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I Wish You Were Here
He Left a Note Confessing to Killing His Fiancé: The Case of Gabby Petito
00:29:06
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Before we get into today's video, just want to let you guys know I am extremely under the weather. So if you're watching the video version of this, and this is way more pictures and video clips than it is clips of myself, I'm having a pause like every 10 minutes that I'm recording this to have a coughing attack. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. But just want to explain if you're watching the video version of this, I feel pretty horrible and I kind of look it as well. So if there are more pictures in this episode than usual, that is why. But anyway, let's get on with the video. Just like I did when I covered the Gabby Petito case over on TikTok. I want to start off this episode by reading you a quote from Gabby's mom herself. This is a quote that she said in in regards to the most recent documentary that was released about this case. Quote. When you're watching a documentary like this, remember that it's not just a story, it's not just entertainment for you, it's not just true crime. Remember that there are always real lives involved and that these things can happen to anyone. So choose empathy and kindness every day because everybody's going through something. That is how Gabby lived her life, end quote. So whether you watched the most recent Gabby Petito documentary, or any true crime documentary for that matter, slash, if you listen to any true crime podcast, please always. And you guys, I know are so incredibly respectful and you know this, but please keep that in mind that every single case we talk about, these are real people, real families with, with real feelings. So please just always remember to be kind. Get. Gabby Petito was a beautiful 22 year old girl who grew up in New York on Long Island. She was born to parents Nicole and Joe who separated soon after Gabby's birth. Although they kept a very, very healthy friendship and they were more than able to co parent, both of her parents later on ended up remarrying. And Gabby built relationships with her new stepdad as well as her stepmom. For from the looks of it, it seems like she had such a healthy, strong relationship with all four of them. Gabby's parents always made sure to put Gabby first and her step parents did the same. She was an incredibly loved girl. She's been described as loud, creative, artistic, adventurous, friendly, kind. And just from seeing clips of her slash, hearing how all of her loved ones talk about her, it is evident just how true those wor words are in reference to who she was as a person. Gabby met Brian Laundrie in 2019. They both described the first time seeing each other as love at first sight. They were not complete strangers because they did have common friends in high school, so they knew of each other. But it wasn't until afterwards when they ended up connecting romantically. And a massive part of Gabby's life was being in front of the camera, vlogging and documenting her life. It was something that she was so incredibly passionate about, something that she loved to do and something that she found a lot of fun in. And her hope one day was to become a full time YouTube vlogger, which plays a massive part in this case because we do have, and there is on the Internet out there, so much footage of Gabby and Brian from the start of their relationship recorded by Gabby herself. So it really shows a timeline of their relationship, the way that they were with each other, interacted with each other and what their relationship was really like. When Gabby's parents and stepparents met Brian, they thought he was nice, kind of quiet and a little bit reserved, but genuinely seemed like a pretty nice guy. Gabby then ends up moving to Florida. She moves in with Brian and his family. And at the start of it, it sounds like his entire family loved Gabby. I mean, what wasn't to love? They treated her well. But then his mom started to become almost jealous of Gabby and how much time Gabby would spend with Brian. In Florida, Gabby became best friends with a girl named Rose. The two of them spent so much time together and eventually of Rose ended up meeting Brian. Her first impression of him as well was that he was a nice guy, she thought decent guy, but she did feel like there was something off about him. And slowly but surely, Rose began to notice how Brian really treated Gabby because they did seem like they were this happy couple and a couple that was so in love. But behind the scenes and behind the social media, it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies. Gabby and Brian would argue very often and Rose began to notice that the arguments that they had, they were almost repetitive. It felt like there was almost a pattern to them. Brian would become very upset, very angry. He would put the blame on Gabby. Gabby would then apologize profusely and convince herself that things were her fault and. And Brian would then manipulate her psychologically into making her feel remorseful. And then somehow it always ended up with Gabby apologizing and Brian quote, unquote forgiving her for things