The Forty-first of my forty donations goes to the Gabby Petito Foundation. The Gabby Petito Foundation has been established by Gabby’s parents in the memory of the Van Life Blogger who went missing while on a cross-country road trip across the United States of America.
The mission of the foundation is to address the needs of organizations who support locating missing persons and to provide aid to organizations who assist victims of domestic violence situations, through education, awareness, and prevention strategies.
Gabby’s parents wish to turn their personal tragedy into a positive by bringing these important issues into the forefront of the public eye to the benefit of all our communities.
I’ve been following a number of ‘van life’ stories and this one in particular came to my attention when it was reported in mid-September by the BBC that The couple had been stopped by police after what sounded like a domestic violence incident a couple of weeks before but the police determined they simply needed some time apart to cool off.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58579717
Following this, her Fiancé Brian had returned to his parent’s home from the road trip on 1st September in Gabby’s van but without Gabby! No one had heard from Gabby and Brian and his Family (who Gabby had lived with for over a year) were refusing would not talk to her Family or the Police. Her family reported her missing 10 days later.
After returning home, Brian then proceeded to go camping with his Family as if nothing has happened and upon being named as a person of interest, he took off on a lone hike which ultimately led to his disappearance. His parents even went and collected his car for him afterwards!
Unfortunately, Gabby’s remains were found about three weeks after Brian had returned home without her and this was almost a week after he disappeared.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58646087
I find it incredible that Brian and his Family can get away with saying nothing and him simply disappearing. It could appear that his very calculated actions got him a head start on the authorities. A warrant for his arrest was only issued for his unauthorised use of a debit card in Gabby’s name in late September – by this time he was long gone!
Sad as it is, I have become captivated by this story. What makes this story stand out from many others of a similar nature are some of the following considerations:
The internet aided by modern technology has responded in a way I have not ever seen or appreciated before. Some other Van Life bloggers Red White & Bethune happened to remember driving down a trail and seeing a white van that when they checked their dash cam turned out to by Gabby’s van and proved to be a crucial lead in locating her body. Even more incredible was that this happened on what would have been their Son’s Birthday but the Son was killed a few years back in a car accident and it was as if their late Son had somehow influenced this.
Even more incredible is that when the incredible internet sleuths analysed the footage they speculated about all sorts of things that do seem to appear in the video like the van’s back door closing as the Red White & Bethune van gets closer, Gabby’s flip flops and a book and pistol at the back of the van and various figures that seem to be walking in the woods close to the van – this could suggest that Gabby was still alive at this point, which I think was August 27th.
Brian was seen to be hitchhiking on the 29th of August when he was picked up by two different women. The second named Jalovec said she didn’t realize who she’d picked up until she saw a video posted on TikTok on September 17th by Miranda Baker, who claims she and her boyfriend picked Laundrie up on Aug. 29 when he was hitchhiking at 17:30 – Brian got out of the first ride after starting to act strangely for some unknown reason. Jalovec ended up taking Brian back to Spread Creek at 18:40.
When Gabby was found on the 20th September, the Coroner subsequently conducted an autopsy and classed her death as a homicide and determined she has been throttled. He also said that she had been dead for three to four weeks. Remember, by this time, Brian had been on the run for almost three weeks!
This and the fact that Brian was back at his Parent’s house IN GABBY’S VAN on 1st September suggest to me she was killed on the 27th or 28th and Brian took off on a hike before deciding he needed to use Gabby’s van to get back to his Parents.
During Brian’s drive back to his parents he created a new Spotify play list and this included a track with some suspiciously relevant lyrics.
Some internet sleuths have also speculated that Brian is hiding in a bunker under his parents house after his parents were spotted by a drone seemingly talking to a flower bed when what looks like a hand reaches out to pass something to his Mother!
There seem to be so many stands and avenues and characters involved in this story and so much information on the internet as people generate videos and analysis, many of which conflict that it is difficult to know what is current and what the truth is.
The only thing I know for sure is that even if Brian didn’t kill Gabby, what kind of person would leave another person, let alone someone they love and care for, alone without any of their things to be able to survive, it’s a death sentence in itself!
Thus, I can only assume he already knew she was dead.
Two other women who had complained about a ‘creepy guy’ near their campsite were shot to death and found in a creek similar to how Gabby was, only about 40 miles away. Coincidentally, following the traffic stop, the Police dropped Brian off at a motel only a few minutes walk from the last place these two women were last seen! Further, these two women were linked to Brian and Gabby as one of them worked in the Moonflower Community Cooperative where I understand Brian was seen arguing with Gabby outside.
Strangely enough, the day after these poor women were killed, Brian flew back home to clear out a storage unit with his Dad to ‘save money’ (a story which was changed by their Lawyer a few weeks later as frankly, it didn’t make sense). Why he would’ve been doing that? Wouldn’t the flight alone cost more money than he would have saved?
Brian then travelled back to meet Gabby and within a few days, she too was dead (and the pattern of travelling home repeated before his disappearance).
Further, the remains of a guy called Robert Lowery who supposedly committed suicide by gun shot wound in an area relatively close to where Gabby was found was only found because they were looking for Gabby and whilst this may be not be directly related and remains very sad for his family, it is at the very least notable in this case for its timeliness and proximity to where poor Gabby met her fate.
Some videos get published and are quickly taken down as these are ongoing investigations so I’ll continue to follow them closely.
#JusticeforGabby
Brian found dead, 21/10/2021:
Brian Laundrie claimed responsibility for Gabby Petito’s death:
In the spirit of positivity, I am concluding this post with a link to Gabby’s ‘Nomadic Statik’ YouTube and her blog in memory of her and to show that she was a talented individual. It is eerie that only the one video that was published on August 19th exists as that is all she was able to complete before she was killed and also that it has now been viewed so many times – rest in peace Gabby, you did a great job!
