22-year-old “van life” influencer Gabby Petito was last seen Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park in August, 2021. The couple had plans to go to Yellowstone National Park next, but it’s unclear if they ever made that journey.
Her fiancé Brian Laundrie was with her on their country-wide road trip, but he came home to North Port, Florida without her and has not given information on her disappearance. Now, he has gone missing too.
The last time Gabby’s mother Nicole Schmidt spoke to her daughter via text was August 25, 2021, when she was headed to Grand Teton Park. August 25, 2021 was also the last time Gabby posted on Instagram.
They posted their first YouTube vlog of their journey living out of their van on August 19, 2021 on their channel called Nomadic Statik. The video shows an idyllic edit of the couple enjoying traveling and the outdoors. Behind the scenes, however there was growing discord that came to a head in mid-August.
They also have a website called Nomadic Statik that is still underdevelopment.
Brian Laundrie last posted on Instagram on August 13, 2021, when they were still in Utah. The day before this post the couple had been pulled over and questioned by the police because witnesses had seen them arguing. They talked to police about their argument. Gabby was in tears the entire time in the bodycam footage of this encounter.
Brian Laundrie quietly returned home on September 1and did not mention anything about Gabby. He did not report her missing, and has not given her family any information about where she might be.
On September 11, 2021, Gabby’s family reported her missing in Long Island, New York. The case was moved to investigators in North Port, Florida, where the case is now primarily being handled. Before their trip, Gabby had been living in Florida with Brain, who refused to speak to detectives about her whereabouts. He has since retained a lawyer who made the statement that Brian and his family are “remaining in the background” of the case.
Detectives did take the couple’s camper van, a 2012 Ford transit connect, for the investigation.
Gabby Petito’s fiancé is now missing
On Friday, September 17, 2021 police entered the home of Brian Laundrie, where he lives with his parents. He was not in the house, and his parents told the police they had not seen him since Tuesday, September 14, 2021.
At this point Brian is not a suspect, but is a “person of interest,” which is a vague term used by police for someone they think might have been involved with a crime, but who has not been arrested or accused.
The Petito family’s attorney Richard Staffor gave a statement to CNN to let them know that they believe Brian is in hiding, not missing: “All of Gabby’s family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing.”
Video proof of an argument between Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie before her disappearance
