All language subtitles for Crime Nation S01E06 - Web of Shadows

♪♪

-The Gabby Petito Brian
Laundrie story

just captivated us.

-It had so many classic elements
of American storytelling --

the westward-bound adventure,
influencer culture.

-On social media,
you see a picture

of this perfect relationship,
full of fun and life and energy.

But actually what was
going on behind the scenes

was something quite different.

♪♪

-So, what happened
here and here?

-At what point did it go wrong?

Was it always wrong,

and the online picture
was just a lie?

-Still no sign
of 22-year-old Gabby Petito.

[ Protesters chanting
"Where is Gabby?" ]

-Brian had shown back up at
his parents' house in her van.

But where was Gabby?

-I'm asking for help
from the parents of Brian.

-Who leaves with
the love of his life

and returns without her
and doesn't say a word?

Who does that?

-What were you thinking,
helping your son?

-The Laundries,
they had to know something.

-The Petitos were involved
in a legal battle

against
Brian Laundrie's parents.

A lawsuit making some
really explosive allegations

about who knew what and when.

Brian Laundrie
called his parents

and said that Gabby was gone.

-And they keep this quiet
for weeks and weeks?

-You had a Romeo-and-Juliet
doomsday scenario,

and I think that that's what
made it so riveting

for so many people.

♪♪

-Hello, hello.

Looking to steal
some of his granola.

-The tent
is just coming in on me.

The wind is so bad.

♪♪

-Sorry.
I'm, like, wandering around.

I'm just anxious,

so I'm just like,
"Let me walk around."

[ Sighs ]

Hi.

How do you feel?
-As I said, anxious.

♪♪

Gabby is definitely
my best friend.

♪♪

She was one of those people
that you lose words for

'cause you're just like, "I've
never met anyone like you."

Anyone that I introduced her to,

she would leave,
and they're like, "I love her.

Where did she come from?"

-I spent a year covering
the Gabby Petito story

for Vanity Fair,

and, basically, forensically
reconstructed her life

just by following her
social-media pages.

♪♪

Gabby Petito grew up
in Blue Point, Long Island.

It's a really small town
with a population

of less than 5,000 people.

Gabby had very loving home life,

but her parents had her
when they were quite young,

and they ended up
going their separate ways

and starting new families.

And so Gabby grew up
a bit of a nomad,

going back and forth
between her parents' homes.

-Gabby is the eldest
of many siblings

and definitely played
that role.

She was close to all four
of her parents.

They were all considered
her moms and her dads.

-People who knew Gabby Petito
growing up described her

as being beautiful
inside and out.

Gabby loved butterflies.
She loved the color aqua blue.

She loved the Beatles song
"Let It Be."

♪♪

-Gabby always loved art.

She was always, like, doodling.

She loved nature.
She loved taking photos.

-Gabby Petito was
just this bright,

beautiful young woman.

But she was a bit
of an outsider,

sort of marched
to her own beat.

♪♪

-Growing up, Gabby seemed
to have friends,

but she didn't really feel
like she fit in completely

and spent a lot of time online.

-Gabby used the Internet
as a résumé, a diary, a mirror.

And the more online she went,
the less unusual she felt.

♪♪

Brian and Gabby started talking

when Brian was a junior
in high school

and Gabby
was a sophomore.

Brian Laundrie left a huge
amount of information

about himself online,
and based on his drawings,

he was very obsessed with
copying comic-book characters,

and he would
post those online.

So Brian is sort of,
like, the artistic buddy

that Gabby's never had.

-Brian Laundrie
was really a mystery.

There were not a lot of people

that we were able to find
who really knew him.

Anyone who we could identify,
they wouldn't speak with us.

-Brian graduated in 2016

and stuck around Blue Point
and got a job.

Gabby graduated high school
in 2017, a year after Brian,

and they stay friends for years.
Just friends.

And by July of 2019,
she and Brian are an item.

♪♪

They bond over this desire
to see nature,

to see national parks,

to see places that look
nothing like where they grew up.

And that drove them together in
a sort of intense, intense way.

♪♪

At the time,
van life is trending online,

and it's part of this
emerging ethos

of, like, living with less
and eco dwellings.

-Welcome, guys,
to another episode,

and we've been on the road,

traveling in a ton
of different vans.

-You buy a van,
you turn it into

almost like a little apartment
inside, and you go explore.

-2020, we had
the chance to create

what we think is
the ultimate van layout.

-During COVID, it got
very popular with young people.

-Gabby purchased the van
and converted it

because she was the one
who wanted to live out

this van life,
and it was a dream of hers.

And by sharing
their van-life journey,

they could make money someday

through their blog
and through sharing the videos.

-Gabby's goal was to become,
like, a travel blogger,

to become successful
in terms of posting videos

and pictures of
this van-life culture.

-If we looked back through
Gabby and Brian's social media,

the picture that emerged
was one that was perfect.

They seemed to be madly in love.

-Brian's stretching,
doing some morning yoga.

-Their journey
looked so innocent.

You couldn't look away.

♪♪

-Online,
it was a fairytale life.

They were kissing
in front of road signs,

they were perched on cliffs.

But behind closed doors,
in their van,

things were unraveling.

-Gabby had been talking to
her family throughout the trip,

and all of a sudden,

they weren't
hearing from her anymore.

-The last time that Gabby's
parents had any contact with her

was August 25th.

♪♪

-On September 1, 2021,

Brian arrives home to Florida,
where his parents are living.

-Brian Laundrie had shown up

at his parents' house
in her van,

but, like, where was Gabby?

-The last time
that Gabby's parents

had any contact with
their daughter was August 25th.

Gabby's parents
ultimately report her missing

on September 11th.

♪♪

-I found out Gabby
was missing through the news,

and took me a minute
to, like, comprehend it.

I don't even know
how to describe how I felt.

I immediately went
to social media

and was like, "All right,
let me do what I can.

Let's get her name out there.
Let's get her face out there."

People that didn't even
know her were like,

"We have to find her.

We have to do this."
It was very powerful.

-A young girl,
doesn't look older than 23...

