- Authorities said they found human remains that appear to be Gabby Petito after combing through a camping area in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.
- Petito, 22, a blogger, went missing while on a cross-country trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, 23.
- This case has generated national intrigue and a cross-country effort to solve the mystery.
Federal authorities have discovered the remains of a body they believe to be Gabby Petito, 22, a blogger whose mysterious disappearance has fueled national intrigue and a cross-country effort to solve the complex and increasingly bizarre case.
The FBI said law enforcement had combed through a camping area in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forestand found human remains that appear to bePetito. Authorities will conduct a full forensic review to verify the remains, according to Charles Jones, a special agent with the FBI’s Denver office. Jones said that the cause of death wasn’t immediately known.
“I would like to extend sincere and heartfelt condolences to Gabby’s family,” Jones confirmed Jones’ statement. “As every parent can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time.”
The FBI made the announcement Sunday as law enforcement in Florida ended a second day of searching for Petito’s fiancé — the lone person of interest who himself vanished last week.
Police plan to continue their search Monday through a nearly 25,000-acre wildlife reserve near Sarasota, Florida, for Brian Laundrie, 23.
Petito went missing while on a cross-country trip with Laundrie. She was last seen in Grand Teton National Park in late August. Laundry returned home alone on Sept. 1 from the couple’s week-long trip, only to disappear himself last week.
Petito’s mother, Nicole Schmidt, last reported speaking with her daughter on Aug. 25, and the family filed a missing person’s report on Sept. 11. The FBI in Denver said agents conducted ground surveys at Grand Teton National Park with help from the National Park Service and law enforcement agencies, seeking clues to Petito’s disappearance.
According to their social media accounts, the couple set off in July from Long Island in New York. They had been high school sweethearts. They hoped to arrive in Oregon by October’s end. They had lived in North Port, Florida with Laundrie’s parents before the trip.
After Laundrie returned to Florida alone, he refused to talk with authorities and instead hired a lawyer, who advised him to remain silent.
What happened to Gabby Petito: Mystery prompts vast searches; social media sleuths hunt for clues
Authorities have released information showing the couple got into a fight during their cross-country trip. A witness reported a potential domestic violence incident in August in Moab, Utah, and police were called.
Body camera footage shows Petito in tears when an officer responded on the side of a highway near Arches National Park. After friction between the two had been building for several days, Laundrie said that Petito had slapped him. The officer wrote that the two had been traveling together for several months, and the closeness created an “emotional strain” leading to more arguments.
Petito and Laundrie both had the same mental illness, according to an officer. The condition was not described in the police report.
Officers in the video told the couple to sleep in separate places for the night so they could “reset their mental states without interference from one another.”
“I do not believe the situation escalated to the level of a domestic assault as much as that of a mental health crisis,” the officer concluded in the report.
Meanwhile, law enforcement on Sunday resumed their search for Laundrie. His family reported him missing and say he was last seen in the Carlton Reserve.
Gabby Petito updates: FBI now searching for Brian Laundrie, fiancé of missing Gabby Petito
Timeline: From road trip with Brian Laundrie to missing person investigation
Laundry and his family had declined to discuss Petito’s case with police – until Friday, when family members filed a missing person report for Laundrie, North Port Police spokesman Josh Taylor told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, part of the USA TODAY Network.
“It is important to note that while Brian is a person of interest in Gabby’s disappearance, he is not wanted for a crime,” In a statement, North Port police stated.
The family said they believe Laundrie went to the reserve earlier in the week. Police from North Port, the FBI, and other agencies are searching the Sarasota County reserves.
They used drones and all-terrain vehicles, as well as scent-sniffing dogs and drones. Investigators took some of his clothing from his parents’ home to provide a scent for the search dogs.
The twists and turns of the case have intrigued the country, including on social media.
On TikTok, the hashtag #gabbypetito has gained more than 275 million views, and many creators share updates — often of unconfirmed reports, screenshots of texts from amateur sleuths about their theories and their own feelings about the case.
Protesters also were a fixture outside Laundrie’s family home in North Port. A crowd had grown over the days, yelling, “Where’s Gabby?”
Contributing: Christine Fernando and Alex Connor, USA TODAY; Samantha Gholar Weirs, Sarasota Herald-Tribune