Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #63

[dacjess]

This is fitting. Every killer had to have their first kill, some of them never stopped until caught; if they were caught.
The thing I think should be of concern is that we DON'T know if BL liked what he was doing.
IMO

Agree. I don’t see him being a danger to someone bigger than himself, but should he hitchhike with a woman who does something that reminds him of Gabby or in some way elicits his anger, I think he could be very volatile. JMO.

 

[cady]

Yes - that indicates the hyoid bone was broken. IME, one of the reasons strangulation is such a common form of DV (even if not unto death), is that the strangler wants to immediately silence the victim. The hyoid bone and its cartilage (breaking/ripping either is a sign of strangulation) are next to the voice box and the strangler grabs the neck with their thumbs just above the voicebox (larynx). Problem is, if they let go, the victim naturally starts screaming or yelling. This is not the most efficient method of strangling someone as MMA fans will point out, but the average person doesn't know how to efficiently strangle someone and there's no evidence that Brian was into MMA.

Boa constrictors are not native to Bridger-Teton NP, either. Bears do not strangle (or have opposable thumbs with which to do so). We don't know the full details of the report, but it's possible, even likely, that there was damage to the cervical vertebrae from the other fingers.

Biological anthropologists have written quite a few articles about adrenalin and hands (if people go into the "fight" mode of flight or fight, the adrenalin and the nerves in the hand and wrists are highly activated). In anger management and behavioral therapy for people who violently act out, learning to keep the hands relaxed and to step away (flight, not fight) are key ingredients. Many people in anger management classes say that their hands took on a life of their own and "just did" what they did, they don't remember any conscious decision to hit/slap their partner or their child. Therapy focuses on mindfulness, deep breathing, hand relaxation, posture relaxation, amidst various stressful stimuli. Such people are often told to avoid all triggers (if social anxiety is an issue, then either get medication to treat it, or avoid social situations as much as possible).

Really interesting, thanks!

 

[dacjess]

I don’t know anything about his qualifications but I do assume that he’s qualified. I am puzzled though by the fact that he decided to give a media interview after not providing that information during the press conference. MOO

What information did he give in the media interview that was not provided in the press conference? I agree that he confirmed her death was committed by a human but I think that was inferred in the press conference earlier.

 

[jjonez]

watching Dr Blues zoom presser and Q and A was interesting.
I am wondering as to the motivation and timing behind him doing this.
I apologise if this has been asked before , but is this a usual thing for a coroner to do? I am Australian and it is something that , to my knowledge , isn't done here.
I can't recall it ever being done here actually.

I suspect his motivation was to get the media/callers/emailers/question Askers off his back.

moo

 

[nocommoncents]

Maybe bringing in CL for the search was not for questions but for gauging his reaction to the CoD.

 

[prblythe]

Alive. He could have just as easily offed himself at home. No need for a backpack.

 

[jjonez]

Is BL comfortably hiding out somewhere?

it’s been suggested that BL could be on this very forum.
If he has the time to read and debate here, he must be very comfortable and very confident in his evasion of LE.

moo

 

[Loveallmyhorsesdogsandcats]

I don't think she was afraid of him!
She was not married to him why she stayed is beyond me!
All she had to do was call dad!

Unfortunately it’s not that simple. Our oldest daughter was an abusive relationship, both physical and emotional. We live in Texas she was in California, it took two years for her to leave him. Before they moved to Cali, she had a very successful high-paying career, very independent. She came from a home with two loving parents who never fight. Something happened to her psyche/mind, she justified, blamed herself, it was like she was in a fog. When she left him moved back to Texas, started working again, she’s a different person, back to her old herself. We often heard from her, he didn’t mean it, but he’s so nice to me most of the time, it was my fault. Now that she’s removed from the situation, she can’t believe she stayed two years.

 

[NuttMegg]

Yes, she gestures with a grip just at the bottom of her chin, very close to her throat, but not around it. It's a chilling moment, especially given the outcome. So frustrating that "slapping" was the only thing that got attention that day, not pushing, not shoving, not grabbing, not taking keys away, not locking out of van. Not reckless driving, not speeding. Not lying about the phone. Slapping, that's it.

