Found Deceased WY - Gabby Petito, Grand Teton National Park #86

[TL4S]

SBMFF

Arguing?

They could have been, but if I had just stolen from a store, I don't think I'd wait around in the parking lot to see if anyone figures me out. 20 minutes seems like a long time.

 

[lowes123]

A couple quick observations. First of all, the article says after they left the store, they sat in the van in the parking lot for 20 minutes. I don't doubt for a second they might have been shoplifting, but then again, if they had, would they sit in the parking lot for 20 minutes afterwards?

Secondly, didn't her step-dad say she was found with her favorite sweatshirt on? He described it but I can't recall. And the photographer said a pair of hiking boots was next to her? These are not things she has on, which tells me she likely wasn't murdered immediately after they got back to the campground after this trip. Jmo.

Lastly, the sandals that can be seen behind the van in the Bethune video... Neither one of them have those kinds of flip flops on in these captures.

Those are excellent observations I didn’t realize they stayed so long after they left the store and that is very interesting about the outfit. I wonder if she changed or maybe she was killed the next day.

 

[NCWatcher]

A couple quick observations. First of all, the article says after they left the store, they sat in the van in the parking lot for 20 minutes. I don't doubt for a second they might have been shoplifting, but then again, if they had, would they sit in the parking lot for 20 minutes afterwards?

Secondly, didn't her step-dad say she was found with her favorite sweatshirt on? He described it but I can't recall. And the photographer said a pair of hiking boots was next to her? These are nt things she has on, which tells me she likely wasn't murdered immediately after they got back to the campground after this trip. Jmo.

Lastly, the sandals that can be seen behind the van in the Bethune video... Neither one of them have those kinds of flip flops on in these captures.

I thought the stepdad said LE described a sweatshirt and he recognized it. I'm not sure it was actually stated she was wearing it but that was strongly implied. Obviously if she was wearing it, it wouldn't have been removed from her body at the scene. So I'm not sure they showed it to him. Plus, not to be too graphic but it probably wasn't "clean."

I think the hiking boot story came from the TV station helicopter fly over.

Gabby Petito Crime Scene: Hiking Shoes Found Near Victim, Body was NOT Buried [Report]

A day after a Wyoming coroner announced that 22-year-old vlogger Gabby Petito died by strangulation, a former prosecutor opened up about the crime scene and what it shows. Helicopters with KSL-TV flew above the area where searchers found Petito’s body on September 19 and reportedly spotted a...

www.crimeonline.com

I'm not sure that story has ever been verified by an official source.
JMO

 

[Trebor5591]

His immaturity & anger are palpable IMO.
I wish I could reach into that video and snatch her home. My heart aches.

MOO

How could you tell that from a video with no sound? All I saw was 2 people meandering through a grocery store, sometimes together and sometimes apart.

<edit> although I understand better since I read other's comments about him slamming the van door and hitting it with his hand in the parking lot. I just didn't see that in the store.

 

[TL4S]

I thought the stepdad said LE described a sweatshirt and he recognized it. I'm not sure it was actually stated she was wearing it but that was strongly implied. Obviously if she was wearing it, it wouldn't have been removed from her body at the scene. So I'm not sure they showed it to him. Plus, not to be too graphic but it probably wasn't "clean."

I think the hiking boot story came from the TV station helicopter fly over.

Gabby Petito Crime Scene: Hiking Shoes Found Near Victim, Body was NOT Buried [Report]

A day after a Wyoming coroner announced that 22-year-old vlogger Gabby Petito died by strangulation, a former prosecutor opened up about the crime scene and what it shows. Helicopters with KSL-TV flew above the area where searchers found Petito’s body on September 19 and reportedly spotted a...

www.crimeonline.com

I'm not sure that story has ever been verified by an official source.
JMO

You might be right. I don't think it was confirmed she had the sweatshirt on, but it's the sense I got.

 

[Gemmie]

They could have been, but if I had just stolen from a store, I don't think I'd wait around in the parking lot to see if anyone figures me out. 20 minutes seems like a long time.

Yeah, I hear what you're sayin'. But what comes to mind is I don't think he was the brightest bulb in the pack, and that he's also impulsive and easily agitated from what I can tell. Due to that I can see him getting into it when it comes to an argument, with all else on the back burner, forgotten for the moment while he's riled up.

All MOO

ETA - Strangling Gabby was wrong, and takes ~4-5 minutes. He didn't stop as if he wasn't in control of himself. He kept on when he should have known to stop. That makes me think he could have just forgotten they had just shoplifted and needed to get out of dodge. Instead it's like he blacks out or something, and his impulses just take over.

