RedHanded - Episode 293 - Gabby Petito: Isolated

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

In December 2020 Gabby Petito and her fiance Brian Laundrie set off on a once-in-a-lifetime journey across the USA in their tiny little van. The trip was set to be packed full of starry nights and stunning vistas for countless happy memories, and also all the beautiful views needed to kickstart Gabby’s dream career as a travel vlogger.But when Brian returned to his family home in August 2021 without Gabby, things went from living daydream to living nightmare. What followed was a search that spanned a vast expanse of wild terrain, and a social media search party like nothing the world had ever seen before.Follow us on social media:InstagramTwitterVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Red Handed early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Saruti.

And I allegedly am Hannah. She is, I can confirm it. And this is Red Handed, which I almost forgot to say. If you are listening to this at the point at which it's being released, we'll have just come back off tour. God. Or we will be in Mexico. Oh, Mexico.

Enjoying our week of holiday after the tour. Yep. Because we are doing a lot of pre-recording. Yep. Pre-tour. Yep, during that week. If you are not made of tequila, I don't want to know. Exactly. But by this point, we will be having a great time, probably. And you are probably not going to have a great time because it's one of those cases today, unfortunately. But that's what it is. So let's do it.

Because today's story is one that most of you will already probably definitely know. It dominated headlines across the world for weeks. It was a nightmare true crime case with a level of social media virality that I don't think I had ever seen before. I don't think I had either. Not before this case. It unfolded before our very eyes. Trending number one on Twitter, TikTok and YouTube. It was a case that was like happening like it was some sort of true crime series and people were keeping up with it. Every day brought new updates. People were obsessed. And this case had twists and turns like no one could have expected. So let's get into it. On the 2nd of July 2021, 22-year-old Gabby Petito and her 23-year-old fiancé, Brian Laundrie, left New York to head out on a four-month cross-country road trip.

They'd been planning the trip for months. They were going to drive Gabby's white Ford van to the West Coast, visiting as many state and national parks as they could on the way. And the pair were going to share every moment of their journey on social media. With Gabby hoping that this trip would be the start of her exciting career as a travel vlogger. And Brian, who was an outdoors guy through and through, was only too happy to join the party. So they'd both saved up enough cash, quit their jobs, done up the van to look hashtag van life Pinterest perfect, and they were ready to go. The next six weeks of the couple's trip,

as documented on Gabby's Instagram, show a happy, smiley, young, beautiful pair enjoying themselves while exploring all of the stunning scenery of the US of A. There was a lot of running across beaches, kissing under waterfalls, and sunset camping shots. I wonder if they had to stand in a queue like all of those people in Bali, do you remember? Oh my god, oh my god, yes. Absolutely, probably, definitely 100% of that. It is very like, yes, like beautifully curated, stunning scenery, which the US has got in bag, so it's very easy. But yes, when Hannah and I went to Bali,

there was a waterfall that, no offence, it was just a waterfall. We wanted to go and swim in it. I want to see that. And we thought that was what was happening. No. And then you climb all the way down this massive cliff. Yeah.

You get there. Just a queue. Just a queue of people waiting to take engagement photos under the waterfall. It was embarrassing. And we left. We left, yeah. We were like, fuck this noise. No, not for me. So yeah.

A lot of that. But nicely done. Okay. On the 19th of August, the couple published an eight-minute video on YouTube entitled Van Life, colon, Beginning Our Van Life Journey. It showed the couple laughing having outdoorsy adventures and lamenting the fact that chocolate and the utah sun are very much not friends yes

hannah would you like to take a guess at utah's state motto oh god so in a picture that gabby posts on her instagram her and brian are standing in front of a big billboard and it's like utah and then it's got a tagline and i was like like, is that Utah's state motto? That's a great state motto. It's not. Can you guess what the state motto actually is? And I'll tell you both in a second. I love Brigham Young. No. So the tagline on the billboard they're standing in front of says life elevated. Okay. And I was like, that's nice. That's cute. if it's like high sea levels like that's cute it's not it's one word tagline or

state motto whatever industry oh my god i know and utah is like yes we joke lots of mormons of course but it's also absolutely beautiful yes Yes, yes, absolutely. Their state motto is industry. What? I don't know. Ohio's is even better than that. Change it to life elevated, Utah. Take it. Somebody's already written it on a billboard for you. God. So on the 24th of August, Gabby called her parents to tell them that she and Brian were leaving Utah and heading to Wyoming to visit Grand Teton National Park. I'd never heard of Grand Teton National Park before, but I googled it and it is absolutely fucking beautiful. I'm sure we can find you a national park on the way from Portland to San Francisco. I would love that more than anything. One of my biggest things is I would love to just go to the national parks of the US. And I know we don't have a huge amount of time while we're in the States, but if we could do one, it would be amazing.

I'm sure tour manager Ben can make it happen for you. Let's find it. You can do most things. Beautiful. And basically during this call, it seemed very much to Gabby's mum that her daughter was happy and she was thrilled for her that she was having so many adventures, which is exactly what Gabby had wanted when she'd left. The next day, so the 25th of August, Gabby posted a picture of herself on Instagram, standing in front of a butterfly mural. No one knew it at the time, but it would be the last post Gabby would ever make. Gabby was very close to her family and stayed in constant contact with her parents during her trip. Gabby texts her parents at least every other day,

just to say what she and Brian were up to that week. So when Gabby's mum Nicola didn't hear from her for a few days, Nicola starts to get quite worried. Everyone else told Nicola to relax, after all Gabby was in the middle of nowhere up there in Grand Teton. Nicola had even received a text from Gabby's phone on the 30th of August telling her that there was no signal where she was but then when Nicola tried to get in touch with Brian and Brian's parents and got no reply at all she just couldn't push her fears down anymore Nicola had started to worry that maybe something had happened to Brian and Gabby, and nobody knew. So, on the 11th of September 2021, now not having heard from her daughter for 12 whole days,

Nicola called the police. And much to her absolute horror, Florida police called her back to inform her that they had found Brian. He was at his mum and dad's house in Newport, Florida. He'd come home on the 1st of September, ten days ago, alone. But he did have Gabby's van, which he had used to drive back to Florida. The police seized the vehicle

and then declared Brian Laundrie to be a person of interest in the disappearance of his fiancée, Gabby Petito. Can you just imagine how fucking weird that would be? Like, your daughter and her fiancée go away together. You don't hear anything and he's just back at his parents' house and he's been there for over a week and no one's called you to tell you anything. And Gabby's not there.