"Slapping" as he was trying to steal her van and her phone. Before that he was hitting and slapping her. At the risk of repetition, I would have used a 2X4 on someone trying to steal those vital, costly belongings of mine. IMO

 

[stattlich1]

I had instant recognition of the situation when I first viewed the Moab video.

Instant!

Those who've lived with, and/or have hands on experience dealing with it, they too had the same.

What's BL on the run for again?

 

[Chicago54]

Good Morning WS Buds!
We have a worse problem than speculating about the past whys and wherefores of this case. That cud can be further chewed during trial.
We have a guy who is capable of throttling the life out of someone he claimed to love for reasons unknown to anybody but him...secreted somewhere and protected by someone.
Should his handlers lose control of him and he resurrects his all consuming desire to roam, he's out of their control, out of the general public's control, ripe and ready to shop for another convert to the cult of Brian. Someone else's daughter. Heck, if it worked once...
This guy needs to be caught - fast.
He's got a cumulative self-control problem. He's content to whack somebody when the whining and complaining annoy him. He's also fully capable of strangling someone once he's reached the end of his tether.
The cause of death gave us more insight into what's rolling around BL's fevered brain. You NEVER want your or anyone else's daughter being talked into another road trip with this guy. The internet can be a great met and greet world. It can also be a diabolical blind in which murder crouches waiting.
If LE doesn't have this mindset, they had better hop to making it the main thrust of their investigation.
MOOing.

Since the day BL was reported missing, I haven’t gotten Joran Andreas Petrus van der Sloot off my mind.

 

[justaparent]

Yes, she gestures with a grip just at the bottom of her chin, very close to her throat, but not around it. It's a chilling moment, especially given the outcome. So frustrating that "slapping" was the only thing that got attention that day, not pushing, not shoving, not grabbing, not taking keys away, not locking out of van. Not reckless driving, not speeding. Not lying about the phone. Slapping, that's it.

The reaction of officers in this very public case will hopefully lead to better education. The female officer who was involved may have tried to help but as far as I know we’ve not seen her body cam, correct? She likely was not taken seriously by the male officers if she did try to give them her opinion about DV in the case.

Obviously I wasn’t there but everything I saw in those videos screamed domestic violence on the part of BL. To me, officer bias was obvious from the first glance at those videos. Could they have changed anything by trying to find the truth instead of harassing Gabby? Could she have been taken to a safe space? We’ll never know.

MOO

 

[branmuffin]

I feel sorry for them, too. (I know this is not a popular opinion to have, but I mean it in the most humane, empathetic, sort of way..) Also, I would bet that their attorney told them to not say a word, nor make any type of gestures whatsoever to anyone, PERIOD. As anything they say and or do might implicate them or be used against them, and or Brian, in the case. I'm sure it's very difficult in that situation, with people constantly screaming and yelling things at you constantly outside your house and everywhere you go, not to at least flip them the bird. I know I would.

I feel very sorry them. In no world should a frenzied mob be entitled to terrorize a family. The street should be blocked off and intruders arrested. This is not okay. I'm disappointed in how this is being handled.

 

[putnam6]

Yes, imo these officers are almost as gullible, naïve and incompetent as the ones who let Jeffrey Dahmer convince them a 13 year old boy covered in blood and crying was his adult male gay lover in a little disagreement

There are degrees, my friend they are only the same in the police stopped them. They did all they could legally do in the Moab situation, not so in JD's case.

What exactly were the Moab officers supposed to legally do?

 

[10ofRods]

IMO they weren't camping there. It wasn't a legal spot (they might actually have had an argument about whether they would risk it). I am speculating that it happened in late afternoon or dusk, soon after they got there.
IMO she ran trying to get away from him, and he caught up to her. He killed her on the spot. She might have tried to hide from him in that cluster of vegetation. This seems to me more likely than him dragging her there.

I think they were camping there (and that Brian did leave the van there for a couple of days while he walked and hitchhiked). You're right that it wasn't legal this summer, but in general in NF's in Wyoming, it is legal and very little would have happened to them, other than to be asked to move on. It doesn't look like the van was ticketed, so I believe the campground host (probably no ranger) was busy enough without having to try and get people not to camp there.

