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Gabby Petito: The Case That Captured America's Attention · The conspiracy

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I don't care if we use the actual letter of
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the law to not charge, but I also don't care
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: because it literally does possibly make perfect sense to go
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: full-on domestic assault and do the whole thing.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: It really stresses me out and I just.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: This.
• 0:16
  Speaker 4: Is a rough mall.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: In the summer of 2021, two lovers packed their lives
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: into a white van and set off on a cross-country
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: journey through America's national parks. A road trip documented in photographs, vlogs,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: and Instagram captions that painted the image of freedom, love,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: and wanderlust. But behind the filtered posts and picture-perfect views,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: something else was happening. And by the time the leaves
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: began to fall, only one of them would return home.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: And what unfolded next would grip the nation. It was
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: a missing persons case that played out in real time,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: fueled by media coverage, internet detectives, and heartbreaking silence. It
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: exposed cracks in our systems, raised urgent questions about domestic violence,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: and reminded the world just how quickly a dream can
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: turn into a nightmare. This is the story of a
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: young woman whose voice, though silenced, still echoes today. This
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: is the story of Gabby Petito.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Crime!
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: Conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder. All things that I
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: love to consume and I know you do too, you sick, twisted, intellectually,
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: beautifully minded friend. And I look different right now because
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: I forgot to film the intro for some reason, so
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: that's why I'm doing this now. But yes, today we
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: are talking about the infamous case of Gabby Petito. So
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: without further ado, let's unbuckle our seat belts, go Mach
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: 5 down the highway, slam on the brakes, and bust
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: through this windshield into this highly controversial case together. Gabrielle
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: Venora Petito was born March 19th, 1999 in Bluepoint, a
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: quiet suburb on the southern edge of Long Island, New York.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: And her arrival marked the beginning of a story that
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: would one day capture the attention of the world. Though
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: in those early years, her life was filled only with
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: the ordinary beauty of family, community, and creativity. And Gabby
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: also grew up in a very supportive and stable household.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: She was the eldest of six siblings and half-siblings. And
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: her parents, Nicole Schmidt and Joseph Petito, separated amicably when
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: Gabby was pretty young, but both remained very active in
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: her life. Gabby would spend most of her time with
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: her mother, Nicole, who was a teacher's assistant, and her stepfather, Jim,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: in a household where love was quiet but constant. And
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: her father, Joe, was a warehouse store manager, and he
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: would eventually remarry as well. And Gabby would grow close
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: to his wife, Tara, maintaining strong bonds on both sides
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: of her blended family. So Gabby would grow up in
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: a safe, relatively affluent corner of Long Island, the kind
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: of place where children still rode bikes on tree-lined streets
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: and neighbors knew each other's names. And even as a child,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: Gabby stood out for her compassionate nature and quiet creativity.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: She had a very early sense of empathy that seemed
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: to exceed her years. And at just 14 years old,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Gabby and her younger relatives took part in a music
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: video promoting gun violence awareness after the Sandy Hook Elementary
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: School tragedy. And it wasn't a school requirement or assignment.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: It was just something she chose to do. Something that
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: really reflected the emotional depth she already carried. So even then,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Gabby was really paying attention to the world's pain and
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: trying in her own way to be a light. So
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: as Gabby went into her teens, she would attend the
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Bayport Blue Point High School in Suffolk County, where she
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: became known for her love for art and nature. And
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Gabby wasn't really the type to chase popularity. She was
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: more of a free spirit, as her family would later
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: describe her. Someone who saw the world in color and
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: tried to paint it that way. And she channeled that
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: spirit into watercolor paintings, photography, and long walks outdoors. So
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Gabby's path at this point just seemed filled with possibility.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: The world was her oyster. She was creative and grounded
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: and deeply, deeply kind. And in her time at school,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: she would cross paths with a man named Brian Laundrie.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: And they were just friends at first. It was a
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: quiet beginning, but soon the connection would deepen into a relationship.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: that would shape the rest of her life. So by
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: the time she graduated high school in June of 2017,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Gabby was already beginning to dream bigger than the borders
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: of Long Island. She had a growing love for travel,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: a passion for art and storytelling, and a very gentle
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: magnetism that made her unforgettable to those that knew her.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: And somewhere during those late teens, she would reconnect with
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: a familiar face. A quiet outdoorsy former classmate, named Brian Laundrie.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: So though Gabby and Brian did attend the same high
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: school at Blue Point, their relationship didn't really fully take
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: root until after graduation. But by early 2019, they were
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: officially together. They were a young couple drawn to each
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: other by shared appreciation for art, nature, and what seemed,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: from the outside, a desire for something beyond the ordinary.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: And friends would later describe their relationship in its early
