Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / 'Van Girl' Gabby, 22, DISAPPEARS on Cross-Country Trip With Boyfriend

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'Van Girl' Gabby, 22, DISAPPEARS on Cross-Country Trip With Boyfriend · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:06
Speaker 1: A free spirit, beautiful young girl just twenty two years old,
0:11
Speaker 1: follows her dream. She and her boyfriend worked tirelessly in
0:17
Speaker 1: the driveway of their home in Florida to convert afford
0:20
Speaker 1: Transit van into a travel camper, and they really did
0:25
Speaker 1: a beautiful job. I've looked at the inside of it.
0:28
Speaker 1: It looks like one of those fancy videos you see
0:32
Speaker 1: on HGTV where people take off across the country, and
0:35
Speaker 1: that's just what they did. But then we find out
0:38
Speaker 1: the boyfriend, Brian Landry, shows up back at home in
0:44
Speaker 1: Florida in the van, but no Gabby. Take a listen
0:58
Speaker 1: to our friend Jenna dan Alaise at CBS two. An
1:01
Speaker 1: emotional mother holding onto a photo of her daughter, is
1:05
Speaker 1: desperate for her to come home. Scary and nern wrecking.
1:09
Speaker 1: We don't sleep, We're just actively looking for her. Gabby
1:12
Speaker 1: Potito's family reported her missing Saturday to Suffolk County Police.
1:16
Speaker 1: The twenty two year old of Blue Point was on
1:18
Speaker 1: a cross country road trip, but kept in touch with
1:21
Speaker 1: her mom at least three times a week, moved FaceTime,
1:24
Speaker 1: called text frequently. She kept me updated on this whole trip.
1:28
Speaker 1: Her mother says. They last facetimed about three weeks ago.
1:31
Speaker 1: The last text she received was on August thirtieth. The
1:35
Speaker 1: first couple of days I wasn't getting responses. I believe
1:38
Speaker 1: she was in a place with no service. It took
1:42
Speaker 1: it was like day eight to nine that I really
1:44
Speaker 1: became concerned. I've been on that exact route before with
1:48
Speaker 1: the twins in an RV you camping out us. We
1:51
Speaker 1: went cooking in a Dutch shop and along the way,
1:54
Speaker 1: and the mom is right, there are a lot of
1:57
Speaker 1: despots where you can't get a sale to call all out.
2:01
Speaker 1: We're looking at behavioral evidence. How many days had passed
2:05
Speaker 1: before mom realized something was wrong. Take a listen to
2:09
Speaker 1: our friends at CBS two. Police say she's believed to
2:13
Speaker 1: have last been in Wyoming's Grand Teetown National Park. The
2:16
Speaker 1: video of the trip was uploaded to YouTube August nineteenth.
2:19
Speaker 1: Her mother says she left New York early July for
2:22
Speaker 1: the trip, which was set to end in Oregon next month.
2:25
Speaker 1: She was traveling in his white van, which police say
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Speaker 1: has been recovered. I just believe she's in danger because
2:32
Speaker 1: she's not in touch with us, and she could be
2:34
Speaker 1: alone somewhere. She could be stranded somewhere in the litlderness
2:38
Speaker 1: and he needs help. Well, is that what happened? Did
2:41
Speaker 1: she and her boyfriend have an argument and he she
2:44
Speaker 1: stormed off? Did he just leave hers stranded? My question
2:48
Speaker 1: is why is he not being forthcoming and telling the
2:52
Speaker 1: story as to what happened to Gabrielle? As I told you,
2:56
Speaker 1: the van is found and his parents driveway back and forth.
3:00
Speaker 1: But no, Gabby, how did it all start? Take a
3:03
Speaker 1: listen to April Baker Fox thirteen. Gabby is originally from
3:08
Speaker 1: New York, but she was living in Florida with her
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Speaker 1: fiance at the time they took off on the road
3:13
Speaker 1: trip back in July. Her family tells Fox News that
3:16
Speaker 1: the couple was touring national parks in a converted camper
3:20
Speaker 1: van before heading to Salt Lake City. The couple actually
3:24
Speaker 1: documented most of their trip on Instagram and YouTube. You're
3:27
Speaker 1: seeing it here, some of it showing them hanging out
3:29
Speaker 1: in a tent outside Capitol Reef. Gabby's mom, Nicole, says
3:34
Speaker 1: she last spoke on the phone with her daughter August
3:37
Speaker 1: twenty fifth. That's very critical as a matter of fact,
3:40
Speaker 1: because that travel on video, which I have watched over
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Speaker 1: and over and over. It's call I think nomadic static,
3:48
Speaker 1: but the K static, the K and it's very engrossing.
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Speaker 1: It makes you want to be with them on the
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Speaker 1: camp or this beautiful, wonderful trip. But it's critical to
4:00
Speaker 1: me because her last Instagram posting linked to that video
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Speaker 1: and that's really the last day as I understand the
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Speaker 1: timeline that we know her to be safe and alive.
4:12
Speaker 1: About the video. Take a listen to her video van Life.
