Who was Gabby Petito?
Gabrielle “Gabby” Venora Petito was born March 19th, 1999 in Blue Point on Long Island, New York. She was the oldest sister to six siblings/half-siblings. She graduated from Bayport-Blue Point High School on Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York in 2017. She worked as a hostess and in the kitchen of a restaurant, she worked as a pharmacy technician, and she worked as a nutritionist. She met her future fiancé, Brian Christopher Laundrie, in high school in Blue Point. She got engaged to him in July, 2020. She traveled with Laundrie from New York to the West coast to visit state and national parks. This is when she disappeared.
Background Information:
Throughout the trip, Petito documented their life traveling through her YouTube and Instagram account.
Late 2019/Early 2020 - Petito and Laundrie went on a road trip in a Nissan Sentra. They left New York to travel to California and visited Bedford, Texas; Pikes Peak, Las Vegas; Yosemite National Park, California; Pismo Beach, California; and Santa Monica, California. At this time, they worked in a Publix grocery store in North Port, Florida. Petito worked as a pharmacy technician and Laundrie worked in the grocery department. They both quit because of COVID-19.
March 2020 - Petito turned 21 and she celebrated her birthday in Nokomis, Florida.
June 2020 - Petito and Laundrie went to Sope Creek, Georgia.
July 2020 - Petito and Laundrie got engaged.
December 2020 - Petito bought the 2012 Ford Transit Connect van that they eventually turned into a camper for their cross country trip. At this time, she worked as a nutritionist and Laundrie worked at an organic juice bar.
June - July, 2021:
June 17th, 2021 - Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were in Blue Point in Long Island, New York for Petito's brother's high school graduation ceremony.
July 2nd, 2021 - The couple leaves Blue Point, New York for their four month cross-country trip in their 2012 Ford Transit Connect van turned camper. They planned to travel across the country to visit state and national parks, then they would travel along the West Coast.
Throughout July, Petito and Laundrie visited Monument Rocks, Kansas; Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado; Zion National Park, Utah; Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah; Mystic Hot Springs, Utah; and Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
August, 2021:
August 12th, 2021 - At the Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab, Utah which is near Canyonlands National Park, a witness called 9-1-1 because they saw a couple, Petito and Laundrie, fighting. The witness told the dispatcher that Laundrie hit Petito, they ran around on the sidewalk, Laundrie hit Petito again, and then they left. Another witness claimed that Petito and Laundrie were “aggressively” talking and Petito hit Laundrie in the arm. The witness said that they thought it looked like Laundrie was trying to leave and take Petito’s phone with him. Before he could do that, Petito got into the driver’s seat, then got into the passenger seat and asked, before they drove off, “Why do you have to be so mean?”
The police forced Petito and Laundrie to stop at a traffic stop near the entrance of the Arches National Park where they found Petito sobbing in the passenger seat which was captured on police body cam footage. The responding officer later stated in a report, “...at no point in my investigation did Gabrielle stop crying, breathing heavily, or compose a sentence without needing to wipe away tears, wipe her nose, or rub her knees with her hands."
Petito told the responding officers that she and Laundrie had been arguing over her cleaning the van excessively and possible obsessive compulsive disorder. Laundrie told the responding officers that emotional tension had been building since they had been traveling together for four to five weeks. The couple agreed that Petito had struck Laundrie because she was afraid of him leaving her after he got into the van. Petito said that Laundrie "kept telling me to shut up" and "grabbed my face". She then showed the responding officer a wound that she said “burned”. Petito repeated to the officer that she had hit Laundrie first, and she asked that they not be separated. No charges were filed by either party and the police made arrangements for Laundrie to stay at the Bowen Motel in Moab while Petito would stay in the van, separating the two overnight. The incident was characterized as "disorderly conduct" rather than a case of domestic violence.
August 17th, 2021 - Laundrie flew from Salt Lake City, Utah to Tampa, Florida. Petito was left at the Fairfield Inn and Suites hotel that was near the Salt Lake City International Airport. The Laundrie family lawyer later explained why Laundrie went to Tampa, saying that Laundrie left to "obtain some items and empty and close the storage unit to save money as they contemplated extending the road trip."
August 23rd, 2021 - Laundrie came back to Salt Lake City.
August 24th, 2021 - Petito checked out of the Fairfield Inn and Suites.
August 25th, 2021 - Petito's mother, Nicole Schmidt, said that the last time she talked to her daughter was August 25th. Schmidt said that Petito told her that she and Laundrie would be leaving Utah to visit Grand Teton Park and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. On this day, Petito posted her final Instagram post which had photos of herself in front of a butterfly mural in Ogden, Utah.
August 26th through 28th, 2021 - A witness said that she reported, to the FBI, the activities and coordinates of a "slow-moving white van" and a "generic young white man" who was "acting weird" near the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area of Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming near Grand Teton National Park. She posted a TikTok video about it and according to this witness, an FBI agent told her that her post "tipped them off to the right place" in the terms of finding Petito's body.
August 27th, 2021 - Between 1:00pm and 2:00pm, Petito and Laundrie were seen at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Jackson Hole, Wyoming which restaurant staff confirmed on Instagram. Laundrie argued with restaurant staff including the manager, waitress, and hostess. Petito was later seen at the restaurant crying and apologizing to staff for Laundrie's behavior.
