Transcript of True Crime Vault: Life Online: The Last Days of Gabby Petito

Step into the 2020 True Crime Ball, where you'll hear our most gripping stories. Gabby's keto never goes outside. She was happy, genuinely happy. She was like, Yeah, come on, let me show you this. We'll go to the beach. Just listen to the ocean. Look at the waves. Look at the sand. Watch the sun rise. Watch the sunset. Driving across the country all the way to California in Oregon was an absolute dream. Wish I was back running down the beach looking at the Pacific Ocean. She did a lot. She was very busy. She loved her friends. She was a beautiful artist, brilliant artist, just so talented. Everybody sees the pictures of her out there as an adult, but when I close my eyes and I think of her, I I still remember a little blonde hair, bright blue-eyed little girl with her hair up and ponietals. Gabby wants to be adventurous. If you look at the Instagram post, it's just very clear here. She just loves life and loves new experiences. Made my favorite mango smoothie for breakfast, went on a nice little hike, had some sushi, and watched the sunset before going home to some chocolate-covered strawberries.

What could be better than this? #21. The Gabby Petito story is important because I think everybody not only saw a little bit of someone they knew in the story, but also, frankly, maybe saw a little bit of themselves. Was it those days? Gabby wore her heart on her sleeve. Gabby believed everything could come true. She He believed in this perfect love. I can't wait to get back to days like this, traveling the world with you and asking strangers to take our picture, never taking moments like this for granted again. Brian Laundry is A typical American young man. Loved the outdoors by all accounts. They met in high school. He was a junior when they met in high school. It seems like the both of them were free-spirited. We don't We know a whole lot about Brian Laundry. There's no friends or acquaintances that have really come forward and wanted to speak with us. If you take a look at his public Instagram page, a lot of the photos are just solo with just him alone. Brian Laundry had his own social media accounts, too, and he did his own posting. Definitely fashions himself as being a little edgy.

Gabby and Brian knew each other in Long Island. That's where they're from. She came down to where he was living with his parents in their house. My name is Kristen Thorne. I'm a reporter with Wabc channel 7 Eyewitness News in New York, and I've been covering the Gabby Petito case since day one. We do know that Gabby Petito lived with the Laundries in North Port, Florida, for about a two and a half year period. Brian and Gabby were actually engaged before they went on this trip. So we are right outside Capele Reef right now in a free, dispersed camp spot. Since we left New York, I've only set up my hammock once. And we're in the desert. You see this evolution. You see them growing. You see the excitement. You see what's happening. You watch someone grow up, right? Through Two Instagram photos. The potatoes talk to ABC Australia. She always wanted to do this. She planned it out. She knew what she wanted to do, and she knew where she wanted to go. I worried. I told her to be careful, be safe, make sure to be aware of your surroundings. Don't trust everybody.

But I felt safe because she was with Brian, and I felt like she would be okay. I thought he would take care of her. It's a lot easier walking upriver holding someone's hand than walking alone. What we can tell from Brian Laundry from his Instagram page is that he was very into the environment, keeping the environment clean. And we can see that he eats out of melon rinds. He tries to not use plastic. Downsizing our life to fit into this itty-bitty van was the best decision we've ever made. She wanted to create her own business of blogging for a living, and she had a unique perspective on how she was going to capture that audience. We know that Brian and Gabby purchased this van actually a year prior, and this was something that they had been planning for quite some time to do to travel the country. I think that for a lot of young people right now, this idea of leaving everything behind, getting in a van, seeing the world is attractive. I love the van. Van life is exactly what it sounds. It's living in often a restored van or school bus and having this nomadic lifestyle where you can travel all around the country.

Van life is an aspirational lifestyle, and it is something that people people seek. It attracts a certain person who wants to travel and see things up close, not from the air or from a speeding train, but traveling at their own pace. Van life was made popular and grew into people's vision of what they were seeing through this very popular film, Nomadland. It's burn. I need a ride to town. Why? I blew my tire. There's a joke in Van Life that you really never know where you're going to go more than a few days in advance, and that's really very true. It was growing in popularity, largely through Instagram and YouTube. The pandemic really flipped our life on its head. The life we were living was completely opposite of what really brings us joy. We taught ourselves everything we needed from solar electricity and battery power to plumbing to vehicle maintenance. Hello, hello, and good morning. It is really nice and It's Sunday today. It's only 10: 00 in the morning. And your hope is that you will become an influencer. The way to live a sustainable life as a van lifer is to have millions of followers online.

Gabby definitely wanted to be part of this community. She and Brian were posting it on Instagram, on YouTube, and they were documenting this journey for people on the Internet to essentially engage with. Oh, my God. You got it. Oh, my God. When I look at Gabby's Instagram, I see her building her brand. She followed a lot of people who also were doing the van life thing, too. So it looks like she was following the formula for how to get successful there. Living in a van is a struggle. It is not the beautiful picturesque life that a lot of Internet creators paint it out to be. And Gabby and Brian weren't in a smaller van than I usually see people in. I imagine that's a lot of pressure. Any relationship has fights, but now you're in this tiny van, there's no place else to go. I don't know what you're supposed to do when you're in that environment. Life on the road is difficult. You have to pivot a lot. It changes in a millisecond, and you have to be ready for that. Oh my God. The tent is just coming in on me. The wind is so bad.

I've been sitting here like this for a while. Especially for Gabby and Brian, they were struggling. They were not the cream of the crop van life creators. They were not going viral. They were really living hand to mouth. And so there was a lot of tension, you could tell, around that. I'd like to report a domestic dispute. If we drove by, the gentleman was slapping the girl. I can't feel a lot of it. I can't handle that. I'm sorry. Friday, Avatar: Fire and Dash arrives in theaters. I am the fire. Get your 3D tickets now for the greatest chapter of the biggest saga in history. Whatever happens, protect this family. Critics rave. It's by far the best Avatar movie. If your father and I do not return, you go as far and as fast as you can. Movies don't get any bigger than this. Avatar: Fire and Dash, rated PG 13. Get tickets now. How's everybody feeling tonight? The The New York Times Hales, Is This Thing On? Is This Thing On? Is one of the best films of the year. I've been doing stand-up. Is it like a hobby? I'm about to quit my job and go back to work.

What I like about you, it comes out of your head, you put on a piece of paper and you get up there. It's like therapy. Starring Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andrew Day and Bradley Cooper. Doing this helps. How does it help to have a room full of people laughing at you? Is this thing on? Now playing in select theaters everywhere January ninth. Rated R, Under 17, not admitted without parent. Went hiking for my birthday #22. One whole year's worth of adventures and stories down and a lifetime to go. I love our adventures. I think in a lot of her old posts, you saw that she really cared about Brian. He was a figure on her page and in her life, and he really meant a lot to her. Here's a picture from our first date because I have so much love for you. Brian asked me to marry him, and I said yes. The other thing to note about her post is They are heavily edited, keeping her life beautiful on camera. Social media is basically the highlight reel of your life. You're not posting videos of yourself fighting with your spouse. You're there to project an idealized version of yourself and your relationships.