4:18
Speaker 1: Take a tiny listen. Never goes outside, you know, you
4:27
Speaker 1: hear this beautiful, whimsical music throughout and this shows them
4:30
Speaker 1: traveling the country. A lot of the shots our video
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Speaker 1: as they're you know, looking out the window as they're
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Speaker 1: flying past desert. They went to the Delicate Arch, they
4:41
Speaker 1: went to the Mystic Hot Springs, They covered everything beautiful
4:46
Speaker 1: in the West. How did it all go so horribly wrong?
4:51
Speaker 1: With me and All Star panel to try to make
4:53
Speaker 1: some sense of what we know right now, and let
4:57
Speaker 1: me stress the authorities including Suffolk County PD where she's
5:05
Speaker 1: originally from in Long Island, the Florida sarah Sota County
5:11
Speaker 1: PD and Sheriff's as well as now the FBI who
5:16
Speaker 1: have been brought in all state. The boyfriend is not
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Speaker 1: a suspect or a person of interest, even though he
5:27
Speaker 1: comes back alone without Gabby, parks the van and his parents' driveway.
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Speaker 1: Lawyer's up with a lawyer and reportedly, according to Gabby's family,
5:39
Speaker 1: refuses to cooperate with police. But again, he is not
5:44
Speaker 1: a suspect or not a person of interest according to
5:48
Speaker 1: law enforcement. With me renowned trial attorney. You know her well.
5:52
Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy joining us out of North Carolina. You can
5:55
Speaker 1: find her at NC Domestic Law dot com. Karen Stark,
5:59
Speaker 1: you know her well. She is a psychologist. Joining us
6:03
Speaker 1: at of Manhattan at Karen dot com on Facebook, Karen start.
6:08
Speaker 1: That's with a c who has analyzed nearly every high
6:13
Speaker 1: profile criminal case that I can think of. Joining me,
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Speaker 1: Lisa am Daddy, a former police lieutenant. You have a
6:20
Speaker 1: police department lecturer at the director of the Center for
6:23
Speaker 1: Advanced Policing in you Haven and Emmy Award winning investigative
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Speaker 1: reporter Christy Missouri. Christy, let's start at the beginning. Tell
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Speaker 1: me about how the road trip. With the inception of
6:35
Speaker 1: the road trip, they were living together in Florida and
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Speaker 1: this boyfriend promotes himself as a nature enthusiast. Stop what do.
6:47
Speaker 1: He may promotes himself well on Facebook. In all of
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Speaker 1: his other social media, he promotes himself as a nature
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Speaker 1: enthusiast and believes that getting bug bites out in the
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Speaker 1: beauty of the world are better than being brainwashed by
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Speaker 1: the media his words. What's wrong with that? You say
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Speaker 1: it like there's something wrong with being a nature enthusiast.
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Speaker 1: And I want to ask you, is nature enthusiasts? Are those?
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Speaker 1: Your words? Are his words? His words, his words and nature?
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Speaker 1: And can I ask you this? What does you do
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Speaker 1: for a living other than being enthusiastic about nature? Working
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Speaker 1: at public's grocery store? Okay? All right, Oh, I'm glad
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Speaker 1: you said that, because they both worked at publics. But
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Speaker 1: that's not where they met. Okay, I'm interrupting. You go ahead.
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Speaker 1: Would They originally meet in New York State and then
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Speaker 1: he leaves with his parents to go to Florida. She
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Speaker 1: follows a few years later, so earlier this summer, they
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Speaker 1: decide that they are going to leave all of their
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Speaker 1: valuables behind and transform this van into a mini camper,
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Speaker 1: travel up to see her brother graduate in New York
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Speaker 1: State and then cross the country on this excursion. Now
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Speaker 1: it's my understanding, Christie Missouri. They knew each other way
8:02
Speaker 1: way back home in Suffo County, and then she goes.
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Speaker 1: Then they meet each other again years later. It's like
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Speaker 1: meeting an old high school friend and they fall in love.
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Speaker 1: He moves to Florida, she comes down with him. Her father,
8:18
Speaker 1: her bio dad, also moves to Florida to be near her.
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Speaker 1: The mom and her new husband stay in New York
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Speaker 1: is my understanding, and then they travel back to New
8:28
Speaker 1: York for her little brother's high school graduation, and from
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Speaker 1: there they commenced the road trip. Do I have it
8:35
Speaker 1: right so far? Nancy Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Karen
8:48
Speaker 1: Starting York psychologist, You and I spent many an hour
8:53
Speaker 1: alone in the dark, sitting side by side, But it's
8:56
Speaker 1: not as as as it sounds. It was the studio
9:00
Speaker 1: watching a live trials. I mean, I can't even account
9:03
Speaker 1: the hours that we were together in the studio at
9:07
Speaker 1: Court TV, and then of course at a chill in
9:09
Speaker 1: Karen Stark. You and I talked about this about how
9:13
Speaker 1: when I would try cases, the more heavier they got,
9:20
Speaker 1: the more I'd have to watch The Little House on
9:22
Speaker 1: the Prairie. Okay, as before I would go into court.
9:25
Speaker 1: It started with was just one hour. Then I'd have
9:27
Speaker 1: to start getting up an hour earlier to watch a
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Speaker 1: double a little house on the prairie before I would
9:32
Speaker 1: go in and try, say a spree murder or a
9:35
Speaker 1: torture murder or whatever I was going to try that
9:37
Speaker 1: day to get still myself. Now I'm leading up to something.