So yes, as if this wasn't weird enough, this revelation that the Florida police made, the laundries, so Brian and his mum and dad, Roberta and Chris, all completely flat-out refused to speak to the police, the press, and even Gabby's family. If there is a surefire way to make yourselves look guilty as fuck, this is it. So yes, just to clarify, by this point, with Brian acting weird as fuck and with him having brought

Gabby's van back home with him, the police were seriously concerned for 22-year-old Gabby's safety. She was out there on her own, somewhere, making no contact with her family, and now they know she doesn't even have a vehicle. And it was at this point that this case absolutely blew up. Thanks to Gabby's social media pages, there was so much material online for the internet sleuths to totally lose their minds over. And overnight, countless online communities sprung up all over the internet. Facebook groups, Reddit pages, TikTokers, everyone was on the case. And these armchair sleuths began to obsessively track and share every development in the search for Gabby Petito. When Gabby vanished, she had about a thousand followers on Instagram.

Today, her account has 1.6 million followers. Gabby's mum and dad, Joe and Nicola, appeared at numerous press conferences pleading for tips and help from the community to find their daughter. They even directly addressed the laundries, begging them to put themselves in their family's shoes and to reveal where, quote, Brian left Gabby. But the cries of these heartbroken parents fell on deaf ears, and the laundries stayed quiet, with their lawyer stating that they were exercising their constitutional right to not speak with authorities. Okay.

So, get this. The Ontario Liberals elected Bonnie Crombie as their new leader. Bonnie who? I just sent you her profile. Her first act as leader, asking donors for a million bucks for her salary. That's excessive. She's a big carbon tax supporter. Oh yeah. Check out her record as mayor. Oh, get out of here. She even increased taxes in this economy. Yeah. Higher taxes. Carbon taxes. She sounds expensive. Bonnie Crombie and the Ontario Liberals.

They just don't get it. That'll cost you. A message from the Ontario PC Party. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Radin was found dead in a canyon near L.A. in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Lainey Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing.

From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Cotton Club Murder early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Now I'd like to just say at this point that Gabby and Brian had been together for years. They had grown up less than two miles apart and as teenagers they had met at Bayport Blue Point High School in Long Island. That is complicated to say. Bayport Blue Point. That's very difficult to say. Bayport Blue Point High School in Long Island. That is complicated to say. Bayport Blue Point. That's very difficult to say.

Bayport Blue Point. Bayport Blue Point High School. Guys, just pick one or the other. So according to those who did know the pair as teenagers, they would say that they sort of connected because they were both kind of loners who didn't really fit in with the crowd. They were different,

and that's what had brought Gabby and Brian together. Most of their friends say that they spent their high school years as on-off boyfriend and girlfriend. Friends would say that they always had some sort of drama going on and you never really knew if they were going to be all over each other one day or at each other's throats the next. Apparently, and this is according to one of Gabby's friends, the couple swung between, quote, very high highs and very low lows. But nothing really made anyone think that their fallouts were anything more than your usual sort of teenage angst. And Brian and Gabby did actually break up after Brian Laundrie, who was one year ahead of Gabby, graduated in 2016.

But they got back together when Gabby finished high school the following year. And she even moved from Long Island, which is where they'd grown up, to Florida to be with Brian because that's where he moved after he graduated. So she like really upheeds her life for him. The couple even got engaged in July 2020, according to one of Gabby's Instagram posts. And they lived with his parents in Florida to save money. And after what was likely a very grim time over COVID lockdowns,

I can't even imagine having to live with your boyfriend's parents, they decided, fuck the wedding, let's go travelling. But their tumultuous relationship doesn't seem to have improved as they got older. Despite Gabby apparently only telling her friends the good stuff about Brian, some of them noticed that there was definitely some weird shit going on as well. Gabby's friend Rose, someone she met when she moved to Florida to be with Brian, says that Brian was controlling and he was certainly a manipulator. Not in a physical way, but he would always get what he wanted. For example,

if Rose and Gabby wanted to go out out for the night and Brian didn't want Gabby to go, he would hide her cards and her ID so she would be stuck at home with him, which is extremely troubling behaviour. Yeah. This is the thing. I think during their teenage years, people sort of write it off as just being like immature, childish, like teenage boyfriend, girlfriend arguing. But then as they're getting older, they're getting into their twenties. Like you can't keep writing off behavior like that as being petty and immature. Like it is incredibly controlling, manipulative behavior. And this is the thing. This is the point I'm trying to make is that they had known each other for a very very long time Gabby had made an enormous decision to move away from her family to go and

be with Brian so Gabby was not just some random girl that Brian knew whose disappearance was just like bringing a load of drama to his parents door for no reason she lived with them they knew her and their son was engaged to this person and also Brian was the last person to see Gabby alive and the family still go totally silent closed ranks completely will not cooperate in the smallest way with the police or with Gabby's family. It's completely unbelievable. Internet sleuths, and this made me really sick, because internet sleuths even found Pinterest boards like one labelled Life Goals,

which had shared access between Brian, Gabby and his mum, Roberta. No. Yes. No. Yes. This is what I'm saying. Like, Gabby was very clearly intertwined with the laundry family or maybe it'd be more accurate to say that roberta brian's mom was very involved in brian and gabby's

lives the point is they know her yes she lived with she hasn't just sprung up out of the blue no it's not like he's come home and be like oh mom dad like i hooked up with this random girl and now she's gone missing and the police are, like, badgering me about it and I had nothing to do with it. Fuck anyone who gives them even the slightest of passes. Because, yeah, it's just crazy. And that's the thing, I just think all of this makes it even more bizarre how much little outward concern they showed for Gabby when she vanished.

And things got even weirder still when it became public that on the 6th of September, so five days after Brian had gone home, minus his fiancée, the Laundrie family, mum, dad and Brian, had all gone on a little camping trip together. I'd forgotten about this bit. According to Opinellas County Park,

the family had checked in at a campsite about 75 miles away from their home at the Fort De Soto campground from the 6th to the 8th of September. Why they went there and what they were doing while their son's fiancé was missing and he was being treated as a person of interest is still very much up for debate.

I can't find any information to explain why they went camping. I tried looking it up on a map. I don't know. It's not anywhere near where Gabby is eventually found. I'm not going to say spoilers. Everybody already knows what happens in this story. I don't know why they were there. Were they there to destroy evidence?

Possibly. But like they very obviously check in there. So they know eventually the police are going to go there. So I don't know. It might possibly have been because at this point, the case is starting to blow up. There are a lot of people starting to gather around their house because the press make it very clear and Gabby's family make it very clear that Brian's family are not cooperating with them. So so they were we'll go on to discuss this in more detail become quite hate figures in the community for which I have absolutely zero sympathy but possibly they just needed to get away but it's very why two days like it doesn't really make any sense I don't know so some people out there do give Brian's parents the benefit of the doubt saying we don't know what he told them he could have said that he and Gabby had just decided to go their separate ways for a bit and that Gabby was fine traveling on her own you know without a van

like we don't know what he came home and said those people who are saying it are saying it on like big documentaries that are being made by CBS or whatever because they don't want to get sued by the Laundrie family. I don't care. What could he possibly have said? Because when you have a full-blown investigation, police investigation underway, a nationwide manhunt with Gabby's face on every single TV screen, phone screen, TikTok page, everything,

and Gabby's parents frantically trying to get in touch with you, desperate for information. Because by this point they haven't heard from their daughter in almost two weeks. And you are actively ignoring them. What could Brian have said to them that made them ignore all of those facts? I can't give them a pass on any of that. No, I can't. And presumably, like, they've been together for so long.

