Found Deceased WY - Gabby Petito, Grand Teton National Park #89

[LinasK]

Two heroes in this story are the Bethune couple who, by complete accident, recorded the white van at Spread Creek as they tried to find a campsite. They noticed the white van because it had Florida plates and that excited them because they're from Florida. They even wanted to talk to them because of the Florida connection. They drove down that dirt road but couldn't find an available site, so turned around and went somewhere else. Just by fluke they captured that van - only because they forgot to shut off the cameras before entering the campground. They had heard about Gabby's disappearance but the original reported timeline didn't add up with when they were there. Once LE changed the timeline to the same dates they were at Spread Creek, the wife took the time to scroll through her footage to find the van captured on her camera. It was just a coincidence they even drove by the van and moreso that it was recorded - like a miracle really. She called the FBI within 5 minutes of finding the footage. True heroes!

Gabby's body might not have been found if they hadn't spotted her van there and started searching there. I think Brian was counting on them not finding her body.

 

[Warwick7]

Gabby's body might not have been found if they hadn't spotted her van there and started searching there. I think Brian was counting on them not finding her body.

I think shewas a needle in a haystack. And Brian was banking on that.
:0(

 

[Ruminations]

Talk about an innocent victim. We can blame Brian for that. Zero regard for Gabby's family. Zero regard for his own sister.

Let's pretend for a second. Volatile relationships, not the first time he laid hands on her. Maybe not even the first time he laid hands on her NECK. Only this time, he didn't let go soon enough, she didn't sputter and recover, he didn't get to make her apologize for upsetting him, making him do what he did (as if). Let's say hr panicked, couldn't take the death rattle that he himself caused, used a boulder to make it stop.

And then called the police. He'd have been arrested, maybe made bail, only if offered it, eventually been tried. His parents souls have stood by him. He'd be alive, drawing whatever he draws, finding religion (they always do). He could have pled guilty, no trial even.

Or he could have killed her with full intention, had no intention of letting her go. And called his parents, just as he did, and they could have made two phone calls. One to their attorney, the other to an anonymous tip line. They could have flown Brian home while giving LE the tip for where to find the van. That alone would have indirectly provided some answers to Gabby's families and a direction for LE, a solid starting point. Their attorney would not have had to make his grotesque public statements hoping Gabby comes home, etc, etc. He picked his words carefully.

Instead, he could have made this statement. The family is cooperating with LE. I have no further statement. It could have been true, too. Families do hard things. We've seen it plenty on WS, standing by adult children, accused of all manner of crimes. We don't always like it but generally we accept it.

They didn't do that. They concealed Brian, concealed the fact that he came back to Florida alone, and not just alone, but with Gabby's van. They absolutely knew that last possible day Brian could verify Gabby's life. The day he called. EVEN if we pretend we believe that 'gone' meant 'off on holiday', that would have been a DECENT thing to share, if not with Gabby's family, if not directly with LE, then anonymously. They were choosing yo support their son, why didn't they think Gabby's families should get to support Gabby, if they could find her? They could gather all their wagons and mustangs abd surround Brian, and leave Gabby's families to search in the general area of whatever tip the Laundries provided.

Instead they protected Brian at the expense and to the detriment of Gabby's innocent families. That's yucky.

i applaud his sister. For rising above the fray. I suspect she's horrified by what he brother did, angry that he even had the opportunity to take his life without taking the punishment due to him, and divorced from her family because, either she didn't support how her parents handled it or her parents don't support her, angry that she didn't coddle Brian, which seems like an unspoken, then spoken, bad family rule.

She didn't ask for this. Not the murder, not how her parents and Brian hid.

Letting Brian leave the house at all. Even if they thought she wasn't dead or that he only accidentally killed her or some such, they knew he did something $25K-retainer bad.

And let him leave the house, under those conditions. Didn't alert LE. Gave him daaaaaays iirc before making that call. Calculated. Gave Brian just enough time to come back of his own volition, or if not, do what they had to know he intended to do. I will never get my head around that. (Going to guess -- dysfunctional "love" -- knowing Brian was distraught and believing that his dirty bare feet would never survive captivity, I think they decided to 'let him go'. Misguided at best. But unfair. Unfair to let Brian wiggle out of responsibility for what he'd done. Unfair to leave Gabby's families with no answer and no way to even know where to look for Gabby...

And it just didn't need to go like this.

You can love your adult child without enabling. You can support them without harboring them. You can back them while simultaneously doing the right thing, if you've got healthy boundaries to begin with.

Simple formula like: I'll post bail for you. But I won't help you commit the crime.