9:42
Speaker 1: Then it switched to watching Martha Stewart and her home.
9:45
Speaker 1: I think it was at Turkey Hill where she has
9:48
Speaker 1: where she has a beautiful estate, remember her show, where
9:50
Speaker 1: she would you know, you would see her out in
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Speaker 1: the garden, she'd be cooking in flower arranging and all, yeah,
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Speaker 1: it's a good thing. And that's the way this video is.
10:00
Speaker 1: This what I'm working into. It looks like something off
10:03
Speaker 1: HGTV where they have people that live they redo a
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Speaker 1: little house or a house on wheels or traveling campers
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Speaker 1: and you're on the road and it's so amazing and
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Speaker 1: it's escapist, but this was their real life. Gabby Gabrielle
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Speaker 1: Potetto and boyfriend Laundry go on this once in a
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Speaker 1: lifetime fantastic trip and they video blog it and the
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Speaker 1: blog is engrossing. In one part, Karen I mean, I
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Speaker 1: watched the whole thing, which is rare for me. She's
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Speaker 1: in her tent. She says, we're going to hang out
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Speaker 1: at the campsite today, and it all looks so cozy
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Speaker 1: and perfect, and you can see this beautiful natural scenery
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Speaker 1: that most of us just dream of seeing one day
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Speaker 1: in the background. And then one day it's raining and
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Speaker 1: she's holding the tent up like that because she says
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Speaker 1: the rains coming in, and she's laughing. She's just so
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Speaker 1: happy and it makes you want to go along with them.
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Speaker 1: She's got a very inviting personality. She's totally engrossing. And
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Speaker 1: the whole trip, like you said, is watching like Little
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Speaker 1: House on the Prairie. The only thing that's what makes
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Speaker 1: it so mysterious and up fitting to think about how
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Speaker 1: beautiful is coming across and she totally disappeared and Nancy,
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Speaker 1: when you watch that, the only thing that you can
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Speaker 1: find is that she talks about how precarious it is
11:33
Speaker 1: that they like to climb, and they really like to
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Speaker 1: climb things that are difficult. You know, that's so funny, funny. Odd,
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Speaker 1: I was up super early this morning studying about Gabrielle
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Speaker 1: Gabby and was discussing it with my friend Media and
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Speaker 1: she said, well, what if they were posting on a
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Speaker 1: cliff and Gabby fell off? And my response was that
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Speaker 1: could possibly have happened, But why would he get in
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Speaker 1: the van and come all the way back home to Florida.
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Speaker 1: It's at Northport or North north Point, Christy MISSOURIK, it's
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Speaker 1: north Port Port, Nancy. To your point about the cliff
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Speaker 1: climbing in August twenty third, Dad Gabby didn't post on
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Speaker 1: Instagram that the pair were doing adventurous and risky hikes
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Speaker 1: through some dangerous terrain during their stay. That was one
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Speaker 1: of our last posts, you know, back to you, Karen
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Speaker 1: with that knowledge. You know, we took the twins on
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Speaker 1: a cross country trip last summer because of COVID. Really
12:42
Speaker 1: we had to cancel everything we had planned and we
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Speaker 1: took off at an RV and it was just us
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Speaker 1: for Dutch oven on the grill, the whole thing, the
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Speaker 1: whole way, all the way out to the tea times
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Speaker 1: exactly where they were, and Christy missourik is right, the
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Speaker 1: hiking was very for karrious. As a matter of fact,
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Speaker 1: there were several hikes that I canceled because I saw
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Speaker 1: how difficult it was, and did not want David and
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Speaker 1: the twins up on hikes like that. But still, even
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Speaker 1: though Christy, Missouri is correct, if that happened, why would
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Speaker 1: he drive all the way back to north Port, Florida,
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Speaker 1: which I think is Sarasota County and not say were
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Speaker 1: it to anybody? If she fell off a cliff, or
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Speaker 1: even if they had an argument Karen and she's like,
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Speaker 1: I'm ain't going anymore. This is it and leaves number one?
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Speaker 1: Why would he leave or stranded if that's what happened,
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Speaker 1: but to come all the way back home and not
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Speaker 1: tell everybody what happened. Either this is really a nefarious
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Speaker 1: character and he planned something well along, or he went
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Speaker 1: into shock. Something really did happen to her and he
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Speaker 1: could incope with it in a Karen Karen, Karen, Karen, Karen, Karen.
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Speaker 1: If he could draw across country and operate a van
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Speaker 1: having to stop, I guess for gas or food, that's
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Speaker 1: not a shock to me. When you were at shock,
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Speaker 1: you can't think straight. Not necessarily, he could get himself home.