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: stages as intense and very Because they bonded very quickly
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: over similar interests and built routines around being creative together.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Gabby really just found a companion who seemed to reflect
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: her own adventurous energy. And as the relationship began to
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: deepen even more, Gabby made a very big decision. And
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: that was that she would leave New York and move
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: to Northport, Florida, where Brian lived with his parents, Christopher
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: and Roberta Laundrie. And this move in July of 2019
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: marked a very pivotal shift in Gabby's life. because she
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: was now away from her family and hometown and she
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: was moving toward a future she was building with Brian.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: So the couple would move into the Laundrie family household
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: and start settling into their new adult life. Gabby would
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: get a job working as a pharmacy technician at Publix
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: while Brian worked at a grocery store. And from those
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: watching from the outside, the couple appeared very close, happy even.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: One friend described them as couple goals, because from the
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: outside looking in, especially into social media, people would see
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: them often hiking local trails, they would post nature photos,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: and they would constantly speak about their plans for the future.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: So there was this sense of momentum for the both
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: of them, of two young people just finding themselves through
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: each other. And Gabby's parents would later say that they
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: were actually very supportive of the move, trusting their daughter's judgment.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: But they obviously remained attentive because she had a very
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: close-knit family. So Gabby would call home very regularly. She
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: even visited New York whenever she could. So while she
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: was far from home, the connection with her family never wavered,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: especially with her mom. And by the end of 2019,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Gabby and Brian's relationship had become central to both of
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: their lives. So what began as a high school acquaintance
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: had grown into a full-time partnership. One that over the
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: next two years would take them across the country, through
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: national parks and dusty highways, and eventually into the center
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: of a national tragedy. But for now, in that window
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: between teenage dreams and adult responsibility, Gabby was in love
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: and she was all in. So by mid-2020, the world
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: was beginning to change, as we all remember. The COVID-19
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: pandemic had swept across the globe, shutting businesses, stalling routines,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: basically upending nearly every sense of normalcy. And for Gabby
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: and Brian, the pandemic kind of became a pause, a
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: moment of stillness that offered space for something much bigger.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Because it was during this time, July 2020, that Brian
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: would propose. And there was no crowd, there was no
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: flashing cameras, there was no elaborate production, just a quiet
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: moment in nature along one of their favorite hiking trails.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: And as Gabby would later recount, a firefly even landed
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: on her hand when she said yes, as if the
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: world itself paused in agreement. And she announced the news
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: with joy. She would write on Instagram, Brian asked me
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  Speaker 2: to marry him and I said yes. yes. And she
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  Speaker 2: would be beaming in this photo of them sharing sushi
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  Speaker 2: on their first date. And she would also go on
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  Speaker 2: to say, you make life feel unreal and every day
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: is such a dream with you. It was obviously a
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: massive milestone moment, a formal beginning to the future they
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: were building together. But unlike many couples freshly engaged, they
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: didn't rush towards a wedding date or a venue. Instead,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: they set their sights on something even more ambitious, a
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: life of full-time travel. And Gabby was overjoyed. This is
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: exactly what she had been working toward her whole life. Art, storytelling,
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  Speaker 2: the open road, and someone she believed would share it
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: all with her. So a wedding could wait. The world
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: was waiting first. So the idea of this trip had
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: been taking shape for months, maybe even longer. because they
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: had actually at this point already taken a cross-country road
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: trip together in a Nissan Sentra, camping on the road
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: and falling in love with the rhythm of van life.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: And that whole experience had left quite a lasting impact
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: on them. So they got to work. The couple purchased
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: a white 2012 Ford Transit Connect van. It was compact, reliable,
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  Speaker 2: and just big enough to become a tiny home on wheels.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: And together, they would customize it. They built out the
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: interior with a handmade bed platform, installed storage units, and
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: painted the walls in soft tones that reflected their love
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: for the natural world. And Gabby added flowers and artwork,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: and Brian handled much of the carpentry and logistics. So
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: it wasn't anything fancy, but it was theirs. And this
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: was more than just a trip. They envisioned a shared brand,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: a life lived on the road, documented in photographs and videos.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: And they would even go on to launch a YouTube
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  Speaker 2: channel called Nomadic Static, intending to chronicle their adventure and
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  Speaker 2: build an audience. And Gabby would take the full lead
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: on the creative side, organizing content, shooting photos, and dreaming
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  Speaker 2: of growing the channel into a full-on career. Because she
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: had always wanted to be a travel blogger. So this
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: wasn't just a vacation, it was her vision for her
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: entire future. And by the end of 2020, this plan