that just were not her fault. But that would make Gabby feel grateful for Brian afterwards because she would feel thankful that he forgave her. And when Brian would take the fall for things, he would follow it up with something, with doing something really nice for Gabby, with whether it was buying her a gift, taking her on a date. Whatever the case, he would do nice things to then try and convince her that she was lucky to have him. And this would show up later in journal entries written by Gabby herself. This is a quote from her journal entry. Quote. Brian, you know how much I love you. Just please stop crying and stop calling me names. It's a really common thing, unfortunately, in relationships that are not healthy. And for example, Gabby had plans one night to go out with Rose. She was extremely late already going over to meet up with Rose. Rose asked her what was going on and Gabby said that her and Brian got into an argument over Brian not wanting Gabby to go out. He stole her wallet and then he stole her ID to completely try and prevent her from going out, leaving Gabby in absolute tears. When she showed up to Rose's house, she was still crying. By July of 2020, Gabby and Brian had been dating for one year and three months. He proposes to her with no ring. He said he would get the ring later, but he proposes to Gabby and she says yes. Brian announced their engagement on social media with a caption that said, my biggest fear is that one day I'll wake up and it will all have been a dream. Because that is what every second has felt like since the moment we found each other. Till death do us part, or until I wake up. I'm so happy. The answer was yes. Love you, honey. End quote. Almost a year later, In July of 2021, Gabby and Brian got ready to leave on a four month long cross country road trip across the entire United States. The day that they left for their Van Life road trip and Nicole, Gabby's mother, looked at Brian and said, quote, you take care of her, you keep her safe. Brian promised that he would. Gabby Petito would never return home. Gabby kept up the vlogging throughout the Road trip. Although Brian was never supportive of it, he thought that it was stupid. And of course, the content that she would post online would be the highlights of the trip and the good and the fun stuff. But when the footage was released after Gabby's death, all of the clips that she cut out showed what Brian's behavior was really like. It was completely written all over his face that he never supported the videos. And not only that, he also seemed to be bothered by them. This is another quote from Gabby's journal entries. Quote, I feel bad I'm always on my phone. I should give Brian more attention. He loves me so much. I don't deserve it, but I'm lucky he sticks with me. End quote. I August 12th of 2021. Gabby and Brian were in Moab in Utah. The police received a call from a person who was concerned because they saw a man slap a woman across the face. The caller reported this to police, described the vehicle they were in, which was Gabby's white van, and further explained that when he saw the man hit the woman, they hopped in the car and they drove off. Police find them. They end up speaking to Gabby and Brian separately. Gabby. Gabby explains that she is really bad OCD and really bad anxiety. She says that they were having a rough morning and they'd been arguing. And then she takes full accountability. She says, it's my fault. I got frustrated. It's my fault. I was distracting him when he was driving. She says that everything was her fault. Did Jordan tell him all this? I didn't get that far into it. She was. She was hyperventilating a little bit. They don't drink, but at the point when you lit them up, you don't drink or anything, she started hitting it. Yeah, I was yelling at him. And then when you turned to, I
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said I, like, kind of punched his arm. Like,
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quick question. You said you were hitting him in the arm. Did you grab the steering wheel? No, I didn't. You did not touch the steering wheel. Meanwhile, Brian pretty much just lets her take the blame for it. He admits to pushing her, but he makes it sound like it's no big deal. He just says that she got worked up and she swung at him. But both Brian and Gabby had marks on them. Brian had marks on his face. Gabby had marks on her face and on her arm. Their behavior, though, was the most noticeable difference between them. Because Brian is calm, he is chilled out, he is making jokes, he's laughing with the officers. It's just any other day for Brian. Gabby, on the other hand, is Visibly distraught, she can hardly get any words out other than apologies. It is extremely clear that she is in distress, but still, she takes all of the blame. She doesn't want to say anything to get Brian in trouble or make him feel bad, because again, that is the pattern. That's what the pattern has been their entire relationship. She apologizes because it's the thing that Brian wants her to do. In the end, they both decide not to press charges against one another, despite their visible injuries. Because Gabbie took responsibility for being the primary aggressor, the officers