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September 22, 2021, 10:55 am
The disappearance of Instagram influencer Gabby Petito became a huge national story as her followers and new fans started picking apart her route across America with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie. Laundrie returned to his parent’s home in Florida in early September without Petito, but driving her van. Once Petito’s mother reported her daughter missing, Laundrie lawyered up and refused to tell police where he’d last seen her.
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Her body was discovered in Wyoming after another YouTubing couple notified police that they had a video clip showing the van in the area she was found.
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Petito’s dad posted about the discovery, which at least afforded the family some closure on what happened to their daughter, though the case is far from closed:
When the couple left New York in early July, their intention was to build up a following as they traveled, fixating their influencer hops on #vanlife content. Petito posted many shots of her travels on her Instagram page, and they started a YouTube channel. In their video about their van, they showed the way they utilized the interior, a popular aspect of vanlifing online:
They wrote in the caption, “A glimpse into our van adventures! After our first cross country trip in a little Nissan Sentra, we both decided we to wanted downsize our lives and travel full time, but trying to fit everything for two people into the tiny little trunk of the car, also spending way too much on gas, food, and Airbnb, was not the road to take. We quickly realized we had to come up with a solution if we wanted to continue traveling and living nomadically, so that’s why we handcrafted our own tiny van, a simple 2012 Ford transit connect, utilizing space with unique designs and features. Creating a space for both artistic expression and distance hiking. Thank you so much for watching, and we hope you tag along on our journey wherever the van takes us!”
The interior does indeed look cozy and well-organized:
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But footage from the police stop in Moab show a different story—officers halted Laundrie and Petito after they were called over a domestic violence dispute. It looks as though it hadn’t been straightened up in some time, which makes sense, because they both appeared to be under stress.
In the footage, a crying Petito tells officers that Laundrie is a “downer” and explained, “I just quit my job to travel across the country, and I’m trying to start a blog, a travel blog, so I’ve been building my website. I’ve been really stressed, and he doesn’t really believe that I can do any of it.”
Petito even told officers they’d been fighting over the condition of the van.
Officers are looking for Laundrie, who is allegedly hiking through the wildlife preserve near his parents’ home, Newsweek reports. After an autopsy was conducted, Petito’s death was ruled a homicide and Laundrie is a person of interest in the case.
*First Published: September 22, 2021, 10:55 am
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