Introduction
No one realizes that things aren't as normal as they seem until a tragedy takes place. Gabby Petito fell victim to this. Petito and Laundrie leave New York for what was supposed to be a four-month, cross-country trip visiting and camping in national parks. They planned to sleep in their van and document their travels on Instagram and YouTube. "Van Life" vlogger Gabby Petito was reported missing on September 11, 2021. (Gabby Petito-Brian Laundrie Case: The Full Story of Their Deaths - Cbs News. 25 May 2023.) Days before the couple were vlogging their travels, but then Brian came home without Petito. That’s when all the conspiracy theories began to circulate:
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Petito was pregnant with Brian's baby and he killed her for it.
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Petitos death is linked to the death of a married couple camping in Moab, Utah.
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Brian is actually still alive and his parents are hiding him.
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No one truly knows what happened on the days leading up to September 11th but the internet has truly stirred up some potential leads. Brian claims that her death was a freak accident and killing her was an act of putting her out of her misery. That may be true but a narcissist can spin a web of lies that gives them the upper hand. Sometimes the conspiracies can be the biggest web of lies because people get so wrapped up in the media, make up stories that don’t align with the facts, and even reach so far to just make ends meet to solve the loose ones. This essay will unbox the certain uncertainties whether Petito was actually pregnant, she fell victim to being a witness of the murder of the Moab camping couple, or Laundrie is still on the loose.
The chilling case of Gabby Petito has circulated many conspiracies but there are two that align with the case. One of the two theories is that Gabby was pregnant and Brian killed her for it. However, many sources believe that Gabby was a witness to the murder of a couple camping in Utah and Brian had to destroy any evidence meaning Gabby. Either conspiracy makes sense with the evidence found but, the murder of the couple is uncanny because they were in the area around the time of the murder. Join me in unfolding the layers of whether this case is a sad story of an abusive relationship or is much deeper.
Character Analysis
Gabby was an individual that brightened many people's lives. In the “News 12” interview, Petito’s best friend, Rose, says she’s very easy going, and she’s just this bright light that shines on everyone ( “Best Friend Describes Gabby Petito’s Fiancé as Charismatic but Manipulative”). Gabby had many aspirations for her young age. She was a traveler by heart. As you would think Gabby would have a large circle; she didn’t have many friends.
On the search for new friends Gabby went on Bumble Bff, and that's where she met Rose. “Neither of us had any friends,' Rose recalled, laughing” (Cohen et al. ). She had texted me, saying: "You seem so cool. I really want to be your friend. Can we be friends?" And I was like, "Yes, I'd be happy to be your friend" ( Cohen et al. ). As you can see Gabby had a very compelling energy. She was a very colorful individual that was constantly open to new experiences, and friendships. These two became very close knit from the beginning. Both being in their twenties and working most days to pay the bills they were inseparable.
We just went everywhere together,' she said ( Cohen et al. ). Gabby, who worked last year at Taco Bell and then took a job at a smoothie place, would sometimes join Rose when she was working her job delivering pizza ( Cohen et al. ). 'We'd tell people she was my emotional service human,' Rose giggled (Cohen et al. ). Gabby made an impact on Rose but the person that cherished this free spirit most was her mother. Gabby didn't have to have large groups of friends to feel loved. The only people she needed were the two people that made her feel seen. "People would meet her and just fall in love with her," says Schmidt in the clip, as she flips through old photographs of her daughter — many, from childhood. "She just had this presence. I don't know what it was. It was just magical" (Harris).
Most precious among them, she says, is that of their last moments together (Harris). "There are so many good memories over the years, but the one thing that I hold dear to me is the hug that we had before she left for the trip in the driveway," (Harris). Even though there's not many people that reached out and spoke about Gabby before her disappearance, she impacted many people that didn’t know her on a first name basis. Her disappearance caused a whirlwind on the internet. People were truly on a mission to find the lost girl.
For the last several weeks, Petito’s disappearance and the discovery of a body the FBI believes is her near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming have captivated social media, and have created a seemingly endless well of videos and posts about her disappearance. Her death has created one of the largest open-source missing person investigations the internet has ever seen, led essentially exclusively by untrained content creators (Gault). You can, for example, learn about changes Petito made to a Spotify playlist around the time she disappeared.
“It has been reported that some really haunting songs, considering the situation, were added to Gabby’s Spotify playlist the day after she sent the last text to her mom,” TikToker and Petito sleuth Haley Toumaian said in a video about the songs (Gault).Surprisingly some of these little details did help the case.