Me and Brian just got up and got ready, made the bed in the tent set up. I think our plan for today is to just hang out here in the tent. Brian is stretching, doing some morning yoga. So they're visiting National Park. So we know they stopped in Colorado Then they stopped in Utah. Thank you at Gab's Petito for putting up with me through Utah, a topographic playground. They've been on this trip over a month. And then on August 12th, there is a phone call. It placed to 911. A witness had reported seeing Gabby and Brian fighting. That witness said Brian had slapped Gabby. Hi. Can you hear me, sir? Yeah, I can hear you. Hi. I'm calling. I'm right on the corner of Main Street by Moonflower, and we're driving by, and I'd like to report a domestic dispute. Florida with a white man. A gentleman about five, six years. What were they doing? We drove by, and the gentleman was slapping the girl. He was slapping her? Yes. And then we stopped. They ran up and down the sidewalk. He proceeded to hit her, hopped in the car, and they drove off. At the time these officers received that original radio call, they were on the impression that a male had assaulted a female.

It was clear that there was a domestic situation occurring, and then officers needed to respond. The police followed the van. Driver is showing some obscure driving. He's driving somewhat erratically. Possibly intoxicated. He's speeding. Currently doing 45 miles an hour. Zone through here is 25. Oh. Brian hit the curb. Subject just hit the curb. When they pull Brian and Gabby over, it's a turning point in this story. What's your guys' names? Gabby. Gabby, Brian? Okay. What's going on? How can we find? I'm just sorry. We have this inviting this morning. Some personal issues. It was a long day. We were camping yesterday and camping got a lot of stuff, lies and stuff. I hit the bump there. I was distracting him from driving. I'm sorry. Can I get you to step out of the vehicle for me, ma'am? Yeah. The body cam footage was a real social media versus reality moment. Huge contrast between her public Instagram and their YouTube videos. First, what you saw on the body camera footage, which seemed like a peak behind the curtain. Do you want to tell me what's going on? Yeah, I don't know. It's just, some days I have really bad OCD.

I was just cleaning and straightening up back to the end of the floor, and I was apologizing to him and saying, I'm sorry that I'm so mean because sometimes I have OCD, and sometimes I just get really frustrated. I'm not mean or into him. I guess my vibe is like, I hear him in a bad mood. When I saw the body cam footage, all I thought was, this looks really toxic. And then I thought, these are two people who are struggling. Where do you go to decompress and get away from somebody when you're in the middle of a fight with somebody and you live in a tiny car together? I've been building my website. I've been really stressed, but He doesn't really believe that I could do any of it. I don't know. He's like, I don't know. We just been fighting all morning. Brian Laundry made light of what she was doing, that she was in a bad mood because she was working on her little project. Why wouldn't he let you in the car? Because you're OCD. He told me I needed to calm down. But I'm perfectly calm. I'm calm all the time.

Now, another law enforcement speaks to Gabby about, Hey, this is a toxic relationship. If you ever considered life on your own or leaving this, now think about it. And what's his name? Is it Brian? Is he usually pretty patient with you? He definitely Especially, it would be a lot... He definitely has anxiety, too. That could be a bad combo if you both have anxiety. It may be a bad for your soul, just saying. I'm not telling what to do with your life, but if you know you have anxiety, look at the situations you can get in. You know what I mean? The officers question Ms. Petito again multiple times and ask her directly, Were you struck by Mr. Laundry? Is there something on your cheek here? It looks like did you get Did it hit in the face? It looks like something like hitting you in the face. Then over on your arm, your shoulder, right here. That's new, huh? It's a new mark. Oh, yeah. I don't know. Can I see the other side of your face? So what happened here and here? I'm not sure. I was just trying to get in the back of the car and this backpack got me.

So the backpack got She had bruises on her left arm that she blamed on an inanimate object, a backpack. So there's two people that came to us and told us that they saw him hit you. There's two people saying that they saw him punch you. Be mean to you or I've got a news flash for everybody. When Brian Laundry struck her in the face in broad daylight, I guarantee you that was not the first time he had hit her. Now, anytime we talk about Demina, it's objective. I'm giving you my take. Gabby's pretty hysterical. She is defensive of herself and of Brian and begins to take responsibility for what's been going on, even suggesting that she herself was the aggressor in any physical altercation that may have happened. To be honest, I don't think you hit him first. Where'd you hit him? I slapped him first. You slapped him first? And then what? Just on his face. He didn't get to me to shut up. There are relationships in which women are aggressively violent toward men. But in the vast majority of domestic violence situations, the men are the aggressors. And the women in public, when questioned about it, especially by law enforcement, will often take responsibility for it out of fear that the aggressor, the man in their relationship, will be more angry if they don't.

I We do want to emphasize that we do not know what happened between these two people. We want to know the truth if he actually hit you. I guess, yeah, but I can't curse. I would have had about 50 questions to ask her about what he's done in the past. Has he ever hit you? Has he ever tried to choke you out? Getting her to describe the dynamic between the two of them. She totally covers for him. She was apologizing. She was deferential. She was upset. She was crying. She kept taking the blame. Where did he hit you? Don't worry. Just be honest. He grabbed my face like this. He didn't hit me in the face. He didn't sense me in the face or anything. Did he slap your face or what? Well, he grabbed me with his nails, and I guess that's why it looks good. I definitely have a cut right here. So I could feel it. So they have a couple of questions for Gabby, and depending upon how she answers those questions, that will determine the outcome. Gabby, this is a very, very important question. How you answer this question is going to determine what happens next.

But the only person who can answer this question is you. Throughout the Moab incident, Gabby is extremely distressed. What happened? What's going on? What's going on? I'm still having a stress, very stressed morning. She's the one crying. She's the one gasping for breath. Seeing her in distress in that moment really bonded people to her. I thought at first, are these people high? Are they sober? Why are they acting so strangely? Hey, we got a call about a male hitting a female and the two of them getting in this vehicle and taking off. Officer Pratt's video shows him approach Mr. Laundry while he is still seated in that white van. And Officer Pratt asks him multiple times if he has struck Ms. Petito. I don't want to try and defend myself by And then everybody pushes her away. She gets really worked up. And they eventually take Brian out of the truck. Let's go ahead and get you to step out of the vehicle. And talk to him, trying to figure out exactly what's happened. Mr. Laundry's demeanor at the time of the stop was typically medical in that he was very compliant with officers. I got to turn around for a little bit.

