Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #79

[kittythehare]

does anyone know if GP's Merry Piglets meal could have been detected in her GI tract, or would the decomp have made that impossible? if it was detectable, that would narrow TOD. (sorry that this is a crude Q but ...)

That would depend upon length of time after eating when she died.
It would also depend upon state of decomposition whether gastric or duodenal contents were available for examination.

 

[10ofRods]

does anyone know if GP's Merry Piglets meal could have been detected in her GI tract, or would the decomp have made that impossible? if it was detectable, that would narrow TOD. (sorry that this is a crude Q but ...)

Unlikely they could tell. For one thing, all forms of scavengers go for that area of the body (the gut) because it's easy and contains lots of calories.

The fact that Gabby's boots were found placed near her body, the way a person does when they put their boots outside a tent, combined with Stepdad's view that there was a good tent space (for their sized tent) right there makes me think they got to the site, and managed to put up the tent. Gabby was wearing a sweatshirt, so the air had gotten chilly.

It had to be either August 27 or 28. And those saying that only Brian was seen on cams during that period are correct, AFAIK. August 27 makes the most sense. But whether it was August 27, 28 or 29, it is still a period when Brian is known to be in the area, before he takes off (from that campsite) for Florida.

He had to have seen her on the ground. He had to have noticed she was dead. He did nothing. Which is evidence of guilt, for those who still need it.

 

[Boodles]

My speculation is that BL had some amount of control over GP's phone. In Moab, he specifically mentions it a few times when relating their argument, and then when they're being split up:

Officer 2: (41:49)
She’d like her phone. If you know-

Brian Laundrie: (41:49)
Yeah.

Officer 2: (42:00)
… happen to know where it is?

Brian Laundrie: (42:00)
Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go-

Officer 2: (42:03)
[inaudible 00:42:03] where is it?

Officer 2: (42:05)
Yeah. Go ahead and tell me, if you don’t mind [inaudible 00:42:05].

Brian Laundrie: (42:05)
I can grab it, just because it’s like… it’s in a spot.
​

It's a weird part of the conversation, bc why wouldn't GP just go get it herself or tell the officer where to get it rather than having to ask BL?


Specifically to your question of the "Stan" texts:

The area of the Grand Tetons doesn't have great cell signal, and I know sometimes when we travel through there, we turn our phones off to save battery power so they aren't roaming.

My speculation is that BL had GP's phone (maybe he'd convinced her she was "addicted" to it and was trying to help her experience life more fully by not being on it all the time?). When they got somewhere with signal and he turned it on, it got a bunch of notifications from her grandfather (or possibly notifications meant for her grandfather, if he'd been using that number at some point or having voicemails forwarded to that number for some reason). He texted GP's mom asking her to deal with it and then turned the phone off again. He'd maybe even answered GP's messages before and thought nothing of it. The only thing that tipped GP's mom off that it wasn't actually GP sending the message was the name "Stan" rather than whatever GP called her grandfather. But obviously, the rest of the message made sense to her, because it didn't cause her alarm at that point -- it seemed like it was only after the fact, when GP went missing, that her mom remembered the weird name slip and it made her question who'd actually sent the message.

MOO.

It’s sickening to think he controlled her phone, but you’re right, his response/evasiveness regarding the location of her phone is SO TELLING. He was withholding it from her. IMO.

 

[Thora_Jay]

^ THIS. I just find it implausible that Gabby was alone for two days and didn't post anything (to our knowledge), didn't text anyone (to our knowledge), didn't call anyone (to our knowledge), and wasn't seen by anyone (to our knowledge). It all just freezes on the 27th after that fateful eruption of anger by BL at Merry Piglets. MOO

Hi Soliloguy!
I concur with the date of the 27th.
The day it came out about the Merry Piglet rage.
I knew that had to be that day.(my opinion)

I want to know why no one in that restaurant could not even dial 911.
He was in a rage and Gabby apologized to them. Definitely setting the rage machine off even more.

 

[10ofRods]

It’s sickening to think he controlled her phone, but you’re right, his response/evasiveness regarding the location of her phone is SO TELLING. He was withholding it from her.