The Laundries knew Gabby's parents. They don't even call them. No. Can you imagine letting your 22-year-old daughter move into the house of another family you don't know? They know each other. They probably bought each other Christmas presents every year. Anyway, the silence on the part of theundries started very early into the investigation. The police went to the Laundry home on the 11th of September after they got the call from Gabby's mum reporting her missing. And they found Brian at home safe and sound. But he had no explanation for where Gabby was. The police tried to get the family to allow them to talk to Brian,

but they were essentially handed the information for the laundries attorney and told to leave. And the laundries, let's be clear, they run a juicing equipment business. They are not mafia kingpins. They are not even rich. There's a lot of money in juice. There is probably, especially in Florida, but they're not wealthy. No. Why would they have an attorney already at hand like that? Only rich people and criminals have attorneys on retainer like that.

You don't just have one when you're an ordinary family. So why are they able to just hand the police this information? Well, it turned out that on the 28th of August, so four days before Brian came home to Florida without Gabby, he had called his parents and had a lengthy phone conversation with them, according to phone records. The very next day, so the 29th of August, so long before Gabby's parents even contemplated that anything might be wrong with their daughter, the Laundries had already hired their lawyer. So on the 28th, he calls them, on Laundries had already hired their lawyer. So on the 28th,

he calls them, on the 29th, they hire a lawyer. This is days before he's even come home without Gabby. So as news like this came out, the Laundries, like I said, quickly found themselves public enemies number one. Protesters gathered en masse outside their Newport home, demanding that they reveal what Brian had done and where Gabby was. And look, if Brian had been arrested and there was no evidence that the family knew anything, I would genuinely feel awful for them. Because this mob was brutal. But, knowing what we know,

knowing everything I have just said to you about when they hired the lawyer, etc., I find it really hard to care that they were harassed in any way, to be perfectly honest with you. On the 16th of September, five days after Gabby had been reported missing, the Moab Police Department out of Utah released some rather disturbing body cam footage. This footage had been recorded on the 12th of August, so almost a month before it became public and Gabby was missing. And it really does make for some seriously uncomfortable viewing.

On the 12th of August, Gabby posted on Instagram a picture of herself that had been taken a few days before in the Archers National Park in Utah. But within hours of this photo being shared, the Grand County Sheriff's Department received a 911 call. Hi, can you hear me, sir? Yeah, I can hear you. Hi, I'm calling, I'm right on the corner of Main Street by Moonflower, and we're driving by, and I'd like to report a domestic dispute. Florida with a white van, Florida license plate, white land, gentleman with a 5'6 beard. They just drove off. They're going down Main Street. They made a right onto Main Street from Moonflower.

What were they doing? What did you say? What were they doing? We drove by, and the gentleman was slapping the girl. 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. And the couple that you just heard that man describing as having a physical altercation was, of course, Brian and Gabby.

As you heard in that call, the witnesses clearly pointed the finger at Brian as being the aggressor. The 911 caller even got the licence plate of their vehicle, so patrol cars were notified to be on the lookout for Gabby's white van. And authorities spotted them pretty quickly, probably helped by the fact that the van was being driven erratically down the roads of Moab. Police officers pulled Gabby and Brian over. And the next part of this story is definitely one element of what made this case blow up like it did.

Because the police, wearing their body cams, interviewed Gabby and Brian back and forth for over an hour on the side of the road. And let's listen to a few clips here from that particular incident. Yeah, I don't know. Some days I have really bad OCD. Okay. I was just cleaning and straightening up the back of the van before and I was apologising to him and saying,

I'm sorry that I'm so mean because sometimes I have OCD and sometimes I just get really frustrated. I'm not like mean towards him. I just like, I guess my vibe is like I'm in a bad mood. I was just saying I'm sorry if I'm in a bad mood. I'm just really stressed. I had so much work I was doing on my computer this morning. What do you do for a living? Well, I used to work at an organic juice bar, but I just quit my job. I was a nutritionist. That's my job. I just quit my job to travel across the country, and I'm trying to start a blog. I just have a blog. So I've been building my website. I've just been really stressed, and he doesn't really believe that I can do any of it. So that's kind of been like a... I don't know. He's like down there. I don't know. We've just been fighting all morning and he wouldn't let me in the car before.

Why wouldn't he let you in the car? Because of your OCD? He told me I needed to calm down. Yeah. But I'm perfectly calm. I'm calm all the time and he really stresses me out and I just... This is a rough morning. Well, why don't we do this? Why don't I sit you down in the backseat of my car? You're not in any trouble, okay? I'm not gonna be putting handcuffs on you. You obviously don't have any weapons. I'm going to get you into the air conditioning, let you take a breath, relax a little bit, and then I'll come back and talk to you in a few minutes.

Okay? Okay. All right. Did you hit a curb? I, I, I... While you were driving? While he was driving. While he was driving, you were hitting him?

Well, not a lot. You don't figure anything. I was yelling at him and then when he started to realize that I like kind of punched his arm like through the She's saying like hit the curb. You said it was Gabby? I'm sorry I don't remember if that was Gabby.

But you tend to have a lot of anxiety and stress. I have a lot of anxiety. And what's his name? Is it Brian? Is he usually pretty patient with you? Yeah. But my ex-wife, as much as my ex-wife, I'm just sharing it, I know it's a little personal but to help you understand, we would feed off each other's anxiety in a spiral, you know what I mean?

And it doesn't matter how much I loved her. It may be a bad for your soul, it's the same. I'm not telling you what to do with your life, but if you know you have anxiety, look at the, look at the situations you can get in. You know what I mean? Quick question. You said you were hitting him in the arm. Did you grab the steering wheel? No, I didn't. You did not touch the steering wheel? I didn't touch the steering wheel, but only for like a second because I just saw the lights come on and I was more just like, you're an idiot. Like, you know. But did you grab the steering wheel and like swerve or anything like that? No, no, no, no. I didn't touch the steering wheel at all.

And as you can hear in those clips, it's very, very hard to listen to. And I'm sure most of you have already seen the video clips of this. But if you haven't, we'll leave links to the video recordings. And you can watch them on YouTube if you want to. I think they make very, very painful viewing. Because you can hear Gabby is very upset. And more than that, she sounds incredibly anxious, like frantic. And when I was watching it, the word I kept thinking is hysterical.

