Gabby Petito was constantly smiling in her social media photos as she went on one breathtaking adventure after another—but when she and her fiancé Brian Laundrie were stopped by Moab Police soon before she vanished, the world saw a totally different side of the 22-year-old.
Petito can be heard weeping uncontrollably on body camera video as officials interrogate her and Laundrie about a violent confrontation they had outside the Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab, Utah, on Aug. 12.
Petito told cops she’d been really stressed out about attempting to launch her website, which Laundrie “doesn’t really feel I can achieve,” and that the confrontation between the two had escalated.
She added in the video, “We’ve just been arguing all morning, and he wouldn’t allow me in the vehicle before,” and that Laundrie “told me I needed to calm down.”
Despite the fact that she acknowledged punching Laundrie first and that he held her by the face during the incident, a 911 caller claimed that Laundrie was the one who struck Petito.
According to the audio included in Peacock’s “The Murder of Gabby Petito: Truth, Lies, and Social Media,” available to watch Friday, the caller added, “We drove by, and the dude was hitting the girl.”
Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, finds it difficult to see video of her daughter sobbing while speaking with police.
She remarked in the documentary, “I just want to leap through the screen and embrace her and bring her home.”
Schmidt, on the other hand, feels the tape demonstrates to the public that Petito was a “genuine human being” who struggled with her own issues.
“Everyone looks beautiful on YouTube and Instagram,” Schmidt said, “but people need to see, ‘Oh my my, she’s a genuine person with emotions.” “I believe it affected everyone when they realized she was in pain.” It’s incredible how many people could identify with her.”
Many people were drawn to Petito’s narrative when the 22-year-old went missing while on a cross-country expedition in late August of this year.
In the show, Schmidt recounted how “people would meet her and simply fall in love with her.” “She simply had this aura about her.” It was something amazing; I don’t know what it was.”
According to investigative reporter Pei-Sze Cheng, who followed the case for Florida’s NBC 4, the “internet went berserk” when the body camera video was published days after Petito was formally reported missing by her mother on Sept. 11.
Others who felt they had seen Laundrie or the couple’s vehicle at Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park around the time Petito vanished rushed to social media to offer their own experiences.
Blogger Jen Bethune was one of those passengers, seeing the couple’s vehicle in a secluded part of the park on dash camera film she took while traveling with her own family.
Petito’s vehicle was seen not far from where her death was recovered by officials on Sept. 19. She’d been strangled to death, according to a coroner.
“We realized that there’s a lot of weird, horrible things out there with social media, but there’s also a lot of wonderful stuff that can come out of it,” Petito’s stepfather Jim Schmidt said of the attention the missing person case got. “I usually say it’s a blessing and a curse, but it was a blessing for us in this case.”
Petito was named a person of interest in Laundrie’s disappearance by police in North Port, Florida, where he lived with Laundrie and his parents, but he was never charged in connection with her death and vanished in mid-September after returning home to Florida in the couple’s van without his girlfriend.
In October, his corpse was found in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, which links to the Carlton Reserve in Florida. Last month, his family’s attorney said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
According to a police record acquired by CSUWorldrecord.com, the couple was stopped in August for a suspected domestic violence incident, but officials never made any arrests that day and instead chose to separate Petito—who was designated the “main aggressor” by police—and Laundrie for the night.
One officer can be heard informing the other why the state of Utah has a domestic assault statute, which he claims is “to protect people,” in a chilling interaction between two cops on the scene that day.
“They don’t allow us discretion on these things because too many women who are in danger want to return to their abuser,” he said. “All they wanted was for him to stop, and they didn’t want to be separated.” They don’t want him to face any charges. They don’t want him to go to prison, so they’re subjected to more harsh punishment. “And then they’re slain.”
Schmidt believes that her daughter’s tale, with all of its highs and lows, might assist others.
According to Press Nation, she remarked during a September news conference, “I hope others are inspired by her.” “It means a lot to me that she has already had such an impact on so many people’s lives.”
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