20/20 - Bad Romance: The Gabby Petito Story: Vanishing Point

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

An engaged couple wanders the open road – but only one returns home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Brad Milky, and the host of the Crime Scene Weekly, a new show from ABC Audio about the latest headlines in true crime. This week, I'm talking about the shocking allegations against the Alexander Brothers, once the golden boys of luxury real estate, now facing serious sex crime charges. Listen to the Crime Scene Weekly on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts. A young couple traveling the country in a tiny van looking for adventure and online fame. But while two people set out on the trip, only one comes back. This is Gabby Petito's story, Vanishing Point. Am I ever gonna love, gonna love, gonna love again?

Brian Laundrie had no ring when he proposed to Gabby Petito, but according to a friend, a firefly landed on her finger. They took it as a sign that it was meant to be. A year later, the two set off on an adventure. Only one came back. We're happy that we have this. This is the Outer Banks, I think. Yeah, I took that in the Outer Banks. Isn't that the best picture?

She was a ham for the camera, that's for sure. Oh, she never took a bad picture. We're lucky we have a lot of memories. We're lucky we have so many pictures of her. I'm so happy that she took as many as she did because that's what we have. That's what we have now. Now to a case making national headlines tonight.

This urgent search for Gabby Petito. Gabby Petito. Missing woman Gabby Petito. The 22-year-old who vanished on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend. The family is devastated. Every day that this goes on, they get more and more desperate. It's a story that captivated the nation. Wow, on this Gabby Petito case. Dominating social media and news coverage, the subject of a docu-series,

American Murder, Gabby Petito, streaming on Netflix. Gabby Petito's parents sitting down with us together as a blended family to tell her story. Marking. The whole world was looking for her. We would have went to the edge of the earth to find her. We really had hope. We really did. Because there's a million different scenarios that could play out just the same.

Hurt and wilderness, bad reception, you know, all that stuff. But it would all end in tragedy. We're not the same people we were before this happened. There was life before and life after. Gabby Petito was raised with so much love. Her mom, Nicole, and dad, Joe, split up when she was just a baby, and they both remarried. Their spouses, Tara and Jim,

become part of the parental unit, all raising her together. It was always about her first, we'll figure out the rest. We worked together as a team and now we're even closer than ever. Let's talk about Gabby. What was she like as a little girl?

I still remember the first time I saw her, the brightest blue eyes, the biggest smile you've ever seen and that was the way she was ever since she was little all the way on up. Gabby and her family live in Blue Point on Long Island just outside of New York City. By high school Gabby has a big circle of friends. One of them is a boy named Brian Laundrie. I liked Brian. I thought he was interesting.

He was very soft spoken. He would sit and do art with Gabby's younger sisters. He got along with TJ, her brother, and he just seemed like a nice person. I mean, respectful. Always came in, shook her hand, was nice. Just quiet. He was just a quiet, quiet person.

When things get more serious, they eventually make the decision to move to Florida to be closer to Brian's family. They move in with Brian's parents, Chris and Roberta. Gabby makes a new friend in Florida who shares her first impression of Brian in the Netflix docu-series.

Hey, little birds. We were all going to the beach together, and he kind of just sat back there and read his book while Gabby and I hung out. It felt like a parent was watching us on a play date. It was very weird, but he was very nice. I do remember coming home and saying to my mom, she's like, how was it? How was her boyfriend? And I was like, he's a really nice guy, but there is something off about him.

The couple now engaged, outfit a little van for a road trip across the country. I love the van. The van looked amazing. Everything looked pretty. That van was her pride and joy. Like She was really, really proud of that van. And we saw her. It was done really, really well. Gabby and Brian were trying van life, as it's called online. Van life is exactly what it sounds. It's living in, often, a restored van or school bus

and having this kind of nomadic lifestyle where you can travel all around the country. It was growing in popularity, largely through Instagram and YouTube. As parents, like as she's about to set out on this van life adventure, are you going like, how are you gonna feed yourself? How are you going to wash? When she showed us the setup, you know,

we have this cooler that plugs in, it's 12-volt, can turn it into a freezer. Here's our portable sink inside, this is how the sink works. Here's a portable shower that catches rainwater, and I'm like, you're doing all this? When they set out on that adventure, what did you say to her before she left? Do you remember? I was absolutely the luckiest one. I got to give her a hug goodbye, and it was the most amazing, squeezy hug.

