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On September 19, 2021, the remains of Gabby Petito were found in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.
Killing of Gabby Petito
Killing of Gabby Petito
Location: Bridger–Teton National Forest, Wyoming, U.S.
Date:
Killing of Petito: Uncertain day in late August 2021 (3–4 weeks prior to discovery of remains on September 19)
Laundrie's suicide: c. September 21, 2021
Attack type: Homicide by blunt trauma and strangulation
Murder-suicide
Deaths: 2 (including perpetrator)
Victim: Gabby Petito
Perpetrator: Brian Laundrie
Motive: Unknown
In August 2021, 22-year-old American woman Gabrielle Venora Petito was killed by her fiancé Brian Christopher Laundrie while they were traveling together on a vanlife journey across the United States. The trip was planned to last for four months and began on July 2, 2021, but Petito disappeared on August 27.
After Petito's disappearance, Laundrie raised suspicion when he drove the van from Wyoming back to his parents' Florida home and refused to discuss her whereabouts. He was deemed a person of interest in the case and an arrest warrant was issued on charges of him making withdrawals using her debit card. He left his home on September 13 and was reported missing four days later.
On September 19, Petito's remains were found in Wyoming's Bridger–Teton National Forest. An autopsy found that she was killed by blunt-force injuries to her head and neck and manual strangulation. After a month of speculation around Laundrie's whereabouts, and an extended search of the area around his home, his skeletal remains were discovered in Florida's Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on October 20. It was confirmed by an autopsy on November 23 that Laundrie had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and the FBI later announced that he had admitted to killing Petito in his notebook, which was found near his remains.
The case gained widespread attention due to the couple's documenting of their travels on social media, leaked police body camera video footage, 9-1-1 emergency dispatch call recordings, eyewitness accounts, the actions of Laundrie's parents, and the extensive media coverage.
Gabby Petito
Gabby Petito
Petito in 2021
Born: Gabrielle Venora Petito; March 19, 1999; Blue Point, New York, U.S.
Disappeared: August 27, 2021
Status : ound deceased
Died: c. August 2021 (aged 22); Teton County, Wyoming, U.S.
Cause of death: Blunt trauma and strangulation
Body discovered: September 19, 2021; Bridger–Teton National Forest, Wyoming, U.S.
Partner: Brian Laundrie (2019–2021)
Gabrielle Venora Petito (March 19, 1999 – c. late August 2021) was born and raised in Blue Point, New York. She had six younger siblings and half-siblings. In 2013, Petito and her step-brothers appeared in a music video to raise awareness about American gun violence in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In 2017, she graduated from Bayport-Blue Point High School in Bayport, New York, where she met Brian Christopher Laundrie. From September 2017 to January 2019, she lived in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, working as a hostess and in the kitchen of a restaurant in nearby Wilmington. She applied to Cape Fear Community College, but did not attend.
Petito began dating Laundrie in March 2019, and moved in with him and his parents in North Port, Florida. The couple worked at a Publix in North Port, where she was a pharmacy technician and he was in the grocery department. They quit their jobs 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 to California. Along the way, they 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 the two were engaged the following month.
In December 2020, Petito purchased a 2012 Ford Transit Connect van converted into a camper, in which the couple would take their next cross-country trip. To save money for the trip, she began working 50-hour weeks at Taco Bell and as a nutritionist while Laundrie took a job at an organic juice bar. Petito documented her life and travels on social media sites such as YouTube and Instagram, where she described her interests as "art, yoga, and veggies".
{snip}
Killing of Gabby Petito
Location: Bridger–Teton National Forest, Wyoming, U.S.
Date:
Killing of Petito: Uncertain day in late August 2021 (3–4 weeks prior to discovery of remains on September 19)
Laundrie's suicide: c. September 21, 2021
Attack type: Homicide by blunt trauma and strangulation
Murder-suicide
Deaths: 2 (including perpetrator)
Victim: Gabby Petito
Perpetrator: Brian Laundrie
Motive: Unknown
In August 2021, 22-year-old American woman Gabrielle Venora Petito was killed by her fiancé Brian Christopher Laundrie while they were traveling together on a vanlife journey across the United States. The trip was planned to last for four months and began on July 2, 2021, but Petito disappeared on August 27.
After Petito's disappearance, Laundrie raised suspicion when he drove the van from Wyoming back to his parents' Florida home and refused to discuss her whereabouts. He was deemed a person of interest in the case and an arrest warrant was issued on charges of him making withdrawals using her debit card. He left his home on September 13 and was reported missing four days later.
On September 19, Petito's remains were found in Wyoming's Bridger–Teton National Forest. An autopsy found that she was killed by blunt-force injuries to her head and neck and manual strangulation. After a month of speculation around Laundrie's whereabouts, and an extended search of the area around his home, his skeletal remains were discovered in Florida's Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on October 20. It was confirmed by an autopsy on November 23 that Laundrie had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and the FBI later announced that he had admitted to killing Petito in his notebook, which was found near his remains.
The case gained widespread attention due to the couple's documenting of their travels on social media, leaked police body camera video footage, 9-1-1 emergency dispatch call recordings, eyewitness accounts, the actions of Laundrie's parents, and the extensive media coverage.
Gabby Petito
Gabby Petito
Petito in 2021
Born: Gabrielle Venora Petito; March 19, 1999; Blue Point, New York, U.S.
Disappeared: August 27, 2021
Status : ound deceased
Died: c. August 2021 (aged 22); Teton County, Wyoming, U.S.
Cause of death: Blunt trauma and strangulation
Body discovered: September 19, 2021; Bridger–Teton National Forest, Wyoming, U.S.
Partner: Brian Laundrie (2019–2021)
Gabrielle Venora Petito (March 19, 1999 – c. late August 2021) was born and raised in Blue Point, New York. She had six younger siblings and half-siblings. In 2013, Petito and her step-brothers appeared in a music video to raise awareness about American gun violence in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In 2017, she graduated from Bayport-Blue Point High School in Bayport, New York, where she met Brian Christopher Laundrie. From September 2017 to January 2019, she lived in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, working as a hostess and in the kitchen of a restaurant in nearby Wilmington. She applied to Cape Fear Community College, but did not attend.
Petito began dating Laundrie in March 2019, and moved in with him and his parents in North Port, Florida. The couple worked at a Publix in North Port, where she was a pharmacy technician and he was in the grocery department. They quit their jobs 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 to California. Along the way, they 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 the two were engaged the following month.
In December 2020, Petito purchased a 2012 Ford Transit Connect van converted into a camper, in which the couple would take their next cross-country trip. To save money for the trip, she began working 50-hour weeks at Taco Bell and as a nutritionist while Laundrie took a job at an organic juice bar. Petito documented her life and travels on social media sites such as YouTube and Instagram, where she described her interests as "art, yoga, and veggies".
{snip}