Okay. He is visibly unperturbed. Tell me, what's going on? She just gets worked up sometimes, and I try and really this is myself from her. So I locked her car and I walked away from her. The interesting dynamic is that Brian Laundry is really calm, and there's such a discrepancy that it's almost an intentional way to discredit her experience. I think our little squab has started because you're hanging out at the coffee shop. And when I got back to the bin, there was some very cool stuff. And I moved our food around. I haven't even called this yet. There's a few little things, just little relationship. I don't get a relationship, but I'm sorry. I've been married for over five years now. There's a lot of little things. You see him connecting with the officers on an interpersonal level. Also, their story was that they'd had a similar discord with their own relationship. That's one thing that people really weren't happy about. They're like, why are they offering him help on how to deal with this when this looks like a domestic violence situation? They arrived at the scene, and they noticed marks on his neck.

Can you want to tell me about those scratches on your face? He's actually got some surface cuts. There's some blood. I said, Let's just take a breather, and let's start. We're not going to go anywhere. Let's just calm down for a minute. I know I was going to push, but I was just trying to push your weight. I was like, Let's just take a minute, step back and breathe. And we see if she got me for a phone. And that, to them, corroborated Gabby's account of what had happened. So you pushed her and she hit you? It wasn't like a push. She jumped at me. She was already... She was already... I don't know. She was already swinging, and I was... Once you get the wheels of justice going, it's hard to put on the brakes. A lot of angles, a lot of nails, a lot of things. You've got three scratches in your neck. You've got one on your left side of your neck. You've got one on your face. It is not irrational when he has scratches on his neck to be asking him questions about how he got them. But what they didn't ask enough enough was why did we get a call from someone saying you were hitting her?

Do you mind lifting up your right sleeve for me? I'm curious about something. That's it. A little bit of I suppose Fingerdale, but I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining. Is it frozen or tender or anything like that? I'm fine, and I love you. I hope she doesn't have too many complaints about me. So Brian Laundry is trying to portray himself as the victim, but also trying to say, But hey, it's not that big a deal. She just gets this way. And I think that that was part of the problem here, is that the police ended up believing that. Look, these are not easy situations, and I think the police were really trying to figure it out. So at this point, this has to be like she is the primary aggressor. The problem with the herpian, the primary aggressor is in an instance of domestic assault, be it a male or be it a female, we shall arrest. It seems to me that they chose to ignore the previous 911 call. Where there's clear evidence that laundry had just beaten Gabby Petito. The entire Moab incident hinged on one thing, and that is naming Gabby Petito as the aggressor.

She appeared to be the aggressor, and she said she was the aggressor. Now, do I believe that? No. But the police can only go on the evidence they are given. They had no basis on which to arrest Brian. If anything, they could have arrested her. We can't treat this differently than if it was a male and female violence, and we're going to have to charge her. It is also evident to me that during the course of their interactions with both parties, the officers felt that that was not the right course of action. In no way, shape, or form that I can perceive what happened here, a little slap fight between fiancés who love each other, want to together. Can I perceive that this is going to digress into the situation where he's going to be a battered man? Right. But then again, I don't have Cristobal. Well, this is really bad news. Let's talk to him first. Ryan, unfortunately, in the state of Utah, state legislation doesn't give us discretion on this charge when it comes to a domestic assault. And your own companion have made it clear that she was the primary aggressor, and that she was striking You and you and you would receive injuries.

So at this point, you're the victim of a domestic assault. I'm not bad. Even if you didn't want to pursue this, we don't have a choice. They've heard Brian's story, and now they have to decide What to do? What are their next steps? Do they arrest Gabby? Brian? I don't want to be suffering. So where is he? I'm pleased. Look, I'm going to speak to you frankly. I have a daughter almost your age, and I'm looking at you not so much like a suspect, but also as a victim in the sense that the stuff you did today that contributed to this, because you both contributed to this, is as a result of your inability to cope with the anxiety and the stress that you're having. Normally, we take people jail, but he's trying to work it so you can just have the van. In some states, when there's been a domestic violence incident, there can be a mandatory separation imposed. Those kinds of separations can save a life. Nobody wanted to go to jail. They didn't want to be separated. I don't want to be separated. You're going to have anxiety? Yeah. I don't know where is he in, please.

There's no us? What is it? No, we're in a team. Please. He's going to give me so much anxiety. Can we just have a driving ticket? The very best thing I can do is call my supervisor to see if I'm missing something here. She gets extremely agitated when she believes they are going to be separated and/or being separated from her van. And let me point out that it's not just a van. This is where she's living. This is also her livelihood, her dream. I think when Ms. Petito is informed by the officers that there may be an impending arrest, she's frightened. I'll pay any driving ticket or parking ticket, anything. Her reaction causes the officers to reevaluate. Those officers were heading down the path of making an arrest, and they changed direction. In the police report that they filed in Moab, the officer made it clear that the couple stated that they were in love, they were engaged to be married, and they didn't want to see anyone go to jail that night or face any charges. We understand you're not even wanting to pursue this, but the cops have to follow the statute. There is no doubt in my mind that the Moab police had had training in domestic violence because they kept going back to the statute, back to what proper procedure is.

I figured I had to make sure I at least to ask. There was a significant debate that was occurring on the scene about the appropriateness of a physical arrest or not. How far do you want to go with this? So I went and I looked at the code for assault. If you go ask her, what was your intention when you were slapping him? And she says, I wanted him to hurt or be ill or impaired his physical condition, then there's nothing we can do. Whatever she answers to that question will seal her fate. Right. If it became clear that she had the intent to hit him, and she was not acting in self-defense. The police clearly believe they would have had to arrest him. Gabby, this is a very, very important question. How are you The answer to this question is going to determine what happens next. When you slapped him those times, were you attempting to cause him physical pain or physical impairment? Was that what you were attempting to do to him? No. I was trying to get him to stop doing it. That doesn't sound to me like she attempted to enter him.

They did what appeared to be a pretty thorough investigation at the for over an hour, talking to each one of them, talking among themselves, not really getting that critical element of assault. All right, Brian. She claims that she did not have intent to hurt you when she was slapping at you. So technically speaking, it does not fit the letter of the code. I am not going to be charging her with DV. This is what I am going to do, however. I'm not going to release you guys together. I want you guys to stay away from each other tonight. Okay? They separate them, one in the van, one in a hotel, and make them cool down, basically, for 24 hours. These kids didn't have any money. Very little money you have, for sure. I think she didn't get to a hotel. Seek Havel, the domestic violence provider, says to them, No, we He cannot pay for a hotel room for Ms. Petito because she is identified as the primary aggressor. So instead of sending her to a hotel, they send her off in the van. Here's that. I'm giving him a ride over to the hotel.