called her the primary aggressor, which should not have happened because at least to me, it was clear that she was not. The couple ended up being separated for the night. Gabby would keep the van, and officers got Brian a hotel room for the night. This part of the documentary, if you have watched it, it absolutely shattered me because the look on Gabby's face, she looks broken. She looks exhausted. Exhausted from the relationship, exhausted from always taking the blame for putting Brian's feelings above her own. She looks like someone who so desperately needs help but doesn't want to ask for it. All she asks to do is call her mom. And it's chilling because in the body cam footage, when officers are talking among themselves deciding on what to do, one of them says, quote, too many times, women who are at risk want to go back to their abuser, and they end up getting worse and worse treatment, and then they end up getting killed, end quote. But they discussed it and they decided that it was more of a mental health crisis than anything else. And so they went their separate ways. I cannot imagine how those officers felt after hearing how their story ended. It is so horrible. Quick break. We're taking a quick break to thank today's sponsor, Cozy Earth, my one true love. If you guys didn't know, Cozy Earth's mission is to transform your 5 to 9, the time that matters the most, into the most comfortable part of your day. And they do such an incredible job at it. I've talked about before how important it is to take care of yourself, especially if you are someone like me that listens to true crime and you listen and hear about so many horrible things. It is so important to take care of yourself and to unwind and take time to really focus on positive things and do things that make you happy. Those things for me are having spa nights and self care nights. And my favorite thing recently, in the new house that I just moved into, there is a bathtub, which means that I now get to take baths bubbly baths. And my favorite thing is unwinding with a nice bath, candles on, smells good. You know the drill. And then jumping out and wrapping myself up in my Cozy Earth robe, putting on my Cozy Earth slippers and going to bed in my Cozy Earth bed sheets. It truly feels like a spa night at home. When you have these things. You don't even need the bathtub. All you need is the robe and the slippers and you are going to feel like you have a spa. You've transformed your own personal bathroom into your own personal spa. It is amazing. They are so soft with the bed. She's as well. You guys know how much I love them. But one of my favorite things is that they offer a 100 night sleep trial. Meaning that you could quite literally try these amazing, incredible, beautiful bed sheets for a hundred nights for yourself. And if you don't like it for whatever reason, which will not happen, you can return them. The return process is the easiest thing in the world. I honestly wouldn't know because I've never returned anything from Cozy Earth, but I've heard that it is incredibly easy. However, I promise you, you will not want to return these bed sheets or robes after you feel what it feels like sleeping with them. Speaking of comfort, when I think of comfort, I think of my mother. And of course I will be purchasing a lot of Cozy Earth for my mom because she deserves it. Just about the best gift that you can give to someone that you love so much. For me, that is my mom. So let this Mother's Day be a reminder that she deserves. Care to discover how Cozy Earth turns everyday routines into moments of softness and ease? Head to cozyearth.com and use my code WISH for an exclusive 20 off. And if you see a post purchase survey, be sure to mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here. That is code wish for an exclusive 20 off. Because home starts with mom. 10 days after that incident, Gabby texts her ex boyfriend. They end up talking on the phone. They're catching up. And then she says something that makes him think that her and Brian were not on good terms. And then she brings up that she wanted to leave him but just had not figured out when. Based on that phone call, he says that it felt like it was almost a cry for help. And he made sure to let Gabby know that she could come to him if she needed anything at all. August 25, Gabby FaceTimes her mom and she makes an Instagram post that would be the last time she would talk to her mom on the phone and the last post she would ever make. August 27, 2021. Gabby called her ex boyfriend again, but he couldn't pick up because he was at work. That day, Gabby and Brian were caught on CCTV footage shopping at a whole food store. And that was the last known footage of Gabby alive. Authorities are positive that that day was the day that Brian Laundrie ended her life. Three days later, on August 30, Nicole gets a text from Gabby to let her know that she had no service. But one thing stood out about it. Gabby talked about her grandpa in that same text, but she referred to her grandpa as Stan. Her mom thought that that was weird because Gabby never ever used her grandpa's first name when talking about him. She would just always call him Grandpa. The next day, September 1st, as well as September 