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: was in motion. Gabby would pick up extra hours at
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Taco Bell and as a nutritionist to save money for
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: the big departure. And Brian helped as well by working
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: extra hours at an organic juice bar. And the relationship,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: at least in public, appeared pretty solid still. So the
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: couple planned to leave in the early summer, charting a
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: few-month loop across the western United States, with stops at
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: national parks like Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and beyond. And Gabby's
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: family later discussed the possibility of extending the trip if
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: things went well. But before their official departure, they made
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: one more meaningful stop. In late June 2021, Gabby and
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Brian returned back to Blue Point, New York. where Gabby's
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: younger brother was graduating high school. And it was a
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: brief visit, but it was important. Because it was a
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: moment for Gabby to reconnect with her roots, hug her siblings,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: and say goodbye to the town that raised her. And
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: her family had no idea this would be the last
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: time they would ever see Gabby. So after that brief
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: trip back home, they were off. The van was packed,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: the cameras were charged, the maps were marked with pins
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: and possibilities. And on July 2nd, 2021, Gabby and Brian
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: pulled out of Blue Point, New York in their white
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Ford Transit and pointed west. And their plan was to
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: explore the American wilderness, document it online, and build something together.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Because for Gabby, this would be the foundation of her
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: future as a travel blogger. And the journey began with joy.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Gabby shared her first post from the road trip on
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: July 4th, a snapshot from Kansas, at Monument Rocks. And
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: over the following weeks, they zigzagged through Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: stopping at national parks and campgrounds tucked beneath mountain peaks.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: And they would hike the Great Sand Dunes National Park,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: pose for photos beneath the towering canyon walls in Zion
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: National Park, and smiled from scenic viewpoints in Bryce Canyon
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: National Park. So Gabi's social media was just filled with
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: soft sunlit images, showcasing the beauty of the places they
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: visited as they traveled in their home on wheels. And
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: in one Instagram post, Gabby would write, there's no place
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: like the tiny home we built. So to the outside world,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: it looked like a dream come true. But behind the
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: filtered lens of social media, something else was brewing. So
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: to their followers, Gabby and Brian seemed like the perfect couple.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: But those who knew them better saw signs of something darker.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Gabby's best friend, Rose Davis, later described Brian as controlling
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: and jealous. And according to Rose, Brian had a way
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: of isolating Gabby, discouraging her from doing anything he didn't
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: approve of. And she would go on to say, he
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: also wanted what he wanted when he wanted, and he'd
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: find a way to get it, not in a violent matter,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: but if he didn't want Gabby to do something, he'd
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: find a way to make it so she couldn't do it.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: And she described a pattern of emotional manipulation that Gabby
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: didn't always recognize for what it was. So this relationship
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: was slowly becoming extremely toxic. And another friend of Gabby's
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: from New York remembered the relationship as volatile. And they said,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: very high highs and very low lows. And while on
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the road, those patterns seemed to intensify. Because the stress
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: of van life, confined space, constant travel, no breaks, made
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: everything even more intense. But Gabby felt pressure to keep
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: their content going while managing- everything else completely alone. And
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: according to Rose, Gabby confided that Brian didn't want her
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: to pursue her social media and blogs seriously. And Rose believed,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: quote unquote, that's a sign of domestic abuse. And then
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: in mid-August, something spilled out into the open. Something no
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: amount of Instagram filters could hide. So on the afternoon
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: of August 12th in Moab, Utah, a concerned witness called 911.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: The caller saying, we drove by and the gentleman was
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: slapping the girl. Then we stopped. They ran up and
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: down the sidewalk. He proceeded to hit her, hopped in
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: the car, and they drove off. And soon after, Moab
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: police would pull their white van over outside Arches National Park.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: And what followed was captured on a now infamous body
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: camera footage.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: The driver is showing some obscure driving, possibly intoxicated.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Lock your engine.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Go ahead and set your keys on the dash for me,
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: all right? What's going on?
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: How come you're crying?
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: I'm just crying.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: We've just been fighting this morning. And this was a
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: scene that would later be scrutinized by the world. In
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: the video, Gabby is crying, nearly hyperventilating.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: Some days, I have really bad OCD, and I was
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: just cleaning when he was cleaning up the back of the.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: Van before, and I was apologizing to him and saying,
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry that I'm so mean.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: And she would apologize profusely to the officer over and
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: over again for herself for just existing, basically, and she
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: would blame herself for everything. And Brian, by contrast, appeared
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: very calm and composed and even giddy at points.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: I feel bad I didn't get so public. I was
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: just trying to be loud. You know, I started to
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: make her calm down and.