-Pause this, screenshot it,
share this.

-It was starting to
bubble up on social media

that there was this missing
young woman, Gabby Petito.

So we drove
to North Port, Florida,

to the Laundries' house.

I thought we would be there
just a couple of days.

We ended up staying
about six weeks.

-Gabby Petito
hasn't been heard from

since the last week of August.

-Brian Laundrie showed up
at his home in Florida

on September 1st.

-Five days later,

the police hold a press
conference with Joe Petito.

♪♪

♪♪

-At this time,

I'm going to allow Joe,
Gabby's dad

to come up
and say a few words.

-All right. What I need
from everybody here is help,

because the -- the goal
is still not met,

and that goal is
to bring Gabby home safe.

-Joe Petito tried to maintain
a very, very brave face,

but it came through,
his desperation and the trauma

that he and the rest
of his family members

were going through.

-As a mom, I had concerns
for my daughter

going on a road trip in general,
but I felt safe.

They were together.
They had a plan.

-Justice needs to be served.

-We basically camped out
outside the Laundries' house.

It turned into this circus
that I really didn't expect.

[ Crowd chanting
"Where is Gabby?" ]

-We'll be out here every day!

-Come out, Laundries!

-Suffolk County put out
a nationwide alert for Gabby.

♪♪

At that moment
in the investigation,

the goal is to find Gabby alive.

♪♪

-One of the first steps
of the investigation focused

on collecting as much data
as we could to try to track

exactly where the last location
Brian and Gabby were.

Cell towers put them

in the Grand Teton National Park
in Wyoming.

The initial general area
was almost 20,000 square miles.

♪♪

A thorough analysis led us

to the Spread Creek
Dispersion area,

which was the last
known location of cellular

telephone activity
of Gabby Petito.

At that point, we set up
an on-site command post

and started planning
for a physical grid search

by our search-and-rescue team.

♪♪

-As a reporter,
the first thing I did

was go and knock on the door

to see if the Laundries
wanted to talk.

That's when we realized
they weren't gonna talk.

It's important to point out
that the boyfriend

right now
is not a suspect.

Police say he's not
a person of interest,

but they want to talk to him,

and they say he will not
talk to detectives.

And his parents,
who are in the house behind me,

are also not talking
to detectives right now.

As far as we knew,
Brian Laundrie

was inside the house,

but he refused to say
a word about Gabby,

which didn't make
a lot of sense.

Where is the boyfriend?

We're outside the boyfriend's
parents' right now,

just outside Tampa.
Take a look.

So we basically made this
agreement with the neighbors

just to the right
of the Laundries

that we could camp
out on their lawn.

Mr. Laundrie,
do you know anything

about what happened
to Gabby Petito?

Why aren't you talking?

-This case just seemed,
right from the get-go,

to be filled with mystery,
with intrigue,

and then with
a massive dose of frustration.

Where was she,

and why was Brian Laundrie
being so silent?

Who leaves with the love of his
life and returns without her

and doesn't say a word?
Who does that?

♪♪

-Police say
the ongoing silence

from the Brian Laundrie's family

is making an already complex
case even more challenging.

-I saw all over the news
that Gabby was missing,

and I felt an instant
connection to her.

♪♪

Brian wasn't talking, and
the parents weren't talking.

So straight away,
you've got this

very suspicious
set of circumstances.

And why would they not
tell the Petitos

key information
about their daughter?

♪♪

-Why are we so obsessed
with missing young,

beautiful women
in this country?

Why does it get so much
more media attention

and public attention?

I think it preys
on our worst fears.

The loss of innocence
and the loss of purity.

-Where's Gabby, Brian?!

-Where's Gabby?
-Where is Gabby?!

-Where's Gabby, Brian?!
We're out here!

-People started coming
from all over the country

to scream and yell and protest
about the Laundries' behavior,

about their silence.

-Stop hiding inside
your house, Brian!

Come out!
Gabby's family want answers!

-Social media
played a huge role.

People were weighing in.
People were watching video,

clearly for clues.

-We have a lot to unpack
in this Gabby Petito case.

-This Gabby Petito case.

-She has since gone missing
while he returned home.

-On August 25th,
she also posted

an Instagram post,
but it was not like her.

This is an update
in the Gabby Petito case.

What really resonated with me
about Gabby Petito and her story

was that I could see
a lot of myself in her.

We were similar age.

I was also
a YouTuber at the time.

The hashtag #FindGabbyPetito
got millions of views

as people were sharing updates.

We don't know where she is,

but we need to spread this
information and help find Gabby.

-Gabby Petito has gone
missing in Grand Teton...

-So this is
incredibly suspicious.

-The last time that her mom
spoke to her on the phone...

People were wanting
to know more,

so I just kept searching for
updates and sharing about them.

The FBI Denver Twitter account
posted this.

-One of the key investigative
steps this day and age

is to scrub somebody's social
media to learn more about them.

We did that with
both Brian and Gabby

in this case.

I didn't see anything
that would lead us to think

anything nefarious had
gone on at that point in time.

-So, on social media,
you see a picture

of this perfect relationship.

They're traveling across America

and full of fun
and life and energy.

But, actually, what was going on
behind the scenes

was something quite different.

♪♪

-You can't keep chocolate
in Utah.

Not in July.
[ Both laugh ]

-Was the online picture
just a lie,

or did something happen
on this road trip?

At what point did it go wrong?
Was it always wrong?

To truly understand why,

we have to go back
to the beginning.

♪♪

-Not everyone is aware
that the Gabby and Brian

actually went on their
first road trip back in 2019.

They quit their jobs, they went
on a cross-country road trip.

It was in Gabby's Nissan Sentra.

And in their social media,

we can see the beginnings
of a toxic relationship.

♪♪

-Looking at the post that Gabby
made about Dallas, Texas,

the caption says, "Hello!
I'm having a great time."

What's interesting to me
about this photo is,

it doesn't yet include Brian.

♪♪

On October 17th,

Gabby posted a new photo
from Colorado Springs.

And, again, just her.

Brian is not
pictured in these, either.

