The girl who touched the world
by Courtney Girasole
Gabby Petito was born March 19, 1999 tragically, her life was taken when she was 22 years old. Gabby was full of life and loved the outdoors. She aspired to be a nomad vlogger while she camped and hiked through different national parks. She met her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, in high school through mutual friends. After graduating they bought a small white van and traveled the country together filming their van life experience. The trip started off great for Gabby and Brian, as shown in her first and last Youtube video titled “beginning our van life.” on her Youtube channel “Nomadic statik.”
Petito often facetimed and texted her mom and friends while camping. On August 22th, Gabby reached out to her ex- boyfriend, Jackson, while camping in Wyoming. Petito confessed on the phone that she and brian had been fighting and was planning to break it off with him but had to find the right “time and place” to do it. On August 27th 2021 (the last time Gabby was seen alive) She called her ex again but got no answer. “I think back on the fact that maybe if I did answer that phone call, I could have helped or there could have been a different outcome.” Jackson states on the Netflix documentary. On September 11th, after not hearing from Gabby or Brian for several days her mother called Florida police and filed a missing persons report. Her story of being a missing nomad began to spread across America rapidly. Her face was plastered on the news and several days later her fiancé became a prime suspect in her disappearance. When cops arrived at the Laundries household Brian’s parents came to the door and denied knowing anything about Gabby’s disappearance and referred the cops to their attorney. Without any evidence the cops couldn’t arrest Brian and began to build a case against him.
Protesters began to show up at the Laudrie residence with signs and megaphones demanding answers on Gabbys disappearance. A week after the cops first arrived at the family home, Brian was also reported missing. As both parties were missing, bodycam footage of Gabby and Brian being pulled over from a witness who called about a domestic dispute came out. This put the investigation into a new light as both Gabby and Brian had bruises and scratches on their body and faces. On September 19th, rescue teams found Gabby in a fetal position lying on her left side at Spread Creek campground in wyoming. When the autopsy came back they ruled Gabbys death as a homicide from strangulation and she had already been dead for several weeks. This made Brian Laudrie a prime suspect in the investigation. The police confirmed from street surveillance videos that the day after Gabby died Brian drove over 200 miles from Wyoming to return home to Florida.
After searching for more than a month on october 20th, cops found an abandoned car registered to the Laundries at a popular hiking spot. Search and Rescue teams searched the trails for a month before they opened the park to the public. The Laudrie parents left early in the morning to search for their son. After an hour of looking they found Brian’s waterproof backpack, Letters to his family, and the decaying body of their son. The autopsy ruled a gunshot wound in the head. His note to his family said that Gabby had fallen while running through a stream. When he tried to pick her up she pleaded with him to end her suffering; he said he thought it was the “merciful thing to do.”
Since then no charges or lawsuits have been filed against the Laudrie family. Gabby’s parents founded the Gabby Petito Foundation. The website is filled with educational resources, articles and tools to help others. If you’re interested in more about Gabby’s story a new documentary was just released on Netflix titled, “American Murder, Gabby Petito.” If you know anyone in danger of domestic violence call 1-800-799-SAFE or go to thehotline.org to chat, call or text.