Okay? So everything's going to be okay. Will it be a far drive for me to get him in the morning? I'm just curious. I'm not going to tell you where he's going to be at tonight. Like I said, I want you guys to be separated. But I can tell you this. I just don't usually drive the van, so I just want to make sure it's not far. She's concerned about driving the van by herself and knowing where the hotel where he's going to be is. Gabby asks, How near is this hotel? Is he going to be nearby? It is striking to listen to Gabby feel like she needs Brian. If the cops had arrested him, would Would Gabby be alive today? Would that have changed the course of these events? The hard truth? Maybe. She may still be alive today if he had been arrested. Or not. The city of Moab launched an independent investigation into the handling of the incident, but declined to comment at this time. So after the incident in Moab, they continue on their journey. And then August 25th, she posts what was her her last photo on social media. Gabby's final post had people really scratching their heads.

It's a photo of her holding this little pumpkin in the middle of the summer. What was that all about? So shortly after this incident in Utah, where police had responded to a fight between Brian and Gabby, Gabby is going to to post this famous now final YouTube video where you would have no idea that this was a couple who was in a serious fight. All the chocolate mounted. It's a river of chocolate. You can't keep chocolate in Utah. Not in July. It was five days after that police stop in Moab. When something strange happens, Brian goes home. On the 17th, Brian alone hops a plane in Salt Lake City and flights all the way back home. According to the laundry family attorney, the reason Brian flew back was to pick up some items and close up a storage space to save money. That couldn't have been cheap to fly back from Salt Lake City to Florida. It's a little weird. Did they have another fight? Did they need to split for a while and cool off? So according to her father, Gabby, was in Salt Lake City working really on her YouTube page at that point.

The whole thing seems odd to me, and particularly odd when you think in another six or seven days, she's dead. August 23rd, Brian then flies back to Utah from Florida to get back with Gabby, and they continue on their road trip. Once they're back together, there's a post from Gabby that really raises eyebrows, the pumpkin post. Her last post was on August 25th. Gabby, in the photo, has perfect hair after being on a trip for two months in a van. And she's holding a pumpkin and writes Happy Halloween, which is odd because it was posted on August 25th. So in Gabby's latest Instagram post, her roots are not there, especially in comparison to some of them before that. It seemed as if she had taken that at some point and was planning to use it at Halloween. It didn't fit in with all of her other blog postings. And then in late August, people saw Brian get in another fight. At Mary Piglet's restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming. Witnesses reported a lot of screaming, him yelling at the restaurant staff, going in and out of the restaurant. He was really angry. That's the best I can describe it.

He was just very visibly angry. And in that moment, Gabby reminded me a lot of how she seemed in that body cam video of the cop. She just seemed distraught. She seemed really upset. She was emotional. She was crying. And then people saw them get into this van and leave. That suggests to me that the pressure between the two of them, and in particular in Brian, is building. What we would later know is that that was the last time Gabby Petito was seen in public. From the YouTube video, their relationship seemed solid, but clearly it wasn't showing everything. It does appear that their relationship was what some would term toxic. They would fight. According to Gabby's mother, during her conversations with Gabby during the trip, there appeared to be more more attention between Gabby and Brian. So we know that the last time Gabby spoke to her mother, she told her mother they were in Grand Teton National Park, and they were likely headed to Yellowstone. After that conversation over the phone, Gabby's mother started receiving some odd text messages. The text message to her mother was, Can you help Stan? I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls.

Well, Stan Stan is her grandfather's name. And what's weird about that is that Gabby never called her grandfather by his name, Stan. The last contact that Gabby's mother has from her daughter is August 30th. She gets a text that says, only no service in Yosemite, which is strange because it's so brief, but also they weren't going to Yosemite. That's hundreds and hundreds of miles away Wait. So mom knew immediately something was very, very wrong. Gabby's mother is really concerned. She hasn't had a face-to-face video call with her daughter in days, and more days are passing, and now there's no contact whatsoever. Where is she? I was texting her every day anyway, but I wasn't getting responses. By day 6: 7, I was checking her social media. I didn't see any activity. I'm worried, and everybody was like, She's fine. She's fine. They're out in the mountains. They have no signal. And I said, No, it's not like her. Unbeknownst to Gabby's mother, Brian Laundry has driven Gabby's van back to Florida. He arrives on September first. Authorities say Brian used a debit card that was not his to withdraw $1,000, and he made his way all the way back home to Florida with no sign of Gabby.

According to the Laundry's family attorney, the card in question is Gabby's debit card. Brian Laundry shows up back in Florida without Gabby, and seemingly unconcerned about her whereabouts. So what's that about? Eighty red lights go off in my head when I hear that he has left his fiancé. And that's when everybody becomes deeply concerned about Gabby's well-being and whereabouts and deeply suspicious of Ryan Laundry. Developments tonight. You're a missing woman. Despite for answers. This is where things really get weird, and where the story becomes a national story and starts to spin out of control. Lights, cameras, reporters. We are everywhere. This girl right here, this is what matters. Everybody wanted to find this woman. It opened up this broader conversation about missing women, and specifically missing black and Indigenous women, and the lack of attention. There's an explosion on the internet. Crime junkies go crazy. The theory that has been circulating. I think he had just dumped her body. It was so eerie that I couldn't even believe it was happening in real life. Lights, cameras, reporters. We are everywhere. Brian admitted to killing Gabby in this eight-page handwritten letter. Two people went on a trip, one person returned.

This girl right here, this This is what matters. And now there's a whole new mystery. What really happened to her? We've just had our first look inside Brian Laundry's secret diary. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful that it is what she wanted. It's like a voice from the grave. But is he telling the truth? To think that Brian Laundry wrote this in a notebook is really stunning. This is a 23-year-old man. Come on, own it. Take responsibility. Stand up. Tell us what you did. The second I think that this case is over, something else is going to happen because that's the way it's always been. Something new comes out. Hello, hello, and good morning. Brian's stretching, doing some morning yoga. Everything about Gabby in this case is Taylor made to go viral. You have a young, attractive couple. There's controversy. It was so eerie and so real that I couldn't even believe that it was happening in real life. Two people went on this vacation, and only one returned. Wow, on this Gabby Petito case. And so they feel compelled to keep talking about her. That Gabby Petito. Gabby Petito's mom. We need to talk, and I'm on the road.