Well, but not that much since she is seen holding it in the bodycam and she is uploading stuff almost daily. I'm not even certain what part of this you are referring to - do you have a link. (timestamp would be great). Gabby clearly has her phone at the Moab stop. I believe that she's using her phone (they're probably both using it) to do her insta and her future vlog. I also believe he has an older phone that probably doesn't work without wifi (just a hunch based on what it looks like and on his behavior).

If you're talking about the incident in Moab - it's possible he was taking her phone as well as her van.

 

[Chypre]

It’s sickening to think he controlled her phone, but you’re right, his response/evasiveness regarding the location of her phone is SO TELLING. He was withholding it from her.

Or there’s some contraband somewhere.

 

[Boodles]

Well, but not that much since she is seen holding it in the bodycam and she is uploading stuff almost daily. I'm not even certain what part of this you are referring to - do you have a link. (timestamp would be great). Gabby clearly has her phone at the Moab stop. I believe that she's using her phone (they're probably both using it) to do her insta and her future vlog. I also believe he has an older phone that probably doesn't work without wifi (just a hunch based on what it looks like and on his behavior).

If you're talking about the incident in Moab - it's possible he was taking her phone as well as her van.

I’m surmising that BL may have “allowed” or permitted her to have her phone but may have kept it hidden when he decided she shouldn’t have it. It sounds like he didn’t want anyone else to know where it was…did he have a secret place hidden from her? That’s the type of thing a DV abuser would do. IMO

 

[10ofRods]

Hi Soliloguy!
I concur with the date of the 27th.
The day it came out about the Merry Piglet rage.
I knew that had to be that day.(my opinion)

I want to know why no one in that restaurant could not even dial 911.
He was in a rage and Gabby apologized to them. Definitely setting the rage machine off even more.

Can you cite one single source that shows that Brian was "in a rage." Everything I read says he was quietly "aggressive" with the staff, but almost no one who was there can say what it is he was saying. He wasn't loud. He didn't knock anything over. He didn't yell. He didn't use profanity. - according to known MSM reports.

Are we using the word "rage" these days to mean "person was unhappy with some aspect of service"? Talked quietly and intensely and repeatedly about whatever it was? Not "rage" to me.

There's no "rage" in the police bodycam either. Where is this claim of rage coming from? I respectfully disagree with your opinion that there was "rage" at Merry Piglets (and yes, I've seen rage - I work in jails and mental hospitals, as well as at a public institution - where we see rage rarely but I have seen it; but mostly I see it in other settings). I've travelled a lot, I work in mental health, I think people use the word differently. Brian sounds like he was very irritated but he didn't overturn tables (which I've seen) or even a glass of water (very angry behavior - but not rage).

At least, not rage in the DSM sense of rage - it might seem like rage to you, but it didn't seem like rage to the staff (or they would have called for help because actual rage is such a strong reaction that restraint or LE is needed).

 

[ginx]

i do think it happened on the 27th, but still projection based on his level of behavior at the restaurant.... nothing more. So I really do want to hear other well founded thoughts of why other dates might be the date of the actual killing.

So I am not sure how you are concluding the following: I do not comprehend.

. He also didn't bother to try to establish any alibis during the trip back or once he arrived in FL, so his reversal to chatty guy who talks about his gf to going completely silent obviously came sometime after being dropped off in Spread Creek on the 29th.

It just occurred to me that maybe he didn't know she was dead.

This whole time, I've been thinking how he had created perfect cover by taking off and solo hiking and then hitch hiking back, and it has never made sense to me that he didn't just continue with that plan...even if she wasn't discovered by the time he returned. He already had witnesses that he wasn't there so he could easily say he just found her that way. He had PROOF that he'd left the campsite and then returned, so he certainly had thrown more than a shadow of a doubt in there about his responsibility for her death.