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: Be like, look, everyone's watching.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: And he said he'd gotten into the van with dirty feet,
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: she got upset, and things escalated from there. And he
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: had scratches on his face and his arms. And Gabby
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: admitted to striking him, but only because she thought he
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: might leave her behind when he locked her out of
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: the vehicle. And he claimed he was attempting to give
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: her some space so she would calm down. And after
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: separating them and interviewing them individually, officers concluded that Gabby
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: had been the primary aggressor.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: I've decided I am not going to cite you for
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: domestic violence battery, okay? It was only going to be
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: a class B misdemeanor. However, the domestic violence portion of
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: it enhances it. It makes like a major pain in
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: the butt, especially you're 22, right? So I'm choosing not
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: to cite you today.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: The report described the event as more of a mental
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: health break than domestic violence, which is exactly what it was.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: And she was not the aggressor. She was scared, terrified
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: of this very large man who had struck her and
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: threatened her and gaslit her and clearly manipulated.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: Her over drugs.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Months and months and months and made her feel very small.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: And then this moment happened and the police didn't do
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: their job, basically. So instead, police arranged for Brian to
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: spend the night at a motel.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: This is Brian Mondry. All right, so he's gonna get
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: you all set up in your hotel room.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Paid for through a local domestic violent outreach program. And
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Gabby took the van and slept at a nearby campground alone.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: And before parting ways for the night, the couple insisted
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: they were in love, that they didn't want anyone getting
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: in trouble and that everything would be okay. But in
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: the body cam footage, Gabby's tears tell a very different story.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Her anxiety, her fear, her attempts to downplay the moment
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: to protect Brian, even in front of police saying, I'm sorry,
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry. She just kept saying, I'm sorry. And it's
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: honestly just heartbreaking to see because like knowing people that
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: have been in these situations and being too afraid to
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: get out for the repercussions if they actually speak up,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: It's just heartbreaking to watch in real time. But unbeknownst
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: to the officers, the 911 dispatcher hadn't relayed the full
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: details of the original call, including the report that Brian
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: had been seen hitting Gabby. And that information could have
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: changed the outcome completely, but... It didn't. And they deemed
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: her the primary aggressor. And in hindsight, that stop at
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Moab one night apart after weeks of growing tension was
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: a flashing red flag. A chance to intervene that just
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: passed by. And the next morning, Gabby and Brian reunited
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: and got back on the road. And they would tell
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: their friends that they were fine and that everything was
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: under control. But something at this point had shifted drastically
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: and cracks were widening and time was running out. So
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: just five days after the emotional police encounter in Moab,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: Brian Laundrie left Gabby alone. And on August 17th, he
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: flew from Salt Lake City, Utah to Florida, according to
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: his family's attorney. And the reason, they said, was practical.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Brian needed to retrieve some personal items and clothes out
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: a shared storage unit to save money. But whatever the truth,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: he was gone for nearly a week, leaving Gabby completely
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: alone and behind in Utah. So Gabby would check into
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: the Fairfield Inn Hotel in Salt Lake City, where she
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: stayed alone and waiting. And while she waited, she stayed
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: in contact with her family. And as we know, Gabby
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: had long found peace in nature and in movement. So
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: being grounded in a city on her own felt very
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: foreign and scary. And during the solo stretch on August 19th,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Gabby posted what would be her first and only video
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: to the couple's YouTube channel, Nomadic Static. And the video
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: was simply titled Van Life, Beginning Our Van Life Journey.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: And it was a gentle, aesthetically edited look into... travels
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: up to the point that she was at. And it
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: features shots of their van build, the Utah landscape, beaches,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: and moments of quiet joy between the two of them.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: And at the time, it felt like a hopeful start.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: But in retrospect, it became an eerie timestamp. The last
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: creative glimpse she left behind. And on August 23rd, Brian
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: would return. And on the 24th, the couple was seen
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: checking out of the hotel and loading up the van together.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: And they were heading north towards Grand Teton National Park
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: in Wyoming. One of the most scenic and one of
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: the most remote stretches on their entire route. And two
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: days later, on August 25th, Gabby called her mother. And
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: she told her they had reached Wyoming and they were
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: camping near the Spread Creek dispersed camping area. And she
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: said that cell service was pretty spotty there, but she
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: sounded upbeat and mentioned they'd likely head toward Yellowstone next.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: And that same day, Gabby posted what would be her
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: final Instagram photo, a shot of her smiling in front
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: of a butterfly mural in Ogden, Utah. It was calm
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: and beautiful and haunting in hindsight. And at the time,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: nothing seemed obviously wrong, but it would be the last
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: time Gabby's voice would be seen or heard. directly. So
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: on August 27th, something changed. Around 3 p.m., witnesses saw
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Gabby and Brian at a restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming. It
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: was a very popular Tex-Mex spot called the Merry Piglets.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: And according to witnesses, Brian was very visibly agitated, arguing
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: with the staff over the bill, and his tone was aggressive,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: and his body language was very threatening. And Gabby, by contrast,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: appeared distressed and very apologetic. We've seen this before. And
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: this would be the last known sighting of Gabby Petito alive.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: And at some point in the day, she allegedly reached
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: out to her ex-boyfriend Jackson on Snapchat to say that
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: she was thinking about him. And according to Jackson, she
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: had reached out a few days prior, mentioning that she
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: and Brian were struggling and that she may break up
