Found Deceased WY - Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Petito, 22, Grand Teton National Park, 25 Aug 2021 #13

[whitelilac]

Let me be really careful here. It is really unlikely that any scent they picked up was that old. Those dogs are pretty rare.

If they picked up his scent, they are likely to be able to use it as a trail - unless he went through water.

Thanks.
I wonder if they have cadaver dogs as well.

 

[bambibones]

He also said he didn't have a cell phone to the Moab cop, but he did. But whether or not he had a sleeping bag isn't really important. He was there to be picked up by the tiktoker and the van wasn't so he got there somehow by walking, most likely. I think he was wandering lost in the wilderness after stashing her body and ended up 10 miles from their camp site.

But his bag didn't look full enough to be holding a bag, per Miranda. That's why she asked him about it.

Where does the 10 miles come from?

I propose that he was never wandering or lost or primitive camping, that he actually got around by hitch-hiking, and that he was gone in the van within a few hours - with or without GP's body in it. At this point, I'm inclined not to believe anything he said at that point.

 

[feralwriter]

I had to.... eat. I.... stepped away....

Shower or no shower, the clothes would still show wear, I believe. Honestly, considering if it was a murder, wouldn't he get a bit sweaty through his clothes? Did he have a change of clothes in his bag? Sounds like TikTok said he had practically nothing in his bag for having been out a supposed three days, so.

 

[Harvath]

LOL. I know and even now I'm reading on page 4 and the thread is up to 8 and I've been here. One thing new since you were gone I think: 2 elk hunters/spotters (whatever) saw van at Spread Creek on 8/29 unaware of any other witness reports. FBI was at Spread Creek has asked for info and as of 7 pm local time, closed it in connection with this investigation. So, they either found something or they are confident they will and they don't want the scene compromised.

Thanks for the update and I sincerely mean that! Helps a lot!!! I don’t think I could make it though all the pages in the thread to catch up…at least not in a reasonable amount of time and I consider myself a relatively fast reader.

Interesting multiple (possible) eyewitnesses are coming out of the woodwork(as the expression goes). Including the tick tok/gave a him a lift girl. I’m willing to bet most of these people’s accounts are legitimate too. Just a gut feeling. Hope it’s able to paint a more complete picture for LE to be able to wrap this up soon.

 

[Cedar Sherwood]

Small detail but in my opinion I don’t think the police needed a warrant to collect personal belongings for the scent dogs - I’m guessing his parents willingly gave those items because they want him to be found?

I think I read somewhere that Brian's parents contacted the police. They were requesting their help finding him. But I don't know for sure.

 

[Seabunny]

That's a sad and scary thought. I don't agree that he couldn't carry her, but he could nonetheless move her more effectively with the van.

My hopes for resolution at Spread Creek just went down.

True. True. I was thinking more along the lines of move her to bury her.

If she’s deceased, her body wasn’t in the van, otherwise her scent would’ve been picked up and he would’ve been in an interrogation room already.

 

[distracted]

That's a sad and scary thought. I don't agree that he couldn't carry her, but he could nonetheless move her more effectively with the van.

My hopes for resolution at Spread Creek just went down.

You also have to factor in the chance of being seen carrying her.

And the smell of death starts almost immediately. A body starts to emit gas within a short time and there is no way he could mask that on his person. That's why I think he just went back to make sure it was safe to leave town.

 

[cuffem]

The countries you land in may, though or expect a roll of cash to look the other way.

It is not plausible BL took off on a boat escaping the US to another country.We should be more realistic on speculating where he could be and where he left Gabby.

 

[gdalton]

The scent in the Florida reserve......any possibility the scent could be left over from when he went back by plane (if he indeed did)? Parents said he liked to frequent the place. Just want it to be certain that the scent is from earliest last Tuesday when he took off.
How long can scents last?

Police K9s seem to have a pretty high degree of false positives...at least when it comes to traffic stops...

 

[bambibones]

Shower or no shower, the clothes would still show wear, I believe. Honestly, considering if it was a murder, wouldn't he get a bit sweaty through his clothes? Did he have a change of clothes in his bag? Sounds like TikTok said he had practically nothing in his bag for having been out a supposed three days, so.