2nd. September, September 6th and September 7th. Gabby's mom is texting her, but she's failing to get a hold of her. She's trying not to freak out, assuming that maybe they were traveling through somewhere that had very little or no phone service. September 9, Nicole texts Gabby's father, Joe, asking if he had heard from Gabby. He hadn't. Gabby's ex boyfriend hadn't heard from her. Gabby's best friend didn't hear from her on her birthday, which was extremely weird. Gabby's parents and step parents are at that point now thinking Gabby and Brian are missing. They're together and we just cannot find them. We cannot get a hold of them. So Nicole then reaches out to Brian's mother, Roberta. She asks if she has heard from either Gabby or Brian. And she mentions that she's getting worried because she hasn't heard from gabby in about 10 days. That text says delivered, but no response. She texts her again later that same day and that text sends in green, meaning that either Roberta's phone was dead or she blocked her. Gabby's dad reaches out to the laundry family. Complete silence. The parents weren't responding. The sister wasn't responding. The laundry family just was not responding. And then that's when Gabby's family got a sick feeling. It was clear that Brian's family wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. So they decided to put out pictures of Gabby, asking for help in finding her in as many places as they could. They posted it all over social media. They called every police station, they called every park located where Gabby and Brian were supposed to be traveling all around the west coast. And on September 11th of 2021, they called to officially report Gabby Petito a missing person. That same night, officers went to Brian Laundrie's home. They pull up and what do you know? They see Gabby's white van parked on their driveway. They knocked on the door, his parents answered, and do you want to know the first thing they said? Pretty much the only thing they said. They said that their son Brian was home, that he had been home for days, and that they had an attorney and would not be answering any more questions. They were completely refusing to speak. So up until this point, Gabby's parents thought that Gabby and Brian were missing, assumed that they were missing both together. And then they find out Brian is home with Gabby's van. Gabby is nowhere to be found, and Brian's family had lawyered up. That made all of Gabby's family feel absolutely sick. They knew that Brian had done something to their daughter overnight. This case was everywhere, and I remember it clear as day. I'm sure all of you do too. This case is a rare one in the sense that we all lived through it, we saw it unfolding, and there was just a point in time where it felt like there was new information coming out about this every single day. Gabby's dad flies to Florida to help spread awareness. Gabby's stepdad flies to Wyoming where Gabby was last seen. Her mother was doing absolutely everything she could back home in Long island and her stepmom was incredibly involved as well. It was an all hands on deck situation with one goal and one goal only, bringing Gabby home. Gabby's last known location was in Grand Teton national park. Law enforcement was searching everywhere. Search and rescue was there. The FBI also quickly got involved. The body cam footage of the incident from August 12th in Moab was also released. And this, as you can imagine, only made the case blow up even more. On social media, authorities were receiving 200 to 300 tips daily. A woman came forward saying that she gave Brian a ride Aug. 29, but he was alone. He wasn't with Gabby. A girl made a TikTok saying that her and her boyfriend gave Brian a ride. Around the time that Gabby is believed to have gone missing, another couple comes forward who were also part of the van life community. They vlogged often as well, and they ended up looking back on their footage of when Gabby was believed to have disappeared. And they noticed that they caught Gabby's white van on video. That was a massive break in the case because it narrowed down the location of where Gabby was last seen. September 17, 2021. Brian Laundrie is reported missing. His parents declared Brian missing and said that they had not seen him in three days. They said that they think that he could be in the Carlton reserve in sarasota county, but said that they did not report him missing sooner because they thought that he was just hiking. So police begin searching for him in the reserve, but the bad weather has delayed their search by a lot of. Meanwhile, another group of officers searches Brian laundrie's house. They find a note from Brian's mom Roberta written to Brian that was labeled burn. After reading in that note, she writes that there is nothing that Brian could do that would make her stop loving him. On a different line in the note, Roberta writes, if you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags. So I think now is a good time to mention the phone records that authorities found on August 29, a couple of days after Gabby petito was last seen, Brian calls his mom Roberta. He speaks to her for 55 minutes. Almost immediately after his father calls an attorney and wires the attorney $25,000. During