And then I looked at Brian and I said, you better take good care of her, keep her safe. And he was like, I will. You know, this is very soft spoken, I will. And I cherished that moment. That was the last time I had her in my arms. Gabby wants to be a vlogger and begins to document her trip on social media. So, we are right outside Capitol Reef right now.

You can't keep chocolate in Utah. Not in July. I can't keep chocolate in Utah. Not in July. The way to live a sustainable life as a van lifer is to have millions of followers online. That's how you make money. So, Gabby definitely wanted to be part of this community. She had asked if we could get her a drone. So her grandpa Stan and I kind of split that. We bought her the drone and that made that video like so much better.

Brian's stretching, doing some morning yoga. She followed a lot of people who also were doing the van life thing too. So it looks like she was following the formula for how to get successful there. Living in a van is a struggle. It is not the beautiful, picturesque life that a lot of internet creators painted out to be. And Gabby and Brian were in a smaller van than I usually see people in.

Any relationship has fights, but now you're in this tiny van, there's no place else to go. No, turn it back. but now you're in this tiny van, there's no place else to go. No, turn in, Meg. They were struggling. They were not the cream of the crop van life creators. They were not going viral, you know, they were really living hand to mouth. And so there was a lot of tension, you could tell, around that it seemed. I was texting her a lot more like things like, are you and Brian okay? Because I was

worried about that dynamic, being stuck in the van together 24 hours a day. But life in the van together is about to go from minor annoyances to some far more serious problems. They've been on this trip for over a month when a phone call is placed to 911. I'd like to report a domestic dispute with the Florida with the white van. What were they doing? We drove by and the gentleman was slapping the girl. There are very few things that you can be certain of in life. But you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning.

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On a 911 call in Moab, Utah, someone reports a distressing scene. A man hitting a woman as they argue. He was slapping her. Yes. And then we stopped. They ran up and down the sidewalk. He proceeded to hit her, hopped in the car, and they drove off. The driver is showing some obscure driving, possibly intoxicated. Currently doing 45 miles an hour. Zone through here is 25. Oh, subject just hit the curb.

Body cameras worn by the Moab police capture a traffic stop that will eventually go viral, but only after Gabby went missing. What's going on? What can you find? I'm just trying. We've just been fighting this morning. Can I get you to step out of the vehicle for me, ma'am?

Yeah. That day was a pivotal moment in that relationship. We didn't have all the facts. We had no idea how it really played out. Tony hadn't even gone down. Yeah. But I'm perfectly calm. I'm calm all the time.

And he really stresses me out and I just, I just, I'm just a rough mornin'. When questioned by officers at the scene, Brian downplays the incident and chocks it up to a disagreement. I don't have a good relationship with him. I've been married for over five years now. There's a lot of little things that I can talk about. The interesting dynamic is that Brian Laundrie is really calm.

And there's such a discrepancy that it's almost an intentional way to discredit her experience. For about an hour, police questioned Brian and Gabby in an attempt to figure out what was really going on. Well, to be honest, I definitely hit him first. Where'd you hit him? questioned Brian and Gabby in an attempt that's why I was pushing her away. I said, let's just take a breather, and let's not go anywhere, let's just calm down for a minute. We'll see if she got me a free phone. According to both Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, it was Gabby and not Brian who was the initial aggressor.

When I pushed her away, She gets really worked up. There are relationships in which women are aggressively violent toward men. That is possible. But in the vast majority of domestic violence situations, the men are the aggressors. And the women in public, when questioned about it, especially by law enforcement, will often take responsibility for it out of fear that the aggressor, the man, in their relationship will be more angry if they don't. Well, Brian is speaking to police,

and anxious Gabby is in the back seat of that police car. And she says, can I have my phone so I can call my mom? Then I didn't get that phone call. Because maybe at that moment, maybe she would have told me what was going on. While Gabby did not speak to Nicole during the stop, she did speak to her dad, Joe. She called me during the traffic stop. What did she say? It was her fault.