I theorized once that SOME of his actions made more sense in the context of his innocence. However, I hadn't considered another scenario that sort of fills those gaps for me. Of course, this is all MOO:

• They get into a fight on the 27th. (We have evidence this was likely based on the Merry Piglets incident)
• He grabs her and strangles her (We also have evidence that he, at the least, "grabbed her face" in the past, so this might have been a typical response for him)
• He, thinking she is unconscious, leaves on a solo hike to "cool off" (His impulse after fights was to separate himself from her in some way as evidenced by Moab, CL's comments, even Rose).
• After a few days, he cools down. Maybe he considers flying home, and then changes his mind and decides to return to GP (Based on the odd convo he had while hitchhiking, and he seemed to relay that she was back at the van working on her social media, possibly he really thought this to be the case.)
• If he took her phone with him, left his own phone or had no way to charge it, if cell service was spotty, or he assumed she was mad and ignoring him, he wouldn't be able to have phone contact with her anyway, so he wouldn't have any other possibility for attempting to contact her until he returned to the van.
• Upon his return, he either doesn't find her and hangs out for a little bit waiting for her and then leaves, or, he does find her, realizes he's responsible and panics.

In either case, it all makes more sense this way. IF he didn't find her, he thinks she's left and so he takes off for home with the van. He thinks the Petito's are calling because they are angry. He lawyers up because he's expecting DV charges. Eventually, he realizes that she's actually missing and considers his own culpability...leading to his trip to the reserve.

If he did find her, then he takes off for home in the van in the same way because he realizes he has killed her and panics. That makes more sense than the idea that he killed her and then laid out what could have been a perfect alibi and then just scrapped it out of the blue and took the van. He could easily relay to his parents a story about how they got into a fight...she's angry with him...he could get DV charges...etc. He had time to think about that story on his drive back to North Port, so it would have been laid out well by the time he got there.

The Laundrie's might have felt it was possible that GP was setting him up to catch a false DV charge based on whatever story he told them. If they then wished to protect him from such charges, it would explain almost all of their actions, or seeming lack thereof. If you consider the characterization of the Moab stop, where GP was considered the aggressor, this makes even more sense. By the time RL and ChL realize that something more sinister has occurred, he is already "missing".

 

[danielleray500]

He can barely tolerate a plastic bottle, so I doubt that. Seeing that empty gun case that they showed during the search at his house, the not in tact skull, I would say suicide by gun, as an observer of the case.

Empty gun case? I missed that

 

[10ofRods]

I’m surmising that BL may have “allowed” or permitted her to have her phone but may have kept it hidden when he decided she shouldn’t have it. It sounds like he didn’t want anyone else to know where it was…did he have a secret place hidden from her? That’s the type of thing a DV abuser would do. IMO

How then is she able to upload SO many videos to Insta? I mean - it's like 4-5 a day (or more). Plus pinterest pins. They don't seem to have had a wifi hotspot, so I don't think she was using her laptop. She was using her phone - I think I count more than 5X a day on average. She also used a tripod for the phone.

She uploads pictures of him - she has him stand in a place while she sets up shots (she's very good at it, btw) and then joins him, using a timer. She was using her phone as a camera person does - I feel it's disrespectful to Gabby to imply that she wasn't daily doing what she set out to do - which was document their trip, finding wonderful scenes to shoot, and shooting them. If every scene was perfect, then she did this several times a day. But I bet it wasn't all perfect - I bet that she had to take more than one shot of certain things. Her video of herself preparing the salad was shot in one sequence, but the other shots from that Insta were not. She shot the video of their purchases in Colorado, because he's driving and smiling while she's doing it (I would have objected, myself, but Brian didn't).

She had her phone at the LE stop and seems to be using it to talk to her family (maybe) but Brian's phone is dead (because he doesn't use his phone the way Gabby does). Go take a look at the earlier Instas of them before they get to Arches - clearly all taken by Gabby (and she puts long comments on each one - comments that would take minutes for most people to type).

You're saying that in between these lovely, smiling takes and comments...Brian is snatching her phone away? That makes Gabby sound completely crazy. She's faking her whole life? I don't think so. I think she's truly happy when she's sand-surfing (and she uploads it - she puts the comments on it). Her comments are sweet and joyful and light-hearted. And I prefer to remember them that way - there's no evidence whatsoever that Brian is taking her phone away from her in between "takes." (And there are many, many videos made by Gabby - on her phone).

 

[10ofRods]

It just occurred to me that maybe he didn't know she was dead.

