Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #48

[Nikynoo]

Well that would definitely guarantee her body is found.

Maybe so. But is it more or less risky like leaving it out in the open where another camper may find it?

 

[Sleuthypsych]

Only explanation that comes to mind, is after Gabby died he absolutely panicked, did not try to bury body....left the van there. Then after he cleaned up, began to reflect, he realized it would be difficult to hitch hike all the way home, would take days and money he did not have, so when back grabbed the van and raced home.

If he’s not a serial killer and if it wasn’t premeditated I think it’s possible he struck her and knocked her unconscious and he left her in the van hoping she would wake up. Then when she didn’t he panicked and left her where she was found.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

The question is should it be for a missing person or a fugitive?

He's been charged with a crime, so fugitive.

 

[10ofRods]

That was not what I meant - sorry I was not clear. B would have been better travelling on foot/hitch hiking and leaving the body locked in the van.

I couldn't disagree more. That would be the worst action a newly minted murderer could perform.

The products of decomp in the van, alone, would have made it an open/shut murder case.

As I understand it, the body was not covered, but it was amidst some tree branches and nestled into a shallow dip in some rocks (so...obscured). No one found it until the people with the video camera discovered the van. It was much smarter for him to leave her where he killed her (if he killed her - which I believe he did)

This man had no clue exactly when that body would be found, and he could have become a fugitive at any moment as he drove thousands of miles back to FL. Anyone doing a traffic stop or seeing the van could have detained him (he didn't know, probably thought it would happen any minute) and dogs brought in (and could have happened even without a body, had Gabby been declared missing a bit earlier).

 

[SuziQ]

Wy carries the death penalty.

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/...tions/project_blog/wyoming-legislature-votes/

This case is Federal.

 

[nocommoncents]

Maybe so. But is it more or less risky like leaving it out in the open where another camper may find it?

Actually no, the odds of her being found were very low in the beginning.

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

Or if the police ticketed/towed the van, communications would have sped up between the police and Gabbie's parents. Manhunt probably would have started sooner.

Taking the van bought him time.

He took the van so he could leave Gabby there, possibly to never be found.
If the travelers from Florida hadn’t passed by at the right moment and noticed another Florida license plate Gabby probably would still be missing.

 

[PIUK]

I try to keep up with the threads but, life and time difference.
I do wonder if BL left with Cassie from the camping trip?
I can’t shake the feeling he’s holed up somewhere with a family member (or somewhere they could visit) and the whole Mustang / Reserve distraction was to buy time and divert attention. Purposefully get the ticket to corroborate the story.
JMO.

 

[aeaea]

Greetings, all. I'm new in these parts and apologize if I'm posting this in the wrong way -- or in the wrong place.

Please forgive me for piping up as a newcomer instead of just staying mum and lurking like a normal person, but I created an account expressly to make an impassioned plea for something I've found missing from much of the internet discussion and media coverage that considers Brian Laundrie's options as a fugitive.

Namely, historical precedent.

What do I mean? Pundits say that Laundrie's only option is to hide out in nature; that even there he can't survive for long; that as ‘normal’ people, neither he nor his parentsh can pull off a long-term-hiding scenario; that the post-9/11 world is too vigilant for Laundrie to leave the country successfully; etc.

Yet, such arguments make me think of:

Precedent #1: With less than 3 days of lead-time, Alex "Preppy Rapist" Kelly's parents managed to help him jump bail and escape from Connecticut to Europe for 7 years – all of them spent living in reasonable comfort with an assumed name and faked ID papers. Although Kelly earned income as a popular worker on the European ski resort circuit throughout the period, his parents also funneled him money -- through a system so well-constructed that neither U.S. LE nor Interpol could crack it.

But expert detective work eventually ended Kelly's 7 years on the lam, right? Nope. As you doubtless recall, LE hadn't a clue where Kelly was. He was caught only after his parents failed to destroy photos they'd recklessly made and retained after a holiday visit to Kelly overseas.

Precedent #2: Although I've sadly suspected since the outset of Brian's odyssey that his parents wittingly sent LE on a snipe hunt in Carlton Reserve -- and I feel much the same way about the De Soto Park 'lead' -- Eric "Abortion Clinic Bomber" Rudolph's 5-year fugitive sojourn in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains gives some credence to the viability of an Appalachian hideout for Brian, per his much-discussed love of the AT.

