Yahoo Movies Disappearance of Gabby Petito – How TikTok helped crack a murder case
Before Gabby Petito went missing, it seemed she was living her dream life – travelling around the US in a kitted-out van with her fiancé by her side.
Tracking her adventures on a YouTube channel and Instagram, Gabby's bubbly personality was clear as she took trips to the beach and through forests, and lived in a tent.
But then... she disappeared, and Brian Laundrie, her fiancé, returned to his family home refusing to say a word to the police or media about where she could be.
This tracked a heartbreaking investigation, something that became a TikTok sensation as true-crime aficionados attempted to help find clues.
And they somewhat succeeded, tracking her van through other people's vlogs, picking apart footage and putting on pressure for Laundrie to make a statement about what happened, uncovering information along the way.
Ultimately this would also end in another tragedy.
Here's everything you need to know about the disappearance of Gabby Petito.
What happened to Gabby Petito?
On September 11, 2021, Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old aspiring travel vlogger on a cross-country trip with her fiancé Brian Laudrie, was reported missing.
Gabby was last seen in Utah with Brian weeks before, a month and a half into their dream trip in the back of a white van they had tricked out into a camper.
The couple had been dating for two years, but had gone to high school together, and had got engaged in June 2020.
Her parents last heard from her on August 25, when she spoke of plans to move from Utah to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
Petito's mother says not hearing from her for periods of time wasn't massively uncommon due to uneven internet availability in her van.
On August 27, her mother received the text "Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls" which she found odd as, while that was Gabby's grandfather's name, she never called him by his actual name.
Brian returned to his family home in North Port, Florida on September 1, 2020 without Gabby, and never spoke to anyone about where she was or where she could be.
On September 11, she officially became a missing person, with her social media presence sparking interest on TikTok as the mystery surrounding her disappearance continued. His continued silence meant Laundrie became the prime suspect to both police and sofa sleuths, and his parents hired an attorney immediately.
Shortly after, videocam footage of the couple being tended to by police during a domestic dispute on the road started circulating. It was filmed on August 12, but no arrests were made even though the tape shows a distressed-looking Gabby and a calm-looking Laundrie. They were separated for the night before being allowed to continue on their journey.
In the following weeks, Gabby's online presence became less frequent, despite her desire to be an influencer and her subsequent YouTube videos and Instagram posts.
Her final Instagram photos, of her standing in front of a butterfly mural in Utah, were posted on August 25. This raised red flags as they were captioned 'Happy Halloween' despite it being August. To many this appeared out of character.
As Gabby still wasn't found, sleuths started tearing apart the bodycam footage, her vlogs and anything else that could lead to her body being found.
Eventually, a family of vloggers called 'Red, White & Bethune' realised they had passed her van parked on the side of the road at the time she went missing, giving a date, time and location roughly to where she could be.
On September 19, her body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area in Wyoming. An autopsy determined she had died by strangulation.
What happened to Brian Laundrie?
On September 17, Brian Laundrie's family reported him missing, which baffled those who had round the clock surveillance on their home. At its worst, this included police officers, picketers, online sleuths going IRL demanding answers and news crews.
They said he had been missing for four days, with police later realising a sighting of him on September 15 was actually his mother driving his car.
The police later issued an arrest warrant for him after it was determined that he had taken out more than $1,000 on Gabby's debit card, and a search was initiated.
His body was found on October 20 in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida. By that point it was so decomposed he needed dental identification. A subsequent autopsy determined he had died by suicide from a gunshot wound to the head.
The FBI later revealed notes found alongside the body confirming he had killed Gabby. The notes saw him attempt to rationalise the death, saying she had severely injured herself and the killing was meant to be 'merciful'.
What is happening now?
In August 2022, the parents of Gabby Petito launched a $50 million lawsuit against the police department in Moab, Utah, for their handling of an interaction with Gabby and Laundrie two weeks before her death.
The pair argue (according to CNN) that, had the police responded to the August 12, 2021 domestic dispute more appropriately, Gabby may not have ended up being murdered. A witness had contacted the police after seeing Laundrie slap Petito during an argument on the roadside.
On locating the van, bodycam footage shows Petito in hysterical tears and blaming herself for the incident, citing her OCD for cleaning the van as the catalyst for the row, with Laundrie in comparison calm and joking with the police. The officers eventually put Laundrie in a hotel while Petito stayed in the van so they could cool off.
The Petitos' lawyers argue the department was negligent in its failings to train the officers for signs of domestic abuse, and it directly led to him being close enough to murder her two weeks later.
At a press conference, the family's lawyer said in a statement: "They [the police] did not have the training that they needed to recognize the clear signs that were evident that morning: that Gabby was a victim and that she was in serious need of immediate help."
The Disappearance of Gabby Petito is available now on Paramount+, which is available for free with Sky Cinema.
If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, organisations including Refuge (www.refuge.org.uk) and Women's Aid (www.womensaid.org.uk) can provide further support and information. The 24-hour, freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline is 0808 2000 247. The US National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or text LOVEIS to 22522.
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