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: with him. And she would call Jackson later on, but
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: he was unable to answer because he was at work.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: And that evening, Gabby's mother received an odd text from
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Gabby's phone, saying, And Nicole would freeze. Stan was Gabby's grandfather,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: but Gabby never called him by his first name, so
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: the message felt very unnatural, as if someone else had
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: written it. And Nicole would later tell authorities that the
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: text made her feel like something was wrong. And investigators
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: would later include the message in a search warrant affidavit,
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: noting it was out of character and likely not written
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: by Gabby herself. And then on August 30th, one more
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: message came, saying plainly, No service in Yosemite. And that text, too,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: felt off. Not just in the tone, but in the content.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Because Gabby had told her mother just days earlier that
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: they were in Wyoming, heading toward Yellowstone. And Yosemite, in California,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: made no sense for the context of the route. Because
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the distance was over 800 miles away. So it just
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: wasn't fitting. And Nicole was immediately uneasy. And that would
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: be the last time Gabby's phone would be heard from.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: And after that, all calls went straight to voicemail. There
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: was no more FaceTimes, no more texts, no more Instagram posts,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: and no updates from the road. And for a young
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: woman who checked in regularly, who rarely went a day
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: without calling her mom, this was a terrifying silence. And
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: in those final days in August, the world didn't know
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: yet what happened. But Gabby's family felt it. It was
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: a shift in the air, the vacuum left behind by
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: a voice that should have been there. And there was
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: no witnesses to the moment it happened, no videos, no
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: cries for help that made it to the ranger station
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: or nearby campsite. What happened in those final hours only
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: can be pieced together through forensics, scattered clues, and eventually
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Brian Laundrie's written confession. And as of right now, this
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: is what we know. After being spotted at the Mary
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Piglet's restaurant in Jacksonville on August 27th, where Brian was
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: reportedly enraged and Gabby was tearful, the couple returned to
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: their van, driving out toward the Spread Creek area, where
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: they had been camping. At the same evening, a travel
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: blogger named Red White and Bethune would unknowingly capture footage.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: And the footage was of Gabby and Brian's white van,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: parked off the side of a dirt road, alone in
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: the forest. And this was at.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: Approximately 6 p.m.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: On August 27th. And the van in the footage appeared abandoned,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: quiet still, and partially closed off by the brush. But
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: this timestamp would later become crucial. And the world, not
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: yet knowing that she was gone, was about to start
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: asking questions. So August 29th, 2021, on the surface, it
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: seemed like any other day in the West. And that morning,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: a woman named Miranda Baker was driving along the highway
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: when she saw a hitchhiker holding out a thumb. And
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: he introduced himself as.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Brian.
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: Hi, my name is Miranda Baker, and on August 29th,
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: my boyfriend and I picked up Brian at Grand Teton
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: National Park at 5.30 at night at Colter Bay.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: And said he was camping alone and offered her $ 200
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: for a 10-mile ride. And she agreed. And at first,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: the conversation was very polite. But when she mentioned that
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: she and her boyfriend were heading to Jackson Hole, Brian
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: visibly panicked. He freaked out, Miranda said later. He asked
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: to get out of the car immediately. And not long after,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: another woman, Norma Jean Jalovec, also picked up a hitchhiker
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: matching Brian's description. And he asked to be dropped off
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: by Spread Creek campsite, right where Gabby and Brian had
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: last stayed. And she asked if he wanted her to
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: go past the gate and into the area where they
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: were staying. But he became agitated when she brought this up.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: And he would not let her get any closer and
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: he just got out of the vehicle immediately. And that
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: same evening, Gabby's phone went silent for good. And a
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: final misleading message to her mother would go out the
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: next day. And after that, no contact and no explanation.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: And Brian, meanwhile, was already on the move. so between
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: august 30th and september 1st he began driving the white
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: ford transit van east and gabby's van was now in
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: his possession and along the way he used a debit
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: card and withdrew over a thousand dollars which was actually
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: a federal crime that would later be used to issue
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: a warrant for his arrest and this included 700 he
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: had transferred to himself via gabby's account with the note
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: on the transfer saying goodbye brian i'll never ask you
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: for anything again the guy's insanely stupid. Messages were also
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: sent between Brian and Gabby's phone during the time, but
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: the timestamps painted a picture that this was Brian's attempt
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: to establish an alibi. The shit he wanted that, because
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: he's f * * * ing stupid.
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: The activity between the two phones was almost instantaneous. Brian
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: was holding both phones and talking directly to himself. It
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: was apparent that he was trying to create an alibi.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: And then on September 1st, Brian Laundrie pulled into the
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: driveway of his parents' home in North Port, Florida, alone.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: So the white van was back, but Gabby wasn't. And
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Brian just said nothing. And over the next 10 days,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: he offered no explanation to anyone. Not to Gabby's parents,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: not to her friends, not to police. And in fact,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Brian refused to speak to authorities.
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: At all.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: And when North Point police visited the Laundrie home, they
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: were met not by Brian, but by his parents, who
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: handed officers the phone number of their attorney. Gotta love
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: parents that protect their murderer piece of son. When was
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: the last time that you saw Brian and Gabriel?
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: Brian is here.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: And Gabby's family obviously began to panic at this point.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: And then in a strange twist, the Laundrie family, Brian included,
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: reportedly went on a camping trip to Fort De Soto
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Park from September 6th to September 8th.
