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Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Crime, Gabby Petito, US News, True Crime, Social Media
Lucy Devine
Topics: Crime, Gabby Petito, US News, True Crime, Social Media
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
In 2021, YouTuber Gabby Petito was murdered by her fiancé Brian Laundrie while the pair were on a road trip around the US.
Gabby, who was aged 22, had been vlogging her journey after setting off in July. But in September 2021, she was reported missing when her mother, Nichole Schmidt, failed to hear from her for over a week.
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Concerned, Nichole attempted to contact Laundrie's parents Roberta and Chris Laundrie, who blocked all communications, and on 10 September, a missing person case was filed.
The case gained international attention, with social media users and internet sleuths desperately searching for answers that could help them find the missing YouTuber.
As part of the investigation, it was revealed that on 12 August that police received a phone call from a member of the public who had witnessed Laundrie 'slapping Gabby'.
In the audio, a man calls 911 and tells authorities he had seen the couple on the sidewalk, before they eventually drove off.
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He said: "They just drove off... the gentleman was slapping the girl.
"We stopped, they ran up and down the sidewalk, he proceeded to hit her, hopped in the car and they drove off."
After the incident, police pulled over the couple. In a bodycam clip, the 22-year-old can be seen crying after telling officers her and Laundrie had been arguing.
"I’m sorry, we’ve just been fighting this morning. Some personal issues," Gabby can be heard explaining to the officer.
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"It was a long day. We were camping yesterday," says Laundrie.
The pair were separated for the night but later reunited.
It is believed that Gabby was killed at some point in August.
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In the Netflix documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito, it is revealed how Laundrie tried to create an alibi by using Gabby's debit card and her phone to try and cover up his crime.
FBI special agent Loretta Bush, said: "He stops at multiple gas stations.
"Through credit card records, we know that he uses Gabby's debit card to pay for gas.
"Also, on the trip there is a Zelle transaction from Gabby to Brian that says 'Goodbye Brian, I'll never ask you for anything again' and transfers $700 from Gabby's account to Brian's account.
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"We know that Gabby was deceased, and Brian was using multiple devices to send this to himself.
"What this did was send him from going to being a missing person to making him a federal fugitive."
Experts explained that Laundrie had also been using Gabby's phone.
"As Brian is hiking, text messages are being sent to Gabby's phone which was back at the Spread Creek area," said FBI special agent Kyle.
"Text messages to Gabby's phone are not read until Brian gets back to the Spread Creek area, where Gabby's phone was left.
"The activity between the two phones was almost instantaneous.
"Brian was holding both phones and talking directly to himself. It was apparent that he was trying to create an alibi."
Following Gabby's disappearance, Brian was discovered at his parents' home in Florida after driving Gabby's van home without her.
He later fled the property and his body was found in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, with an autopsy reporting that he'd died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
A waterproof notebook was discovered beside his body, containing an untrue version of the story of Gabby's death, claiming she had become unwell after getting caught up in some ice-cold water.
The note also contained a nine-word claim that was interpreted as his confession to her murder, as Brian wrote: "I ended her life, I thought it was merciful."