So while I agree that's it's pretty to remain in the parting lot for ~20 minutes... I STILL would not doubt that it happened since he appears to react, and not think rationally at times.

Again, all MOO.

 

[Skigirl]

You might be right. I don't think it was confirmed she had the sweatshirt on, but it's the sense I got.

The stepfather said that they did a positive ID based in part on the sweatshirt, which was her favorite and from a shop on Long Island, so had to be hers. I suspect that the weather got pretty cold at night and she probably changed into warmer clothes when they set up camp (which is why I think she was found where she was; it doesn't seem like they slept in the van).

 

[WingsOverTX]

It honestly looks like they are shoplifting in plain site. There are plenty of carriages and I could understand if they were wearing mask and gloves for protection from Covid and not wanting to touch the cart, but they are just walking up and down shopping and putting everything in the bags. I don’t think they had money issues, since Brian used her cards on the way back, maybe they were trying to do some TikTok challenge and see how much free stuff they could get. Since they were traveling and didn’t plan to go back to that store, maybe they thought they could get away with it.

An arrest for shoplifting (if that's what occurred) might have saved Gabby. Maybe?

These two needed a course correction in several ways, IMO. But GP deserved much, much more out of life and that was denied her.

I am still troubled by BL's "mercy killing" narrative. His character & behavior problems are a case study in the need for a strong forensic autopsy. Warning signs to the max that were missed or ignored!
MOO

 

[steeltowngirl]

SBMFF

Arguing?

Arguing is likely.

Gabby may have finally worked up the courage and decided they were done. Those 20 minutes in the car may have been her telling him she wanted to go home. But it is not like you can just walk into the airport and go. Must check flights, get tickets, etc.

He may have convinced her to go to the campsite for the night, and there they would plan the splitting apart details, she’d make the plane reservations, and he would drive her to the airport the next day.

But she never got the chance to leave him.
She would be dead by morning.

jmo

 

[TL4S]

The stepfather said that they did a positive ID based in part on the sweatshirt, which was her favorite and from a shop on Long Island, so had to be hers. I suspect that the weather got pretty cold at night and she probably changed into warmer clothes when they set up camp (which is why I think she was found where she was; it doesn't seem like they slept in the van).

I fully agree.

 

[TL4S]

I thought it strange that they didn't show the checkout, either. That would have given more indication to both of their moods, since we don't see any interactions with others in these clips.

So I went back and checked the timestamps, and there is 2.5 minutes of missing time between 2:27:03 and 2:30:31 -- after GP places the cheese in her pack (2:26:40) and just before they walk out the door. Enough time to check out a few items.

EXCEPT...

When they reappear at 2:30:31 (3:00 on the video), they come from the area between the checkouts and the aisles (store-side), NOT between the checkouts and the exit. You can see earlier in the video (1:28 and 2:35, for instance) other shoppers leaving the store with grocery bags from that enclosed self-checkout area -- you go directly from there out the door, NOT back around to the aisle side. You can even see GP & BL pass the yellow social distancing dots on the floor where the line would form. From there, they walk directly out the exit -- you can even see off to the right of the screen at 3:10 a man with a cart exiting from the correct direction (presumably from the non-self-checkout lanes).

Also, when they walk out the door, GP's tote bags are still in the same position over her left shoulder (black strap over white) as they were when she was walking around the store.

IMO, the "bombshell" part of the video here is that this could be video evidence of GP & BL shoplifting.

Yeah, it appears to me that they were hanging around the exit by the checkout for awhile, looking at stuff too long and watching the registers. Maybe watching for an opportunity to walk out unnoticed.

Maybe her closed body language beforehand, when they walked in, was because she was about to do something illegal.

When they came out and sat for 20 minutes, were they eating? Arguing? Contemplating going back in to pay? Deciding where to go next? It's so strange to me.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

They could have been, but if I had just stolen from a store, I don't think I'd wait around in the parking lot to see if anyone figures me out. 20 minutes seems like a long time.

Maybe they were eating some of their "purchases". After all, they hadn't actually had lunch at Merry Piglets. IIRC, they ate free chips and salsa then left without paying. JMO

 

[NCWatcher]

Maybe they were eating some of their "purchases". After all, they hadn't actually had lunch at Merry Piglets. IIRC, they ate free chips and salsa then left without paying. JMO

Makes sense to me! But we really don't know what happened at the restaurant. We did hypothesize here on WS maybe their food took too long so they left after only eating chips and salsa and didn't pay. (And as we discussed, usually chips are free IF eating a meal, they aren't free to people just passing by.) The manager said a waiter followed them out and GP paid outside. But then they came back in and the manager said GP wanted her money back but the manager said no.