And that was, we told her it's fine, I'm going to be on the next plane to come get you. And she's like, no, no, no, it's my fault. We didn't have the information. We didn't have all the other information. That she was being slapped and all this other stuff prior. We didn't have any of that information. Now, police on the scene have a decision to make. Your own companion have made it clear

that she was the primary aggressor and that she was striking you and you was to see victories. So at this point, you're the victim of the domestic assault and it's even so not bad. Even if you didn't want to pursue this, you don't have a choice. Now the problem with the herpian, the primary aggressor, is in an instance of domestic assault,

be it a male or be it a female, we shall arrest. She appeared to be the aggressor and she said she was the aggressor. Now, do I believe that? No! But the police can only go on the evidence they are given. What I saw was a bunch of police officers trying to sort this out,

and they appeared to be compassionate towards both parties. Normally, we take people to jail, but he's trying to work it so you can just have the van. No, wear a T and please. There's no one? What is it the van. No, wear a team, please. There's no one? No, wear a team, please. He's going to give me so much anxiety. Can we just have a driving ticket?

Under Utah law, if Gabby hit Brian in order to cause him harm or pain, they have to arrest her. When you slapped him those times, were you attempting to cause him physical pain or physical impairment? Was that what you were attempting to do to him? No, I was trying to get him to stop telling me to come back. That doesn't sound to me like she attempted to injure him. Those officers were heading down the path of making an arrest and they changed direction.

Alrighty, Gabrielle, you want to step out for me? Police decide not to arrest Gabby. Instead, they separate the couple for the night. Gabby gets to leave in the van while Brian, seen by the police as a domestic violence victim, is taken to a hotel for the night. Brian and Gabby were told to stay away from each other for 24 hours. Too many times women who are at risk want to go back to their abuser and then they end up getting killed. He predicted the outcome.

The very next day, the couple is back on the road and what happens next will spark a nationwide search. Developments tonight. For a missing woman. Desperate for answers. One week after that domestic violence stop in Moab, Utah, Gabby Petito launches her vlog, Nomadic Static. Since we left New York, I've only set up my hammock once.

And now we're all the way in Utah, And luckily enough, I was able to set up my hammock on one of these trees. And we're kind of like in the desert. We made a few trees. But she showed us the video. It was an awesome video. I enjoyed it. We all enjoyed it.

I couldn't believe she made something like that. I think our plan for today is to just hang out here in the tent. She seemed a little stressed, but other than that she was loving every moment, visiting all the national parks, and doing things that I've never done. Surfing the Sand Dunes in Colorado, like that's cool, man, you know?

On the other side of the video camera, things seemed to be melting down. I've been covering the Gabby Petito case since day one. We do know that on August 27th at Mary Piglet's restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, witnesses reported a lot of screaming, him yelling at the restaurant staff going in and out of the restaurant. He was really angry. That's the best I can describe it. He was just very visibly angry. And in that moment, Gabby reminded me a lot of how she seemed in that body cam video of the cop.

She just seemed distraught. She seemed really upset. She was emotional. She was crying. And then people saw them get into this van and leave. The last time Gabby was seen was August 27th on the surveillance tapes at a Whole Foods grocery. Her parents didn't see it till much later.

I was watching the body language in that video and it just didn't look right. He slams the door to the van, they walk in, she's got her arms crossed. And just her body movements and not being close together, stuff like that, you can see the differences. It screams confrontation. Looking back, Gabby's posts that last week of August seem a little off.

Later, internet slews combed through every post, offering opinions and coming up with theories about what happened. I do believe that going forward these massive cases will find more ground on social media. They want to solve these cases. social media. They want to solve these cases. Gabby in the photo has perfect hair after being on a trip for two months in a van and she's holding a pumpkin and writes happy Halloween which is odd because it was posted on August 25th. So in Gabby's latest Instagram post, her roots are not there, especially in comparison to some of them before that. Something isn't right. To her mom, Gabby's texts start to sound odd as well, like one about her grandfather. The text message to her mom read, can you help Stan? I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls.

Stan is her grandfather's name. And what's weird about that is that Gabby never called her grandfather by his name, Stan. The last contact that Gabby's mother has from her daughter is August 30th. She gets a text that says, only no service in Yosemite, which is strange because it's so brief, but also they weren't going to Yosemite.