Gabby is a person who naturally
understands what sells.

No one wants to see a pretty
influencer in a relationship.

It fits with this brand
of a nomadic lifestyle,

you know, not being tied down.

-I think the first trip
that they take together,

that clearly is
a dream trip for Gabby.

But the omission of him
is interesting.

Did that cause tension?
Was he upset about that?

♪♪

-Late October, Gabby and Brian
make it to California.

♪♪

While Gabby
is getting her fortune told

at the Santa Monica Pier,

Brian is making a post
that says, "L.A. sucks."

And why does he actually
feel that way?

Is it because Gabby's
not posting pictures of him?

♪♪

In this first road trip,
we're starting to see elements

of the relationship that will
become a problem later on,

namely Brian's jealousy
and Gabby's independence.

♪♪

♪♪

-Now to the disappearance
of Gabby Petito.

The missing Long Island woman

is making headlines
coast to coast tonight

as the case literally
stretches across the country.

Investigators are now
calling the boyfriend

a person of interest.

♪♪

-When Brian Laundrie was named
the person of interest,

the North Port Police Department
had primary jurisdiction

over the case and were handling
the surveillance

of Brian Laundrie.

-They started watching
that residence to see

if they could find Brian
to talk to him.

He was seen at one point,
but he was never questioned.

-Did you guys look through
Brian Laundrie's Instagram?

It's very -- You know what?
Let me show you.

-Totally think
he did something.

-Own up to what you did,

and don't act like
you're innocent

'cause innocent people
don't run and hide.

-Almost immediately,

the case becomes
a social-media sensation,

and Brian starts being on the
receiving end of that attention.

People are going to
his social-media pages,

leaving mean comments,

harassing him
in all these ways.

-Brian, if you're listening
to me right now,

let me tell you something.

You may have done
the wrong thing then.

Do the right thing now.

♪♪

-In mid September,

several days after Gabby Petito
was reported missing,

Brian Laundrie's parents
issued a statement

through their attorney,
expressing hope

that "the search for Miss Petito
would be successful

and that she would be
reunited with her family."

But Brian Laundrie's parents
weren't talking to the media

or police at that point.

And Brian Laundrie
was staying totally silent.

♪♪

-It seemed really perplexing
to everyone

that Brian wasn't hauled down
to the station

and made to answer
tough questions.

Clearly, the happiness that
they conveyed on social media,

that wasn't necessarily
the full picture.

-Based on what Gabby's friends
later told the media,

the romantic relationship
between Gabby and Brian

is really tumultuous
from the very beginning.

Friends described it as toxic.

But toxic or not,
shortly after Gabby and Brian

returned from their first
road trip in 2019,

Brian convinces Gabby
to move with him to Florida.

♪♪

-For Gabby,
she's leaving behind her friends

and her family
and that support network.

But for Brian, it means
that he gets her to himself.

-After Gabby moves
with Brian to Florida,

she goes on to a site
called Bumble BFF

where people can go on
and find friends.

And it's on this site
that Gabby finds Rose Davis.

♪♪

-I just didn't have friends
at the time, and so --

[ Chuckles ] -- we matched.

♪♪

And we started hanging out like
every other day or every week.

It was just like,
"I don't need any other friends.

We're good."

We would go do TikTok dances
and be weird out in public.

Like, we just never cared.

♪♪

-Gabby starts sleeping over
at Rose's house a lot.

Whenever there's an issue with
Brian, she'll go over there.

-It's okay. It's fine.

-I have the video of her
breaking into my room

because she locked us out.

She fell in the bush
a little bit,

but we managed to get in.

It was great.
She got dirt all over my bed.

It was fantastic.
[ Chuckles ]

♪♪

-Brian is already
a jealous guy,

so the fact that she has
this close friend

and they're sleeping
in the same bed on nights

when Gabby and Brian fight,

it drives him bananas,
drives him crazy.

He insists on picking her
up from Rose's place

instead of letting
Rose drive her home.

He is very, very territorial
and competitive with Rose.

♪♪

-One night, Rose and Gabby,

they were gonna go out together,

and Brian was very upset
about this.

-He resorts to taking her I.D.

so that she cannot go out
with Rose.

He shoves her,
and she slaps him.

♪♪

And then she flees to Rose's
house and tells Rose

that Brian's episodes
get physical.

-These aren't episodes.

This is somebody
who's trying to control Gabby.

They're only going to get worse.

-After living in Florida
together for a little while,

COVID's in full swing,
probably a bit stir-crazy.

Gabby and Brian come together

over the idea
of a house on wheels.

♪♪

-Van life is all
about couples, too.

It's an idea that allows Brian

to enter the framework
of Gabby's online presence.

Gabby buys the van.

The van is registered
in Gabby's name.

But this blowout with Gabby
and sleeping in Rose's bed,

it pushes Brian to the brink
where he's like,

"We need to leave.
I need to get her out of here."

♪♪

So he jump-starts
the road trip early.

♪♪

-The van life kind of --
Like she wanted to do that,

and she talked about it,

but it kind of
came out of nowhere.

When she was like,
"I'm doing this,"

I was like,
"What's going on?"

Between you and I,
no, I didn't want her to leave.

♪♪

-Brian and Gabby take off
in this tiny, cramped van.

What they thought was gonna be
a world-opening,

romance-enhancing trip

was actually just like
a pressure cooker.

♪♪

♪♪

Gabby's first post
during the van-life road trip

is tagged in Monument Rocks.

It, to me, speaks
to how new this was to her,

this sort of influencer thing.

But she was getting
the hang of that,

how to represent herself
in a way that was engaging.

-She was a talented editor,

so she was able to edit things
to make it look like,

you know,
that perfect life

that everybody hopes
that they can have

and likes to portray
on social media.

♪♪

-July 8, 2021 Gabby
posts from Colorado Springs.

Gabby's having fun.

She's climbing mountains,
having a great time.

Brian is not in
any of these pictures yet.

That's worth noting.

♪♪

About a month
into the road trip,

life on the road starts
to get very complicated

for Gabby and Brian.

♪♪

I'm going through
Brian's Instagram posts.

