Three months after 22-year-old Gabby Petito went missing on what was supposed to be an idyllic cross country extended road trip with her then fiance Brian Laundrie, she went missing. As we now know the couple broke up over the summer and were in a physical altercation that was broken up by police on August 12, 2021. Gabby Petito would be murdered by strangulation a few weeks later in Bridger–Teton National Forest in Wyoming. Brian Laundrie used her debit cards and drove her van back to his parent’s home in Florida. Neither Brian nor his parents responded to frantic calls and messages from Gabby’s family wondering where she was. After months of searching, Brian Laundrie’s body was found in in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Sarasota, FL on October 20, 2021. He died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
now Gabby’s family has released a statement giving closure to any remaining mystery surrounding Gabby’s disappearance and death:
“We truly appreciate the FBI’s diligent and painstaking efforts in this extremely complicated case. The quality and quantity of the facts and information collected by the FBI leave no doubt [that] Brian Laundrie murdered Gabby.”
The FBI has also announced that it will not press charges against the Laundrie family and is expected to announce soon that they are closing the case.
JUST IN. Statement from the #GabbyPetito family: “The quality and quantity of the facts and information collected by the FBI leave no doubt that Brian Laundrie murdered Gabby.” #BrianLaundrie (via @WFLAAllyson) pic.twitter.com/AY9K114krs
— Josh Benson (@WFLAJosh) January 21, 2022
Gabby’s legacy includes a community of people dedicated to continued awareness of missing and endangered people. Here are some open missing persons cases that could use your eye. Somebody knows something:
There is a $10,000 reward for information about Mary Johnsonwho went missing from the Tulalip reservation in Washington.
Paola M. Miranda Rosa has been missing from Orlando, Florida since December 17, 2021.
Jessica Jo Marshik is missing from the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN.