Authorities in at least two states were working Monday to solve the mystery of Gabby Petito, hours after the FBI announced that remains found in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest are likely those of the 22-year-old blogger.
Petito and Brian Laundrie were high school sweethearts. Laundrie’s parents moved to North Port, Florida later and Petito and Laundrie lived with them when they started their cross-country journey.
The couple left Long Island in July, planning to tour national parks and arrive in Oregon late next month. Laundrie was left behind with the van when she returned to Long Island in July. Petito’s family filed a missing person report on Sept. 11, after they had not heard from their daughter since August.
Police described Laundrie in the case as a person of interest. Laundry and his family members repeatedly declined to discuss Petito’s disappearance with law enforcement – until Friday, when his family said Laundrie himself was missing.
Gabby Petito timeline: From road trip with Brian Laundrie to missing person investigation
Where is Brian Laundrie?
Laundrie’s family claims that they last saw him Tuesday afternoon when he had packed up his car and told them he was going to hike. The family found the car near the Carlton Reserve, a nearby, 25,000-acre Sarasota County recreation park. Steven Bertolino (Laundrie’s family lawyer) stated in a statement that he found a note from North Port Police Department stating it had to be taken out. He said that the family took the car out the following day.
Dozens of law enforcement officers have been searching the vast stretches of hiking trails and brush for any sign of Laundrie. The search was made possible by drones, scent-sniffing dog,s and all-terrain vehicles. Investigators took some of his clothing from his parents’ home to provide a scent for the search dogs.
Monday saw authorities returning to the reserve to continue their search.
Body found:Gabby Petito’s body believed to have been found near Grand Teton National Park
Remains of Gabby believed to be found
The FBI said law enforcement combing through a camping area on the eastern border of Grand Teton National Park found human remains that appear to be those of Petito. Authorities will conduct a forensic review to verify the remains, according to Charles Jones, a special agent with the FBI’s Denver office. Jones declined to give details about the location of the body or the clues that led to its discovery. A cause of death was not immediately clear, he said.
“I would like to extend sincere and heartfelt condolences to Gabby’s family,” Jones stated. “As every parent can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time.”
Social media sleuths seek clues: What happened to Gabby Petito? Mystery prompts online searches
Petito’s family is heartbroken, grateful for law enforcement efforts
Petito’s father, Joseph, posted on social media an image of a broken heart above a picture of his daughter with a message that said, “she touched the world.” An attorney and spokesman for Petito’s family asked in a statement that the family be given room to grieve. Attorney Richard Benson Stafford stated that the family would release a statement later and thanked Grand Teton Search and Rescue and the FBI for their assistance in finding Petito.
“The family and I will be forever grateful,” Stafford stated in a statement.
The investigation tracks Petito’s whereabouts
Jones said investigators were still seeking information from anyone who may have seen Petito or Laundrie around the Spread Creek camping area in Wyoming, where law enforcement search efforts focused over the weekend. According to Petito’s family, they were last in contact with her during the last week of August. A verified GoFundMe page set up to raise funds says Petito was “last known to be in Grand Teton, Wyoming on 8/25/21 heading toward Yellowstone National Park.”
“The last text I got from her was on Aug. 30,” Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, told WFLA-TV. “I don’t know if that was her texting me or not.”
The couple takes a cross-country excursion
The couple was traveling in a white 2012 Ford Transit van with a Florida license plate. The van had been converted so the two could live and travel comfortably, social media posts from Petito said. The only video posted on the couple’s joint YouTube page was “Nomadic Statik,” which was created and posted on Aug. 19.
The eight-minute video titled “Van Life: Beginning our Van Life Journey” features happy and romantic scenes from the couple’s trip.
Video offers details on clash in Utah
But issues had arisen before Aug. 19, and authorities have released information showing the couple got into a dispute in Utah a week earlier. A video released by the Moab Police Department shows an officer pulled over the van on Aug. 12 after it was seen speeding and hit a curb near the entrance to Arches National Park. Petito was clearly upset when an officer approached her body camera.
“We’ve just been fighting this morning. Some personal issues,” He asks her, and she says that she has an obsessive-compulsive condition that affects how she behaves.
After friction between the two had been building for several days, Laundrie said that Petito slapped her. The officer wrote in a report that the two had been traveling together for several months, and the closeness created an “emotional strain” leading to more arguments. In the video, officers instructed the couple to go to separate rooms for the night.
“I do not believe the situation escalated to the level of a domestic assault as much as that of a mental health crisis,” In the report, the officer concluded.