This whole time, I've been thinking how he had created perfect cover by taking off and solo hiking and then hitch hiking back, and it has never made sense to me that he didn't just continue with that plan...even if she wasn't discovered by the time he returned. He already had witnesses that he wasn't there so he could easily say he just found her that way. He had PROOF that he'd left the campsite and then returned, so he certainly had thrown more than a shadow of a doubt in there about his responsibility for her death.

I theorized once that SOME of his actions made more sense in the context of his innocence. However, I hadn't considered another scenario that sort of fills those gaps for me. Of course, this is all MOO:

• They get into a fight on the 27th. (We have evidence this was likely based on the Merry Piglets incident)
• He grabs her and strangles her (We also have evidence that he, at the least, "grabbed her face" in the past, so this might have been a typical response for him)
• He, thinking she is unconscious, leaves on a solo hike to "cool off" (His impulse after fights was to separate himself from her in some way as evidenced by Moab, CL's comments, even Rose).
• After a few days, he cools down. Maybe he considers flying home, and then changes his mind and decides to return to GP (Based on the odd convo he had while hitchhiking, and he seemed to relay that she was back at the van working on her social media, possibly he really thought this to be the case.)
• If he took her phone with him, left his own phone or had no way to charge it, if cell service was spotty, or he assumed she was mad and ignoring him, he wouldn't be able to have phone contact with her anyway, so he wouldn't have any other possibility for attempting to contact her until he returned to the van.
• Upon his return, he either doesn't find her and hangs out for a little bit waiting for her and then leaves, or, he does find her, realizes he's responsible and panics.

In either case, it all makes more sense this way. IF he didn't find her, he thinks she's left and so he takes off for home with the van. He thinks the Petito's are calling because they are angry. He lawyers up because he's expecting DV charges. Eventually, he realizes that she's actually missing and considers his own culpability...leading to his trip to the reserve.

If he did find her, then he takes off for home in the van in the same way because he realizes he has killed her and panics. That makes more sense than the idea that he killed her and then laid out what could have been a perfect alibi and then just scrapped it out of the blue and took the van. He could easily relay to his parents a story about how they got into a fight...she's angry with him...he could get DV charges...etc. He had time to think about that story on his drive back to North Port, so it would have been laid out well by the time he got there.

The Laundrie's might have felt it was possible that GP was setting him up to catch a false DV charge based on whatever story he told them. If they then wished to protect him from such charges, it would explain almost all of their actions, or seeming lack thereof. If you consider the characterization of the Moab stop, where GP was considered the aggressor, this makes even more sense. By the time RL and ChL realize that something more sinister has occurred, he is already "missing".

So you think she died of strangulation by a stranger and Brian came back and just didn't notice her dead body?

 

[x_files]

Hi Soliloguy!
I concur with the date of the 27th.
The day it came out about the Merry Piglet rage.
I knew that had to be that day.(my opinion)

I want to know why no one in that restaurant could not even dial 911.
He was in a rage and Gabby apologized to them. Definitely setting the rage machine off even more.

Most business owners/managers discourage staff from calling the police. They do NOT want incident reports at their establishment. Too many you can lose your liquor license. At least in WA State they will remove your license if too many calls are made. Not sure if WY is as uptight.

 

[Mom24]

Can you cite one single source that shows that Brian was "in a rage." Everything I read says he was quietly "aggressive" with the staff, but almost no one who was there can say what it is he was saying. He wasn't loud. He didn't knock anything over. He didn't yell. He didn't use profanity. - according to known MSM reports.

Are we using the word "rage" these days to mean "person was unhappy with some aspect of service"? Talked quietly and intensely and repeatedly about whatever it was? Not "rage" to me.

There's no "rage" in the police bodycam either. Where is this claim of rage coming from? I respectfully disagree with your opinion that there was "rage" at Merry Piglets (and yes, I've seen rage - I work in jails and mental hospitals, as well as at a public institution - where we see rage rarely but I have seen it; but mostly I see it in other settings). I've travelled a lot, I work in mental health, I think people use the word differently. Brian sounds like he was very irritated but he didn't overturn tables (which I've seen) or even a glass of water (very angry behavior - but not rage).