And I don't mean to use that or want to use that in a derogatory sense, like, oh my God, she was so hysterical. I mean it because she is so worked up. It's almost like she sounds like drunk or like disassociating it's so heartbreaking to hear and brian on the other hand while gabby is in this state well he sounds chill as fuck let's have a listen so tell me what's going on we see this gets worked up sometimes and I try and really distance myself from her so like I lock the car and I walk away from her.

What happened this morning is that she's trying to start up her own little website vlog and everything. So I give her time. We really had a nice morning if anything but she just got worked up because we were trying to get going and get our day going because we wanted to go like garages. You want to tell me about those scratches on your face? She had a cell phone in her hand. That's why I was pushing her away. I locked the keys so I could walk away. I said, let's just take a breather and let's not go anywhere.

Let's just calm down for a minute. She was going to work up. And then she had her phone and was trying to get the keys to her. So I got in the way. I know I shouldn't push her, but phone and was trying to get the fuse to go so I got in the way and I was just trying to, I know I shouldn't push her but I was just trying to push her away to go let's just take a minute, step back and breathe and you see she got in the way. Can I see your hand?

Oh you got a mark right here. Oh that's from a wire. That's from a wire? Yeah. Do you want to tell me about hitting that curb? Hitting the curb was her grabbing the wheel. She grabbed the wheel? Yeah.

She said I can't believe you're getting pulled over and then she grabbed the wheel. What about hitting that curb? Hitting the curb was her grabbing the wheel. She grabbed the wheel? Yeah, she said, I can't believe you're getting pulled over and then she grabbed the wheel. What about the speed? Did she take over the pedal on you? If I was going fast, I'm sorry. No, it's probably just the moment of, I'm still shaking now, the adrenaline's in, the lights flashing up and then her grabbing the wheel. So if I sped up, I'm sorry about that.

Or if I was speeding beforehand, I'm sorry about that. It took quite a bit to catch up to you. Sorry about that. I'm sorry about that. Or if I was speeding beforehand, I'm sorry about that. It took quite a bit to catch up to you. I'm sorry about that. We're just going into the park again to get water because we have a six gallon water container to fill up so we're just going to go for a hike. I was trying to keep everything calm and quiet because there's a plane still to go for a hike. I'm really sorry about that. Do me a favor. Do you want to go ahead and just take a seat right over here on the first floor?

Sure. And if I was speeding, I'm sorry. I apologize. You don't have anything in my pocket or anything. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Now we're going to come back to this roadside conversation with the police later on in this episode. But yeah, for now, let's stick with what actually happened next. The police at the scene clearly think that Gabby is the perpetrator of the violence and that Brian is the victim. But they think that Gabby doesn't

really pose that much danger to Brian. So they simply order that the two of them separate for the night and calm down. So Brian was taken to a local hotel whilst Gabby, who was clearly vulnerable, was left with her van. By the following morning, the pair were back together and back on the road. And of course, after this, they went back to posting happy videos and photos of them back on van life. And that's why no one had any idea about this incident until the police released the body cam footage from one officer. And hold on to it because it will come back later. Yeah, especially when we get the body cam footage from officer number two. So after the release of this initial footage, this case, like I said,

got even bigger. Again, this case, basically there was such a digital footprint and so much information that there was just like, there was just like so much to quench the appetites of these people who were ravenous for content. So social media was absolutely flooded with pictures and videos of Gabby and the world of internet sleuths and basically anyone who's ever watched a true crime documentary on Netflix all jumped on board. And I don't mean it to sound like it was all bad, right? I know we've criticised Internet sleuths a lot on this show before and I'm not saying that it's always a bad thing for people to show interest and to get involved.

Undoubtedly, the attention that Gabby's story got online helped the police achieve massive breaks in the case. And her family have always been eternally grateful to everyone who shared her story. Because remember, the police, at this point, all they know is that Brian is back in Florida and that Gabby is missing somewhere without a van. They know that the last place they were seen was in Grand Teton, which itself is absolutely fucking massive. But realistically, Gabby could have been anywhere. And so they were very grateful when the internet sleuths got the word out and the sightings started to roll in. Nina Angelo and her boyfriend Nick England claimed that they had seen Gabby and Brian on the 27th of August, two days after the Moab roadside police incident. The Louisiana couple were on holiday in Jackson, Wyoming, having lunch at a Tex-Mex restaurant called the Mary Biglets,

which is sweet. And they spotted a couple involved in a scene. The woman, who they now believe to be Gabby, was crying and apologising to the waitress. And the man, Brian, looked very angry at his partner and at the restaurant staff. Nina remembers feeling really creeped out by Brian thanks to his overt and very obvious rage. And Nina also noted that the woman, Gabby, looked, quote, emotionally overwhelmed and at breaking point. Harvard is the oldest and richest university in America. But when a social media-fueled fight over Harvard and its new president broke out last fall, that was no protection.

Claudine Gay is now gone. We've exposed the DEI regime, and there's much more to come. This is The Harvard Plan, a special series from the Boston Globe and WNYC's On the Media. To listen, subscribe to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts. You don't believe in ghosts? I get it. Lots of people don't. I didn't either, until I came face to face with them. Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits, and the unexplained have consumed my entire life.

I'm Nadine Bailey. I've been a ghost tour guide for the past 20 years. I've taken people along with me into the shadows, uncovering the macabre tales that linger in the darkness, and inside some of the most haunted houses, hospitals, prisons, and more. Join me every week on my podcast, Haunted Canada, as we journey through terrifying and bone-chilling stories of the unexplained. Search for Haunted Canada on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. And I don't think we really need to try that hard to imagine the scene that Nina described,

because emotionally overwhelmed is exactly how we'd describe Gabby in the Moab police body cam footage, and this is two days later. After this restaurant incident, Gabby Petito was never seen alive again. There were more vital witnesses to come, who we'll come on to in just a moment. But for now, we need to discuss yet another strange twist in this case. After being begged for days by both Gabby's family and police, the Laundrie family, who had stayed silent, called authorities to their home in Florida. Because they now needed to report their son Brian Laundrie as missing. Yep. So Roberta and Chris Laundrie now tell a shocked investigative team that they'd last seen their son Brian on the 13th of September when he'd gone for a hike in the Carlton Reserve in Florida.