So, this is in Utah.

This is classic Brian Laundrie.

He posts, "Zion is proof that
mankind can ruin anything,

even in an effort
to preserve it.

Beautiful park just with
an unfortunate infestation

of human beings."

Brian was definitely
very misanthropic,

hated people, a loner,
liked being alone,

whereas Gabby was extroverted,
a people person, and easygoing.

Nobody had a real understanding
of what was going on

with Gabby and Brian
behind closed doors,

because they did such a good job
of making that a secret.

♪♪

On August 12th, about six
weeks into their road trip,

Gabby and Brian go to
a coffee shop in Moab

around 9:00 a.m.
so that Gabby

can work on
their van-life website.

♪♪

He, for some reason,

is infuriated by her
trying to do this work.

Thanks to the Internet, she's
connected to the whole world,

and he can't stand it.

And so he tries to punish her,
taking away her phone,

taking away her lens
into the world.

-It's this chip, chip, chip.

It's the taking of
a confident young woman

and psychologically
undoing her.

♪♪

-In my experience,
perpetrators never --

they never de-escalate.

-It was August 12th when a 911
call came in in Moab, Utah.

There was a witness who saw
a young man striking a woman.

We later find out that that was
Brian Laundrie striking Gabby.

-What I think happened
on that sidewalk

is there was a slap.

Gabby retaliated,
tried to grab her phone.

Once she had her phone,

she tried to use it
to hit Brian.

And then he locks the car

so she can't get into
the passenger door,

and she manages
to force her way in

before he can drive away
without her.

So next thing that Gabby knows,

she's speeding
out of Moab, Utah,

in the passenger seat
of her van.

Brian is rage driving.

♪♪

-When they pulled
Brian and Gabby over,

it's all on multiple
body-camera videos.

-Gabby.
-I'm Brian.

♪♪

-Gabby's very upset.

It should be clear that she is
the victim right from the start.

-Gabby Petito started blaming
herself for the violence,

started making excuses
for why she was hurt

and that it was her fault
because she was OCD.

-I wonder how many times
Brian has said that she's mean,

that she's the problem.

That's what I often hear
from victims.

The narrative that then
becomes dominant is his,

and she's trying to protect him.

-Okay.

-Now we see a parks officer
turn up.

Brian's now center of attention.

-So, when you look at Gabby,

it's clear she's really upset,

and he's just saying
it's a little disagreement,

it's a little squabble.
Well, it wasn't.

-Cops pretty quickly
come to the determination

that Brian Laundrie is actually
the victim in the situation,

which, you know,
when you watch all the video,

looking back, it's pretty clear
that that's not the case.

-Gabby tells the officers
that she hit him first,

and they run with that.

-The fact that
Gabby acts it out --

the hand over the face,
the nose and the mouth --

is important.

This picture was taken
by Gabby on her phone.

She looks distressed.

When women
take pictures like this,

it's for evidence in case
something terrible happens.

-It became crystal clear
that just five weeks

into this cross-country journey,

the Gabby Petito/Brian Laundrie
love story

wasn't what we thought it was.

-All of a sudden,
this fairytale couple

that was sort of enjoying
this wonderful,

whimsical cross-country trip,

now we saw how broken she was
and how manipulative he was.

-When I saw the video of Gabby

crying to these police officers
and blaming herself,

my heart was broken.

Because in my line of work,

this is classic
domestic violence.

The woman blamed herself.

-Meanwhile, Brian is nervous,

and he's looking at her,
and he's looking away.

He thinks
he's about to get caught

and he wants to know
what she's been telling them.

And lucky for him, they're not
asking her the right questions,

and they're only interested
in what he has to say.

I mean, it goes -- it goes
in an insane direction.

-The minute Officer Robbins
says, "You seem manic,"

what Brian does is then

deflect onto Gabby and says,
"She's crazy."

He then starts to put Gabby
under the microscope.

He falls into
Brian's manipulations.

-You can tell that, you know,
they are not viewing Brian

as the attacker
in the situation.

One of the officers is sort of,
like, joking around with Brian.

There was this weird little
bro thing happening.

-All the male officers
all almost want to high-five him

and fist-bump him at that point.

"Women are crazy.
We get it, bro."

And this whole narrative now

starts to become
much more sinister.

-He laughs.
He is baffled,

and he can't quite believe
how this has turned out.

And neither can I.

-One of the things that stuck
out in that body-cam footage

was he was laughing
about the entire incident.

The demeanor Brian showed
on video was concerning,

and that's just not something

that we see
during a domestic incident.

-My blood boils just seeing
how this is conveyed.

You couldn't get
this more wrong.

Brian could charm people
and manipulate people.

I mean, we just saw
on camera him do it

to two uniformed officers
and two park rangers.

I mean, this is
just maddening to me.

He is so pleased
that he's pulled this off.

And he's got his backpack on,

and now he's being given
a lift to the hotel.

And Gabby, well,
she doesn't really matter.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

This just enables him,
and it greenlights him,

and it's just a travesty
that this happened.

♪♪

-Social media just exploded

when the body-cam video
of the Moab incident broke.

♪♪

People right away realized
that Gabby looked to be

a distressed victim
of domestic violence.

♪♪

-This was real, raw footage,

not curated by somebody,
posted on social media.

It was what was actually
going on with her.

And seeing her crying and hurt

and upset was just
so heartbreaking.

And that's why people became
even more motivated

to want to find her.

♪♪

[ Crowd chanting
"Where is Gabby?" ]

-We're outside Gabby's
boyfriend's house,

where we have been for days,
and he is still not coming out,

and he is still not
talking to police,

even despite
this new body-cam video.

-Once the Moab Police in Utah
released that body-cam incident,

the public outrage in this case
grew even more intense.

[ Crowd chanting
"Where is Gabby?" ]

It really struck a chord with

other victims
of domestic violence...

♪♪

...so much so that several
of them got in vehicles

and drove hundreds
and hundreds of miles

to just be on
the Laundries' front lawn

and put a face
to domestic violence.

-Dirty Laundrie!
This house should be burned!