I'll love you no matter what. But I won't bring trash bags or help you bury the body.

But here we are.

Brian had help evading justice.

JMO

AND...
He senselessly died.

If he were alive, it is possible that down the road he could have counseled abusers. He could have given Gabby's parents answers. He could have evolved from the most extreme negative role model for his cute little nephews to a more nuanced negative role model.

Maybe I don't miss him much, but I've seen some family correspondence. His mother claimed to love him, right?

It's not nearly as bad as what Brian did to Gabby, but what the Laundries did to her own son might be worse than what they did to Gabby's family. They killed him. They also apparently lost their relationship with their daughter.

To clarify, they are not the ones who murdered Gabby. I get that. But I frankly can't envision a more destructive way to handle the events from late August that awful year than the way they did.

MOO

 

[Tricia]

We have active missing person cases if you are looking for something different on Websleuths.
Check out the Missing Forum

 

[Izzylizzy]

 

[Trooper]

Brian Laundrie's parents break silence over Gabby Petitio documentary

American Murder: Gabby Petito premiered on February 17 and delved into the 22-year-old travel blogger's life and the sickening circumstances of her death on a cross-country van trip in 2021.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Roberta speaks......

 

[steeltowngirl]

Brian Laundrie's parents break silence over Gabby Petitio documentary

American Murder: Gabby Petito premiered on February 17 and delved into the 22-year-old travel blogger's life and the sickening circumstances of her death on a cross-country van trip in 2021.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Roberta speaks......

Two quotes from the article:

“But in a statement issued through their lawyer Steven Bertolino, Laundrie's parents Christopher and Roberta claimed the documentary is one-sided and factually inaccurate.”
[…]

“Julia Wiloughby Nason, one of the series' directors, had previously told TODAY that her team contacted the Laundries and asked if they wanted to be included for the sake of balance and fairness.

'They didn’t want to participate, and we respect that. This is a very difficult story,' Nason said.”

^JMO: Laundries can’t have it both ways. They chose not to participate to tell their side, but now they are complaining it was one-sided.

edit: fix broken quote

 

[ilovewings]

Brian Laundrie’s parents whine over new Gabby Petitio doc as one-sided — despite refusing to give their side

Still, the Laundries admitted: “We all know Brian took Gabby’s life and Brian then took his own as well.”

nypost.com

Brian Laundrie's parents are despicable: always finding a way to turn the knife.

 

[NoeticSoul]

Brian Laundrie's parents break silence over Gabby Petitio documentary

American Murder: Gabby Petito premiered on February 17 and delved into the 22-year-old travel blogger's life and the sickening circumstances of her death on a cross-country van trip in 2021.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Roberta speaks......

Keeping her pie-hole shut would have been much much better.. especially since she/they didn't want to contribute to the documentary in the first place. smh (moo)

 

[Megnut]

I think she wrote the letter to send with Brian after his flight home.

I think she hoped he was breaking up with Gabby and anticipating GABBY would take it hard.

I don't think she meant the letter literally, or had any preconceived motions that Brian would KILL her. I think she was stressing, in a most vulgar way, that she'd support him, say, to the ends of the earth.

The problem is, Brian WAS violent and DID kill Gabby which makes that letter look REALLY bad.

Which they made a thousand times worse by defending the letter and defending Brian, including giving him time to take his life. IMO they knew that's what he was going there to do.

That letter would have lost some of its sting if the Laundries had chosen to live their son but not supported his escape from justice. Had they provided even limited information to LE, publicly or anonymously. Where the van was. Where Gabby was last seen. When Gabby was last seen.

They could have provided important answers to Gabby's family. While still supporting their son.

She could have apologized for that awful letter, in a meaningful way, to match cooperation with LE, unconditional support of Brian, regardless of and throughout the legal process.

They had choices Gabby's families never had.

JMO

 

[Jade]

Imo, It’s like Roberta gave Brian the idea that it is ok to murder and sure enough she backed him all the way.

I can’t think of a single person that it would occur to me to eagerly offer assistance with a predicted body disposal as an allegory of my love.

[...]
“If you’re in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags. If you fly to the moon, I will be watching the skies for your re-entry. If you say you hate my guts, I’ll get new guts,” the letter continued.

Roberta Laundrie included a Bible verse from Romans 8:38.
[...]

Brian Laundrie's mother offered him a shovel in ‘burn after reading’ note

The letter was released to Gabby Petito’s parents after a Florida judge denied a request from Laundrie’s parents to withhold it.

www.nbcnews.com

The enmeshment; the enabling, imo.