Indeed, Rudolph's case proves that it is not only possible to survive in the Southern U.S.'s mountain ranges, but to do so indefinitely -- especially if one has help. And that, to me, is the only stumbling block for Brian: while anti-abortion, anti-government sympathizers fed, hid, and otherwise helped Rudolph, folks ticked off about Brian's widely-publicized "stupid Southerners" quip in a Wyoming bar in August are unlikely to roll out the red carpet.

And, as you guys doubtless know better than most, sheer serendipity played an even larger role in LE's apprehension of Rudolph than Kelly. Although LE were uncertain of Rudolph's whereabouts, one of his main protectors died unexpectedly in his 5th year as a fugitive, forcing Rudolph to venture out of the mountains for provisions. He was caught rummaging through a dumpster for food.

Finally, the post-9/11 vigilance thing? When folks say there's no way that Laundrie could make it past screeners to board a plane or cruise ship, I consider that just recently, a group of UK high school girls -- none of them older than 17, IIRC -- managed to get the requisite papers and fly from England to the Middle East to join an extremist group, despite the UK's robust pre-flight screening and the girls’ lack of documented parental consent.

So if historical precedent augurs future possibilities, then Laundrie could be gone for a very, very long time – and just might be found in surprisingly distant surroundings when/if he is found. (Just MOO.)

[ETA: Fixed age reference.]

Really good post - i keep thinking of the case in the UK where a man hid in his own house** for five years to collect on his life insurance - John Darwin disappearance case - Wikipedia.

I believe BL will be found, but not soon.
The one thing all the cases have in common (except maybe the girls who were groomed, since they went public fairly soon after ‘escaping’) is that the perps were all caught because they/their support got careless.

Both Darwin and Alex Kelly were caught from family pictures - I guess if your family love you enough to hide you from the law for years they’re gonna include you in photos, kind of ironic though..

ETA - makes me think too the people harassing the L’s aren’t helping at all.. ideally they’d be left alone, with someone watching to see what happens when they relax.. moo

**ETA2- on reading the link I misremembered the news story, he was in Panama - slightly different /facepalm

 

[Cedar Sherwood]

Greetings, all. I'm new in these parts and apologize if I'm posting this in the wrong way -- or in the wrong place.

Please forgive me for piping up as a newcomer instead of just staying mum and lurking like a normal person, but I created an account expressly to make an impassioned plea for something I've found missing from much of the internet discussion and media coverage that considers Brian Laundrie's options as a fugitive.

Namely, historical precedent.

What do I mean? Pundits say that Laundrie's only option is to hide out in nature; that even there he can't survive for long; that as ‘normal’ people, neither he nor his parents can pull off a long-term-hiding scenario; that the post-9/11 world is too vigilant for Laundrie to leave the country successfully; etc.

Yet, such arguments make me think of:

Precedent #1: With less than 3 days of lead-time, Alex "Preppy Rapist" Kelly's parents managed to help him jump bail and escape from Connecticut to Europe for 7 years – all of them spent living in reasonable comfort with an assumed name and faked ID papers. Although Kelly earned income as a popular worker on the European ski resort circuit throughout the period, his parents also funneled him money -- through a system so well-constructed that neither U.S. LE nor Interpol could crack it.

But expert detective work eventually ended Kelly's 7 years on the lam, right? Nope. As you doubtless recall, LE hadn't a clue where Kelly was. He was caught only after his parents failed to destroy photos they'd recklessly made and retained after a holiday visit to Kelly overseas.

Precedent #2: Although I've sadly suspected since the outset of Brian's odyssey that his parents wittingly sent LE on a snipe hunt in Carlton Reserve -- and I feel much the same way about the De Soto Park 'lead' -- Eric "Abortion Clinic Bomber" Rudolph's 5-year fugitive sojourn in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains gives some credence to the viability of an Appalachian hideout for Brian, per his much-discussed love of the AT.