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Speaker 1: He could have power. That's the only thing I could
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Speaker 1: think of that would make sense out of it. Unless
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Speaker 1: he actually had planned all along to do something. I
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Speaker 1: don't believe that there was a plan all along to
14:27
Speaker 1: do something. I don't believe that. Guys. Take a listen
14:31
Speaker 1: to our cut five. I love the VN. So we
14:39
Speaker 1: are right outside Capital Reef right now in a free
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Speaker 1: dispersed campspot. And we've been lucky so far at all
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Speaker 1: the places where we stayed, but I'd say this is
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Speaker 1: one of the best so far. Since we left in
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Speaker 1: New York, I've only set up my hammock ones and
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Speaker 1: that we're all the way in Utah, and luckily enough,
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Speaker 1: I was able to set up my hammock one of
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Speaker 1: these trees and they're kind of like in the desert.
15:00
Speaker 1: It just sounds so beautiful. And I also noticed straight
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Speaker 1: out to you, Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina trial lawyer. Kathleen,
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Speaker 1: I noticed throughout he spoke very little. It's mostly her
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Speaker 1: shooting the video and speaking. He did occasionally speak. But
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Speaker 1: I want to know what you make of it, Kathleen. Well, first, Nancy,
15:22
Speaker 1: I went and tried to do a deep dive on
15:24
Speaker 1: who this guy is. In all of his social media accounts,
15:28
Speaker 1: there's nothing. Prior to meeting this young lady, I knew
15:32
Speaker 1: nothing about him, except what he is like with this
15:35
Speaker 1: one lady. I did, and it's concerning to meet that
15:39
Speaker 1: we don't know much. And you know, I have a
15:41
Speaker 1: daughter about the same age, and I know her boyfriend
15:44
Speaker 1: pretty well. And I went and deep dived on his
15:46
Speaker 1: social media account. I can't find anything about this young
15:51
Speaker 1: guy before he met this girl. How old is he? Well,
15:54
Speaker 1: from what we understand, he's not a suspect, he's not
15:59
Speaker 1: a person of interest. Reportedly, according to Gabby's family, he
16:04
Speaker 1: is not cooperating with police. As a matter of fact,
16:07
Speaker 1: we learned this morning that his parents, where he's bucked
16:10
Speaker 1: up in his parents' home, are not letting him speak
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Speaker 1: to police. Of course, he is a twenty three year
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Speaker 1: old young man. That's my understanding of his age. Kathleen,
16:19
Speaker 1: twenty three. It looks a lot older on the pictures,
16:22
Speaker 1: but it seems to me that he would have high
16:25
Speaker 1: school pictures and work pictures and family pictures out there.
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Speaker 1: But I didn't find anything, and so I don't really
16:32
Speaker 1: know if the family knows much about him. Well, I
16:34
Speaker 1: would think that they do. Christy, Missouri, because my understanding
16:38
Speaker 1: of how the two knew each other is they knew
16:40
Speaker 1: each other previously, and there's not much previously. There's only
16:46
Speaker 1: twenty two. So she had to know him in high
16:49
Speaker 1: school or college. She had to know him at that point.
16:53
Speaker 1: Then they reconnect and then fall in love. And that's
16:58
Speaker 1: my understanding. So the family had to know him if
17:00
Speaker 1: she knew him in her past. She's only twenty two.
17:03
Speaker 1: Correct that they didn't go to high school together, and
17:06
Speaker 1: they knew Brian in passing in passing, and when they reconnected,
17:11
Speaker 1: they kind of game gave the duel their blessing. That's
17:15
Speaker 1: why her biological father moved down to Florida to be
17:18
Speaker 1: close to them. Right when she and the boyfriend moved
17:21
Speaker 1: to Florida where his parents are, her bio dad moves
17:25
Speaker 1: down there. Okay, got it? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys,
17:39
Speaker 1: take a listen to our cut twelve. This is m
17:43
Speaker 1: Nicole Schmidt was Gabby's mother and Jim Schmidt her stepfather.
17:49
Speaker 1: At their most recent press conference, when she left, what
17:52
Speaker 1: did she say, Bima, She would you like, we high
17:58
Speaker 1: We gave him some money, so you know they'd even
18:00
Speaker 1: it because their kids, you know, they were excited about
18:03
Speaker 1: the trip. They left on July second from New York.
18:07
Speaker 1: What's the hardst of the trip that they've made. What
18:10
Speaker 1: we're been trying to do, camping, hiking, seeing the country,
18:15
Speaker 1: what would over true. The trip was was to end
18:19
Speaker 1: in October of Tortland, Oregon, and most of the last
18:23
Speaker 1: conversation you had with her on video chat, whatever she's saying,
18:28
Speaker 1: I believe it was around the twenty third and or
18:31
Speaker 1: the twenty fourth, I can't recall, but she was having
18:34
Speaker 1: a great time. She said she has headed up to Wyoming.
18:39
Speaker 1: So the last time that we see her, they were facetiming,
18:43
Speaker 1: to my understanding, was around let's give it the benefit
18:46
Speaker 1: of the doubt, August twenty four. She was not reported
18:50
Speaker 1: missing by her family until September eleven. Why well, you
18:56
Speaker 1: heard the mother stating that she thought Gabby on into
19:01
Speaker 1: a remote area where there's no cell phone coverage, so
19:04
Speaker 1: she chalked it off. Now, they were speaking every three
19:07
Speaker 1: days or so by FaceTime, and her bio dad was
19:11
Speaker 1: also speaking to her. So the first three days pass
19:14
Speaker 1: and she thinks, well, she's in a bad cell area.
