Gabrielle Petito

**Gabrielle Petito** (March 19, 1999 – August 27, 2021) was an American woman.

## Life

### Early Life

She was born and raised in Blue Point, New York. She was the eldest of six siblings and half-siblings. In 2013, Petito and her step-brothers appeared in a music video to raise awareness about gun violence in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. She graduated in 2017 from Bayport-Blue Point High School in Bayport, New York, where she had met Brian Christopher Laundrie. From September 2017 to January 2019, she lived in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, and worked as a hostess and in the kitchen of a restaurant in Wilmington. She applied to Cape Fear Community College but did not attend.

### Dating Brian Laundrie

In March 2019, Petito began dating Laundrie and moved in with him and his parents in North Point, Florida. Petito and Laundrie worked at a Publix location in North Port, she as a pharmacy technician and he in the grocery department; both quit at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In late 2019 and early 2020, the couple embarked on a cross-country drive from New York State to California, and along the journey visited Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, Pismo Beach and other points of interest. In March 2020, Petito celebrated her 21st birthday in Nokomis, Florida. She and Laundrie visited Sope Creek, Georgia, in June 2020 and were engaged the following month.

In December 2020, Petito purchased a 2012 Ford Transit Connect van converted into a camper in which to take their next cross-country trip. She then worked fifty hours per week at Taco Bell and as a nutritionist, while Laundrie worked at an organic juice bar. Petito documented her life and travels on social media sites including YouTube and Instagram, where she described her interests as "art, yoga, and veggies".

## Disappearance

### Road trip

On June 17, 2021, Petito and Laundrie visited Blue Point, New York, for her brother's graduation ceremony. From there, on July 2, 2021, they departed in the Ford Transit van for their trip

### Domestic disturbance incident

On August 12, 2021, a witness called 9-1-1 claiming that a couple, later identified as Laundrie and Petito, was fighting in front of the Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab, Utah. The caller told the dispatcher they saw a man slap a woman, and after the two ran up and down the sidewalk, the man hit the woman again and then drove off. Another witness described the incident to police, saying that Petito and Laundrie were talking "aggressively" and that Petito "was punching him in the arm." The witness said it looked like Laundrie was trying to leave Petito and take her phone with him before she eventually climbed into the driver's seat, moved over into the passenger's seat, and asked, "Why do you have to be so mean?" before they drove off.

Officers from the Moab City Police Department (MCPD) identified the van near the entrance to Arches National Park and conducted a traffic stop. They found Petito crying heavily in the passenger seat where she told officers, captured on police body camera footage

Neither Petito nor Laundrie wanted to press charges as a result of the incident, which was characterized by police as a mental/emotional health break rather than as domestic violence, which would have required an arrest. The police separated the couple, arranging for Laundrie to spend a night at the Bowen Motel in Moab, and for Petito to stay in the van.

The MCPD is currently investigating whether or not its officers handled the case in accordance with the department's policies. Its chief of police took a leave of absence amid the investigation.

### Last reported activities and sightings

On August 17, Laundrie took a flight from Salt Lake City to Tampa, Florida, leaving Petito to herself. Petito stayed several days at a Fairfield Inn and Suites hotel near Salt Lake City International Airport, according to staff, checking out on August 24. It was later explained by the Laundrie family attorney that he made the trip to "obtain some items and empty and close the storage unit to save money as they contemplated extending the road trip." Laundrie returned on August 23 to rejoin Petito and continue the trip.

Petito's mother said that she last spoke to her daughter on August 25 and had been told that the couple were traveling from Utah to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. On August 25, the final post was made on Petito's Instagram account, which consisted of photos of herself taken in front of a butterfly mural outside of a restaurant in Ogden, Utah.

On August 27, a text from Petito's phone was sent to her mother which read, "Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls." The message raised concerns for Petito's mother, who said Stan was Petito's grandfather and that she never referred to him by his first name. The last message, sent on August 30, said, "No service in Yosemite." Her mother expressed uncertainty about who sent these messages.

On September 1, 2021, Laundrie returned alone to his parents' home in North Port, Florida, in the Ford Transit. On September 6 and 7, 2021, Laundrie and his parents went camping at Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County.

### Discovery of remains

On September 19, human remains matching the description of Petito were found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area in Wyoming, not far from where the Ford Transit was previously observed. Her identity was confirmed and an autopsy determined that the manner of death was homicide by "blunt-force injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation", which occurred three to four weeks before the body was found.

### Search for Laundrie and discovery of remains

On September 23, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie due to his unauthorized use of Petito's debit card to obtain $1,000 or more between August 30 and September 1. The FBI took material to match Laundrie's DNA from his home.

On October 5, in an interview with ABC News, Laundrie's sister encouraged him to turn himself in to authorities. Two days later, Laundrie's father joined investigators in searching for Laundrie at the T. Mabry Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Florida, focusing on areas he used to frequent in the reserve and the adjacent Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.

On October 20, Laundrie's skeletal remains, confirmed by forensic dentistry, and some of his belongings were found in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in an area that had recently been underwater due to flooding. His cause of death could not be determined by an autopsy, and his remains were given to an anthropologist for further examination. On November 23, it was announced that the anthropologist concluded that Laundrie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that the manner of death was suicide. It was found a notebook who belongs to Laundrie where he confesses killing her