Indeed, Rudolph's case proves that it is not only possible to survive in the Southern U.S.'s mountain ranges, but to do so indefinitely -- especially if one has help. And that, to me, is the only stumbling block for Brian: while anti-abortion, anti-government sympathizers fed, hid, and otherwise helped Rudolph, folks ticked off about Brian's widely-publicized "stupid Southerners" quip in a Wyoming bar in August are unlikely to roll out the red carpet.

And, as you guys doubtless know better than most, sheer serendipity played an even larger role in LE's apprehension of Rudolph than Kelly. Although LE were uncertain of Rudolph's whereabouts, one of his main protectors died unexpectedly in his 5th year as a fugitive, forcing Rudolph to venture out of the mountains for provisions. He was caught rummaging through a dumpster for food.

Finally, the post-9/11 vigilance thing? When folks say there's no way that Laundrie could make it past screeners to board a plane or cruise ship, I consider that just recently, a group of UK high school girls -- none of them older than 17, IIRC -- managed to get the requisite papers and fly from England to the Middle East to join an extremist group, despite the UK's robust pre-flight screening and the girls’ lack of documented parental consent.

So if historical precedent augurs future possibilities, then Laundrie could be gone for a very, very long time – and just might be found in surprisingly distant surroundings when/if he is found. (Just MOO.)

[ETA: Fixed age reference.]

Your MOO is leagues above any MOO I've ever written here.

May the MOO be with you.

 

[Nikynoo]

The products of decomp in the van, alone, would have made it an open/shut murder case.

SBBM - is it not that already?

 

[Sleuthypsych]

Really good post - i keep thinking of the case in the UK where a man hid in his own house for five years to collect on his life insurance - John Darwin disappearance case - Wikipedia.

I believe BL will be found, but not soon.
The one thing all the cases have in common (except maybe the girls who were groomed, since they went public fairly soon after ‘escaping’) is that the perps were all caught because they got careless.

Both Darwin and Alex Kelly were caught from family pictures - I guess if your family love you enough to hide you from the law for years they’re gonna include you in photos, kind of ironic though..

I’m afraid of this becoming a cold case too. But, then I think about all the guns we have in this country. I think if he’s on the run eventually he’s going to encounter someone equally as nutty that has a gun and that will be game over for BL.

 

[cady]

If he’s not a serial killer and if it wasn’t premeditated I think it’s possible he struck her and knocked her unconscious and he left her in the van hoping she would wake up. Then when she didn’t he panicked and left her where she was found.

I think that investigators know where she was killed and if her body was moved. If she had died in the vn, they likely know that. If cadaver dogs sniffed the van and alerted in the van, then something dead was in the van. Personally, I think she died right where she was found. But we'll find out eventually. JMO

 

[nocommoncents]

SBBM - is it not that already?

No, homicide ≠ murder

 

[Michaellan]

If the parents and sister did help him abscond, was there a tearful goodbye knowing they would never see him again? Do they think it will ever be possible for him to live a "normal " life again? How many fugitives are never captured? I don't know the answer to that.

 

[SuziQ]

what is OJ?

Obstruction of justice.

 

[Barbie619]

But it would depend which state tries him, would it not? If charged with murder would this not be in the state the offence occurred in?

This is a Federal case and the homicide happened in Wyoming, so it would be tried in the Wyoming Federal Court. Sorry if this has already been answered.

 

[SuziQ]

Is it also federal cause it crosses state lines??

Only the finance charges that took place across multiple states. The murder took place in one spot on Federal land.

 

[WizardQuest]

He took the van so he could leave Gabby there, possibly to never be found.
If the travelers from Florida hadn’t passed by at the right moment and noticed another Florida license plate Gabby probably would still be missing.

Lots of reasons to take the van, huh?

Possibly Never find Gabbie?
Shelter and food for himself?
Quick ride home?
slow down the search for Gabbie?
Keep himself from hitchhiking?
Opportunity to wipe the van clean of evidence?
Throw evidence away while traveling across country?
Not have to put out money for air fare or other means of transportation?
Way to be On the move in case LE starts rapidly hunting for him?
Alone time to gather his thoughts?
His belongings to survive in the wilderness were in it?

 

[ShadyLady]

instead of just staying mum and lurking like a normal person[/B]

[ETA: Fixed age reference.]

hahaha...yes, I dont feel like a normal person. After so many years here on earth, no longer know what is "normal".