The police couldn't believe it. They had cameras hooked up in the laundry's neighbor's gardens so that they could basically have a 24-hour surveillance situation of the house. They also had officers sat outside the house the entire time, all to make sure they knew exactly where Brian was. So when people were demanding of them at like press conferences where they're still talking about not having found Gabby, they're like, well, why haven't you arrested Brian? And they're like, we can't arrest him yet. We need to find the body. We need to find more evidence. They're like, but don't worry, we know exactly where he is because we're keeping an eye on the house. Apparently it turned out that the surveillance team had got confused

between Roberta Laundrie and her 23-year-old bald son, Brian, and that is how he'd managed to get away. Oh, my God. Roberta Laundrie doesn't look anything like her son, but somehow this is how he got out. Did he go out wearing a wig like his mum? I don't know. But he gets away.

So now, on top of the massive ongoing search for Gabby on the other side of the country, in Grand Teton, local and federal authorities now have to start a search for Brian in Florida. And just to be clear, for anyone who has forgotten just how absolutely gargantua Hugo, a massive, enormous, the United States is, Grand Teton National Park is 310,000 acres. Is that the size of the UK? I don't know. It might be. Fucking probably. It's a lot. It's a lot of Winnie the Pooh, so that's how many acres it is. And the Carlton Reserve is 25,000 acres. Yep. So now they have to search about 350,000

acres, plus just the rest of the country because you don't actually know where Gabby is. It's a whole lot of land to be searching through. But thankfully, it was time for another one of those lovely witnesses to come forward. This bit. I love this bit. And I also want to say this family's name correctly because every single bit of anything like audio video I saw on this case I don't know if it's just way it's saying in an American accent I thought their surname was buffoon and I was like oh my god those poor people it's not it's not buffoon and I was like oh my god what an unfortunate surname. What is it? Bethune? Bethune.

Bethune. Okay. I think there's a Bethune Road in Stamford Hill. On the 27th of August 2021, another couple, Jen and Kyle Bethune, family vloggers with their own channel called Red, White and Bethune. Well, Jen and Kyle were driving around the Grand Teton area as well. I also think why there was so much social media stuff to do with Gabby is, yes, there's a digital footprint. Also, it's 2021. We're all locked inside. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. This is like the perfect case for the virality achieved. So let's remember that what you're about to hear happened long before Gabby was even reported missing. Yeah, they're in the area on the 27th of August, long before anything is known about Gabby.

But they are YouTube sensations, so they had their GoPro rolling on their dashboard, filming the road. And that day, they remembered spotting a white van parked off to the side of one of the country roads. And that van stood out to them because it had Florida license plates. The Bethunes were also from Florida. So they wondered who from their neck of the woods was about. But the van looked dark, like no one was in it. So they carried on. But when the news about Gabby's disappearance hit the headlines,

a very conscientious Jen went back over the footage from that day and bingo, the white van they had seen was Gabby's white Ford van. Can you imagine? What are the chances? What are the chances? Like, I just can't even imagine this case that's taken over everything and you're like, wait a minute, we were in Grand Teton at that date and we saw that Florida fucking white van and you're like wait a minute we were in Grand Teton at that date and we saw that Florida fucking white van and it is Gabby's van so she calls the FBI and the FBI go to check the area that they had seen the van because remember the van of course by this point is back in Florida because Brian's driven it back when he went home but they went to the place that Jen Bethune's camera had caught the van being in

on the 27th. And on the 19th of September, so literally within a day of Jen coming forward with this camera footage, unbelievably, the FBI found Gabby's remains. And watching Gabby's parents talk about the moment that they discovered their daughter was dead is so heartbreaking. There is like a 60 Minutes Australia documentary on this case in which the parents are featured heavily and they talk about why Brian did this. Why didn't he just walk away? Why didn't he just leave her? Why kill her and steal her life and take her away from all of us? Now anyone who listens to true crime content will know that these are the same devastating thoughts

that the family of pretty much every such victim is left with. It just really hit home again to hear them say that, of like, why, why wouldn't you just leave her? Why kill her and fucking leave her in the wilderness? So after they find Gabby's remains, the very next day police managed to get a search warrant for the laundry home. But it wasn't actually for the murder of Gabby. It was for suspected bank fraud. Because it seemed that Brian had used Gabby's debit card to spend more than a thousand dollars on his way home from Florida, alone. And they were able to know that it probably wasn't Gabby spending

that money because from the look of her remains Gabby had already been dead by that point. Again one of the questions I have and don't have an answer to at the end of doing the research on this case is why the police weren't able to get to Brian for like so long like the day that Gabby's mum calls them and is like my daughter's missing and they go to the laundry home and they find him there the family just like here's our lawyer's number get out like why weren't they able to interview him like he was the last person who saw her alive and it might just be a missing persons at that case but i don't understand why they weren't able to even here they don't get the search warrant after they find gabby's body they

get it for bank fraud like i don't understand why they were so restricted from being able to question him. Yeah. Maybe that's why he goes missing, you know? And soon, there were to be more specifics found on how Gabby died and just how long she'd been out there. Teton County Coroner Brent Blue, what a name. What a name. I had to put it in just for the name. Well, Brent Blue determined that Gabby's cause of death was manual strangulation with blunt force trauma to her head and her neck.

Brent Blue also confirmed that Gabby had been outside in the wilderness for about three to four weeks before being found. It's very difficult to exactly pinpoint the day that Gabby died, but it seems like it was between the 27th and the 29th of August. We know that Gabby was seen on the 27th in that Tex-Mex restaurant, the Piglet one. She and Brian were also spotted that day on CCTV at a Whole Foods. Gabby wasn't seen alive after that.

And it would be two days at least before anyone saw Brian again. And also the fact that Brian calls his parents on the 28th and on the 29th they've got a lawyer. Yeah, yeah. I think it happens on the night of the 27th or the morning of the 28th. I think you're right.

So Gabby's mum got a weird text from Gabby's phone on the 27th of August as well. This text read, can you help Stan? I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls. So when Nicola gets this, remember, she's not even thinking her daughter's missing yet. Nothing's going on. She just hasn't heard from her for a little while. And Nicola thought that this particular text was really weird because Stan was Gabby's granddad. And obviously, like most people, Gabby didn't call her granddad by his first name, Stan. But if it was Brian texting Nicola off Gabby's phone, this text also makes no sense anyway. Yeah. Like I don't understand it in any

context, but that is a message that she received. Then on the 30th Nicola got a one-line text that we mentioned earlier and it basically said that there was no signal where they were. Now there's no way to know if Gabby actually sent either of these messages or like I said if it was Brian sending them from her phone to make it look like she was still alive but it seems that Gabby's phone was off from the 1st of September so the day Brian got home to his parents, and never turned back on. But I think the 30th, the message on the 30th, I think that's Brian. There's no signal here. Oh, I think so.