At least, not rage in the DSM sense of rage - it might seem like rage to you, but it didn't seem like rage to the staff (or they would have called for help because actual rage is such a strong reaction that restraint or LE is needed).

I agree. I think this "rage" statement was made after Gabby was reported missing. If he had been in a rage, I'm sure there would have been a call to the police.

 

[ginx]

So you think she died of strangulation by a stranger and Brian came back and just didn't notice her dead body?

No.

I'm thinking that it's possible that he strangled her in anger and then left not realizing that, this time, he had killed her.

In my experience, people who go for the throat tend to do so repeatedly. We have evidence that he "grabbed her face" in the past. We have discussed the possibility of bruising on GP's neck in the sand surfing videos.

It is possible that he had choked her previously. Maybe even to the point of unconsciousness. And, maybe she WAS unconscious this time, and then died after he'd left.

So, he took off after their "fight" with no idea that he had actually inflicted fatal injuries.

Edit: I want to note that I'm not saying this in any way reduces his culpability. Only that it makes some of the odd pieces in this very odd case fit a little better.

 

[I'm Nobody]

It just occurred to me that maybe he didn't know she was dead.

This whole time, I've been thinking how he had created perfect cover by taking off and solo hiking and then hitch hiking back, and it has never made sense to me that he didn't just continue with that plan...even if she wasn't discovered by the time he returned. He already had witnesses that he wasn't there so he could easily say he just found her that way. He had PROOF that he'd left the campsite and then returned, so he certainly had thrown more than a shadow of a doubt in there about his responsibility for her death.

I theorized once that SOME of his actions made more sense in the context of his innocence. However, I hadn't considered another scenario that sort of fills those gaps for me. Of course, this is all MOO:

• They get into a fight on the 27th. (We have evidence this was likely based on the Merry Piglets incident)
• He grabs her and strangles her (We also have evidence that he, at the least, "grabbed her face" in the past, so this might have been a typical response for him)
• He, thinking she is unconscious, leaves on a solo hike to "cool off" (His impulse after fights was to separate himself from her in some way as evidenced by Moab, CL's comments, even Rose).
• After a few days, he cools down. Maybe he considers flying home, and then changes his mind and decides to return to GP (Based on the odd convo he had while hitchhiking, and he seemed to relay that she was back at the van working on her social media, possibly he really thought this to be the case.)
• If he took her phone with him, left his own phone or had no way to charge it, if cell service was spotty, or he assumed she was mad and ignoring him, he wouldn't be able to have phone contact with her anyway, so he wouldn't have any other possibility for attempting to contact her until he returned to the van.
• Upon his return, he either doesn't find her and hangs out for a little bit waiting for her and then leaves, or, he does find her, realizes he's responsible and panics.

In either case, it all makes more sense this way. IF he didn't find her, he thinks she's left and so he takes off for home with the van. He thinks the Petito's are calling because they are angry. He lawyers up because he's expecting DV charges. Eventually, he realizes that she's actually missing and considers his own culpability...leading to his trip to the reserve.

If he did find her, then he takes off for home in the van in the same way because he realizes he has killed her and panics. That makes more sense than the idea that he killed her and then laid out what could have been a perfect alibi and then just scrapped it out of the blue and took the van. He could easily relay to his parents a story about how they got into a fight...she's angry with him...he could get DV charges...etc. He had time to think about that story on his drive back to North Port, so it would have been laid out well by the time he got there.

The Laundrie's might have felt it was possible that GP was setting him up to catch a false DV charge based on whatever story he told them. If they then wished to protect him from such charges, it would explain almost all of their actions, or seeming lack thereof. If you consider the characterization of the Moab stop, where GP was considered the aggressor, this makes even more sense. By the time RL and ChL realize that something more sinister has occurred, he is already "missing".

Hmmmm..... except your theory totally left out the part about BL taking Gabby's cards or did I just miss it?

 

[ZoriahNZ]

Gabby was fighting with Brian over the phone prior to the Moab stop. She didn't have the phone until the female park ranger was sent to get it for her from Brian. Upthread the dialogue on the body cam is posted for that part of the stop, when the ranger is going to look for the phone in the van and Brian sort of stops her and insists on getting it himself because it's "in a spot".