Nicole thinks maybe Gabby and Brian have changed their plans, but it almost sounds like Gabby isn't sending the texts herself. Is Brian sending the texts? So I questioned it, but it almost sounds like Gabby isn't sending the text herself. Is Brian sending the texts? I questioned it, but then I thought there was fires out that way, maybe they had to reroute, maybe Brian did send the text, maybe she's driving the van. I had all these reasons as to why maybe it was from her.

That was the last text I received, and every day I'm like, Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, and I'm getting nothing. Then I'm like, let me check social media, there's gotta be something. Nothing. So I called Joe, I said, I'm worried. He said he hadn't heard from her. And... I just started calling every hospital

and national park I could to see if I could find out whether or not maybe it's just bad signal. Were you talking to Brian at this point? Did you reach out to him? None of them talked to us. I sent a text to Roberta and Brian, and I got no response from either one. Same.

I mean, I even went as far as I'm going to call the cops. And usually when you hear someone's going to call the cops, you would be like, what are you? Let's see what's going on here. The Petitos have no way of knowing that while they are trying to find Gabby, Gabby's van is on the move. But Brian is the only one in it.

He has driven it all the way from Wyoming back to Florida. And when the police go to the laundry home. Hi, sir. I apologize for bothering you. I have to detect them on the phone. The Petitos are staggered by what they hear. Is Gabriel here? No.

She's not here. Okay. Brian is inside. Gabby has disappeared. When does fast grocery delivery through Instacart matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without the grainy mustard, when the barbecue's lit but there's nothing to grill, when the in-laws decide that, actually, they will stay for dinner. Instacart has all your groceries covered this summer, so download the app and get delivery in as fast as 60 minutes. Plus enjoy zero dollar delivery fees on your first three orders.

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But in the back of that cramped van, it seems tensions are growing for the couple, according to Gabby's friend, Rose. She spoke in Netflix's docu-series, American Murder, Gabby Petito. I think a big reason Brian didn't want her to do the vlog is because I think he was worried that the truth of everything would be on footage. There's that possibility that he says the wrong thing or reacts the wrong way while she's recording.

You know, what is my absolute favorite part about the van? What's that? The fact that we have this nice, big, open floor for you to keep your dirty feet. Ah. Ha ha ha. Behind scenes, Gabby and Brian would get into arguments. OK.

No, turn it back. Just open your mouth. In those videos where he rolls his eyes, I never noticed that before, and seeing that really hit me. I was like, wow, that's who he really is. He showed his true colors. But never in a million years do we think

that he would harm her. At what point did it get, wait, something's going on here. This doesn't make sense. What didn't make sense is when we couldn't get in touch with her. At what point did it get, wait, something's going on here. This doesn't make sense. What didn't make sense is when we couldn't get in touch with her. The Petitos call and text Gabby. What they don't know is that on September 1st,

Brian, in that little white van, has driven back to Florida, to his parents' house, alone. The Laundrie family is going about their business. Neighbors told me that they saw Brian and his parents going for walks down the street, and then eventually, Brian and his parents went camping for a few days.

They were camping at Fort De Soto, which is our usual camping spot, and because it was Labor Day and the kids had school the next day, we just went for a couple of hours and we ate dinner and had s'mores around the campfire and left. There was nothing peculiar about it. His sister says she didn't have any reason to ask about Gabby, and she had no idea that anything was wrong. It just never came up. I'm frustrated that in hindsight,

I didn't pick up on anything. It was just a regular trip. Ten days after they last hear from her, on September 11th, the Petitos report Gabby as missing. And on that very day in North Port, Florida, the police go to the laundries house Yes, I apologize for bothering you. I have the detective on the phone You don't want to talk to us is okay. She's on the phone. You don't want to talk to her now

Okay, um, it's it's what was the last time that you saw Brian and and Gabriel Okay, um, it's it's what was the last time that you saw Brian and Gabriel? Well, Brian is here. Brian is here? Yeah, and that's all I'm gonna say. And that's all you're saying? Yeah, we haven't returned. They've been calling on me. That's all I wanna say. And just to let the detective know, is Gabriel here?

