Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old “van lifer” has been missing since late August when her fiancé Brian Laundrie returned to Florida from their cross-country road trip without her. She was reported missing on September 11 (10 days prior her fiancé returned home), however, activity on her end had changes in between going missing and the report. Her last known location was Grand Teton Nation Park in Wyoming.
Previous to her disappearance, Petito kept in regular contact with her parents, as well as thoroughly documenting her journey with her fiancé on YouTube and Instagram. However, starting in late August her communication seemed “off”, according to her mother Nicole Schmidt upon receiving a text from her daughter on August 30 saying ‘No service in Yosemite’. Yosemite is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range – around 800 miles from Grand Teton.
The irregularities are evident on her Instagram (@gabspetito) as well. Petito’s usual posting style included long captions detailing her adventures with only the first letter of a sentence or “I” being capitalized regardless, many hashtags, a location tag of where she was, and several photos. However, her most recent Instagram photo is an unusual break from this pattern. There is no location tag, no hashtags, and captioned ‘Happy Halloween’, a stark contrast to her usual posting style. The comment section of this post is full of confusion over this dramatic change. Instagram user @kayla_pawell commented ‘‘I’m not a detective or anything but this post was not her… she has only ever capitalized the first word in every other post she’s ever posted. if you look at her “fiancé’s” posts, he tends to capitalize words, esp. when they’re names i.e “Halloween”. She doesn’t capitalize any second word or names in any other single post. he posted this in an attempt to create a timeline…’. It remains unknown as to who posted this photo on her account.
According to North Port police, Laundrie had not been aiding in the investigation in anyway. As of Wednesday September 15, Laundrie was confirmed to be a person of interest in the case. On Friday September 17, Brian Laundrie was declared missing as well. His attorney, Steven Bertolino, stated to ABC7 “Be advised, the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie are currently unknown. The FBI is currently at the Laundrie residence removing property to assist in locating Brian. As of now, the FBI is looking for both Gabby and Brian.” Bertolino said that Laundrie’s parents last saw him Tuesday morning. Chief Todd Garrison stated, “We are pleading with anyone, including Brian, to share information with us to her whereabouts in the past few weeks.” Detectives are asking anyone with information on Gabby Petito’s disappearance to contact Suffolk County police at 1-800-220-TIPS, the North Port Police Department at 941-429-7382, or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or 303-629-7171.Information can also be submitted online on the FBI’s website.
Interested in more missing person’s cases and true crime podcasts aren’t cutting it? Check out this story on how a diving team solved a seven year missing person’s case.