that time, Brian is texting Gabby as if he wasn't with her. Although the records show that their phones were quite liter right next to each other when they were texting, which I think is safe to say that those messages were just Brian trying to create an alibi for himself. The day after, Brian goes home, uses Gabby's debit card to pay for the gas in the process. Then he sends money from Gabby's account to his own account with a memo being quote, goodbye Brian, I will never ask for anything again, end quote, unquote. Which again to me is just him trying to make trying to create an alibi. Two days after Brian was reported missing by his parents on September 19, 2021, authorities go out and search the area where Gabby and Brian were last known to be camping at the spread creek camping area in Wyoming. And shortly after 22 year old Gabby Petito was found, her body was wrapped up in a sweater. She was lying on her side, described to be in an unnatural position decision. Her cause of death was ruled a homicide by blunt force trauma and manual strangulation. Authorities believe Gabby's body had been there since August 27th. Her family was absolutely devastated. It was the outcome that nobody wanted and it shattered their hearts. It broke the hearts of everyone who loved her, which were a lot of people. Brian laundrie was a person of interest. He was the only person of interest. Authorities believed that Brian was responsible for ending Gabby's life and then they believed that he moved her body to where it was found. Brian is still missing at this point and authorities need to find him immediately. October 20th of 2021. One month after the search for Brian begins, his remains were found. Brian's belongings and his body were found by his parents and the authorities at the park where he was believed to have gone hiking. Brian's parents claimed that they really thought that he was just going hiking for a few days, but that apparently they were. They did think that he was planning on returning home, but just I. I don't know how true that is. It was ruled that he unalived himself and with his remains they also found a backpack, a notebook and a weapon. In the notebook, Brian wrote goodbye letters to his family. But he also wrote an explanation as to what happened to Gabby, which I want to make clear we know is a lie because it just does not match up with any of the autopsy report findings at all. But what he wrote was, quote, I'm sorry to everyone this will affect. Gabby was the love of my life and I know adored by many. I'm so very sorry to her family because I love them. I'd consider her younger siblings, my best of friends. I'm sorry to my family. This is a shock to them as well as a terrible grief. They loved Gabby as much, if not more than me. A new daughter to my mother, an aunt to my nephews. Please do not make this harder for them. This occurred as an unexpected tragedy. Rushing back to our car, trying to cross the streams before it got too dark to see, too cold. I hear splash and a scream. I could barely see. I couldn't find her for a moment. Shouted her name. I found her breathing heavily, gasping. She was freezing cold. When I pulled Gabby out of the water, she couldn't tell me what hurt. She had a small bump on her forehead that eventually got larger. Her feet hurt, her wrist hurt. But she was freezing, shaking violently. While carrying her, she continually made sounds of pain. Lying next to her, she said little between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain. I don't know the extent of Gabby's injuries, only that she was in extreme pain. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted. But I see now all of the mistakes that I made. I panicked, I was in shock. But from the moment I decided took away her pain, I knew I could not go on without her. In my own personal opinion, it is very clear what happened here. Brian ended Gabby's life. He called his parents for help. They did help him. And then he ended his own life, taking all and any answers with him to the grave. Gabby Petito's memory lives on and will live on forever. Her family and her friends are determined to keep her memory alive and to live with kindness the way that Gabby lived. Her family has since then started the Gabby Petito foundation and their mission is to together make a difference, save lives, reunite families with missing loved ones, and prevent tragedies like Gabby's from happening to anybody else. I think Gabby's case is so important because unfortunately it is not an uncommon thing for toxic relationships to end in this way. And it is truly so, so incredibly sad how often we see cases like these. That is all I have for this episode. Please let me know your thoughts on this case and thank you so much for spending time with me today. Sorry if my voice was a little bit rough. Like I said, a little bit under the weather. But I will be back and ready for the next episode. Thank you for spending time with me today and for listening to Gabby's story. Hope you guys are all having the best day. If not, go do something to make it the best day. Make somebody happy and I will see you in my next video. Massive kiss on the forehead to every single one of you.
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