I assumed he flew home because they were fighting, and his sister basically confirmed that when she said she thought he flew home and started to give a reason and then cut herself off. I think she was going to say that’s what he did when he was upset with Gabby.
Kitty Genovese, 1964. 38 witnesses did nothing. Things change slowly. Or for some not at all.
He could have walked away, let her have the van. I don’t think he was worried about public impressions or sensitive to that at all. At the Mary piglet he went in four times to berate the staff, excessive anger in my opinion and did not give a flip about making a scene. I am not trying to negate Gabby’s participation/contribution to what seemed like a failing toxic relationship but there were other choices that could have been made. We all are in charge of how we react to a situation, no one else is responsible for our behavior.
I got a weird vibe from the video. Something just felt off.
! I've read a few articles about "van life", and it sounds pretty rough, and seems to leave people open for escalation of personal issues. After making your goals public, it may be more difficult to throw in the towel on them. She was young, who knows what was going through her head amid all the turmoil...
BL told the Moab police that he was concerned that she was going to leave HIM. This was the part when he made the now infamous statement that he didn't have a phone--he said he was thinking she was going to leave him, and he didn't have a phone. I took that to mean he didn't have his phone on him and she would take the van and his phone, which I assumed was in the van. I never heard GP say she thought he was going to leave her, she seemed more concerned that he was telling her to calm down.
I'm running all sorts of scenarios through my head. What if he *did* call a time out and tell her they had to end the trip and she said ok just let me do one more week or so for more pictures to end it with so they agreed to a time out and he left her in the hotel and flew home. When he's there he tells his parents how awful it is for poor him , that he just wants to hike and camp and commune with nature but terrible Gabby insists on making all these videos etc and poor poor BL just can't take anymore and he wants to break up with her. His parents agree that this is just not acceptable treatment of their golden boy and say ok get her things out of storage and bring them back to her and drive her back to her parents ( either set) and here's $XXXX.XX to fly back home. He returns and they set off for the agreed upon final stops but by now , fueled by his parents agreement of his shoddy treatment, he's so angry he's having a hard time being agreeable during the last week.and he snaps and does the unthinkable. Once he regains some semblance of composure he starts to hitchhike away to get close enough to a place to get airline tickets. Then he realizes if the van is found she will likely be found as well so he turns back to get the van and drives it back home. He gets there and tells his parents she's so stubborn she refused to go back to her parents but was afraid to drive the van alone so she's going to continue on with (imaginary) friends they made on the trip but made him swear not to tell her parents because they would insist she come back home and she told him she'd come for the van when the trip was over. All sounds believable at first and when her parents try to call he says just don't answer, we can't tell them she isn't with me anymore! Then the last message comes where they're told the police are being called and all hell breaks loose at the Laundrie household. He convinces them Gabby was fine when he left but oh boy now he's gonna be blamed for whatever happened to her. Enter the lawyer who says shut up, don't talk to anyone. They go camping and he takes off from there . Is this a workable scenario?
How do these online bank accounts work like.Chime!
As perhaps in his parents basement? There is no outside witness to him leaving the home. No sign of him camping in the wilderness that he was reported to have gone. Searches for him are already being downsized.
I've speculated personally that, to a possessive guy, letting her go means some other guy 'gets' her, and that's apparently intolerable for the insecure but competitive male ego. So there's that idea that 'I can't stand living with you, but I can't stand the idea some other guy is going to live with you'. If he's caught up in that mindset, there's one way out.
Those are some of my thoughts too.
Yes we don’t know what was in their heads, but if he was wanting her to get some space away from him, to calm down, one way from that to happen is for him to remove himself from the van. During this incident he was in charge of the van, he was driving he was the one trying to lock her out. It appears in the Moab video that he goes to the driver side door and gets his phone out at the timestamp at 41. He could’ve easily pulled the van over grabbed his phone and walked away.