Around 6:00 pm, the operators of a YouTube channel posted dashcam footage of a white van that looked like Petito and Laundrie's. They were interested in the van's Florida license plate, since they were also from Florida. The YouTubers saw the van at Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area of Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming near Grand Teton National Park. They saw the van again later that night when they returned to the area.
Nicole Schmidt was sent a text from Petito's phone saying, "Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls". That message concerned Schmidt because Petito never called Stan, who was her grandfather, by his first name.
August 29th, 2021 - Miranda Baker on TikTok claimed that she and her boyfriend gave a ride to Laundrie , who was hitchhiking alone, from an area near Colter Bay Village. She stated that Laundrie "freaked out" when he learned that they were traveling to Jackson Hole, not Jackson, Wyoming. They dropped Laundrie off near the Jackson Lake Dam at 6:09pm, 30 minutes after they initially picked him up. The witness also said she "found it weird" that Laundrie offered to give her $200 for a 10 mile ride and didn't appear dirty despite having been camping for days.
Another witness stated that she picked up Laundrie near the Jackson Dam area at 6:20pm/6:30pm. She dropped him off at the entrance to the the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area. He said that he didn't want to be taken further than the entrance of the campground which was miles away from where their van was supposed to be. He offered the witness gas money and the witness said that Laundrie was acting "antsy".
August 30th, 2021 - Nicole Schmidt was sent another text from Petito's phone saying, "No service in Yosemite". Schmidt was very uncertain about who sent the messages.
September, 2021:
September 1st, 2021 - Laundrie returned to his parents' house in North Port, Florida alone in the white van that he and Petito had been traveling in.
September 6th/7th, 2021 - Laundrie went camping with his parents in the Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County, Florida.
September 11th, 2021 - After not hearing from Petito since late August, Nicole Schmidt filed a missing person's report for Petito to the Suffolk County police in New York.
September 15th, 2021 - The FBI declared that Laundrie was a person of interest. Laundrie's parents hired a lawyer and, based on their lawyer's advice, they did not talk to anyone about the case. The police had been watching Laundrie since September 13th when he left his parents home. The police believe they saw Laundrie return on September 15th.
September 16th, 2021 - North Point Police Chief Todd Garrison told reporters in a news conference that they " know where Brian Laundrie is at."
September 17th, 2021 - Laundrie was reported by his parents as a missing person since they had not seen him since September 13th. With this information, the police concluded that the person who entered the Laundrie house on September 15th was most likely Roberta Laundrie, his mother.
September 19th, 2021 - Human remains were found in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area of Bridger–Teton National Forest near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
September 20th, 2021 - Laundrie's parents were questioned by the FBI. Federal agents execute a search warrant at the Laundrie's home.
September 21st, 2021 - The human remains found in the Bridger-Teton National Forest were confirmed to be Petito's by the Teton County coroner.
September 23rd, 2021 - An arrest warrant for Laundrie was issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming. A warrant was issued because of unauthorized use of someone's debit card during August 30th, 2021 and September 1st, 2021.
October, 2021:
October 5th, 2021 - Laundrie's sister went on ABC News for an interview in which she asked Laundrie to turn himself in.
October 7th, 2021 - The FBI, police, and Laundrie's parents searched for Laundrie in areas he would go to frequently in the Carlton Reserve that is near the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
October 12th, 2021 - It was determined that Petito's matter of death was homicide. She died via manual strangulation, and the death occurred three/four weeks before the body was found. To clarify, manual strangulation is when strangulation is committed via the attacker’s hands.
October 20th, 2021 - Human remains were found near the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park which is an area connected to the Carlton Reserve. Some of Laundrie's belongings, like a backpack and notebook, were found after being underwater due to flooding.
October 21st, 2021 - The human remains found the day before were confirmed to be Laundrie's remains through his dental records. His matter of death has not been released to the public. However, the Laundrie's lawyer has stated that results are "expected soon".
November, 2021:
November 23rd, 2021 - Brian Entin of News Nation Now reported that Laundrie's matter of death was suicide. Specifically, Laundrie died of a gunshot wound to his head. The Laundrie's attorney stated, "Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been informed the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was suicide. Chris and Roberta are still mourning the loss of their son and are hopeful that these findings bring closure to both families."
November 27th, 2021 - Bertolino stated that in cooperation with law enforcement, they thought it was best to keep knowledge of a missing gun from the Laundrie home away from the public. Neither the North Port police or FBI has stated if they recovered a gun from the Carlton Reserve.
January, 2022:
January 4th, 2022 - Laundrie's parents are trying to get back items that were found close to Laundrie's body from the FBI. With the help of their attorney, Steven Bertolino, Laundrie's parents are working to get back those items, specifically a notebook that the FBI has not released. In an interview, Bertolino told NewsNation's Brian Entin that he is working with the Petito family's attorney to "work this out cordially".
January 12th, 2022 - A review of the August 12th, 2021 response to a 9-1-1 call involving Petito and Laundrie is released by " an independent law enforcement agency". The review determined that the officers that responded to the call made multiple "unintentional mistakes" including the fact that the officers did not read the "entire assault statute" and that the officers "misinterpreted" the "language" of the statute. The report suggests that there need to be improvements made to training regiment like "more domestic violence investigation training", "Strengthening the review process for incident reports", and "Additional legal training, to make sure officers understand state laws and statutes".