19:16
Speaker 1: Then we get to the next three days as she
19:20
Speaker 1: still does not hear from her. So you go August
19:23
Speaker 1: twenty four, you pass six days, you're now at August thirty.
19:28
Speaker 1: Then she finds out to my understanding, that the boyfriend
19:32
Speaker 1: comes back home on September eleven in the van with
19:38
Speaker 1: no Gabby. That is when she, not the boyfriend, reports
19:44
Speaker 1: Gabby missing. That is the time delay. I want you
19:49
Speaker 1: to take a listen to what we know about the
19:52
Speaker 1: van showing up. Take a listen to our cut twenty four.
19:55
Speaker 1: It's Evan exel Bank, our friends at Fox thirteen. Police
19:59
Speaker 1: found the van that they were potentially by the boyfriend's parents.
20:02
Speaker 1: They are now processing that they've toted it away and
20:04
Speaker 1: are looking through it for any evidence they can find.
20:08
Speaker 1: Family in New York say that Gabrielle Potto was on
20:12
Speaker 1: a cross country trip, leaving Long Island on July second.
20:15
Speaker 1: They were headed to Oregon, but stoppering numerous places along
20:19
Speaker 1: the way, documenting their journey in their van on YouTube.
20:23
Speaker 1: Family last spoke with her August twenty fourth or twenty fifth,
20:27
Speaker 1: and last texted with her August thirtieth. She was reported
20:30
Speaker 1: missing this weekend in September eleventh, and they may have
20:33
Speaker 1: reached as far as Grand Teton National Park. Straight out
20:37
Speaker 1: to Lisa M. Daddy, a former lieutenant the Haven Senior
20:41
Speaker 1: lecturer and the director of the Center for Advanced Policing, Lisa,
20:45
Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. A made out a
20:48
Speaker 1: wish list of what I think as if they want
20:52
Speaker 1: our advice, what the cops need to be doing now.
20:55
Speaker 1: Number one, find her cell phone, examine her text her
20:59
Speaker 1: content of those texts, because the mother says she texted
21:03
Speaker 1: later on around August twenty seven to twenty nine, which
21:08
Speaker 1: furthers the timeline. But she doesn't know if those texts
21:12
Speaker 1: really came from Gabby, So they need to look at
21:15
Speaker 1: the lexicon, the vernacular, or the jargon. Is that the
21:19
Speaker 1: way she spoke, which I need to come back to
21:22
Speaker 1: you on Karen Stark in just a moment. If it's
21:24
Speaker 1: not her on those texts, that tells me this has
21:28
Speaker 1: been staged. A random kidnapp or killer would not commit
21:33
Speaker 1: the kidnapper killing and then bother to text mom pretending
21:38
Speaker 1: to be her that just raper and kill her and
21:40
Speaker 1: throw her on the side of the road. That's how
21:42
Speaker 1: that would work. So this is not random. If those
21:46
Speaker 1: texts were staged, then I would go to that last
21:49
Speaker 1: text and triangulate the location, because that is where your
21:54
Speaker 1: timeline starts of her disappearance. Then backtrack. When I say backtrack,
21:59
Speaker 1: I mean look at every ATM credit card use, get
22:03
Speaker 1: the NAV data from the truck if it exists, and
22:09
Speaker 1: then get a search warrant for both of their phones
22:12
Speaker 1: and all their social media. Okay, what would you do, Lisa, Nancy,
22:16
Speaker 1: you hit the nail on the head. That is exactly
22:18
Speaker 1: what I would do with the cell phones for both
22:20
Speaker 1: of them. Is really going to be paramount air in
22:23
Speaker 1: addition to any you know, once you hit the locations
22:26
Speaker 1: from the cell phone and I know, and you're gonna
22:29
Speaker 1: have dead areas, right, but yet you're gonna know through
22:32
Speaker 1: maybe tolls or through where he got gas utilizing a
22:36
Speaker 1: credit card or an ATM video that may exist, highway cameras,
22:42
Speaker 1: like really trying to track his timeline, which is just
22:46
Speaker 1: as critical. You got my number eight, Lisa, determine the
22:52
Speaker 1: route via the text triangulation and go to tolls, red
22:57
Speaker 1: light cams and tag grabbers. People don't know what that is.
23:03
Speaker 1: On the side of the road. There's like a metal
23:05
Speaker 1: pole maybe four feet four feet tall, with a rectangular
23:13
Speaker 1: attachment across the top. It's a tag grabber. It grabs
23:16
Speaker 1: all the tag licenses going by and find out if
23:21
Speaker 1: in that video of those tolls and red lights and
23:26
Speaker 1: doorcams and gas station video, when does she suddenly go
23:31
Speaker 1: missing from that passenger front seat and figure out where?