No. She's not here. Okay. Did you immediately just think something is not right? Oh my God, I think he said he did something to her. I know it. As shocking as it may seem, the laundries are under no legal obligation to assist or to talk to the pititos. Right now I'm in the bathroom.

I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. I'm in the bathroom. As shocking as it may seem, the laundries are under no legal obligation to assist or

to talk to the Petitos. Right now on ABC Action News, desperate for answers. The ever-expanding search for Gabby Petito. Tonight, new developments in the nationwide search for a missing Long Island native, Gabrielle Petito. In their desperation, Gabby's parents are grasping at straws. Maybe it's just a hoax. They're trying to get this YouTube video up.

So maybe it's just a hoax to try to get more followers. I mean, your brain just goes and goes and goes. But in the back of your head, it's like he's not talking and he has a lawyer. That's always, that just stuck right there. It's like if something bad didn't happen, then he would have been talking. I've never had to contact an attorney when my daughter broke up with somebody. And there's Gabby's van in the laundry driveway.

Okay, so the van is only registered to her, okay? I'm not really sure. Well, I'm gonna tell ya, I'm telling ya. The title on the state of Florida is it's only hers. So, it's not supposed to be here. Okay. We don't know what Brian knows. I mean, that's the bottom line.

And we're hopeful to talk to him. He needs to talk to us. We need to know exactly where he was, where she was, their last locations. Gabby's parents beg for information from her boyfriend. Police have said that deafening silence from Gabby's boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, is hindering their investigation and search efforts. He's just going into like a hyper mode

and all we were thinking about was getting the word out to try to find her and doing what we had to do to try to assist in that. The police get a search warrant for Gabby's van. They don't find any evidence of a crime, but the FBI says something is missing. The mattress is gone. The Laundrie family lawyer gives only a statement

that they hope the search for Gabby is successful and that Brian will remain silent on advice of counsel. Joe gives a press conference. What I need from everybody here is help. The goal is still not met. And that goal is to bring Gabby home safe. This is what matters. That is it.

Anything else, it comes second to this. Where is Gabby? It seems like a stalemate, but at least they know where Brian is. Or do they? When we got that alert that Brian Laundrie was missing, my stomach dropped. Now the Laundrie parents are searching too, because Brian Laundrie is gone. Brian has vanished. Gabby has not been heard from in over two weeks. You were feeling pretty desperate then.

It was just chaos. Your heart sinks. It's an indescribable feeling pretty desperate then. It was just chaos. Your heart sinks. It's an indescribable feeling in your body. And you don't sleep, you don't eat. From that moment on, it's nonstop. What do you know? What do you know? Be respectful of everyone's property, please.

Northport police told us that they had been surveilling the house and had surveillance on the house during this time. But at some point, Brian left. The police told us that they had been surveilling the house and had surveillance on the house during this time. But at some point, Brian left. The Laundrie family says they don't know where their son is at this point, and they're hoping for him to come home safely. Brian's sister, Cassie, calls him. I've tried to get in touch with him, phone went to voicemail.

I didn't think anything of it because he's not very good at keeping his phone charged. So everything's different when you look back on it. We're gonna turn next here to the search for that person of interest, Brian Laundrie. That search intensifying tonight. After Brian's parents tell Northport police he has gone camping in the Carlton Reserve,

a massive manhunt ensues. Numerous law enforcement agencies are involved in the search inside the Carlton Reserve. They're using drones, UTVs, ATVs, and they're searching a heavily wooded area. 75% of it is underwater. I worry about him. I hope he's okay. And then I'm angry and I don't know what to think. Everything runs through my head. I hope my brother is alive because I want answers just as much as everybody else.

At the same time, Gabby's parents are trying to stay upbeat. There's a million different scenarios that could play out just the same. Maybe they split up and she's just done with him and doesn't want to tell us yet, because she's really upset. You have that hope. As the search for Gabby goes on, something extraordinary unfolds.