[ Crowd chanting
"Where is Gabby?" ]

-Things started to really

get crazy outside
the Laundries' house.

[ Crowd chanting
"Where is Gabby?" ]

People from all over the country
started either bringing

or having flowers delivered
to the Laundries' house.

So, every day, all day florists
would be delivering flowers

on behalf of Gabby,

and they were
just one after another --

flowers, flowers, flowers.

♪♪

I remember talking to Joe Petito
about the video.

And you can imagine --
I mean,

if it was heartbreaking
for us covering it,

for them to see it,
it was really, really troubling.

We were all waiting to see
how Moab Police would respond,

how they would explain what
happened with the traffic stop.

It was five months later

that they finally released
a statement,

and the statement said,
"The independent agency's

investigative report
finds that the officers

who responded to the incident

made several
unintentional mistakes

that stemmed from the fact
the officers failed to cite

Ms. Petito
for domestic violence."

So even if they just thought
that Brian was the victim,

if they had arrested Gabby
in that moment,

you know, that could've
changed everything.

-I'm sorry.
I'm really bad with names.

Gabby?
-Yeah.

-The domestic dispute
between Brian and Gabby,

it certainly struck a chord

with the investigative team
at that point in time.

It already had been to the level
of physical altercation in Utah,

and in my experience
as an investigator,

domestic offenders, it doesn't
just necessarily stop.

If anything, it will escalate,
and that was concerning to us.

♪♪

-Shortly after the traffic stop,

Brian's father pays to have
Brian flown back to Florida

for about six days while Gabby
stays behind in Utah.

-We still, to this day,

don't know what the point
of that trip was

and can only speculate
that they needed a break

after this domestic violence.

And Brian went home and let this
settle down for a little while.

♪♪

-The period of time
that Gabby spends in Utah

without Brian is significant
because she is,

for the first time
in a very long time, alone

and able to think
without Brian picking fights

or getting in her face.

This might have been a period
of time where she began to

think seriously about ending
the relationship with Brian.

-We obtained a lot of cellular
data for that time period

when Brian traveled to Florida,

where Gabby had contacts
with old friends.

And there's been a theory
that maybe Brian caught wind,

that she was talking to
old friends, some of them male,

and that could have
spun him up or agitated him.

♪♪

-During the time
Brian is gone in Florida,

Gabby uploads her magnum opus --

their first van-life video.

-Gabby Petito,
who never goes outside.

[ Laughs ]

-What's immediately
interesting to me

about this video
is that it includes

a lot of footage
from road trip number one.

They look genuinely happy
because they are.

And I can't help but wonder,

maybe it also helped her realize

that everything that was good

about their relationship
was in the past.

So why didn't Gabby
just leave Brian

during this six-day
period of time?

-The answer is, sadly,

a story that's been written
over and over and over again

by domestic-violence victims.

And sadly, these victims
truly love their abusers,

and they don't want
the relationship to end.

♪♪

-According to witnesses
and the evidence

that's gathered
in the investigation,

on August the 23rd, 2021,

Brian returns from his
six-day trip in Florida

back to rejoin Gabby in Utah,

and they check out
of their Salt Lake City hotel.

And at this point, it looks like
they're headed for Wyoming.

♪♪

-Scholars say that
the most dangerous part

of an abusive relationship

is when a victim
decides to leave.

And given how quickly
things escalated next,

I think that Gabby decided
she was going to leave Brian.

-The worst thing that could
happen was her saying,

"Enough.
I've had enough,"

because his biggest fear
was Gabby leaving him.

♪♪

♪♪

-After setting up camp at the
Grand Teton National Forest,

Brian and Gabby
drive about an hour

to a Tex-Mex restaurant
in Jackson,

and they have lunch.

They happen to be seated
near a couple

that witnesses everything
that happens next.

-I could tell that
the waitress and, um --

they were having, like,
some type of heated discussion.

By like the second
or third time the waitress

returned to the table,
they, like, stood up

from their seats and abruptly,
like, walked out.

We were kind of like,
"Mm, that was weird."

And then Brian Laundrie
comes back in.

And that's why
it was kind of a scene,

because it was like,
"Oh, my God, this guy

who was just creeping us out,
he just walked back in."

-I just have, like,
a vivid memory

of looking over there
at the hostess then,

and he's just like...

-Yeah.
-...kind of red-faced

kind of talking to her,

and his hands
are going everywhere,

just, like, chewing her out
about something.

-It was just kind of --
It was scary.

I can still remember the feeling

that I got from him
to this very day.

♪♪

-According to eyewitness
accounts,

Brian and Gabby
leave without paying

or try to convince
the restaurant

to refund them the money.

I can't say for sure
what was going on,

but why did Brian
have this outburst?

What was the thing
that upset him?

And I hope the thing that upset
him was that she dumped him.

♪♪

-During the course
of the investigation,

we found some lines
of communication

in which either Brian
and/or Gabby

mentioned Gabby leaving him

or going away
or finding a new boyfriend.

It was a strong theory of ours
that maybe, um,

the relationship
was growing to a head.

-We've got escalation.

There was explosive anger
and rage by Brian.

He's not even worried
about people witnessing it.

♪♪

-Shortly after the incident
at the restaurant,

Gabby and Brian make their way
to a nearby grocery store

where things get weird.

♪♪

-Jackson Police Department
helped us find video

of Brian and Gabby

at one of the local
grocery stores.

♪♪

-It was crystal clear

how angry Brian Laundrie
was in that moment.

♪♪

-He appeared to slam the door
out in the parking lot.

So that, combined with what had
happened at the restaurant,

things just were sort
of unraveling

between Brian and Gabby,
it seems.

♪♪

-You can see camera footage
of them

actually entering the store

and then walking
around the store.

They don't make a purchase.

-You can see
they're not really shopping.

And, finally, I see
what appears to be

her putting something in her bag
and them leaving.

And they never go
to a cash register to pay.

My take,
that may never be proven,

but it seemed to me
that Brian Laundrie

was asking
Gabby Petito to shoplift.

-Brian had claimed
that he and Gabby had no money.