And then, because the case was so viral. The theory that has been circulating. I think he had just dumped her body. It ended up everywhere. You couldn't escape it. We have some new information. Of TikTok. Of Why did Gabby's browsing Facebook and-Gabby Petito. Actually, when I checked the Gabby Petito tag on TikTok, it had over a billion hits today. This loving couple had been out on a road trip, and then Brian, for whatever reason, decides that he's going to come back to Florida without Gabby. Gabby's family hasn't heard from her in days. When they last checked in with her, things seemed to be going fine. But now they're realizing that something here is wrong. Brian shows up back in Florida on September first. He's in Gabby's van. And the neighbor saw the van in the driveway. One of the neighbors told I did think it was strange that I didn't see Gabby. But what do I know? I'm just a neighbor here. We don't know, obviously, what he told his parents as to where is Gabby. We do know that when Brian was back home in Florida, at least with his family, he was interacting with them.

He was there with his parents. The Petitos have no idea that Brian is home in Florida without Gabby driving the van they had been traveling in. If Brian was staying in my house and Gabby returned turned to my house without him in his vehicle, I'd be on their phone with their parents saying, Listen, we got an issue. We got some stuff we got to talk about. Now, call me back. Once Brian got home, it appeared to be family business as usual. Neighbors told me that they saw Brian and his parents going for walks down the street, and then eventually, Brian and his parents went camping for a few days. They were camping at Fort DeSoto, which is our usual camping spot. And because it was Labor Day and the kids had school the next day, we just went for a couple of hours and we ate dinner and had some more around the campfire and left. There was nothing peculiar about it. She said she had no reason to ask about Gabby. Gabby never came up, and she had no reason to believe there was anything wrong. I'm frustrated that in hindsight, I didn't pick up on anything.

It was just a regular other trip. It's been 10 days since Gabby's family has heard from her, and they are worried enough that on September 11th, they report her as a missing person. Right now on ABC Action News, Desperate for Answers. Plus the We're expanding search for Gabby Petito. Tonight, new developments in the nationwide search for a missing Long Island native, Gabrielle Petito. Once the missing person's report has been filed, they can go ask questions, but they can't force anyone to answer them. Northport police, when they were investigating Gabby's disappearance. They were met at the door by Brian Laundry's parents with a note with contact information for their attorney. It's not a crime to hire a defense lawyer. But it really looks bad. It certainly looks bad to Gabby's mother. When the detective came to my door to let me know that the van was in Florida with him, she also said that he had obtained a lawyer. I almost fell on the ground because I was just like, Where's Gabby? And that was my response to that information. And I just went into shock. I knew something was wrong. So Gabby Petito is officially missing.

But remember, there's no evidence that Brian Laundry was involved with that. The Laundry family lawyer released a statement saying they hope the search for Gabby is successful and that Brian will remain in the background with no comment. That may be a smart legal strategy But not one that looks good to people following the case. His attorney, Mr. Berlino, told the parents not to talk. But I think the average person saying, This is not right. We don't know what Brian knows. I mean, that's the bottom line. And we're hopeful to talk to him. He needs to talk to us. We need to know exactly where he was, where she was, their last locations. Brian's sister, Cassie, says she was shocked to learn that Gabby was missing, and she hasn't heard from Brian since that camp out. Nothing. Radio silence. I've tried to get in touch with him. Phone went to voicemail. I didn't think anything of it because he's not very good at keeping his phone charged. So Everything's different when you look back on it. I understand what you're trying to protect your son or your daughter and stuff like that. I get it. But the one thing that you're supposed to do as a parent, you're supposed to tell your child to stand to stand up for the things that they've done.

This is a 23-year-old man. But come on. Tell us what you did. Tell us what you didn't do. Just tell us the truth. Tell us something. Why can't the police Department arrest Brian for a stolen vehicle? Because that van was Gabby's. But the police Department was clear they had no evidence that a crime had been committed. But the police were able to get a search warrant for Gabby's van, looking for any information on her computer hard drive that could help them. If she were killed in the van, do you have somebody fluid that's suspicious that's either his or hers? Is there an indication of a struggle inside the band? You're going to look for anything that can potentially link Brian to Gabby, keeping in mind that they live together. What I need from everybody here is help. The goal is still not met, and that goal is to bring Gabby home safe. There's nothing else that matters to me now. This is what matters. That is it. Anything else, it comes second to this. So the attorney for the Petito family puts out a statement directly to the laundries, pleading with them to come forward with information.

They said she was going to be your daughter-in-law. Please help us. And then it all takes a turn. Tonight, her boyfriend is now a person of interest, but he's not talking. The new please for him to share what he knows. If law enforcement tells you they have a person of interest, know that this is a serious case. We've been assuming that Brian Laundry was at home with his parents, but then his parents told investigators that Brian had gone on a hike into a swamp in the Carlton Preserve that he had left days ago and that he hadn't returned. When we got that alert that Brian Laundry was missing, my stomach dropped. I remember looking at my phone and not being able to believe what I was reading. The question everyone wanted to know is Brian Brian missing, or is he just hiding? So investigators are searching everywhere for Brian Laundry, and they're soon joined by someone unexpected. Fox News capturing Dog, the Bounty Hunter, joining the search, knocking on the laundry's door. Boom, boom, boom, boom. I He let loose on a dog. Hey, guys, it's Kamel Nandjiani. My new stand-up special, Night Thoughts, is now streaming on Hulu.

I promise you're going to laugh. I am I'm an immigrant. I am. Are there any other immigrants here? Okay, what you can't do is point at someone else. My Thoughts is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. That wasn't my call. It was my call. Terms would not apply, but it's not my call. Terms apply. The college football playoff isn't over. Not yet. That epic run, that wild dream, not over till the clock hits zero, till the stadium shakes, till the wild things are let loose, till the trophy is lifted and the confetti falls. This is the National Championship. When it's over, you'll feel it. This is the wild world of college football. The CFP National Championship, Monday, January 19th, at 7: 30 PM Eastern on ESPN and the ESPN app. Where is Gabby? Where is Gabby? Where is Gabby? What do you know? What do you know? In the very beginning of this investigation at Brian's parents house, media was lining the street up and down because there were so many people, so many reporters and media outlets in that neighborhood. Be respectful of everyone's property, please.

Tons of equipment, lights. We are everywhere. The laundry family claims very strongly that they do do not know where their son is at this point, and they are just hoping for him to come home safely. We're going to turn next here to the search for that person of interest, Brian Laundry. That search intensifying tonight. Numerous law enforcement agencies are involved in a search inside the Carleton reserve. They're using drones, UTVs, ATVs, and they're searching a heavily wooded area. 75 % of it is underwater. They're using vehicles that can go into marshy, watered areas. The Carleton Reserve is a 25,000 acre wildlife reserve that is twice the size of Manhattan. It is massive. And I can tell you from being there, it is a rough environment. We do know that Brian Laundry has quite a lot of experience camping. He made that clear on his social media pages. So is he able to survive in that type of environment? He reads books about it, and it wouldn't surprise me if he could last out there a very long time. My name is Michael Hawk. I'm retired Special Forces, 25 years, combat veteran and survival expert. If you're on the run, if he wants to survive out here for any period of time, is he's got to be able to keep himself clean, he's got to be able to dry out feet, and he's got to be able to stay hydrated.