One thing that happened immediately after this case blew up in the media and on the Internet was it opened up this broader conversation about missing women, and specifically missing women and specifically missing Black and Indigenous women and the lack of attention given to them. It's called Missing White Woman Syndrome. Missing women of color don't get as much attention. There is really a vast difference. Minorities do not get shared the same as a blonde hair, blue-eyed, white girl. Indigenous women go missing and are murdered at rates 10 times higher than the rest of

the country. And it was, how can we help? What can we do to help elevate your voice? Wyoming, the last place Gabby was seen, issued a report in 2020 that only 18 percent of Indigenous women's missing cases got media coverage. It's on all of you, everyone that's in this room, to do that. And if you don't do that for other people that are missing, that's a shame. Because it's not just Gabby that deserves that.

Everyone wants to find Gabby, and now with social media, many are taking it upon themselves to track her down. The internet sleuths get to work. The fact that she randomly posted it on August 25th with just that caption, to me is very suspicious. And we had no idea that it was going to take the entire world by storm. Also notice that the capitalization is different. She never capitalized anything but the first word. Why is she posting with a pumpkin? Why is this video framed like that? Then a new discovery on TikTok as a young woman named Miranda Baker says she thinks the hitchhiker she picked up in her Jeep on

August 29th was actually Brian Laundrie. He offered $200 to drive a few miles and they thought that that was a little odd. He was really clean for someone who had been hiking for multiple days. He said him and his fiance were camping at a dispersed campsite near Snake River. The biggest red flag is why would you go camping by yourself for multiple days alone with

just a backpack and leave your fiance in your van. It just doesn't make sense. We were driving for 15 minutes and I had brought up you know why are you going to Jackson Hole and once I said Jackson Hole that's when the energy shifted. He got very upset about that said please let me out of the car. He got very upset about that, said, please let me out of the car. He got out of the car. And as Miranda Baker states, about 10, 15 seconds later, he was gone.

And after people spend days online poring over countless posts, it is social media that helps find Gabby's body. My name is Jen Bethune, I travel with my husband Kyle, our three kids and four dogs. We're YouTubers and so we film all the time. It's the freaking Teton! She did not know at that time.

They were just driving through the Teton National Forest and this van is on the side of the road. It was crazy to us because it had Florida plates, and we're from Florida, and we were like, we can go hang out with them, but the van looked very dark. It didn't look like anybody was there. When she heard about the case weeks later, she remembered the white van.

When we found the footage, I'm like, please, please keep keep recording please keep recording and all of a sudden we see this white speck getting closer and closer and closer. We both got goosebumps all over our body we knew it was her van as soon as the footage passed by it. It was an insane feeling. At 1208 in the morning, I called the FBI. There is breaking news in the search for Gabby Petito. Earlier today, human remains were discovered, consistent with the description of Gabrielle Gabby Petito.

I remember I was crying and I said, you have to be sure. Like, I have to be sure if I'm making this phone call remains consistent what does that what does that mean they showed me pictures I confirmed it was our daughter in the manner of death of Gabrielle Lenora Petito we find the cause and manner to be caused death by strangulation and manner is homicide. It actually takes five to seven minutes for somebody to actually kill another human being as they strangle them. So that is five to seven minutes where somebody is face to face with their victim, watching

as they gasp for air, watching as their eyes fill up with blood. It is an incredibly gruesome, incredibly intimate form of homicide. Where is Gabby? And now, all the energy that the public had poured into finding Gabby Petito is directed at finding Brian Laundrie. The nationwide manhunt for Laundrie,

still the only named person of interest in Petito's murder after he returned home from their cross-country road trip without her. Then a body in the swamp. And next to it, a notebook. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted. But I see now all the mistakes I made.

that it is what she wanted, but house? This is the humble abode. Oh my God, it's so humble. FX presents Adults. You don't know your special security number? No, I do. It's just my mom like knows the whole thing. A new comedy about 20-somethings achieving zero anythings. What is the worst that happens?

I go broke. I can't pay my loans. I start an OnlyFans, but only you guys subscribe. You can't do OnlyFans. Yeah, you wouldn't make it on there, so sorry. FX's Adults premieres May 28th on FX, all episodes streaming on Hulu. After a desperate, weeks-long search for Gabby Petito,

her body was discovered beside a stream bed near Grand Teton National Park. The cause of death, manual strangulation. Now that Gabby has been found, the focus turns to finding Brian Laundrie. The search for Brian, first out west, then in the south, is now focused on an area in Florida not far from where his parents lived.