23:36
Speaker 1: Then I would start working the witnesses at restaurants, campsites,
23:40
Speaker 1: gas stations. Nancy, can I jump in here? Please sit
23:43
Speaker 1: in a shop. I was talking with a friend of
23:45
Speaker 1: mine this morning and he said it's a two thousand
23:48
Speaker 1: and fifteen forward vand I had two twelve. I'm glad
23:52
Speaker 1: you corrected me. Yeah. A lot of individuals will buy
23:56
Speaker 1: and pay cash or pay money right then for the van,
24:00
Speaker 1: or put it down, payment down so that if somebody
24:03
Speaker 1: doesn't make the payments, they know exactly where the vehicle
24:05
Speaker 1: is and they can tell it. So I suspect that
24:08
Speaker 1: the police are going to look to see if there's
24:11
Speaker 1: some kind of device on that van to have its
24:15
Speaker 1: GPS coordinates. Now, I've got twenty twelve, and I don't
24:19
Speaker 1: know if they had an AVVN A four van at
24:21
Speaker 1: that time, but in twenty fifteen, I think that they did,
24:25
Speaker 1: if that's the date you're giving me. Now we know
24:27
Speaker 1: she checked out of a Salt Lake City hotel and
24:32
Speaker 1: that was on August twenty fifth, as I recall the
24:35
Speaker 1: last day she was seeing she also spoke to her
24:38
Speaker 1: mother on that date. That's where everything goes murky. We
24:42
Speaker 1: know she was going to a precarious hiking area, but
24:45
Speaker 1: that's where it all ends, back to what Evan axel
24:51
Speaker 1: Bank at Fox thirteen was reporting in our cut twenty four.
24:55
Speaker 1: Would you play that again, please, Jackie. Police found the
24:58
Speaker 1: van that they were traveling here at the home that
25:00
Speaker 1: is owned potentially by the boyfriend's parents. They are now
25:04
Speaker 1: processing that they've towed it away and are looking through
25:06
Speaker 1: it for any evidence they can find. Family in New
25:10
Speaker 1: York say that Gabrielle Potto was on a cross country trip,
25:14
Speaker 1: leaving Long Island on July second. They were headed to Oregon,
25:18
Speaker 1: but stoppering numerous places along the way, documenting their journey
25:22
Speaker 1: in their van on YouTube. Family last spoke with her
25:25
Speaker 1: August twenty fourth or twenty fifth, and last texted with
25:29
Speaker 1: her August thirtieth. She was reported missing this weekend September eleventh,
25:33
Speaker 1: and they may have reached as far as Grand Titan
25:37
Speaker 1: National Park. That August thirty day gives me a little
25:40
Speaker 1: bit more of an explanation about why the parents waited
25:42
Speaker 1: until September eleven to report her if they think they
25:45
Speaker 1: got a text on August thirty, and they spoke every
25:48
Speaker 1: three days. The first three days passed and mom thought
25:52
Speaker 1: she is in a bad sale, the second three days
25:54
Speaker 1: an Now we're at about September six or seven. Crime
26:06
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace. I want to talk about jargon.
26:12
Speaker 1: Karen Stark, New York Psychologists joining us out of Manhattan.
26:16
Speaker 1: You can find her at Karen psych or Facebook Karen Stark,
26:21
Speaker 1: Karen with a See Karen. I know your style of
26:25
Speaker 1: texting and you know my style of texting, and they're
26:30
Speaker 1: radically different. I'm sure if I wrote you a full
26:35
Speaker 1: sentence or paragraph with all the caps and the punctuation,
26:43
Speaker 1: you would know it was not for me. If I
26:48
Speaker 1: didn't speak in abbreviations or sometimes just one letter for
26:53
Speaker 1: the word, you would know something was very, very wrong.
26:57
Speaker 1: So why does the mother one or are these texts
27:01
Speaker 1: from my daughter? I'm glad you brought that up now
27:04
Speaker 1: to because that's what's going around in my head is
27:07
Speaker 1: what did the mother realize? What did she see that
27:11
Speaker 1: makes her think this might not have been her child?
27:15
Speaker 1: And just like you said, you don't just likely speak differently,
27:19
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering what she picked up on. There must
27:23
Speaker 1: have been something where she went to added that put
27:26
Speaker 1: that she's not sure that that was actually her daughter
27:29
Speaker 1: Jubb and Lisa Daddy. What do you think about speculation
27:32
Speaker 1: the texts were not really from Gabby. Yeah, I mean,
27:36
Speaker 1: I think it's tough. That was one of the things
27:38
Speaker 1: when you know, I had been hearing about this case
27:42
Speaker 1: and kind of what mom has been saying, and you know,
27:46
Speaker 1: I'd be really curious as to why she made that
27:49
Speaker 1: steam as why she's not sure it was her own daughter.
27:53
Speaker 1: So a mom's intuition is going to be like there
27:55
Speaker 1: was something there that was nagging at her. That probably
28:00
Speaker 1: her belief in the intuition that so many of us
28:02
Speaker 1: have when it's involving our children that something just isn't right.