Because by this point his parents have already got fucking loyal. When the police discovered Gabby's phones, which were near her remains, they also were able to discover that her phone had received multiple missed calls and texts from Brian's phone in the days before it had switched off. And I really clearly think that this is Brian trying to cover up what he'd done by texting her and sending her messages and calling her phone that he knew she wasn't going to answer. In that time, between the 27th of August and the 1st of September, two separate witnesses came forward claiming that they had seen Brian all on his own. Again, lends the theory that if Gabby's not with him at this point, she's probably dead. In September 2021, a woman called Miranda Baker reported to police that she and her boyfriend had picked up Brian Laundrie in Colter Bay, Wyoming, on the 29th of August.

Apparently he was hitchhiking and he offered the pair $200 for a lift. Miranda said that he told them that he'd been camping by himself for multiple days while his fiancée was in their van working on social media posts for her travel vlog. According to Miranda, once Brian found out that she and her boyfriend were going to Jackson Hole, and not Jackson, Brian got agitated and asked that they pull over, and then he jumped out near the Jackson Dam. Then there's another woman called Norma Jean, not Marilyn Monroe, Norma Jean Jalovec. And Norma Jean said that she had picked Brian up that very same day at 6.15pm, not far from the Jackson Lake Dam. So that's just a few minutes after Miranda said that she dropped him off there.

He didn't have to wait very long. And Norma claims that she gave Brian a there. He didn't have to wait very long. And Norma claims that she gave Brian a lift to the Spread Creek dispersed camping area. And that is where Gabby's remains were eventually found. But despite all of this, authorities were still not explicitly connecting Brian to Gabby's death. Possibly because they had been reassuring everyone for weeks they knew exactly where Brian was. And then they lost him from his own house that they were surveilling 24-7. So the hunt for Brian Laundrie now entered its fifth week

and the police were seemingly no closer to finding him. And while it was incredibly frustrating, I do have to be fair and say that the Carlton Reserve is incredibly hard terrain to search. It's swampy, it's dense, it's like jungly, most of it's underwater. It's an absolute nightmare of a terrain. And I remember this period of this particular case as it was happening. The obsession online, I think at this point, reached fever pitch because it was now confirmed that everybody's worst fears had come true. Gabby was indeed dead. They had found her remains. And fucking Brian was in the wind. Like nobody had a clue if he was alive, if he was managing to actually survive out in the wilderness, or if he was dead, what was going on. Do you think

that he's got Gabby in a bag while he's hitchhiking? Oh God, I don't know because this is the thing because when he's hitchhiking, I'm like, why doesn't he have the van? Why does he get dropped back at the place where Gabby's remains are eventually found? And that's where the van had been parked on the 27th. So that timeline of these sightings, and I also have to mention that the sightings by Norma Jean and by Miranda and her partner, the police say they are entirely plausible, but they cannot corroborate those sightings. The thing that makes those women think it was Brian Laundrie is obviously they saw him and also because he sits in the van and tells them that he has a fiance

who's working on social media posts in the van. I can't understand where Gabby is during this period of time, like when he's hitchhiking there. So yes, everybody is obsessed with this case when Brian is missing and the searches were being conducted in the Carlton Reserve, like we said. And I don't know if you remember this, Hannah, but people were calling the police, also telling them they'd seen him in the Appalachian Mountain, they'd seen him in this random national park.

Like sightings were coming in from every corner of the country it was a complete mess and the police were frankly humiliated because they'd let him escape right under their noses and it was also at this point that dog the bounty hunter got involved i forgot about dog yeah in a desperate attempt as we talked about on under the duvet many a month ago to re redo his boot vamp redo his uh image in the public's eye so i don't care about dog the bounty hunter i think his reasons for getting involved were entirely cynical but yeah whatever he couldn't find him either and then on the 20th of october brian's parents chris and roberta who had not lifted a fucking finger to try and find Gabby, joined the search for their son. They don't join the search for five weeks after their son is missing. What are you doing that is more important? Your only son is missing. And they don't get

involved with the search until week five. These two, they are fucking awful. it's true and once they do get involved within hours 37 days after he went missing and two months after gabby had died off a trail brian often visited in the mayaka hatchini creek environmental park a site connected to the carton reserve brian's remains and some of his personal belongings, like his backpack, were discovered. And a lot of people say like, oh how convenient. As soon as they get involved with the search, they suddenly find Brian's remains. They're like, they knew where he was the entire time. This was the accusation. I don't know if they knew where he was the entire time because I don't knowation. I don't know if they knew where he was the entire time

because I don't know what benefit it would have served for them for his body not to have been found any sooner. Yeah. I just think they probably know where he liked to go camping because they're his parents. The news was soon released that Brian had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and the police made it clear

that they weren't looking for anyone else in relation to the murder of Gaby Petito. But it wasn't until the 21st of January 2022 that we learned about the handwritten letter that was in Brian's notebook. I remember the first time I read this and being so incandescent with rage that I was pretty upset for about a week afterwards.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm going to upset everybody again. We are going to upset you again. We're going to tell you exactly what he said and it is the most self-serving, cowardly, narcissistic drivel that I've ever read. Okay, I'm going to read it to you all. I know we could have just been like,

we're not going to read you his bullshit, but we all know it's bullshit. No one listening to this is going to be convinced by a single fucking word this man said. I'm going to read it to you, and then we're going to talk about how much fucking bullshit it is. Gabby, I wish I was right at your side. I wish I could be talking to you right now. I'd be going through every memory we've made, getting even more excited for the future.

I can't live without you. I've lost every day we could have spent together. Every holiday I'll never get to play with, and then it's like unintelligible here. Never go hiking with TJ and TJ's younger brother. I loved you more than anything. I couldn't bear to look at our photos, to recall great times, because it's why I cannot go on. When I close my eyes, I think of laying on

the roof of the van, falling asleep to the sight of a meteor shower at the Crystal Giza. I will always love you. If you were reading Gabs's journal, looking at the photos from our life together, flipping through old cards. You wouldn't want to live a day without her, knowing that every day you'll wake up without her. You wouldn't want to wake up. I'm sorry to everyone this will affect. Gabby was the love of my life, but I know adored by many. I'm so very sorry to her family because I love them. I'd consider her younger siblings my best of friends. I'm sorry to my family. This is a shock to them as well as a terrible grief.

They loved her as much, if not more, than me. A new daughter to my mother, an aunt to my nephews. Please do not make this harder for them. This occurred as an unexpected tragedy. 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. I could barely see. I couldn't find her for a moment. Shouted her name. I found her breathing, heavily gasping my name. She was freezing cold. We had just come from the blazing hot national parks in Utah. The temperature had dropped to freezing and she was soaking wet.