Most oftenly cases like this become so mainstream on social media, but the sad fact is that Gabby hit fame over her disappearance not while she was alive and well. The main take away from the dive of who Gabby was before her disappearance is that she was a person of impact. Touched by so many yet some she had never met.
Discussing the theories
Gabby's case reached the internet and caused a whirlwind of conspiracies. Sifting through the many different viewpoints of what truly happened to Gabby, the most frequent assumption is that she was dead much longer before she went missing. An Instagram influencer was reported missing on Sept. 11 by her family after going on a cross-country road trip with her fiancé, and astute followers are noting that her last two posts had location tags removed (West). The Independent, in its report on the case, added that Petito had shared pictures from several locations on the trip, including Colorado Springs, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Mystic Hot Springs, and the Arches National Park. However, her last two posts, on Aug. 19 and Aug. 25, didn’t include location tags, whereas her prior posts from the trip consistently included location tags (West). These small details turned some heads. Maybe she forgot the tiny details of marking her surroundings, but many believe she wasn’t the individual behind the phone.
Gabby’s fiance has a big play in this case, whether he’s guilty or innocent. Many individuals believe Brian killed her out of anger. Among the latest theories presented online is that the 23-year-old killed Gabby in the heat of the moment when tensions between them boiled over (Sheets). This couple did have some dark moments, one being when they were pulled over for domestic violence. Speculation that Brian could be responsible for Gabby's death by strangulation stems partly from bodycam video of police questioning the pair after they fought in Utah on August 12.
In the video, Gabby is seen holding her neck as she explains to a Moab police officer that Brian "scratched and grabbed her," causing bruises on her throat (Sheets). There was mostly abuse going on behind the scenes, but the real question is, was Gabby's death fueled by Brian's abuse? Some people said they saw Gabby arguing with Brian days before the disappearance. They went on to suggest that Gabby and Brian's alleged argument outside a restaurant in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on August 27 continued until he "broke" and killed her. "It wasn't planned, it wasn't for her money, it wasn't because she broke up, it was simply anger and rage," the detective posited (Sheets).
In these cases, people always choose sides. The more popular side is Gabby, but some individuals believe that Brian didn’t kill her or didn’t mean to. Did she die as a result of violence? Was she shot, stabbed, or beaten to death? Were her injuries consistent with a physical assault or of a fall and unfortunate blunt trauma as a result?
Petito could have fallen to her death while hiking. She and Laundrie could have argued, and Laundrie could have assaulted her and pushed her, causing a fall that led to her death. In other words, we do not know if her death was an accident or a manslaughter – a far different crime than murder (Atkinson). The internet had other ideas that the death of Gabby may be aligned with a murder in late august in Moab, Utah. The night before Crystal Turner and Kylen Schulte went missing, five days before their bodies turned up riddled with bullets, the newlyweds chatted with friends at Woody’s Tavern in Moab, Utah, a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts that sits at the doorstep of Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. It was Friday, August 13, 2021, and Turner, 38, a petite blonde with boundless energy, and Schulte, a Cara Delevingne-lookalike with green eyes and a radiant smile, met up with friends to celebrate Schulte’s upcoming 25th birthday (Manley). Gabby & Brian were in Moab the night of the murders (Manley).
It may just be a coincidence or infers the deeper truth that Brian might be the suspect behind this murder. Petito and her fiance were in Moab around the time of Aug. 12, the same day Petito posted images to Instagram of herself in Arches National Park. Moab police also responded to a “domestic problem” that day involving the couple that was later categorized as a disorderly conduct incident, records show (Sanders). The following day marked when Schulte and Turner were last seen alive. Schulte had complained to friends about a “creepy man” near their campsite, according to court filings.
They told their friends “if something happened to them, that they were murdered,” records show (Sanders). The police never truly ruled this out so it's simply still under investigation. All viewpoints make sense but this theory does make sense with the timing in between Gabby’s disappearance & the death of the couple. Both Atkinson and Manley are convincing on what could have unfolded. Brian was known to be manipulative and violent towards Gabby. Before she knew it led to her death. What if Gabby was a victim to this murder and that was the reason for her death.
Or the couple got in a heated argument and his emotions simply pushed him over the edge. No one will honestly know because Brian took his life shortly after. It is much harder to find an answer when you can't question the suspect. A journal was discovered near Brian's remains. A notebook near his body contained a confession letter, in which he claims Gabby Petito’s death was a mercy killing after she suffered a head injury in a fall, WWSB reports. He wrote that she was in pain and he thought the killing was “merciful” (Ratliff et al.).
