 p.m. MST in August, there would have still been some daylight to see into the camping area. Jalovec responded saying she could drive him inside, which is when he tried to "get out of the moving car," she said.
[...]
Jalovec said she joked with Laundrie about wanting to impress his fiancé by hiking into the campground rather than hitching a ride, but he only responded by insisting that he be let out of the vehicle.
[...]