I carried her as far as I could down the stream towards the car, stumbling exhausted in shock when my knees buckled and I knew I couldn't safely carry her. I started a fire and spooned her as close to the heat. She was so thin, she'd already been freezing too long. I couldn't at the time realize that I should have started a fire first, but I wanted her out of the cold, back to the car. From where I started the fire, I had no idea how far the car might be. Only knew it was across the river. When I pulled Gabby out of the water, she had a small bump on her forehead that eventually got larger. Her feet hurt, her wrists hurt, she was freezing, shaking violently. While carrying her continually, she made sounds of pain. Laying next to her, she said little,

lasping between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain. She would fall asleep and I would shake her awake, fearing that she shouldn't close her eyes if she had a concussion. She would wake in pain and start the whole painful cycle again, while furious that I was the one waking her. She wouldn't let me try to cross the creek, thought, like me, that this fire would go out in her sleep and that she'd freeze.

I don't know the extent of Gabby's injuries, only that she was in extreme pain. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it was what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked. I was in shock. But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn't go on without her. I rushed home to spend any time I had left with my family. I wanted to drive north and let James or TJ kill me, but I wouldn't want them to spend time in jail over my mistake,

even though I'm sure they would have liked to. I'm ending my life not because of fear of punishment, but rather because I can't stand to live another day without her. I've lost our whole future together, every moment we could have cherished. I'm sorry for everyone's loss. Please do not make life harder for my family. They lost a daughter and a son. The most wonderful girl in the world. Gabby, I'm sorry. I want to die. Fuck you, Brian Laundrie, you mega giant fuckface twat.

I hate you. I just... It's the worst. I hate him so... He thinks he's being so smart. Oh, he's such a prick. Okay, let's talk about it because i've highlighted like some specific bits in this that are worth touching upon and like it's also in the notes after but like yeah i just want to

read some of the bits there's like the key bit that like fucked me off the most at the start is my family maybe loved her even more than i did she was like a new daughter to my mother your mother who didn't fucking call the police or talk to her family yeah fuck you you absolute piece of shit and even when he's talking about like finding her oh when she's fallen and she's in so much pain she's gasping his name hannah his name because they were so in love oh my god and the fact of like what he couldn't carry her. She's absolutely fucking dying. And this is it. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. I am aware that national parks can be dangerous places. He makes it sound like they've been hiking Everest on their own for months and she hasn't eaten in four weeks.

And like, and that's not true. They're on a nice little driving holiday. In all the pictures and videos of her leading up to that day, she looks absolutely fucking fine. Yeah. He makes it sound like they've been lost in the fucking wilderness. Yes, exactly. He makes it sound like they were in a plane crash in the Arctic. Yeah.

That's what he makes it sound like. Yes, you're right. The whole letter is just whitewashing their relationship. It's like the Instagram posts. This whole letter is reflective of who they were portraying themselves to be on social media. And this isn't me victim blaming Gabby, like she shouldn't have been whitewashing her. Everybody does that. And like everybody, particularly who's in a toxic relationship, does that. Like, yeah, I know that. That's not her fault. But this letter is a supplementary addition to the social media post they were doing.

A complete whitewashing. And he does a very good job of painting himself as the hero and the victim at the same time. It feels like he thinks he has thought of every eventuality. And he tries his best, Hannah. Yeah. He tries his best to save Gabby, but the elements, the world, nature itself was against him. It was an act of God. It was an unexpected tragedy.

Yeah. So Gabby fell. That's not his fault, is what he's saying. He, in fact, tried desperately to carry her to safety, but he just couldn't do it. Which, first of all, doesn't make any sense. Gabby was a very small person. He tries to start a fire. He tries to look after her.

But she, Gabby, was angry and lashing out at him, poor little Brian. Yeah, the bit when he says, she would wake in pain and start the whole cycle again, furious at me for waking her. Fuck, even there he has to make her the bad guy. So in the end he decided he had to end her pain by strangling her and beating her around the head

and neck until she died this is the thing he says he never explains in the letter how he killed her he says

I took her life I thought it was a merciful thing to do she died of manual strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head and neck so you're telling me the merciful way

you thought you were killing her was by strangling her and beating her around the head yeah sounds really merciful The merciful way you thought you were killing her was by strangling her and beating her around the head. Yeah, sounds really merciful. And also, if Brian had to keep waking Gabby up for fear she would die because she was so cold,

then why did he not just let her go out like that? Exactly. That makes no sense. Yeah, he's like, oh, I had to keep waking her up because I thought she would die. But then when I decided to end her life, I decided to strangle her and beat her to death. Yeah, OK. It just doesn't make any sense to wake her up and then strangle and punch her to death. If you already think she's dying. But in our humble opinion, the absolute chef's kiss, pièce de résistance of this whole letter is of course the fact that brian

laundry king amongst men that he is wrote that he wasn't even scared to go to prison he was killing himself because he was scared that if he told the families that someone in gabby's family would hurt him and then they would go to prison and he just couldn't have that, just feel absolutely terrible. So he had to kill himself there and let the animals tear him apart. Fuck off. I just can't stand it. Oh my God, is he possibly the biggest narcissist

we've ever talked about on this show? I don't know if he is, but he's definitely the fucking one that's left us the most clues as to the level of narcissism he has. He's up there with... Up there with theism he had. He's up there with... Up there with the big hitters. He's up there with the Chris Wattses

and the Scott Peterson's, in my opinion. Oh, absolutely. And I really do not think this is an exaggeration. Brian Laundrie, whatever fucking personality disorder he had, because he had one, and his parents' behaviour, all again reminds me of the unholy trinity

that is Casey Anthony, Scott Peterson and Chris Watts. Once again you have that highly enabling mother and a child whose behaviors were overlooked time and time and time again and the mother just continuously makes every effort to protect this child even after it's abundantly clear that they have done the worst thing imaginable. And honestly, the laundries are so fucking weird. So much of what they did and how they acted just jars to me beyond any kind of belief. And it doesn't just have to do with Gabby, because when Brian's remains were found,

video footage was captured at the scene, and his parents are just standing there with a total lack of any sort of emotion on their faces. So this plus like we said the fact that police found him within like 90 minutes of them joining the search led many people to speculate that they already knew that Brian was dead and already knew where his body was. I don't know. The more conspiratorial amongst you might also have heard the rumours that have been suspected online that these remains weren't brian's at all and that the family were actually hiding brian somewhere and that they

planted this evidence of human remains to make it look like he'd killed himself along with that bullshit letter and that's why they don't look sad because they know it's not their son i don't believe that they obviously dna test the remains right yeah they know it's brian laundry but we still have no idea why they took that weird little camping trip like i still can't answer that so i think the question here is because maybe someone out there listening might think we're being very harsh on the laundries but like what do you do if your child comes home and tells you that they just killed their partner like what do what do we do? Let's brainstorm that. I'd be like, you're going to make it worse.