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: When Brian first came home with the van, him, his parents,
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: and his sister Cassie went on a camping trip.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: And a neighbor later confirmed seeing them load up a
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: small camper and head out as if nothing were wrong.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: And this was just days after Gabby's family had begun
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: planning publicly pleading for help to find Gabby. Meanwhile, the
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: white van, the one so often featured in Gabby's Instagram posts,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: sat in the laundry driveway. And authorities would later seize
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: it for forensic analysis. So on September 11th, more than
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: 10 days of silence and growing desperation, Gabby's parents would
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: file an official missing persons report in Suffolk County, New York.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: And Northport police would name Brian as a person of
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: interest a few days later. But still, no cooperation and
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: no answers. And then another twist happens. Because on September 13th,
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Brian told his parents he was going for a solo
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: hike nearby the Carlton Reserve, which was a sprawling swampy
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: wilderness stretching over 25,000 acres. So he would drive the
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: family's Ford Mustang to the reserve entrance, park it, and
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: disappear into the wetlands. And days would pass and Brian
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: would not return. But strangely, his parents didn't report him
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: missing right away. Which is so strange. And it wasn't
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: until September 17th, four full days later, that they informed
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: police Brian was gone.
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: We now have two missing young people.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: And they said that they had retrieved the car from
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: the reserve but hadn't seen him since the 13th. And
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: by then, Gabby's face was everywhere. Her story had gone
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: national and the case was unfolding in real time across
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: TV screens and social media feeds. Meanwhile, law enforcement was
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: just scrambling to find Brian, who had now just vanished
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: into one of the most difficult terrains in Florida, and
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: who was the only person who could say what had
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: happened to Gabby. But he was gone, and Gabby's body
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: at this point had yet to be found. So by
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: the second week of September 2021, Gabby's family had gone
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: from worried to horrified. frantic, and public interest just exploded.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Social media detectives, true crime podcasters, and 24-7 cable news
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: networks latched onto the story. The hashtag FindGabby began trending
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Her smiling face, framed by
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: blonde hair and golden filter, became one of the most
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: shared images in the country, and protesters gathered outside the
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: laundry home. And they would chant into megaphones and they
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: held signs that read, Where's Gabby and Justice for Gabby.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: And at the same time, FBI agents, local law enforcement
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: and search teams were mobilized in Wyoming. And with the
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: help from cell tower pings and digital tracking and eyewitness accounts,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: the search narrowed into one location, which was Spread Creek
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Dispersed Camping Area, east of Grand Teton National Park. And
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: then would come the break. Because those family vloggers that
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: got that footage of Gabby's truck would submit that footage
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: to the FBI. And it matched the vehicle Gabby and
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Brian had been traveling in. And on September 18th, the
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: FBI and local authorities began a ground search in that area.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: And the very next day, on September 19th, 2021, they
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: made a grim discovery. So somewhere in the wild stillness
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: of Spread Creek dispersed camping area. Tucked beneath the shadow
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: of Grand Teton National Park, investigators would find human remains
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: that match Gabby's description. And she would be partially buried,
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: left in a shallow grave, surrounded by brush and wild sage.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: Her body would lay about 900 feet from where the
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: van had last been.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Seen parked.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Gabby Petito, at the age of 22 years old, full
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: of light and just months into an adventure of her life,
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: was killed. And her remains lay exposed to the elements
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: for three to four weeks before discovery. And the autopsy
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: conducted by Tenton County Coroner, Dr. Brent Blue, determined that
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: Gabby died by manual strangulation. In the manner of death
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: of Gabrielle Lenora Petito, we find the cause and manner
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: to be caused death by strangulation, And he added that
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: her body had likely been exposed to the elements for
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: three to four weeks, and that the time of death
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: was estimated at around August 27th, the same day she
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: was last seen at the Mary Piglet's restaurant in Jackson.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Just a very brutal and intimate act requiring... sustained force
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: applied by bare hands. And the report also noted blunt
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: force trauma to her head and to her neck. Just
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: further evidence to a very violent and very personal assault.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: And this confirmation just sent shockwaves through the country. Gabby Petito,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: the free-spirited 22-year-old that had been documenting her life on
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: the road, was gone. And the man she had trusted
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: with that journey, Brian Laundrie, had not only returned without her,
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: but was now missing himself. A news of Gabby's death
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: sparked an outpouring of grief and anger. And a makeshift
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: memorial grew rapidly outside the Laundrie home, with mourners leaving flowers, candles,
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: and photos. And in Bluepoint, New York, Gabby's hometown, a
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: candlelight vigil lit up the night as hundreds gathered to
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: honor her memory. So Gabby's story had become a cultural flashpoint,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: not just because of the tragedy, but because of how quickly...
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: and widely it spread. And some commentators praised the mobilization
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: of online communities in helping locate her. And others criticized
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: the disparity in media attention compared to the hundreds of
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: missing persons, especially women of color, whose stories remained untold.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: And still, for her family, the media firestorm was background
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: noise to a singular, searing reality. Gabby was never coming home.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: And somewhere, Brian Laundrie was on the run. So the
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: search for Brian Laundrie became one of the most watched
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: manhunts in modern American history. And by the time Gabby's
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: body was found on September 19th, 2021, Brian had already
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: been missing for nearly a week. And according to his parents,
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: he had told them on September 13th he was going
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: on a hike in the Carlton Reserve, as we know.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: But that delay in reporting him missing after four whole
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: days raised some questions. Why wait? What did they know?