Gabby Petito & Brian Laundrie 'fled restaurant without paying' on last night

GABBY Petito and Brian Laundrie left a restaurant without paying before being followed by a server on the night she was last seen alive, a manager says. The YouTuber and her fiancé, 23, visited the…

www.the-sun.com

It makes no sense to me a refund was requested. I guess it could be the restaurant had charged them for the meals they never got...still doesn't really make sense but that could be what happened, I guess. Or maybe after paying they decided they shouldn't have to pay for the chips and salsa or shouldn't have to pay as much as they were charged.

At Whole Foods they didn't go out the same door they came in. I guess it's possible they could have thought if no one from the store quickly followed them to the van they were home free. So they didn't need to immediately leave the parking lot. I don't really know how shoplifters think but if they were shoplifting they obviously got away with it. I can't really imagine store personnel in my town ignoring people putting items in canvas bags while walking around in a store. That doesn't make sense to me.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

...At Whole Foods they didn't go out the same door they came in. I guess it's possible they could have thought if no one from the store quickly followed them to the van they were home free. So they didn't need to immediately leave the parking lot. I don't really know how shoplifters think but if they were shoplifting they obviously got away with it. I can't really imagine store personnel in my town ignoring people putting items in canvas bags while walking around in a store. That doesn't make sense to me.

<respectfully snipped> I've never seen this, either. I was surprised that neither Gabby nor Brian got a shopping cart or handbasket upon entering the store. Even if customers are only getting a few items, they would at least take a handbasket upon entering the store. I don't recall ever seeing someone put grocery items into their purse or tote bag.

I hope the "missing minutes" from surveillance video are eventually made public. I'm curious about what happened during those few minutes prior to Gabby and Brian exiting Whole Foods. JMO

 

[Nikynoo]

Re shopping with reuseable bags. I am in the UK and put my shopping in my canvas bag - its just a habit I've got into. I unload my bag at the checkout and reload it again.

 

[Gemmie]

<respectfully snipped> I've never seen this, either. I was surprised that neither Gabby nor Brian got a shopping cart or handbasket upon entering the store. Even if customers are only getting a few items, they would at least take a handbasket upon entering the store.

I hope the "missing minutes" from surveillance video are eventually made public. I'm curious about what happened during those few minutes prior to Gabby and Brian exiting Whole Foods. JMO

BBMFF

I'm guessing that's usually the case, but not always. Take myself as an example. Shopping for one. Been using my own bags since before it was popular (~40 yrs now). A cart is way too big. All I needed was a few items. This one store never washed them and they were visibly GROSS. I didn't use it. Figured I had a bag with handles. Sooo.... I went about the store, putting things into my bag, which raised the eyebrows of a couple. Like literally their eyebrows raised when they saw what to THEM looked like a blatant shoplifter. lol I went to the cashier, emptied my items onto the belt, and returned them all to my bag once she rang them up.

So yeah, usually people do get a handbasket, even if shopping for a few things, but not always.

 

[Gemmie]

Re shopping with reuseable bags. I am in the UK and put my shopping in my canvas bag - its just a habit I've got into. I unload my bag at the checkout and reload it again.

Ditto as per my post below yours.

 

[Trebor5591]

I am still troubled by BL's "mercy killing" narrative.

If BL had any honestly in him (which he doesn't appear to have) he could have just wrote "I just lost control during our last argument after she hit me in the face and the next thing I knew, she was dead".
BLs "mercy killing" narrative was just a pathetic excuse by a man too cowardly to admit he killed Gabby. If someone is injured in a remote area, you get that person to a hospital for medical attention--not kill them to end their pain!

 

[dgfred]

We just need the video of them paying.

 

[NCWatcher]

Re shopping with reuseable bags. I am in the UK and put my shopping in my canvas bag - its just a habit I've got into. I unload my bag at the checkout and reload it again.

I had wondered if maybe people did that in areas where reusable bags are required. But I usually see people doing what @lowes123 described-- putting the bags in the cart and filling them at checkout. Or if only getting a few items people use the store baskets. It's what I do (if I don't forget my bags.) I've never seen people put stuff in opaque bags while shopping. But maybe it's not so uncommon esp in areas where reusable bags are required..