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USA Today
21-02-2025
- USA Today
How was Gabby Petito found? Netflix puts spotlight back on case that captivated the US
When Gabby Petito disappeared on a cross-country road trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, a weekslong nationwide search ensued, and the 22-year-old's story has now become the subject of a new Netflix docuseries. Petitio went missing on Aug. 27, 2021, and her whereabouts became even more unclear when Laundrie returned to his parent's Florida home alone on Sept. 1. She was ultimately found dead weeks later on Sept. 19. Laundrie's body was discovered in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Florida, in October 2021. He died by suicide. By the end of 2021, the couple that began dating in early 2019 before becoming engaged in July 2020, were both dead. The docuseries, titled 'American Murder: Gabby Petito,' follows the events leading up to Petito's death, and how the high school sweethearts' trip across the country ended as a tragedy. Here is how the high-profile search for Petito unfolded. How did the search for Gabby Petito begin? An individual called 911 on Aug. 12 to report a domestic disturbance after seeing a man in a 2012 white Ford Transit Connect van slapping a woman. When Utah police investigated the incident, the lead officer concluded that he did 'not believe the situation escalated to the level of a domestic assault as much as that of a mental health crisis.' Laundrie told the responding officers that he pushed Petito away in self-defense and that her cellphone scratched his face. Petito told officers that the two had spent that morning arguing as Laundrie prevented her from entering their van. Officers decided to separate the couple for the evening, taking Laundrie to a hotel, but the two reconciled and continued on their road trip that night. On Aug. 19, a video was uploaded to the couple's shared YouTube account showing multiple clips of them seemingly happy on their journey. On Aug. 22 when she contacted her ex-boyfriend who viewed the call as "a cry for help.' Petito's and Laundrie's relationship seemed troubled despite the couple from Long Island, New York being on the road since July 2021 for their tour of national parks and other sites, during which they occasionally posted joyful social media photos and stories. On Aug. 27, 2021, Petito and Laundrie visited a Whole Foods in Jackson, Wyoming. Security footage showed Laundrie slamming the door before entering the grocery store. According to the docuseries, this is the last-known footage of Petito. Gabby Petito found in wilderness, dead by strangulation Petito was found strangled to death on Sept. 19 after her body was left in the wilderness for nearly a month, Teton County coroner, Dr. Brent Blue, said. The coroner indicated that Petito was a victim of domestic violence. "Unfortunately, this is only one of many deaths around the country of people who are involved with domestic violence, and it's unfortunate that these other deaths did not get as much coverage as this one," Blue said. The discovery of Petito's remains came after law enforcement combed through a camping area in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest and found human remains that were later confirmed to be Petito's. The FBI in Denver said agents conducted ground surveys at Grand Teton National Park with help from the National Park Service and other law enforcement agencies. One of the areas examined in the investigation was the Spread Creek camping area near Grand Teton National Park, which came to focus after a tip from travel vloggers Jenn and Kyle Bethune. The vloggers saidthey spotted Petito's white van in GoPro footage they recorded while camping in late August, and they shared the footage with the FBI before posting it online. Laundrie also went missing The day Petito went missing, Laundrie had a nearly 55-minute phone call with his mom. Laundrie's father also reached out to a lawyer that day. Laundrie left Wyoming for Florida on Aug. 30, and during his trip back, he used Petito's debit card to fuel their van. An electronic payment was also made from Petito to Laundrie for $700, and it contained the message: "Goodbye Brian, I'll never ask you for anything again." To find Laundrie, authorities used drones, scent-sniffing dogs and all-terrain vehicles. Investigators also took some of Laundrie's clothing from his parent's home to provide a scent for the search dogs. Duane Lee Chapman, known as TV personality "Dog the Bounty Hunter," also searched for Laundrie, promising to nab him before his 24th birthday on Nov. 18. John Walsh, a victims' advocate and host of the TV show "In Pursuit With John Walsh," also joined the chase. Laundrie was initially charged with unauthorized use of a Capital One debit card and several accounts, spending more than $1,000, according to a grand jury indictment released in September 2021 by the U.S. District of Wyoming. Brian Laundrie's parents not charged in Gabby Petito case Christopher and Roberta Laundrie were not charged after Petito was found dead. They did settle a civil lawsuit with Petito's parents in 2024, which accused the couple of withholding knowledge of the vlogger's death. The filmmakers of the Netflix docuseries included a note from Laundrie's mother, which she told her son to "burn after reading." "If you're in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it," Roberta Laundrie wrote her son in the undated letter. "If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags." Roberta Laundrie denied that her words pertained to Petito's death. Petito's parents also said they tried contacting Laundrie's parents and sister, but their messages went unanswered. When officers went to the Laundrie's home on Sept. 11, body camera footage showed Christopher Laundrie telling the officer that his son was home but referred the cop to an attorney for further questioning. Josh Taylor, a North Port police spokesperson, told USA TODAY he was unsure what charges Laundrie's parents could face: "To this day, there has never been a crime in this case which took place in the City of North Port." In a statement to USA TODAY, Laundrie's attorney, Steven Bertolino, said the docuseries "contained many inaccuracies, incorrect juxtapositions of timelines, and misstatements and omissions of fact - perhaps deliberate to capture their 'truth,' perhaps due to simple error." "We all know Brian took Gabby's life and Brian then took his own as well," Bertolino said. "Let the parents of both Gabby and Brian mourn and remember them in peace." Contributing: Erin Jensen, Jeanine Santucci, John Bacon, Christal Hayes, Grace Hauck & Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY
USA Today
20-02-2025
- USA Today
Brian Laundrie's parents faced protests amid search for Gabby Petito. Were they charged?