A few weeks into the search, Brian's parents join the effort. They go into an area in the park that they had told police to search, but it had been underwater at the time. Shortly after, authorities find his remains. Earlier today, investigators found what appeared to be human remains, along with personal items. The findings from Brian's autopsy? Brian killed himself.

He shot himself in the head and left a note. The attorney for the Laundrie family releases the actual pages from Brian Laundrie's notebook. Now people can read for themselves what Brian Laundrie says happened. Gabby, I wish I was right at your side. I loved you more than anything. And then it goes from this beautiful sort of love letter to this very serious, scary situation. Rushing back to our car, trying to cross the streams of Spread Creek before it got too dark to see, too cold, I hear a splash and a scream.

Brian claims that Gabby was badly injured and in agony. She said little, lapsing between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain. Brian says he killed Gabby as a form of mercy. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. He was a liar. Nothing he said in those stories were true. He was a coward to the day that he died. When you look back at all the stuff that happened,

were there any red flags that this was coming? Yes, there were. But we didn't notice them at the time, know what we know now. We see that progression that happened, alienation of friends and family. And that's one of the reasons why we started the foundation, the Gabby Petito Foundation, to teach others and other parents

there might be some tips that you could talk to your child about and try to let them know that you are there for them and that there are resources out there. I get messages all the time from people saying I didn't realize I was in a bad relationship or potentially violent relationship until I saw her story. I saw it, I got help, and I safely got out.

And if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here today. One thing that brought them a bit of peace. How did you guys end up with the van? When everything was done, the FBI asked us what we wanted to do with it, and we contemplated a few things. At the end, we were like, we just don't want the vibe to it. We had the van crushed. No one really knows that, but we did. It's very therapeutic for us. Yeah. Almost like when you go to one of those rage rooms and you get to smash things. That was fantastic.

Since Brian will never be prosecuted for killing Gabby, the Petitos want someone held responsible. The Petitos file multiple lawsuits. One of them is for wrongful death against Brian Laundrie's estate. Months later there is a settlement. The case is settled for three million dollars. Court documents indicate that Brian had less than $14,000 in his bank account. An attorney for the Laundries said in a statement, hopefully this brings some closure to this one chapter of this tragedy.

Gabby's parents also file a lawsuit against Brian's parents, alleging their actions caused them pain and suffering. They allege Brian's parents knew that something was wrong, but didn't share that information. In a deposition, Chris Laundrie says that a frantic Brian called them from the road, said he needed a lawyer, but never said Gabby was dead, only that she was gone. Roberta Laundrie said she thought maybe Brian and Gabby had gotten in a fight.

Two years later, announcements by both families. The parents of Gabby Petito have settled a civil lawsuit against the parents of Petito's former fiance, Brian Landry. Both sides say they've reached an agreement to avoid a civil trial. The terms are confidential. As for the Moab police, Gabby's parents file a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the department alleging negligence. In filings, attorneys responded that while Petito's murder is

tragic, only speculation supports the assertion that Moab could have changed history. In December 2024, the case is dismissed by the trial judge. Less than two weeks later, the Petitos file a notice of appeal. Their lawyer expects to present their case in the fall of 2025. We've been a part of four law changes since this all happened. SB 1224. Two in Florida, one in Utah, and one nationally. And it's her voice doing it, not us. They take the call because of her name.

She did it, not us. The goal is to mandate that in domestic violence situations, police make a risk assessment and better collaborate with victim advocates. We're lucky we have so many pictures of her. I'm so happy that she took as many as she did. And this is why photos are so important. Annoy the kids, annoy the friends, annoy the family. Take the photos because you never know then when that's all you're going to have.

because you never know then when that's all you're going to have. Twenty-two beautiful years. This is the next phase in my therapeutic work. Nicole Kidman returns for the Hulu original Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2. Breathe in, breathe out. This is safe. We take you back to a core trauma. Breathe in, breathe out. She is manipulating us. Breathe in, breathe out.

Why are you resisting? Is it too late to get a refund? The all-new season of 9 Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu and Disney+. New episodes Wednesdays.