It's not true.

Brian had about $20,000
in his checking account.

-All of these little pieces
we see -- with Moab,

with the situation
at the Tex-Mex restaurant,

with the situation that occurred
in the grocery store --

we see a clear picture
of how completely broken

their relationship
was by this point.

♪♪

♪♪

-And if Brian Laundrie
turns out to know

more than he's saying right now,

he might have to actually
face charges

in each of those jurisdictions,
which means extradition

and a domino effect of legal
problems all over the country.

There were a lot of twists
and turns in this case.

♪♪

There was a lot of outrage,
frustration.

But the tie that bound
all of these narratives together

was the fact that Gabby
was still missing,

and a family was still
desperate to find her.

-Do you think something bad
has happened to her?

-I believe she's --
she's gonna come home.

-Gabby's parents
kept making sure

that their daughter
was in the news,

that people were still making
efforts to find their daughter.

-We don't have Gabby.
We haven't lost focus of that.

And that's something, you know,
we're still spearheading.

We got to get her home safe.

I'm about to break down.

-The entire situation
must have been a nightmare

for her family,
not knowing where she was.

♪♪

Then social media jumped in

and wanted to get answers
for Gabby's family.

♪♪

-Her captions
were a lot deeper,

detailing her travels,
tagging the location,

and this photo didn't do it.

-There were theories about,
you know,

Gabby having taken off
on her own

or Gabby having
gotten into an accident.

-Social media was
kind of exploding

during this whole time period.

-Okay. So, the only update
that I have right now is...

-So the two actually lived
with Brian's parents.

-So they weren't sure
it was actually her.

-Over and over and over.

-Now look at the trails
she has saved.

I screenshotted it,
so here we go.

Grand Teton Park,
Grand Teton Park.

-You had a lot of these
social-media sleuths

who were digging through Gabby
and Brian's social media,

trying to find witnesses,
trying to find people

who may have seen them while
they were on their road trip.

-There's all this
new information about Brian

renting a storage unit
and leaving Gabby in Utah.

-We followed up
on every single tip,

probably 300 to 400 tips
per day,

and the analysts did an
outstanding job vetting out each

and every lead that came in

so we could determine
whether we needed to act on it

and provide that feedback
to the team

on the ground up in Wyoming.

At that point
in the investigation,

we're thinking foul play,
and, hopefully, we're wrong.

But because of where
this occurred,

in rural Wyoming
during that time of year,

if there is a person out there
lost or a body out there,

we got to find it right away.

♪♪

♪♪

-NewsNation correspondent
Brian Entin

is live for us tonight
in North Port, Florida.

Brian, is Brian Laundrie
in that home behind you tonight?

-Well, Marty, just within
the last two minutes,

this story has taken a very,
very strange and dramatic turn.

Apparently, we have just learned
police do not know

where Brian Laundrie
is right now.

Suddenly,
Brian Laundrie was missing,

where it was like,
"Oh, my gosh.

This story
has gotten even crazier."

[ Protesters shouting ]

-This was like gasoline
being thrown on an inferno.

The story was already
blanketing the headlines.

-Tonight, all eyes
are on one house

in a Florida neighborhood.

-And, suddenly, it goes nuclear.

Brian Laundrie is missing.
How did that happen?

I mean, we all thought
he was inside the house.

-This is his house behind me.

-What were you thinking,
helping your son?

-We've been watching
the house for days.

Tonight, the police
showed up at the house,

the FBI showed up at the house.

They went inside the house.
They came back out.

They got evidence bags.
They went back in.

The weirdest thing
about him missing was,

we were all out there,
and there were FBI agents

outside the house
in unmarked cars.

There were cameras in the trees.
It didn't make any sense.

-Brian Laundrie was able
to come out the front door,

get into the Mustang
in the front driveway,

pull out of the driveway,
and drive off.

♪♪

All unnoticed.

The North Port Police,

who were supposed to be
watching the house,

somehow believed that
it was Roberta Laundrie.

Now, I don't know how you mix
those two people up.

-There was a lot
of frustration from people

all over the world
thinking like,

"Gosh, did they drop the ball?

Like, how did Brian Laundrie
just drive away?"

♪♪

-Brian was missing,
and the the shock waves

that that sent through all of us

who are following
this investigation were massive.

-Brian is nowhere to be located.

They do not know where he is.

-The police did not announce
an exact timeframe,

but the last time that
they saw him was on Tuesday.

-It was like,
"How could he be missing?"

He's the one that has answers
about Gabby

and what happened,
and he's -- he's gone.

♪♪

-When I first learned

that Brian's parents
had reported him missing,

I felt like
he had escaped the country.

That's what the theory --

"Oh, maybe he's on the run,
and this is bigger."

♪♪

-Initially, there was
no specific location

given of where Brian was,

so people all over the country
were looking for him.

I was getting, like,
direct messages in my Twitter,

like, every day,
all day of people

who thought that they had seen
Brian Laundrie.

♪♪

How confident are you --

I mean, seeing pictures
of Brian Laundrie --

that it was definitely him?

-The rumors on social media
were going crazy.

Brian Laundrie lookalikes
were literally, like,

being chased through
mountainsides and parking lots.

-A bunch of people
kept coming up to me

and asking
if I was Brian Laundrie.

Some were very serious.

-Gabby's parents want answers!

-They deserve answers!

-Outside,
the Laundries' house

became even more of, like,
a circus-like atmosphere.

You had a lot of people
showing up very upset.

People started calling the
Laundries the Dirty Laundries.

♪♪

They would bring laundry baskets
and put them out on the lawn

to sort of like, you know,
represent the Dirty Laundries.

♪♪

♪♪

-Brian is missing,
which is shocking.

But don't forget --
Gabby is still missing, too.

So while police
in North Port, Florida,

try to figure out what happened
to Brian Laundrie,

2,000 miles away, in Wyoming,

hundreds of
law-enforcement officers

start a massive ground
search for Gabby Petito.

♪♪

-We initiated that
physical search for Gabby

in the Spread Creek Dispersion
Area on September 18, 2021.