 

[MsBetsy]

The camera was in the driveway of the house opposite the Laundries. NPPD knew that two people had left and only two came back. What did they think happened to the other person who left? Did they think RL was dumped at the park???

1+1=2
1+1 does not equal 3

Simple mathematics would have verified what they observed and logic would have told them something didn't make sense.

I don't think the amount of people in the car would have made a difference. They might have assumed BL drove his mom to visit a relative.

Anyway, I doubt LE observed two people leaving since Brian had allegedly left three days earlier. So if one person left and one came back then it seems to me their math is fine.

 

[simplemind]

It just occurred to me that maybe he didn't know she was dead.

This whole time, I've been thinking how he had created perfect cover by taking off and solo hiking and then hitch hiking back, and it has never made sense to me that he didn't just continue with that plan...even if she wasn't discovered by the time he returned. He already had witnesses that he wasn't there so he could easily say he just found her that way. He had PROOF that he'd left the campsite and then returned, so he certainly had thrown more than a shadow of a doubt in there about his responsibility for her death.

I theorized once that SOME of his actions made more sense in the context of his innocence. However, I hadn't considered another scenario that sort of fills those gaps for me. Of course, this is all MOO:

• They get into a fight on the 27th. (We have evidence this was likely based on the Merry Piglets incident)
• He grabs her and strangles her (We also have evidence that he, at the least, "grabbed her face" in the past, so this might have been a typical response for him)
• He, thinking she is unconscious, leaves on a solo hike to "cool off" (His impulse after fights was to separate himself from her in some way as evidenced by Moab, CL's comments, even Rose).
• After a few days, he cools down. Maybe he considers flying home, and then changes his mind and decides to return to GP (Based on the odd convo he had while hitchhiking, and he seemed to relay that she was back at the van working on her social media, possibly he really thought this to be the case.)
• If he took her phone with him, left his own phone or had no way to charge it, if cell service was spotty, or he assumed she was mad and ignoring him, he wouldn't be able to have phone contact with her anyway, so he wouldn't have any other possibility for attempting to contact her until he returned to the van.
• Upon his return, he either doesn't find her and hangs out for a little bit waiting for her and then leaves, or, he does find her, realizes he's responsible and panics.

In either case, it all makes more sense this way. IF he didn't find her, he thinks she's left and so he takes off for home with the van. He thinks the Petito's are calling because they are angry. He lawyers up because he's expecting DV charges. Eventually, he realizes that she's actually missing and considers his own culpability...leading to his trip to the reserve.

If he did find her, then he takes off for home in the van in the same way because he realizes he has killed her and panics. That makes more sense than the idea that he killed her and then laid out what could have been a perfect alibi and then just scrapped it out of the blue and took the van. He could easily relay to his parents a story about how they got into a fight...she's angry with him...he could get DV charges...etc. He had time to think about that story on his drive back to North Port, so it would have been laid out well by the time he got there.

The Laundrie's might have felt it was possible that GP was setting him up to catch a false DV charge based on whatever story he told them. If they then wished to protect him from such charges, it would explain almost all of their actions, or seeming lack thereof. If you consider the characterization of the Moab stop, where GP was considered the aggressor, this makes even more sense. By the time RL and ChL realize that something more sinister has occurred, he is already "missing".

The problem with all this is one goes unconscious in less than 30 seconds once being strangled unless just the airway is crushed which can be a bit longer but it still is much shorter than the amount of time the killer was strangling her. Think 3-5 minutes of intense pressure, victim can stroke or be seizing, lose bladder and bowel control, it's horrible - sorry if this is too graphic but it was no accident if it was manual strangulation... MOO

 

[ginx]

Hmmmm..... except your theory totally left out the part about BL taking Gabby's cards or did I just miss it?

Well, that would be part of taking the van. Or, it would fit into the part where he DID find her body and would have subsequently taken the cards to pay his way home.

We don't know if she kept her cards in a wallet or a purse, but I would suspect she didn't carry a purse while hiking, so they easily could have been kept in the van.