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: And had Brian really gone hiking or had he used
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: that window to disappear? So authorities could only go off
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: what they knew and they would launch an extensive search
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: in the Carlton Reserve, deploying divers, canine units, drones, and ATVs.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: And it was a very unforgiving landscape. It was waterlogged
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: and snake infested with terrain that could swallow evidence in hours.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: And as the days wore on, the tasks seemed increasingly impossible.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: And at the same time, public pressure was mounting. Protestors
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: continued to camp outside the laundry home, holding signs up
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: and chanting, through bullhorns. And across the country, people speculated, theorized,
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: and tracked every development in real time. TikTok videos went viral,
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: analyzing every angle, and police body cam footage was dissected
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: frame by frame. And Brian's face would become as recognizable
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: as Gabby's. And on September 23rd, the FBI issued a
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: federal arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie. Not for homicide though,
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: but for unauthorized use of Gabby's debit card, a charge
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: that allowed law enforcement to pursue him with federal authority
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: while the homicide investigation continued, which makes sense in hindsight
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: because at this point they don't have much evidence. A
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: lot of circumstantial evidence, but not a lot of physical evidence. Meanwhile,
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: alleged sightings of Brian poured in from across the US,
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: but none were confirmed. And the FBI continued to focus locally,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: believing Brian may have never left Florida at all. But
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: weeks would pass and the search would just drag on.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Tips would dry up. And for a time, it seemed
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: that Brian Laundrie had just vanished into thin air. But
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: then on October 20th, something changed. Because that morning, Chris
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: and Roberta Laundrie told authorities they intended to join the
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: search at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, which bordered the
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Carlton Reserve and had recently been reopened to the public.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: And just hours into that search, they discovered items belonging
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: to Brian lying near a previously flooded trail. so law
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: enforcement would move in. And nearby, under a canopy of
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: trees and partially submerged into swamp water, investigators found skeletal
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: human remains. And by October 21st, dental records confirmed that
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: the remains were Brian Laundrie's. And the autopsy determined that
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: the cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: the head. Just took the easy way out. And alongside
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: his remains, investigators recovered a backpack, a notebook, and a revolver.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: And in that notebook, Brian wrote a confession. So the
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: manhunt was over. And the only person of interest in
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: Gabby Petito's murder was now dead. But the story wasn't
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: finished yet. Because there were still questions. What had happened
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: on that trail? And what did Brian's parents know and
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: weren't telling? And about how the system had failed a
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: young woman who was crying for help long before the
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: world heard her. So for months after Brian Laundrie's remains
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: were found, investigators sifted through every piece of evidence recovered
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: at the scene. Most notable among them, a weathered spiral notebook,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Pulled from the dry bag, found just feet from his
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: skeletal remains. And in January of 2022, the FBI officially
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: closed the investigation, releasing key details about what was found.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: In the notebook, stained by water and difficult to read
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: in parts, contained a handwritten confession. And in the note,
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: Brian took responsibility for Gabby's death. That Gabby had allegedly
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: suffered an injury during a hike and was in severe pain.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: it is what she wanted, but I see now all
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: the mistakes I made. And he went on to describe
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: what he had claimed had happened. That Gabby allegedly sustained
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: a serious injury during a hike and it was an
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: unspecified incident that left her in severe pain. And he
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: wrote that she was shivering and freezing and injured and
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: that she had allegedly asked him to relieve her of
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: her suffering. And he claimed that in that moment of
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: desperation he killed her out of mercy. And Brian also
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: wrote his intention was to take his own life, citing
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: guilt and despair, saying, from the moment I decided, took
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: away her pain, I knew I couldn't go on without her.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: And the confession attempted to paint his actions as tragic
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: but compassionate, a final act of love. But investigators and
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Gabby's family rejected the narrative completely. Because the forensic evidence
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: did not support Brian's version of events. Because we know
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: that Gabby suffered manual strangulation and blunt force trauma to
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: her head and to her neck. And the violent nature
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: of her death and attempt to mislead authorities afterward with
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: false texts and her stolen debit cards stood in stark
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: contrast to the idea of a mercy killing. And Gabby's
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: mother claimed that he was a liar and tried to
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: manipulate the story even after death. Just a pathetic... piece
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: of shit. And even the setting of confession seemed telling.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: And the FBI concluded in their final statement issued on
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: January 21st, 2022, that Brian Laundrie was the only person
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: involved in Gabby's death. And the investigation was officially closed.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: But the grief.