This area in Wyoming
is extremely rural.

You have grizzly bears
in the area.

You had wolves in the area.

This was steep terrain,
rocks, boulders, creeks.

This was a task
that is not for most people.

So, day one, we searched
the entire south side

of the Spread Creek
Dispersion Area.

There was a pair
of underwear recovered,

there were cigarette butts,
there was a hammock recovered.

We didn't know whether
they were evidence or not.

We thought, "Is it just
some hiker dropped it,

or is Gabby out there?"

♪♪

-Gabby's parents, at this point,
are desperate.

They have not heard from their
22-year-old daughter in weeks,

and what they don't know is
that the police now have a clue

that's going
to narrow the search.

-Here it is on the left.

-And it is a major break
in the case.

♪♪

-As we were still searching
for Gabby there in Wyoming,

law enforcement was also
searching for Brian Laundrie.

-He was reported missing
from the parents,

and they said he had gone on
a hike at the Carlton Reserve.

Law enforcement searched
the park,

full throttle,
with all resources.

-The Carlton Reserve,

which is about 15 minutes
from the Laundries' house,

it's this big wildlife reserve,
a swamp.

Alligators, mosquitoes.

♪♪

-The Carlton Reserve is massive,

like the size of Manhattan.

It's one thing to go for a walk.

It's another thing to try to
find a missing person in there.

It's like a needle
in a haystack.

♪♪

-Law enforcement also knew
that he took a gun.

There was one gun missing

from Chris Laundrie's
gun collection,

and that was a revolver.

So all of this was known.

-It's quite strange

because Brian allegedly
drove to the Carlton Reserve,

but his car is not
in the parking lot.

So what people later
find out is,

his parents go get his car,
and they drive it home.

Like, what?

So it's all very, very weird.

-Which leads me
to the question,

what do Mr. and Mrs. Laundrie

know about where their son was
and where he is now?

♪♪

At this point, the Laundries
have to know something.

It's impossible
they don't know something.

♪♪

-Social media
certainly pays off.

There's pros and cons to it,

but it was essential in
the search for Gabby in Wyoming.

One of the key tips
that we received

and located
was from the Bethunes.

This is a couple who were
Internet entrepreneurs

and had allegedly
been in that area

and believed that
they had captured video

of Gabby and Brian's van.

-On August 27, 2021,

we got camera footage going
through the Grand Tetons Park.

-The Bethunes had a dash cam

that was constantly rolling,
so they thought,

"Let's go back and look through

all of our raw video
from the dash cam."

On this one dirt road,

pretty much
in the middle of nowhere...

-Here it is on the left.

-...Gabby Petito's van is right
there on the side of the road.

So they put the video
on social media.

-And I slowed it down

so you can possibly see it
a little bit better.

-When they were
editing the footage,

they couldn't believe
what they saw.

♪♪

-They actually saw the van.

♪♪

-They had done an excellent
job of capturing that video.

So that, compiled with the video
of Brian and Gabby

that was obtained
at the grocery store,

we could prove, without a doubt,
that this is them,

that were in the area
on August 27th of 2021.

♪♪

-The Bethunes' video, that
really cracked the case open.

♪♪

-We took that tip,
and we were able to

do some overlay
of mapping technology

to determine exactly
where that van was parked.

♪♪

So we've scheduled
the day two search,

which was just north of
where that van was located.

♪♪

That morning, on September 19th,
I don't know why we felt like

that was the day that we were
going to find Gabby.

♪♪

We focused on the north side

of the
Spread Creek Dispersion Area,

and we had horseback
team of searchers

actually walking through
the creek

because they could get
a better viewpoint.

They saw what they believed
to be a human

under a blanket
near a makeshift campsite.

♪♪

It was likely to be Gabby.

♪♪

I immediately got in my car
and headed to Jackson

and found a private room
to talk with her stepdad,

Jim Schmidt, who was in
Jackson, Wyoming at the time,

waiting for any possible news

that we could provide him.

I had pictures of clothing and
some personal identifying marks,

tattoos, from the person
that was recovered,

and Jim was able to validate
that that was Gabby Petito.

♪♪

There was an aspect of
dad delivering news to dad

that made this a little
more difficult than usual.

First and foremost,
I would like to extend sere --

sincere and heartfelt condol--
condolences to Gabby's family.

Earlier today,
human remains were discovered

consistent with the description
of Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito.

♪♪

At the end of that day,
I went back

and I called my own family.

I called my two boys that were
about the same age at that time,

and then I went on --
on a long run.

♪♪

-We will never know
how Joe Petito

processed that news personally.

Publicly, he put out

a social-media post
with angel wings

that clearly showed that he knew
she was with the angels.

♪♪

-I got a message
from some news station

that said that
they had found a body.

And I remember I...

♪♪

I felt pain
I'd never felt before.

And...

I don't know.
I ended up on the floor somehow,

and I was just screaming

and...yelling and...mad.

I was so mad.

And it took me time
to then be grateful

because they found her,

and my biggest fear
was never finding her.

♪♪

-On the day
that her body was found,

it really stoked my hatred
for Brian Laundrie.

He left that hand, that ring,

that person in the wilderness
for animals to eat.

♪♪

-My podcast co-host and I
immediately got on the phone

because we just
couldn't stop crying,

and we couldn't --

We just didn't have any words.

-When Gabby's body was found,

what was determined
from her autopsy

was that she was strangled.

It's how most men kill women,

and it's the ultimate
power and control move.

And it silences
the victim forever.

♪♪

-Nobody will ever know
exactly what happened

during this trip to Wyoming.

The investigation revealed
that her laptop

was last used on August 27th.

It basically timed out
around 11:30 p.m.

♪♪

-I think he decided that

if she wasn't going
to be with him,

that she didn't get to exist,
and he strangled her to death.

She died in pain,
and she died afraid.

♪♪

-If this were anything
like an accident,

the first thing
that you would do

is call for help and assistance,

but that's not
what he chose to do.

-One of the first things
that Brian Laundrie does

is call his parents.

And his parents immediately
retained a lawyer.