28:08
Speaker 1: And then following through on that, and that's where the
28:10
Speaker 1: whole linguistics and everything is going to really come into play, Nancy,
28:13
Speaker 1: like you have mentioned, and you know, trying to figure
28:16
Speaker 1: that out and back to the whole triangulation and the
28:20
Speaker 1: electronic and digital data from the cell phones is just
28:24
Speaker 1: going to be so critical, Like when was the last
28:26
Speaker 1: time her phone was on? Looking at what was stated
28:31
Speaker 1: via those text messages and then you know, for me
28:34
Speaker 1: not to put any blame on a parent if I
28:36
Speaker 1: never would do that, but my gosh, you know, being
28:39
Speaker 1: so concerned about where she is and just having this
28:42
Speaker 1: little nagging feeling inside of you that something just isn't right. Yeah,
28:46
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of questions about why she was
28:49
Speaker 1: not reported until September eleven, but the mom seems to
28:53
Speaker 1: have an explanation for that. Guys, take a listen again,
28:58
Speaker 1: this is our cut eleven. Is the mother Nicole Schmidt
29:02
Speaker 1: and the stepfather Jim Schmidt. How did you meet them? When?
29:14
Speaker 1: And how often did you talk her own before? She
29:17
Speaker 1: was a frequently alway at least three times a week
29:22
Speaker 1: even face time called text arequently she got me updated
29:26
Speaker 1: on this whole trip. Did it start to dwindle? Did
29:29
Speaker 1: her communication started fade or no? Not until I received
29:36
Speaker 1: a text on the thirtieth That was the last communication.
29:38
Speaker 1: I have. Anybody doubts about that tax score? I can't
29:41
Speaker 1: come on on that. Did you hear that straight out
29:45
Speaker 1: to you? Lisa Daddy, a former police lieutenant. When the
29:47
Speaker 1: mom is asked and this is at a public press conference,
29:51
Speaker 1: and you know, law enforcement is watching. You got Suffolk
29:54
Speaker 1: County on it, you got Sarasota County, and you got
29:56
Speaker 1: the FBI watching. When she was asked, do you have
30:00
Speaker 1: doubts if that was Gabby texting you, she said, I
30:03
Speaker 1: can't comment. That tells me she did have doubts, right,
30:07
Speaker 1: and again telling right, It's like, oh, my goodness, and
30:11
Speaker 1: the guilt that she must feel that here. For twelve
30:14
Speaker 1: days or so, there had been nothing from her daughter
30:16
Speaker 1: except for that text message on the thirtieth that she's
30:20
Speaker 1: now questioning, and yet don't, for whatever reason, report we're
30:24
Speaker 1: missing for twelve days. Guys, take a listen to more
30:27
Speaker 1: from Nicole Schmidt, the mom and Jim Schmidt, the stepdad.
30:31
Speaker 1: The first couple of days, I wasn't getting responses. I
30:34
Speaker 1: believe she was in a place with no service. Um
30:37
Speaker 1: it took. It was like day eight to nine that
30:40
Speaker 1: I really became concerned. I figured that she couldn't be
30:44
Speaker 1: off the great for the long she's sending you text
30:48
Speaker 1: messages after the Hall, I'm trying her focust hall. Yes,
30:52
Speaker 1: we had we had text only conversations on up to
30:58
Speaker 1: the twenty seventh, and I only received text on her
31:00
Speaker 1: on the thirtieth, which I had not responded to. Who's
31:03
Speaker 1: just a text to me? What was that one on
31:05
Speaker 1: the thirtieth? I can't comment on that? Why can't she
31:09
Speaker 1: comment on what the text said? On August thirty, Christy, Missouri,
31:14
Speaker 1: do you have any inside information on that the police sources.
31:18
Speaker 1: I'm talking to our mom, Nancy, So it's something very
31:22
Speaker 1: telling that raised a concern to the mother. They did
31:27
Speaker 1: start calling Gabby's phone and those phone calls were immediately
31:32
Speaker 1: going to voicemail after that attacked and Lisa Daddy, It
31:36
Speaker 1: doesn't that mean something specific when it goes straight to voicemail? Yeah,
31:40
Speaker 1: absolutely it does. You know, the phone obviously is off,
31:43
Speaker 1: you know, possibly even no cell service may do that
31:46
Speaker 1: as well, but not for that prolonged period of time.
31:51
Speaker 1: I would be comparing the boyfriend's text and his cell
31:55
Speaker 1: phone service to hers right now and get a search
31:58
Speaker 1: warrant for all of their iCloud, their phone, you name it,
32:01
Speaker 1: everything you can get, including your social media. Guys, take
32:06
Speaker 1: a listen one more time to what the mother, Nicole
32:09
Speaker 1: Schmidt and the stepfather Jim Schmidt are saying. It is
32:13
Speaker 1: possible that she would just choose not be in contact
32:16
Speaker 1: for a while and just be enjoying those. I know
32:20
Speaker 1: that I believe the mother the stingless powerful do these
32:27
Speaker 1: av I don't know. I believe she's gonna go home
32:34
Speaker 1: to you. Kathleen Murphy. I know you've heard this a
32:37
Speaker 1: million times in your practice. Oh, she just wanted alone time.
32:40
Speaker 1: B s Yeah. The mother says she would never do that.