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: wasn't.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Because Gabby's family was left not only with an unbearable
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: loss of their daughter, but with the weight of knowing
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: that her final moments had been violent, terrifying, and lonely.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: And no explanation from Brian could change that. So if anything,
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: the note only added to their pain. And for them,
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: the truth was not in what Brian wrote, but in
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: what he did. He left Gabby in the wilderness, lied
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: to her family, drove her van home, and then disappeared
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: without a word. So the confession didn't bring any sort
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: of closure. It simply confirmed what they had already feared
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: all along. That the man their daughter had loved had
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: betrayed her in the most permanent way. But even after
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: the deaths of both Gabby and Brian, their story didn't end.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: And in many ways, it only entered a new chapter.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: One filled with grief, accountability, and the pursuit of justice
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: in courtrooms, not wilderness trails. And on March 10th, 2022,
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Gabby's parents filed a civil lawsuit against Brian's parents. And
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: in the suit, they accused the Laundries of intentional infliction
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: of emotional distress, alleging that Brian had informed his parents
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: of Gabby's death shortly after it happened, and that the
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: Laundries then withheld that information while Gabby's family searched for her.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: And the lawsuit claimed that while the Petito family publicly
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: pleaded for answers, the Laundries remained completely silent. And according
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: to the Petitos, the Laundries' actions and inactions were not
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: just hurtful, but knowingly cruel, which... agreed. And in 2022,
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: a Florida judge denied the Laundrie's motion to dismiss, allowing
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: the case to move forward. And in the court proceedings,
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: shocking new details emerged. In one entry in Roberta Laundrie's
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: recovered burn after reading letter, allegedly written to Brian, referenced
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: her willingness to help him dispose of the body. Some
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: of the letter reads, we will always love each other.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: If you're in jail, I will bake a cake with
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: a file in it. If you need to dispose of
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: a body, I will show up with a shovel and
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: a garbage bag.
• 38:51
  Speaker 6: What?
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: And though the letter's context and timing were debated, its
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: language raised eyebrows, to say the least, and just fueled
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: the Petito family's claims that the Laundries may have been
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: more involved, or at least more informed than they admitted.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: And by March, 2023, the Petito family reached a $ 3
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: million wrongful death settlement in a separate suit against Brian
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: Laundrie's estate, which was a symbolic victory since Brian's estate
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: held few assets. But the money, they stated, would go
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: toward the foundation and further effort to support families of
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: missing persons, which I will link down below. And in
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: the wake of unimaginable loss, Gabby's family found a purpose
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: in advocacy, and they launched the Gabby Petito Foundation, which
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: is a nonprofit focused on supporting organizations that help locate
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: missing persons and provide resources to victims of domestic violence.
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: The foundation quickly became a platform for reform, raising awareness
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: about the signs of abusive relationships, as well as disparities
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: in media coverage that often leave missing persons cases involving
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: people of color overlooked. They just didn't want Gabby's death
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: to be in vain. So if they could save even
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: just one person, then Gabby's story would live on. And
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: the foundation has since partnered with the National Domestic Violence Hotline,
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: also the Black and Missing Foundation, and other key advocacy groups,
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: providing grants, emergency funds, and public outreach programs, which I
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: think is amazing. And I wanna add that all the
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: proceeds from this video will be going to that foundation.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: And again, I will link the foundation down below. And
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: Gabby's parents also testified before lawmakers to push the legislation
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: aimed at improving reporting systems, bolstering protections for domestic violence victims,
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: and modernizing law enforcement's abilities to respond to missing persons cases.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: And several states have proposed and passed bills directly inspired
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: by Gabby's case, including Florida's Gabby Petito's Act, which created
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: a set of 12 questions that are mandatory for law
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: enforcement to ask potential victims during domestic violence calls, which
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: I think, again, is So amazing. And despite public outrage,
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: Chris and Roberta Laundrie have not been criminally charged in
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: a connection with Gabby's death. And their legal strategy has
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: largely remained one of silence. And in multiple interviews, the
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Petito family has expressed frustration saying that the Laundrie showed,
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: no empathy, and played a role in prolonging their agony.
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: So this case has just ignited national debate about parental responsibility,
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: legal liability, and how families of suspects navigate tragedies involving
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: their children. And in the years since Gabby's disappearance, the
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: legal battles have continued.
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: But.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: so has her legacy. Because her name now represents more
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: than just tragedy. It represents a reckoning, a call to
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: pay attention not only to those who vanish, but to
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: the systems, silences, and red flags that often precede them.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: So Gabby Petito's voice was taken but her story still speaks.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: Gabby Petito's story is absolutely tragic, and it's also a
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: reminder for us to pay attention, to check in, to
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: ask again, to love without harm, and to cherish the
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: journey wherever it may lead. And that is the Gabby
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: Petito case. I know this one was very emotional as
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: are every one of these cases that I cover, but
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: I think the awareness is extremely important. Just know that
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: you are important, you deserve attention, and you have the
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: right to speak out and be heard. So just know that,
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: and I hope you all stay very, very safe. And remember,
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: I did link those foundations down below. Also, I did
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: put in helplines as well if you need that. But
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: until I see you next time, I will see you,
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: beautiful face. Okay, stay safe.
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: Bye.