Piling on Romans 8:38 too.

No wonder they colluded to let him kill himself she believes in eternal life for them together through adding Romans 8:38 in addition to the other over the top assurances, imo.


all imo

 

[ilovewings]

Imo, It’s like Roberta gave Brian the idea that it is ok to murder and sure enough she backed him all the way.

I can’t think of a single person that it would occur to me to eagerly offer assistance with a predicted body disposal as an allegory of my love.

[...]
“If you’re in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags. If you fly to the moon, I will be watching the skies for your re-entry. If you say you hate my guts, I’ll get new guts,” the letter continued.

Roberta Laundrie included a Bible verse from Romans 8:38.
[...]

Brian Laundrie's mother offered him a shovel in ‘burn after reading’ note

The letter was released to Gabby Petito’s parents after a Florida judge denied a request from Laundrie’s parents to withhold it.

www.nbcnews.com

The enmeshment; the enabling, imo.

Piling on Romans 8:38 too.

No wonder they colluded to let him kill himself she believes in eternal life for them together through adding Romans 8:38 in addition to the other over the top assurances, imo.


all imo

Holy moly! this is the first I am hearing of this letter as I have not followed this case lately. OMG - IMO that letter is permission for her beloved son to do whatever he wants to with Gabby- mom has his back- she has ideas too to help him escape justice-- It is obvious she enabled him his entire life: no wonder he thought he could murder Gabby and get away with it- or that he was entitled to whatever he wanted and when he didn't get it or he got angry, he murdered Gabby. His mother disgusts me.

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7474437499901857054

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

Interview with Niki & Jim Schmidt.

 

[steeltowngirl]

I don't think she meant the letter literally, or had any preconceived motions that Brian would KILL her. I think she was stressing, in a most vulgar way, that she'd support him, say, to the ends of the earth.

Agree. But, troubled Brian may have taken the letter literally. At a minimum, it likely bolstered him to make a run for it after murdering Gabby, thinking Mom would protect him as best she could (getting a lawyer and staying silent as he became a fugitive.)

jmo

 

[Forest_Wood]

Two quotes from the article:

“But in a statement issued through their lawyer Steven Bertolino, Laundrie's parents Christopher and Roberta claimed the documentary is one-sided and factually inaccurate.”
[…]

“Julia Wiloughby Nason, one of the series' directors, had previously told TODAY that her team contacted the Laundries and asked if they wanted to be included for the sake of balance and fairness.

'They didn’t want to participate, and we respect that. This is a very difficult story,' Nason said.”

^JMO: Laundries can’t have it both ways. They chose not to participate to tell their side, but now they are complaining it was one-sided.

edit: fix broken quote

MOO. I wonder if the Laundrie's will speak out eventually to share their views - whether the parents or the sister. They seem to want others to know their side because they have had their lawyer speak out. While the parents are not respected or even likeable, I imagine they would have insight into their son's psychology before, during and after Gabby's murder. Perhaps they'll choose to write a book or get a documentary deal. Then again, they wouldn't want to implicate themselves since no charges were ever laid.

 

[ilovewings]

MOO. I wonder if the Laundrie's will speak out eventually to share their views - whether the parents or the sister. They seem to want others to know their side because they have had their lawyer speak out. While the parents are not respected or even likeable, I imagine they would have insight into their son's psychology before, during and after Gabby's murder. Perhaps they'll choose to write a book or get a documentary deal. Then again, they wouldn't want to implicate themselves since no charges were ever laid.

I wouldn't trust anything they would say about their son, who they would probably portray in the most sympathetic light possible. JMO

 

[Warwick7]

MOO. I wonder if the Laundrie's will speak out eventually to share their views - whether the parents or the sister. They seem to want others to know their side because they have had their lawyer speak out. While the parents are not respected or even likeable, I imagine they would have insight into their son's psychology before, during and after Gabby's murder. Perhaps they'll choose to write a book or get a documentary deal. Then again, they wouldn't want to implicate themselves since no charges were ever laid.

They will never speak out. M00

 

[raiders444]

Random thought about Brian's mom. I have a relative who did hard time in federal prison for embezzling money from people, including the elderly. His mom went to her grave believing he was innocent and it was the other people's fault (those who were conned by her son). So just saying don't underestimate what a mother will do for her son. There are plenty of crazy ones out there willing to bake cakes with nail files. Not in any way forgiving her- i do think she's awful, Just shedding light on the thought process here

 

[Forest_Wood]

They will never speak out. M00

Yet they already did speak out briefly. Cassie directly and the parents through their lawyer.