Brian and Gabby may have only known the general rules for dispersed camping. Here's the Department of Agriculture's webpage about dispersed camping:

Bridger-Teton National Forest - Dispersed Camping Areas (Undeveloped Campground)

Lots and lots of people will just read that first paragraph and think they can camp anywhere. They don't keep reading to learn that a handful of dispersed campgrounds don't allow it. Spread Creek is one of those campgrounds.

We camp in similar situations a few times a year, and IME, there's either no one around to check or that person allows the errant campers to stay one night. In my experience, this person is always a seasonal employee who has a satellite phone and many duties to fulfill, such as putting more toilet paper in the porta potties and cleaning up trash from campsites where numbskulls have left it. We even have dispersed campgrounds that we love and prefer due to the personality of the host, who has been doing it for more than 20 years.

One of the big problems in this kind of camping is that people without a site will beg others to stay on their sites and sometimes come into your campsite late at night to do this begging (and once, some people just started putting their tent on our site - we had to get the host to come over; he relocated them to a suitable place that was unnumbered for one night, as it was late and the road out of the mountains had drop-offs and was very twisty). He told me that there were a handful of these "overflow" places that were unnumbered, basically pull-outs on the road - they were there for just this purpose.

I too believe that Gabby tried to run from Brian, resulting in her being found where she was. You're right that Gabby may have known it was an illegal spot and they could have argued about that too. If she did run, she ran away from help and not toward it - but he may have been preventing that. Or, like many abuse victims, that was her first impulse (again, to protect Brian, to avoid the embarrassment). She may even have been screaming - the main campground is far enough away that it would scarcely be heard or noticed. People scream when they see a snake or even a spider, so screams are normal in campgrounds anyway (a couple of screams, not constant screaming).

 

[Chrissy1958]

What information did he give in the media interview that was not provided in the press conference? I agree that he confirmed her death was committed by a human but I think that was inferred in the press conference earlier.

I did not see the media interview so I can’t comment on that. Only reading what people reported upstream. I think what I am having a problem with is that he did the media interview at all. Why the need, when he clearly could have provided that information at the press conference? MOO

 

[tlcya]

I have a question for those of you familiar with physical DV. Gabby claimed to have hit Brian first during their scuffle and also said she hit him when the police pulled them over. She also said Brian did not hit her but grabbed her face and pushed her back. She was very clear that Brian was wanting her to calm down. I believe her.

Is it normal for victims of long term DV to initiate violence with the one they fear? Or is it more likely that Brian's violence was new? I have no experience with DV and this is an honest question.

To be clear, I in no way put any blame on Gabby. I'm just trying to understand as I find this confusing.

How does reactive abuse work?

Reactive abuse occurs when the victim reacts to the abuse they are experiencing. The victim may scream, toss out insults, or even lash out physically at the abuser. The abuser then retaliates by telling the victim that they are, in fact, the abuser.

Often the abuser will do something called dog whistling. This is emotional abuse that is very subtle and happens in public. It demeans the victim and the sole purpose is getting the victim to then react in a way that makes THEM appear to be the abusive or crazy one. It's a more subtle form of gaslighting that narcissists tend to use.

 

[SuziQ]

I have a question for those of you familiar with physical DV. Gabby claimed to have hit Brian first during their scuffle and also said she hit him when the police pulled them over. She also said Brian did not hit her but grabbed her face and pushed her back. She was very clear that Brian was wanting her to calm down. I believe her.

Is it normal for victims of long term DV to initiate violence with the one they fear? Or is it more likely that Brian's violence was new? I have no experience with DV and this is an honest question.

To be clear, I in no way put any blame on Gabby. I'm just trying to understand as I find this confusing.

As a DV victim, I can tell you that we take all the blame so as not to make the abuser more angry. Because they will make you pay the next time you are alone with them. Also, he could have been abusing her in other ways causing her to hit him. Perhaps she was trying to get her phone and keys back because he was threatening to steal her van and leave her there stranded.

Moo.

 

[Tealgrove]

I've wavered but I'm pretty much on the side of thinking he's alive.

He's got help and he's doing OK.

It will only last for so long. He can't stay underground for long IMO.

Such a coward.

 

[Chrissy1958]

I suspect his motivation was to get the media/callers/emailers/question Askers off his back.

moo

that could be. But any further information would almost certainly open up more questions and speculation.

ETA. Choosing to do an interview with a particular media outlet over others, in other words, an exclusive, does appear like political motivation to me.