And those are massive challenges in this environment. The threats that he faces out here are numerous. He's got an alligator, he's got a snake. He gets bit by one of those. If he doesn't get help within 24 hours, he's most likely going to be dead. Brian does not strike me as the type of person that has the real survival skills necessary to survive in this environment. Just don't think he has it. People are going to turn this guy in if they find him, but he might be able to survive on his own for a time or get somewhere else like Mexico. There's no border patrol on the Mexican side. There's no immigration. Brian Laundry could have walked across that border with his hair on fire naked, and nobody would have seen him. If he would have done this correctly, he would have had to have front loaded his movements, have enough cash, avoid ATMs, grocery stores, gas stations. My theory is he's gone back to wherever he left her body to make sure that it's decomposing, that an animal is aided, that's something. That way, he doesn't go to prison. There are obviously numerous law enforcement agencies investigating this case, but also it caught the attention of Dog, the Bounty Hunter.

Fox News capturing Dog, the Bounty Hunter, joining the search, knocking on the laundry's door. Boom, boom, boom, boom. I really let loose on a knock. The reason I got involved in the Gabby case was purely by request from our fans. This is a real hunt. This is probably, right now in America, the most wanted man there is. In order to find him, we got to hunt him. He's going into the wilderness because that's what he knows, and he feels protected there. We don't know if he's armed or not. If you have personalities like John Walsh or Dog the Bounty Hunter being involved, then that's a win. The more eyes on this case, the better. What's with all the resources to find this one guy who may or may not have killed this one woman? One thing that happened immediately after this case blew up in the media and on the Internet was it opened up this broader conversation about missing women, and specifically missing black and Indigenous women, and the lack of attention given to them. You have to remember that there are thousands of Indigenous women that have gone missing in the same area that Gabby's body was found.

And Gabby's case, luckily, has brought awareness to that. Let's stand up for missing a murdered Indigenous woman. Anna and I were just discussing that she had never heard of this missing white woman syndrome. It's a term that was coined by Gwen Eiffel. Anybody in true crime has seen it. This notion that we have as a culture to specifically fixate on young, beautiful white women It's really hard to talk about the Missing White Woman syndrome in the context of this case, because, of course, we care deeply, deeply about Gabby Petito. But at the same time, we have to recognize that We have an outsized compassion for young white women who are missing or murdered, and we have a negligence about Brown women. I saw a post from an Indigenous page on Instagram, and they specifically said, We feel very terrible for Gabby's family. Can we spend some of the energy that we spent focusing on her, finding many of the other Indigenous women who are missing across North America? Mary Johnson Davis, Kimberlina Yellow hair, Sarah Nicole Graham. Wyoming, the last place where Gabby was seen, issued a report. It said, In the past decade, only 18 % of missing cases involving Indigenous women receive media attention.

There's a phrase in Indian country that when a Native American woman goes missing, she disappears twice, once in life and once in the news. And if you look at the data from 2020, many, there's 250,000 missing women. More than 100,000 of those women were women of color. Lorianne Baufman, Wanda Faye Walker, Erica Nicole Hunt. Why do we have greater compassion in our hearts for Gabby Petito than we do for these other women. We have to really dig deeply to ask ourselves that question. It's on all of you, everyone that's in this room, to do that. And if you don't do that for other people that are missing, that's a shame. Because it's not just Gabby that deserves that. Brian is missing for weeks, and the search goes on and on. I worry about him. I hope he's okay. And then I'm angry, and I don't know what to think. Everything runs through my head. I hope my brother is alive because I want answers just as much as everybody else. Gabby Petito's boyfriend has apparently disappeared himself. When did he tell his parents that there was a problem? When did he call an attorney? I got questions.

Earlier today, human remains were discovered, consistent with the description of Gabrielle Gabby-Petito. Now it's no longer a missing person's case. It's a murder investigation. And amazingly, it was someone from social media who cracked the case. When we found the footage, I'm like, Please, please keep recording. Please keep recording. Please be on here. And all of a sudden, we see this white speck getting closer and closer and closer. Grand Teton National Park, where Gabby Petito spoke directly with her family for the last time before she disappeared. The search continues for Gabby Petito, family, friends, and now being-Where we are right now is in the Grand Teton in Wyoming, just north of Jackson Hole on Spread Creek Road, which is the camping area that Brian Laundry and Gabby Petito were last camping at. Law enforcement agencies on both sides of the country are looking for clues to find 22-year-old Gabby Petito. So once someone goes missing, you hope you have a starting point. Where were they at last? When did you see them? The quicker you get search teams out, the better. The reality is, heine's against you. In the Gabby Petito case, it wasn't someone coming forward saying, She left, she was wearing this.

I last saw her walking in that direction to give searchers any assistance. How are you going to cover hundreds of square miles of rugged, rocky terrain? I mean, what a nightmare. Hello, hello. Everybody wanted to find this woman. And now with the Internet, people were going to take it upon themselves to find her. Suddenly, we have Internet slews. I heard about Gabby Petito roughly around the time that she was reported missing. People were like, Oh, she's an Internet influencer. It's a true crime story happening in real life, which you feel like you can participate in by making content on the Internet. People on TikTok were immediately going to scrutinize every part of everyone's online presence. Why is she posting with a pumpkin? Why is this video framed like that? They're getting into Gabby Petito's mind and trying to align themselves to find out what happened. They're looking at the body language. They are looking into the timestamps. They're creating a map of everywhere that they traveled in this van. When did she really stop posting? Is this her? The fact that she randomly posted it on August 25th with just that caption and did not tag a location, to me is very suspicious.

This caption seems different from the one five months ago in the way that she's talking. Also notice that the capitalization is different. She never capitalized anything but the first word, and now she's capitalizing different words, which is what he does in his writing. Looking for breadcrumbs anywhere. They're hoping for any type of clue. August 29th is when we see Brian resurface, and it is with a woman who's traveling through the Teton National Forest with her boyfriend, and they pick up hitchhikers, which, by the way, is very common out there. In the beginning of the investigation, you didn't really know where to look for Gabby Petito. But then those TikTok videos by Miranda Baker started to come out. My name is Miranda Baker. I'm 22 years old. My boyfriend and I came into the Teton's. That's when Brian had approached us, and then he said, Hey, I need to get a ride back to Jackson. Do you think you could give me a ride back? He offered $200 to drive drive a few miles, and they thought that that was a little odd. He was really clean. For someone who had been hiking for multiple days, that did strike me as weird, and especially his backpack, it wasn't full.