I got the sense from her Jeep, and how she talked about how "BL" could sit in the back, that she was familiar with this lifestyle. I didn't think she was any urban hiker.

 

[Hyway]

100% agreed, but from what I've seen, the mental attitude makes all of the difference. There are people who like to sleep out under the stars on just a tarp, and people who like the idea of sleeping out under the stars on just a tarp. I think both BL and GP were the latter. I wish that didn't sound so judgmental, because more than once when I was their age I got in over my head in a wilderness situation because of overconfidence and over-estimating my abilities. But in this case, I think both of them were at heart not ready for the kind of privations they had to face as part of a free van life.

Also, primitive camping is really easy if you are close to civilization and rescue. When you're fifteen hours away from the next human settlement it's a different story. I think BL was a capable car camper and day hiker and that's as far as it goes. I haven't seen anything to indicate he was more capable of wilderness survival than that.

Agree with you on most, but I am not going to sell BL short just because I think he is a murderer. He like to hike in that park near his home, as big as it is I assume you can camp there. I think I read he did some camping on the AT. And I watch a few vanlife youtubers and its mostly just the rich youtubers who don't really do much camping outside their van. The folks doing it on the cheap seem to do a lot of tent camping.

 

[bambibones]

Police K9s seem to have a pretty high degree of false positives...at least when it comes to traffic stops...

Yes, but those are drug-trained dogs, not trackers.

 

[SuperTmo]

So if BL didn't believe in her "van life" social media... then what was his plan for living (and funding) the "van life" otherwise?

If he didn't want her to do the social media, and he wasn't doing the social media, then WHAT were they doing with their limited funds, long term? How was this going to work? What was BL's plan?

I personally think this was just a summer road trip and he just wanted to get back to his parents house so he could continue his lazy lifestyle in comfort. It seemed like he didn’t enjoy living in a car. It’s basically homeless.

 

[shelbycat]

This is what I was pointing at as well.

Did MB ever say she actually saw the tarp or did BL just say that he was using a tarp rather than a tent for camping?

I’d be pretty dang hesitant to pick up a hitchhiker obviously carrying a tarp.

 

[bambibones]

Correct.

 

[Hyway]

My thoughts about the tarp were piqued because it seemed like probably a lie, and people with a guilty conscience often make up lies to explain things they don't need to explain.

So, just as speculation, it occurs to me that a potential Brian mentioning he had been camping on a tarp, was a lie to cover up why he had a tarp.

A tarp is sadly often used to move a body. Drag it, roll it, easier to lift, etc.

All amateur speculation, coming from the problem of how come Gabby hasn't yet been found in one of the most heavily hiked areas of the US.

That was one of my first thoughts too, but I read BL likes to read crime novels and its basic knowledge you don't carry a dna infested tarp along with you after you dispose of the body.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Shower or no shower, the clothes would still show wear, I believe. Honestly, considering if it was a murder, wouldn't he get a bit sweaty through his clothes? Did he have a change of clothes in his bag? Sounds like TikTok said he had practically nothing in his bag for having been out a supposed three days, so.

He may have ditched his soiled clothes at the showers and put on fresh clean ones. Not much to roll up a tee shirt and shorts in a bag.

 

[otto]

The whole thing about BL not smelling or looking like he had been camping for days... didn't the TikTok girl pick him up in a parking lot by the showers?

Did she mention the name of the tourist spot parking lot?

 

[bambibones]

I personally think this was just a summer road trip and he just wanted to get back to his parents house so he could continue his lazy lifestyle in comfort. It seemed like he didn’t enjoy living in a car. It’s basically homeless.

Actually, I think he had a fantasy for this trip that was more "nature boy" than GP's. I believe they quarreled about their different ideas for what the trip was about.

He may have ditched his soiled clothes at the showers and put on fresh clean ones. Not much to roll up a tee shirt and shorts in a bag.

I hope they are looking through the dumpster there.

 

[Hyway]

oh wow...so not 100% certain it's recent.

and he's already been home for 10 days before anyone knew she was missing. He could have been at that park many times in the past 2 weeks