They're going to catch you. Yeah, yeah. Let's just, I will try my hardest to be there and get you a lawyer, but it's best that you just go hand yourself in. Go hand yourself in, yeah. I think that is what most people would come to the conclusion of. I mean, you would hope

that you have to encourage your children to take responsibility for their actions and be there for them. But yes, I would hope that you have to encourage your children to take responsibility for their actions and be there for them. But yes, I would be like, you got to hand yourself in, man. The laundries didn't do any of that. Like we said, we absolutely believe that they knew what had happened to Gabby all along. Given the fact that Gabby was living with the laundries, I am certain that Brian's parents knew all too well the dynamics of the couple's toxic relationship. And they knew all about their son's controlling and angry behaviour.

And they just looked the other way. Like, how could they not have known? Her friends knew. Her friends knew what kind of guy he was. And she lived with them, I believe, for two years. Like, I don't know how they couldn't have known. So, what happens now? Well, Gabby's family aren't done.

They've set up a foundation in her honour to help raise awareness of the signs of domestic violence. And in late 2022, they also successfully brought a lawsuit against Brian Laundrie's estate for the wrongful death of Gabby. And they've pursued a lawsuit against Chris and Roberta Laundrie and their lawyer for quote, intentional infliction of emotional distress. I think that's putting it lightly.

They claim that the Laundries were well aware that Brian had murdered Gabby and they chose not to act and they actively helped him elude capture. There was plenty of evidence that was already out there to back this theory up. Their silence being the number one and the long call that they took with Brian on the 27th of August and the lawyer they hired immediately afterward. And there's more because more recently, a letter written by Roberta Laundrie to her son Brian has also come to light, or at least like partial sentences from it.

And I do understand that partial sentence is out of context. We don't know exactly what this letter said, but I am going to talk about it because those partial sentences included the following statements. If you go to prison, I'll bake a cake with a shiv in it. And second, a handy bit of advice was scribbled onto the envelope, which read, Burn after reading. Roberta, give it a fucking rest.

Your son's a prick. So Gabby's family are also in the process of suing the police in Moab, Utah. The lawsuit accuses police officers of not following the law and of failing to protect Gabby when they stopped her and Brian on the 16th of August. Utah law clearly states that in the case of suspected domestic violence an arrest must be made and they didn't very crucially they did not arrest either Gabby or Brian that day and people like you know this is a very conflicting thing to talk about it's not really clear. But I think if they thought that Gabby was the aggressor, they should have arrested

her. And they didn't. The police have said that after evaluating the totality of the circumstances, they didn't believe that the incident rose to the level of a domestic assault, as much as that of a mental health crisis. And that's why no charges were filed the city of moab also stated the police showed kindness and empathy in the handling of this case and that's why the arrest wasn't made but better training was needed even though gabby admitted to hitting brian they didn't arrest her and that's the thing they say they didn't think it rose to the level of a domestic violence incident but more of a mental health crisis. But Gabby admits to them in the tape that we heard earlier that she hit Brian.

Police also failed to mention that in the hour they stood there talking to Brian and Gabby, they did not interview the 911 operator who took the call from a witness who clearly stated that he'd seen an incident of domestic abuse in which Brian hit Gabby. If they had called the Nine Moment operator and asked to understand what the caller had said, they would have known that somebody, a witness, an independent witness saw Brian hit Gabby, but he's not admitting to that when they're interviewing them. There should have been an arrest that day, and the Moab police know that because they released one officer's body cam footage weeks after the incident. But it took a further two weeks and accusations of a cover-up

before the Moab police released the second set of body cam footage from that day. And it does shine an entirely different light on the situation. Yeah, because I'll admit in that first footage, they do seem very kind, they do seem very empathetic, they do seem like they're really trying to understand what's happened here. But the new footage showed Gabby narrating a violent fight that took place between her and Brian.

And in that, she clearly states that he hit her. She told the police officer that she was struck on the face by Brian Laundrie during that fight. And in that 52-minute video, Gabby Petito describes injuries to her face and neck that are also visible. You can see them and she's describing them. And also the acute anxiety she felt about being separated from Brian Laundrie. The video also included a disturbing conversation between the officers, which takes place in one of their cars when they leave Gabby and Brian to go and call a supervisor, in which they talk about and acknowledge how domestic violence can escalate to murder. So for them to say they didn't think it was a domestic violence issue at all and just a mental health crisis, they talk about domestic violence when they go to the car.

So they were aware of the risk and they were aware of what they were probably looking at. But the problem is they think that she was the attacker and therefore they downplay it. Because the same guy who's saying it can lead to violence is basically the crux of it. Saying she's not going to be able to kill him. Like she's a hundred pounds soaking wet. Like what is she going to do? Like she is the aggressor, but like it's going to make it worse if we arrest her. So they're kind of just like, let's just leave it, separate them, and let's just not do anything here.

But then there is this sentence. Police officers can also be heard laughing with Mr Brian Laundrie. And one officer even says to him, we feel bad for you. Officers didn't document the injuries clearly seen on Gabby's face and they never asked Brian what he did. The police missed all the clear signs of domestic violence. They had in front of them a calm, collected, very together man and a hysterically, highly anxious young woman who immediately started taking the blame for the altercation and very obviously trying to protect her partner and

indicating heightened anxiety at the thought of being separated. All of which they should have seen and spotted and recognised that she was not in fact the aggressor, but she was in fact the victim. And like, I don't think the police knew how this was going to end. I know they go back into the car and they talk about how domestic violence can end in murder, obviously. But they spent an hour there trying to figure out what was going on. They just didn't ask the right questions and they didn't spot the right signs of domestic violence. And in the footage, one of them can even be heard saying that after they have incorrectly identified Gabby as the aggressor, they say that they're just going to cause more problems by arresting her.

I'm not excusing it. I'm not defending what they did. I think they missed an absolutely vital opportunity. I don't think they knew what was going to happen here when they let them go. And like I said, they separated them that night, but the two of them were going to get back together as soon as they had the opportunity anyway, which is exactly what they did. I think the problem here is if officers had better understood the law, like the fact if they suspect domestic violence, they have to arrest somebody. And if they had better training, much better training on spotting the signs of domestic violence, then it is entirely heartbreakingly possible that Gabby Petito might still be alive today. Yeah. So that's that, guys. Poor Gabby. Poor Gabby gabby it is honestly it's just so sad so that is the case of gabby potato i don't care that brian laundry's dead i couldn't give a shit and i hate his parents

so whatever so that's that and um yeah we will see you guys next week for a different case that's hopefully not so sad. Yeah, fingers crossed, eh? But we have had a bit of a streak recently. No promises. But we'll see you then. Bye. Bye.

I'm Jake Warren, and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mum's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now exclusively on Wondery+. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, Three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go.

A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him. This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me and it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding, and this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show American Scandal. We bring to light some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history. Presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our latest series, NASA embarks on an ambitious program to reinvent space exploration with the

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