From all outward appearances, Gabby Petito was living the dream life of a social media
influencer when she embarked on a cross-country road trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie.
She chronicled the couple's adventures on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, where her
followers can still admire aesthetically pleasing photos snapped during visits to scenic locations,
like Mystic Hot Springs in Utah and the Monument Rocks landmark in Kansas.
For weeks, Petito and Laundrie traveled together in a white Ford Transit van. But, as reported by
the Associated Press, Laundrie was alone when he returned home to Florida on September 1st.
Ten days later, Petito's family reported her missing. Her story quickly captured the
attention of the media, true crime enthusiasts, and internet sleuths eager to help uncover the
truth about her disappearance. According to WFLA, a family of vloggers actually filmed Petito's van
at a camping area near Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming on August 27th.
They reported the sighting to the FBI, and a body was discovered in the vicinity on September 19th.
The remains were later confirmed to be those of Petito. On September 21st,
the FBI tweeted that the Teton County Coroner had ruled her death a homicide.
Laundrie has been named a person of interest, but law enforcement has been unable to track him down.
As the search continues, reports of his alarming past behavior have surfaced
and sparked a nationwide conversation about the warning signs of domestic abuse.
On August 27th, Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie stopped at The Merry Piglets Tex-Mex restaurant
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Witnesses later recalled seeing the couple there thanks
to Laundrie's memorable interactions with the waitstaff. While speaking to Fox News,
diner Nina Angelo said that he was being, quote, "aggressive" and appeared to be
arguing with the eatery's employees about his bill. She told CNN his behavior left the
couple's waitress noticeably upset. The three people he confronted were reportedly women.
Angelo described the scene in further detail in
a video posted to her Instagram stories, per Newsweek. She said,
"He walked back in, like, four more times to talk to the manager and to,
like, tell the hostess off."
Meanwhile, Petito was outside crying on the sidewalk. Angelo's boyfriend, Matthew England,
also remembered seeing the couple and described Petito as being,
quote, "visibly upset" over the incident. According to Angelo,
the influencer apologized to the waitstaff for her fiancé's behavior.
England shared his account with the FBI, and a manager at The Merry Piglets confirmed that she
also reported the incident to the law enforcement agency. Petito and Laundrie's tense visit to the
restaurant happened two days after she shared her final Instagram post on August 25th:
a series of smiling photos snapped in front of a butterfly mural in Ogden, Utah.
Two weeks before Gabby Petito's fiancé caused a scene at The Merry Piglets, she shed more tears
while listening to a female National Park Service ranger tell her that her relationship with Brian
Laundrie was not a healthy one. Melissa Hulls was one of the officers who arrived at the scene in
response to a call about a potential domestic assault. Petito and Laundrie were traveling
near Arches National Park when they were pulled over by officers from the Moab Police Department.
Body camera footage showed a tearful Petito talking about how she and Laundrie had been,
quote, "fighting all morning." She also apologized for scratching his face outside a grocery store
and told the officers that she feared he was going to leave her there. No one was charged,
but the officers took Laundrie to a hotel so the couple could spend the night apart.
Hulls told Deseret News that she took Petito aside
and told her that her relationship appeared to be "toxic." She recalled,
"I was imploring with her to reevaluate the relationship,
asking her if she was happy in the relationship with him, and basically
saying this was an opportunity for her to find another path, to make a change in her life."
She also described Petito as being "anxious" about being apart from Laundrie.
Unfortunately, the Moab police officers who spoke to Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were unaware
of key information that possibly would have changed the way they handled the situation.
As reported by Fox News, they did not know that a witness had reported seeing Laundrie
hitting Petito before they were pulled over. Melissa Hulls was also left wondering if she
could have saved Petito by saying something different to her. She told Deseret News,
"It's hard not to second-guess myself, and wish I said more,
or wish I had found the right words to make her believe that she deserved more."
Rose Davis, a close friend of Petito, agreed with Hulls' assessment of her
relationship with Laundrie. She also described it as "toxic" and
told People that he seemed to have, quote, "a jealousy problem." She said,
"I just thought he was just controlling."
Unfortunately, sometimes victims of domestic abuse don't see the red flags. Natasha Adler,
a SafeHouse Denver domestic violence advocate,
explained to 9News how they often miss what seems so obvious to others. She said,
"They are gaslit by their partner and say 'No, this is normal. This is what love looks like,'"
If you or someone you know is struggling with domestic abuse,
please call or chat online with the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.