32:44
Speaker 1: She didn't want alone time. A mother knows Nancy. And
32:47
Speaker 1: I think that the fact that the mother hasn't made
32:50
Speaker 1: a comment about that last Texas concerning that maybe she
32:54
Speaker 1: reached out to her mother was some news or some
32:56
Speaker 1: information that was concerning and the mother was trying to
32:59
Speaker 1: follow up on it. And you know your child, whether
33:04
Speaker 1: your child is a thousand mile away or in front
33:06
Speaker 1: of your face, you know when something's going on. Nicole
33:11
Speaker 1: Schmidt says she thinks her daughter is in danger. Listen,
33:16
Speaker 1: why do you believe she's in danger. I don't know
33:20
Speaker 1: if I believe she's in danger for starcularison, but I
33:25
Speaker 1: just believe she's in danger because she's not in touch
33:27
Speaker 1: with us, and she could be alone somewhere. She was
33:30
Speaker 1: stranded somewhere in her ordinates, and she needs help. And
33:35
Speaker 1: I hope that we're not out there, but I hope
33:37
Speaker 1: that everybody's looking for her. Hope that the hikers and
33:40
Speaker 1: the rangers and the campers and everybody has her face
33:44
Speaker 1: and they're looking for her. Actually, I want you to
33:47
Speaker 1: hear how Nicole and Jim Schmidt close that press conference. Listen,
33:53
Speaker 1: I just want to reiterate that we're looking for her
33:56
Speaker 1: and only her. We're not looking for the van for
34:00
Speaker 1: the two commility, for Schter. We need to find rm
34:04
Speaker 1: in our home and watching this, you know, verrying a
34:10
Speaker 1: blazing right with her come home. Thanks you, and you
34:26
Speaker 1: can hear the step dad stepping in. Sounds like the
34:29
Speaker 1: mother was crying at that juncture. This as we learn
34:33
Speaker 1: just this morning that the parents of the fiancee are
34:39
Speaker 1: refusing to let cops speak to him about her disappearance.
34:43
Speaker 1: The Ford transit has been seized and it's been taken
34:48
Speaker 1: away for forensics examination, and the cops will say only
34:51
Speaker 1: that quote. The circumstances are odd. I mean, you know,
34:56
Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, let me go to you, and then Karen Stark.
35:00
Speaker 1: If David went missing, my husband, David, I would be
35:05
Speaker 1: lying on the front steps to the police department screaming
35:09
Speaker 1: for action. I would not be hiding in my parents'
35:12
Speaker 1: house refusing to speak to cops. I mean, maybe his
35:17
Speaker 1: parents are trying to protect him, maybe they think, oh,
35:19
Speaker 1: you'll become a suspect. But by not speaking and telling
35:23
Speaker 1: what he believes happened to Gabby, it's just making him
35:26
Speaker 1: look bad. They look real bad. It's making him look guilty.
35:29
Speaker 1: It's making him look like he has something to hide.
35:32
Speaker 1: And I would suggest to you that if they've known
35:35
Speaker 1: each other for two years plus, that the parents know
35:38
Speaker 1: each other, I'd be calling that mother, I'd be calling
35:41
Speaker 1: that father. I'd be putting a lot of pressure on
35:44
Speaker 1: their mutual friend. Find out where the heck my child is,
35:47
Speaker 1: find out what that happened. And the fact that he's
35:51
Speaker 1: not even talking to them triples my concern. Jaron's start
35:56
Speaker 1: New York psychologists joining us out of Manhattan today. In again,
36:01
Speaker 1: police say he's not a suspect or a person of interest.
36:04
Speaker 1: But I can tell you that Van has been seized
36:07
Speaker 1: out of his parents' driveway. He has yet to tell
36:10
Speaker 1: cops that we know of what happened to Gabby, and
36:13
Speaker 1: he has hired a lawyer. It's just a mad look.
36:16
Speaker 1: Even if he's not a suspect. Yeah, something seems very
36:20
Speaker 1: very wrong, Nancy. And you wonder, like I'm a fit ant.
36:25
Speaker 1: I would be there with those parents staying on their door,
36:30
Speaker 1: as you said, and trying to figure out why is
36:33
Speaker 1: he not talking? What's going on that they're protecting him?
36:37
Speaker 1: Something really doesn't make sense here. And he knows I
36:42
Speaker 1: really think he knows something that we're not knowing at
36:45
Speaker 1: this point. Well, yes, he does know. Whether she stormed
36:48
Speaker 1: off after an argument where there he got mad and
36:50
Speaker 1: left her at a hotel, whether he left her on
36:52
Speaker 1: the side of the road, whether she fell off a cliff.
36:55
Speaker 1: He has the answers. She's last seen by other people
36:59
Speaker 1: and checks out of that Salt Lake City hotel that
37:02
Speaker 1: was on August twenty four, twenty five. She is missing.
37:08
Speaker 1: The parents say point blank, we have not talked with
37:12
Speaker 1: the fiance. We would love to talk to him. So
37:15
Speaker 1: why And there are photos I'm looking at of the
37:19
Speaker 1: dad out cutting to the grass, not letting anyone speak
37:23
Speaker 1: to the sun. Why. If you have information about the
37:28
Speaker 1: whereabouts of Gabrielle Potto, Gabby Potto number eight hundred two
37:33
Speaker 1: two zero eight four seven seven. There's a go fund
37:36
Speaker 1: me help us find Gabby Repeat eight hundred two two
37:41
Speaker 1: zero eight four seven seven We Waked as Justice Unfalls
37:46
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace Crumbs story signing off Goodbye Friend,