It was empty. He said him and his fiancé were camping at a dispersed campsite near snake River. The biggest red flag is why would you go camping by your sofa multiple days alone with just a backpack and leave your fiancé in your van? It just doesn't make We were driving for 15 minutes, and I had brought up, Why are you going to Jackson Hole? And once I said Jackson Hole, that's when the energy shifted. He got very upset about that, said, Please let me out of the car. He got out of the car. And as Miranda Baker states, about 10, 15 seconds later, he was gone. This is just one more weird Instagram anomaly with Gabby and Brian. People spent days on on end on social media, trying to help resolve the situation. And in the end, it was social media that helped find Gabby's remains. My name is Jenn Bethune, and I travel with my husband, Kyle, our three kids and four dogs in our 1983 Silver Eagle bus. Our story is very intertwined with Gabby's story. We're YouTubers, and So we film all the time, our everyday lives. It's the freaking Teton. She did not know at that time.

They were just driving through the Teton National Forest, and this van is on the side of the road. It was crazy to us because it had Florida plates, and we're from Florida, and we were like, we can go hang out with them, go say hi. But the van looked very dark. It didn't look like anybody was there. She doesn't think much of it until many weeks later. The FBI Denver Twitter account posted this saying that they are conducting ground surveys at the Spread Creek Disposed Camping Area. Without all that attention, Jen Bathou, who watched her video, never would have thought of a white van. When we found the footage, I'm like, please, Please keep recording. Please keep recording. Please be on here. And my husband, Kyle, standing next to me, and all of a sudden, we see this white speck getting closer and closer and closer. We both got goosebumps all over our body. We knew it was her van as soon as the footage passed by it. It was an insane feeling. At 12: 08 in the morning, I called the FBI. I think each of us that had tips and that had the sightings held a piece of the puzzle, and we all worked together to be able to put that puzzle together.

So I don't think it was just us. I think it was a community as a whole working together to bring Gabby home. Once the Bethunes were able to pinpoint the van in their GoPro footage, the police who had been searching the entire area were able to pinpoint to within a thousand feet where Gabby's remains were. Starting with breaking news here at 6: 00, authorities found a body in the Bridger Teton National Park in Wyoming. There is breaking news in the search for Gabby Petito. Just moments ago, official Tonight, official is confirming they found a body near Grand Teton National Park that they believe- Earlier today, human remains were discovered, consistent with the description of Gabrielle Gabby Petito. Tell Me Lies returns with an all-new season. I'm willing to forgive you after everything you've done. Everything I've done? What about everything you've done? On January 13th. Every Every single time you try to make something better, you end up making it so much worse. Every betrayal-Why are you doing this? Has consequences. Because I want to hurt you, and I don't know how else to do it. Tell Me Lies. A new season, January 13th. Tell Me Lies.

Streaming on Hulu and for bundled subscribers on Disney Plus. Terms apply. On September 19th, the FBI announced that they had located remains just outside Grand Teton National Park in Bridger Teton National Forest. Human remains were discovered, consistent with the description of Gabriele Gabby-Petito. If you go behind where that van was placed, about 15 feet, there's a small creek. Her body was on the creek bed, out exposed in the open. So if anybody here was trying to bury a body, good luck. You're not going to get six inches before you're hitting a rock. There's a question of how she died, which is eventually ruled a homicide, not an accident, not natural causes, but a homicide. We're now looking for the person of interest in that homicide. And that person of interest is Brian Laundry. The FBI has been looking for Brian Laundry all over the country. We're going to turn next year to the search for that person of interest, Brian Laundry. There have been spottings of him throughout Florida. Where is Brian Laundry? As far north as North Carolina. Possible Brian Laundry sightings along the Appalachian Trail. Calls coming into 911. We've gotten almost as many tips on the Appalachian Trail as we have for Mexico.

I'm betting my money on Mexico. Brian's smile in various social media gives some insight into his comfort level and natural surroundings, no matter where he is. The fact that Brian has spent so much time in the outdoors living with minimal supplies makes the search for him a lot more complicated. Is this person in the middle of a swamp? Is he on the Appalachian Trail? He has the possibility of lasting out there on his own without any outside help. We know that Brian Laundry has hiked the Appalachian Trail. We know his camp there before, so that makes it likely he would return to that spot. And there were 10 other sightings of Brian Laundry up and down the Appalachian Trail. I wasn't sure about what he looked like. And then I went and parked and pulled up the photographs of him, and I'm 99. 99% sure that was him. You have elements of nature and social media and true crime, traumas, and podcasts, and Internet slews. It kept getting his everyday past into this larger and larger thing. And everybody that you talked to had some involvement or theory about how this was all playing out, how it was all going to end.

One thing we haven't talked a lot about, all these misfortune people who have been spotted as being a Brian Laundry lookalike. One guy was mistaken for being Brian Laundry so many times that he established a TikTok account dedicated to showing he wasn't the guy that cops were looking for. Got some strange looks. Like, I'm not Brian. Any advice on what I should say to people that think I am Brian Laundry? The New Yorker reported that US marshals busted into the hotel room of a man who looked like Brian Laundry and had been hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Federal agents in riot gear and shields pointed guns at his face. The guy reportedly got his room comped and a free breakfast. But that's how intense the manhunt had gotten. So anybody that looks like him, beware, because he can't go anywhere in America without being spotted. So now the police are moving to a new phase in the investigation where they truly have a homicide, and they would be focused primarily on Brian. I think when they used the word homicide, they wanted to make it clear that there was no ambiguity about what had happened to Gabby.

Gabby had been killed by someone else. She had not walked off and been eaten by an animal. She hadn't drowned. She had been killed. You're in a crime scene, please. Behind the tape. What do you know? As the weeks grew on outside Brian's parents house. Then, protesters and neighbors from surrounding areas started to gather, and they started shouting. What do you know about gathering? You need to come out, Brian, and speak to authority. But Where is Brian? We would have the answers if we had this guy. And so we need him because we need to know what happened. And it just has lit this fire of justice needs to be done. Tonight, breaking news in the Gabby Petito case, what the coroner in Wyoming has now determined. In the manner of death of Gabriele Remora Petito, we find the cause of manner to be caused Death by strangulation, and manner is Homicide. The cause of death with Gabby Petito, with this being throttling, male strangulation, these are real up-close crimes. Strangulation is a very personal way to kill, right? You're feeling the life being snupped out of a person. And why that's important is that when you start to look at domestic homicides that have strangulation in them.