Was this tragedy an accident? Diving into this case head first, all the evidence & accusations shed light on the situation of abuse. Some of the happiest couples have darker experiences behind closed doors. Sometimes, they grew up around that lifestyle, and that's all they have ever seen. Others are just aggressive with a manipulated mindset and genuinely want to see someone hurt.
There are many different blueprints for abuse. Reading Atkinson’s counterargument that Brian is innocent made me think that this may be more of an accident than a murder. The dash cam footage showed he wasn’t gentle with Gabby in distress. As well reading Sanders it turns heads to the possibility of a triple homicide. Emotions can boil over quickly, and something unexpected happens before you know it. Standing on the viewpoint that this was an accident still doesn’t make it any better. Taking an individual's life is a crime that will never be acceptable, even if it was accidental.
Conclusion
Gabby's case is very impactful. The loose ends of the case makes it much more intriguing. The one theory that made a light bulb pop is the ideology that Brian killed Gabby out of anger. It all happened too fast and then he realized he had a dead body on his hands. This conspiracy makes the most sense because Brian did in fact confess that he killed her mercifully but truly with all the guilt, he could have thought that her death was merciful when it's truly just murder.
Works Cited
Atkinson, Cameron L. “Not so Fast in the Gabby Petito Case: Brian Laundrie May Not Have Murdered Her.” Cameron L. Atkinson, 25 Sep. 2021, cameronlatkinson.com/2021/09/25/not-so-fast-in-the-gabby-petito-case-brian-laundrie-may-not-have-murdered-her/.
“Best Friend Describes Gabby Petito’s Fiancé as Charismatic but Manipulative.” YouTube, News 12, 22 Sep. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eozcPt4i9Bc.
Cohen , Shawn, and Greg Woodfield. “Exclusive: Gabby Petito’s Best Friend Claims Brian Laundrie Had Jealousy and Control Issues and Even Stole Her ID Once to Stop Her from Going Dancing at a Bar and Made Her Delete a Tracking App so Her Pal Could Always Locate Her.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 23 Sept. 2021, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10002817/Gabby-Petitos-best-friend-claims-Brian-Laundrie-jealous-controlling.html.
Gabby Petito-Brian Laundrie Case: The Full Story of Their Deaths - Cbs News. 25 May 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-case-story-deaths/.
Gault , Matthew. “Inside TikTok’s Amateur Investigation into Gabby Petito’s Disappearance.” VICE, MotherBoard , 20 Sept. 2021, www.vice.com/en/article/pkb5j8/gabby-petito-internet-sleuth-investigation-tiktok-instagram-spotify.
Harris, Chris. “Gabby Petito’s Mother Recalls Last Moments with Daughter before She Left on Cross-Country Trip.” People, PEOPLE, 16 Dec. 2021, people.com/crime/gabby-petito-mother-recalls-last-moments-with-daughter-before-cross-country-trip/.
Manley, K. (2022, July 21). Love, hate, and homicide in the High Desert. Marie Claire Magazine. https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/moab-murder-crystal-turner-kylen-schulte/
Ratliff et al. “Brian Laundrie Confession Claims Gabby Petito’s Death Was Mercy Killing.” Https://Www.Kktv.Com, 26 June 2022, www.kktv.com/2022/06/26/brian-laundrie-confession-claims-gabby-petitos-death-was-mercy-killing/.
Sanders, C. (2021, September 17). Authorities rule out link between Gabby Petito case, couple killed in moab. The Salt Lake Tribune. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/09/17/authorities-rule-out-link/
Sheets, Megan. “Brian ‘snapped & Killed Gabby after They Spent 24/7 Together,’ Sleuths Claim.” The US Sun, The US Sun, 13 Oct. 2021, www.the-sun.com/newshttps://www.the-sun.com/news/3851172/brian-laundrie-killed-gabby-petito-from-rage-sleuths-claim/https://www.the-sun.com/news/3851172/brian-laundrie-killed-gabby-petito-from-rage-sleuths-claim//3851172/brian-laundrie-killed-gabby-petito-from-rage-sleuths-claim/.
West, Phil. “‘This Post Doesn’t Add up’: Followers of Missing Instagram Influencer Notice Something Unusual about Her Latest Posts.” The Daily Dot, 20 Sept. 2021, www.dailydot.com/irl/gabby-petito-instagram-activity/.