Brian Laundrie's parents faced protests amid search for Gabby Petito. Were they charged? Show Caption Hide Caption Gabby Petito's parents reach settlement The parents of Gabby Petito have reached a settlement in a civil lawsuit against Brian Laundrie's parents and their attorney, Steve Bertolino. Fox - 10 Phoenix A new docuseries on the investigation into the 2021 killing of Gabby Petito has brought a fresh wave of attention on the parents of her alleged killer and their controversial actions amid the search for Petito. The docuseries, "American Murder: Gabby Petito," showed Christopher and Roberta Laundrie stonewaling investigators and Petito's family amid a high-profile search for the 22-year-old who went missing while on a cross-country roadtrip with Brian Laundrie. Petito was reported missing after Laundrie returned, without Petito, to his Florida home, where he was living with his parents. As the search for Petito gained national attention, the Laundries mostly ignored relentless protesters assembled outside their house amid constant surveillance from law enforcement. "Speak up!" demanded one protest sign seen at their North Port, Florida, home. The documentary showed evidence that Laundries retained a lawyer before the search for Petito began and refused to cooperate with police as they started to investigate Petito's disappearance. Though speculation over the extent of their involvement was rampant, the Laundries were never charged with a crime. (Petito's parents filed suit against the Laundries for emotional distress and settled last year out of court.) Legal experts in Florida consulted by USA TODAY were unsurprised by the lack of charges. The Laundrie parents were not legally obligated to speak to authorities or to Petito's family even if they did know something, said University of Miami law professor Craig Trocino, who also directs the school's Innocence Clinic. "There are a lot of facts that don't look good," he said. "It's a bad case. It's horrible any way you dice it... but the law is the law." The documentary also depicts the events leading to Brian Laundrie's death. While authorities searched the country for Petito, Brian Laundrie also went missing. Petito's body was found near a Wyoming campground on Sept. 19, 2021, and investigators said she had been strangled. The documentary shows a massive, weekslong search for Laundrie that only ended with the discovery of his body when his parents joined the search. Authorities believe Laundrie died by suicide. The Laundries' attorney, Steven Bertolino, issued a statement to USA TODAY that was critical of the documentary, saying it "contained many inaccuracies, incorrect juxtapositions of timelines, and misstatements and omissions of fact - perhaps deliberate to capture their 'truth,' perhaps due to simple error. The statement continues: "We all know Brian took Gabby's life and Brian then took his own as well. Let the parents of both Gabby and Brian mourn and remember them in peace." The right to remain silent Any person generally has the right to remain silent when speaking with police, which can lead to some moral quandaries, experts said. "If I'm walking down the street and I see you shoot somebody, morally, I'm compelled to call the police and say, 'I just saw this.' Legally, I don't believe you have any obligations to do that," Trocino said. "Especially if it puts you in the crosshairs, if it implicates you." In the Laundries' case, it's also unclear what the parents knew about Gabby Petito's death, said Randolph Braccialarghe, a law professor at the Nova Southeastern University College of Law, in an email. "The difficulty with charging the parents was that the police did not know what Brian Laundrie had told his parents," Braccialarghe wrote. (The issue came up in a deposition for the civil suit, where the Laundries said they weren't sure that Petito was dead when a panicked Brian contacted them on Aug. 29 and asked them to call a lawyer.) But questions of "who knew what, when?" aren't the most important legal consideration, according to Trocino, who said the parents would have been within their rights to withhold information from police and direct questions to their lawyer. That's exactly what footage in the documentary shows, when Florida officers starting their investigation asked to speak with Brian. "He's not going to talk to anybody," Christopher Laundrie told Florida officers. "Goodbye for now. You can call our attorney." Law enforcement may have considered charges like being an accessory to the crimes their son allegedly committed, Trocino said. But those charges would have required evidence they had helped him evade capture while knowing he had killed Petito. What about the 'burn after reading' letter? The docuseries also highlighted a letter Roberta Laundrie acknowledged she wrote to her son, contained in an envelope that said "burn after reading." "If you're in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags," she wrote in the letter that was undated. See the letter: Brian Laundrie's mom wrote him letter saying she would help 'dispose of a body' Roberta Laundrie said in statements through a lawyer she wrote the letter months before Petito's death, but Petito's family argued in court documents in their civil suit that it was evidence the Laundrie parents knew about their daughter's death. "It is really bad. That's kind of a messed up thing for a mother to write to a son, even jokingly. But is it criminal?" Not by itself, Trocino said. What happened to Gabby Petito? Petito and Brian Laundrie, 22 and 23 at the time, were an engaged couple who set out on a cross-country road trip in a van in July of 2021. Petito's friends and family said in the documentary that she wanted to build a large following on social media by making "van life" videos, and her footage and posts to social media depict a blissful couple in love and on the adventure of their lives. But the next month, a passerby called 911 to report a domestic dispute between them: "the gentleman was slapping the girl," the caller said. Police in Moab, Utah, responded and separated the couple for the night, and believing that Petito was the aggressor, found Brian Laundrie a place to stay. Brian Laundrie returned home to North Port, Florida, with the van but without Petito in early September. After she didn't respond to her parents' texts or calls for days, they reported her missing in their home state of New York. After he and his parents refused to speak to law enforcement, Brian Laundrie soon vanished as well, telling his family he was going hiking in a vast reserve near the home on Sept. 13, slipping out of the house undetected by law enforcement keeping watch. His parents reported him missing on Sept. 17. By the time Petito's body was found in Wyoming on Sept. 19, 2021, the search for Laundrie as the prime suspect turned into a massive manhunt that lasted weeks before his body was also found on Oct. 20. Authorities found a journal with his belongings in which they said he confessed to killing Petito. Contributing: Grace Pateras Sarasota Herald-Tribune