Almost invariably, there's been attempts to do non-fatal strangulation prior. Where did he hit you? Don't worry. Just be honest. He had my face just like this. So Is that any history in Gabby and Brian's relationship? Obviously, we don't know the answer to that question, but it might be there. Now, numerous questions were asked. They were asking Dr. Blue, what state of decomposition was Gabby's body found in? Did Dr. Blue believe the body was moved or if Gabby was killed in that location? Dr. Brent Blue was very clear that under Wyoming law, he could not comment on those details. All we know is that she was strangled. It's a homicide. She was not pregnant, and the coroner referred to domestic violence. Unfortunately, this is only one of many deaths around the country of people who are involved in domestic violence. And now all of the energy that the public had poured into finding Gabby Petito is directed at finding Brian Laundry. The nationwide manhunt for Laundry, still the only name person person of interest in Petito's murder after he returned home from their cross country road trip without her. He was going cross country with Gabby.

They're looking for him out West, in the South. Now they're focusing on Florida, not far from where his parents lived. His parents decide that they're going to actually go out and help with the search, and they go to an area in the park. They are told the police to search and had been looked at, but had been underwater. They find exactly what they've been looking for. Earlier today, investigators found what appears to be human remains, a lot of personal items. And I get a call. They probably found Brian Laundry. All of the media is now rushing over to the entrance, trying to get the best spot there and crowding around as they wait for this announcement. Once we're there, we see cadaver dogs are back out of the scene. The medical examiner has arrived at Carlton Reserve. This morning, the month-long manhunt for Gabby Petito's boyfriend, Brian Laundry, ending where it began. The FBI using dental records to confirm the remains found Wednesday in Florida's Carlton Nature Reserve are his. This is the spot that his parents said they believed he had gone the entire time. So it makes you think, was this whole time, was everyone just circling around the area?

Police say that a backpack notebook and human remains, which were now being described as a skeleton, were found in an area that Brian used to frequent. So you've gotten any other information at all from the notebook, from the backpack, anything like that? None at all. Do they think he committed suicide? Let's wait for the medical examiner. If they can come up with some other explanation for the cause of death, we're going to accept that. If not, I guess we're going to have to accept that Brian did kill himself. A month after Brian was found in the park, the medical examiner released his findings from the autopsy. Brian killed himself. He shot himself in the head. What was in the backpack that was found near the body? We know that there was a notebook, but what was in the notebook? How did this beautiful adventure-filled trip for this young couple end? We're about to find out. Brian Laundry and Gabby Petito set out on this beautiful adventure together in July of 2021. And now, many months later, we're left in a position wondering what happened to them on this trip. Gabby Petito never goes outside. Could there be a written end to the story?

We don't know what's in that notebook that was in his backpack. That is a big question. Did he write in it? Is there anything in there about Gabby? Brian's dead. He's never going to be prosecuted for killing Gabby, but the Petitos want somebody held accountable, and they believe that Brian's parents knew more than they're admitting. The parents of slain 22-year-old Gabby Petito, filing a civil lawsuit claiming Brian Laundry's parents knew about their daughter's murder and said nothing while trying to help their son get away. And the Laundries are like, Wait a second. Okay, we don't have any obligation, any duty to tell you what we know. They had a right to be silent. They're not required under any law to tell anybody anything. While all these legal battles are going on about the Sybil case, a huge development in the story. Now to some new and disturbing revelations in the Brian Laundry, Gabby Petito case. The Laundry family does get Brian's belongings back from the FBI, including the notebook. The attorney for the Laundry family releases the actual pages from Brian Laundry's notebook. Seeing Brian's handwriting in this notebook is stunning to everybody. So while we have seen people pick apart this entire case, trying to analyze everything, is this really Gabby?

When was this picture taken? Now, People can read for themselves what Brian Laundry says happened. And it is shocking what's in it. Gabby, I wish I was right at your side. Brian's writing begins very beautifully. The pages in this notebook seem be a letter to Gabby, right? It's dear Gabby, but it's also all his thoughts and emotions. He thinks about how they used to fall asleep under the stars together, how she was like family to his family. I loved you more than anything. I've lost our whole future together. Every moment we could have cherished. And then it goes from this beautiful love letter to this very serious, scary situation. Rushing back to our car, trying to cross the streams of Spread Creek before it got too dark to see, too cold. I hear a splash and a scream. Ryan wrote in his notebook that Gabby fell while she was crossing a stream, and she got pretty severe really injured and was in a lot of pain. But she was freezing, shaking violently. Brian claims he wasn't sure exactly where they were. He didn't think you could make it back to the van. She said little, lapsing between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain.

Brian says he killed Gabby as a form of mercy. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful that it is what she it, but I see now all the mistakes I made. A mercy killing. And I think the line that really sticks with everybody is that last line. I have killed myself by this creek in the hopes that animals may tear me apart, that it may make some of her family happy. Please pick up all of my things Gabby hated people who littered. Gabby's parents are not buying the explanation that Brian gives. The Petitos release a statement saying that they don't believe anything that's in this notebook, that this narrative that Brian has, they believe, concocted is not true, and that's not what happened. Gabby's mother posted on Twitter that she was fed up, and one of her hashtags was, The truth will be revealed. And that's what she hopes will happen through the lawsuit against the laundry. A jury trial is set for August 2023. They were looking forward to learning more about what the police have. I've spoken to Joe Petito about this lawsuit, and he says this is not about the money.

This is about holding the laundry responsible for what they may have known about what happened to Gabby. The laundry's denied all the allegations. Unfortunately, with both of those two young people gone, they died with most of the information. So despite what is in this notebook, they still firmly believe that domestic violence played a part in what happened here. I want you guys to stay away from each other. The Petitos have created the Gabby Petito Foundation to make sure that anybody that is in a relationship where they are being harmed, that they get help to get out of it. Gabby wanted to be an influencer. In a way, think about it. Gabby was an influencer because we all care about her because we saw her from her posts. She wanted a chance to be Internet famous. Ask kids, what do you want to be when you grow up these days? I want to be on YouTube. I want to be on Twitch. So this is what a lot of kids want. She She really wanted people to go to her Instagram page and say, Hey, that's a really cool place. These two young people who set out with all these dreams, and it ended just so violently and tragically and senselessly.

What you see on social media is not always true. It's not always the happy pictures of people hugging and kissing and being in love. You can't help people when you don't know what reality is. It is a warning for all of us about how you react to what you see, how you believe what you see. Brian and Gabby, no matter what, everything aside, were young. They had their whole lives ahead of them. Recently, Joe Petito put on social media a picture of himself and Gabby when she was very little, and he wrote with it, Emptying our storage unit and come across this. Take as many photos, videos as you can with your loved ones. You can find all new broadcast episodes of 2020, Friday Nights at 9: 00 on ABC.