-He intended to kill her.
He intended to control her.

He intended to silence her.

He was a clear actor in that.

And what's more,
he tried to cover it up.

♪♪

-On the evening of the 27th,

Brian departs
the Spread Creek area.

Brian's phone begins to ping
in another area of the park

on a different tower.

Gabby's phone
did not leave the van.

And then Brian's phone
was actually turned off

for about a 12-hour period.

♪♪

-Brian wandered around, trying
to create an alibi for himself.

He was trying to create evidence
that he and Gabby

had basically had
some kind of argument

and that he had gone off
hiking on his own.

He hiked 27 miles.

-Brian traveled
towards Colter Bay.

We were able
to use cellular data

to corroborate that.

When he arrives,
he actually makes himself known

to park rangers and employees

that he was engaged
to Gabby Petito.

♪♪

From Colter Bay,
he hitchhiked back to the van.

-The next time Brian
was seen in public,

it's by Miranda Baker,

and Miranda created
a TikTok post

about her encounter with Brian

once she figured out
who Brian was,

and that really helped
the investigators

to piece together
Brian's movements

after Gabby was killed.

-We picked him up
at Colter Bay at 5:30.

He approached us,
asking us for a ride

'cause he needed
to go to Jackson,

which we were going to Jackson
that night.

He hopped in the back
of my Jeep.

He then told us he's been
camping for multiple days

without his fiancé.

-The logical reason for Brian
to even return to the scene

would be to get the van
so that he could go home.

♪♪

-Brian hops in Gabby's van

and starts driving back
to Florida without Gabby,

using her phone and his phone

to send text messages
back and forth

to try
and solidify this alibi.

-In the pretend conversation
between himself and Gabby,

she became the aggressor.

Brian's side of the the texting
was, you know, "I love you.

I want you back in my life.
I want things to work out."

Gabby's side was,
"You're a jerk.

I want you to die."

We weren't buying it.

♪♪

We also learned that Gabby's
account had $1,000 transfer

from her account
into Brian's account,

and were able to determine
that that transaction occurred

when she couldn't have
possibly been alive,

thus making it a crime
for Brian

to have transferred that money
without her authority.

What that did for us
is allow us to get warrants

and use additional
tools and techniques

to be able to locate
and hopefully apprehend Brian.

-The hunt for Brian Laundrie
isn't slowing down.

Crews went back out to
the Carlton Reserve Wednesday,

an area 75% underwater.

North Port Police and other
law-enforcement agencies

are now using boats,
dive teams, and sonar equipment

to move the search forward.

-Law enforcement searched
the Carlton Reserve for weeks,

spending literally
millions of dollars.

♪♪

-We went up in the helicopter
just to get an idea

of what the search
looked like from the air,

because a lot of it
was on airboats and horseback,

things that we couldn't
really see from the roadway.

When you look around from up
here in the helicopter,

you can tell just
how massive it is.

Brian Laundrie
could be anywhere out here,

if he even is out here.

-People wanted him to be found

so that he would have to pay
for what he did.

-Brian's own sister, Cassie,

went on "Good Morning America"
on October 5th

and begged for her brother
to come clean.

-No, I do not know
where Brian is.

I'd turn him in.

I don't know if my parents
are involved.

I think, if they are,
then they should come clean.

♪♪

-After about five weeks,
law enforcement had to say,

"It's time we move on."

They ended up opening up
the park for the public

to use again
for the first time in weeks.

The next day,
Chris and Roberta Laundrie

were accompanied
by a federal agent

and a local officer as
they walked the Carlton Reserve

to look for themselves.

-Chris and Roberta
know their son,

and they know the places
that he liked to go out there,

and they'd been out there
with him before.

-It was about, as I recall,

around a 40-, 45-minute hike
into the Carlton Reserve,

and there it was --

the remnants of Brian Laundrie.

♪♪

-On October 20th,

it becomes official
when investigators in Florida

announced that they have found
the remains of Brian Laundrie

in the Carlton Reserve.

-Earlier today,

investigators found what appears
to be human remains,

along with personal items
belonging to Brian Laundrie.

♪♪

-I was really invested
in Brian's capture.

He represented an opportunity
for catharsis and revenge.

Finally, we were going
to see him brought to trial.

But that never happened because
he had gotten away with it.

♪♪

-He never had to admit to it.

He never had to face
Gabby's parents

and, you know,
look them in the eye

after taking
their daughter's life.

And, you know, I think
a lot of people on social media

felt that frustration,
especially for Gabby's family.

-If your son is a person
of interest

in your future daughter-in-law's
disappearance,

and you see them
with a hiking backpack

and you think they may be
heading into the woods,

I don't know, isn't it just kind
of maybe a good idea to be like,

"Hey, what are you doing?"

-The Internet would
later sort of credit itself

with contributing in
a positive way to Gabby's case.

I actually feel the opposite.

I think that the the Internet
robbed her family of justice

because when commenters
started flooding

his social media feeds,
demanding, you know,

that he turn himself in
and stuff,

that it started to dawn on him,

that maybe it wasn't
going to be so easy.

-Brian Laundrie died by suicide,

specifically,
a gunshot wound to the head.

And there are still so many
more questions about this case.

-I can only assume
that her family

felt very robbed by his suicide.

-There are things
about this case and story

that have never made much sense

or that are just very strange,
and this is one of those parts.

The Laundries went out
in the morning

and stumble upon
Brian Laundrie's remains.

-Every investigative bone
in my body tells me

that they knew their son
had committed suicide.

♪♪

-Alongside Brian's remains
in the Carlton Reserve,

they find a backpack,

they find a notebook,
and they find a gun.

And contained in that notebook
is a confession.

-This was what he wrote
in his account.

"Rushing back to our car,

trying to cross the stream
of Spread Creek

before it got too dark to see.

Too cold.
I hear a 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,

and she was freezing cold."

And then he says, "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."

And if this were this,
you know, merciful killing,

which is a fantastical
thing to say,

why would you leave
your loved one there?

And he lied,
and he lied again.

♪♪

-Ultimately, the confession
that Brian wrote out

is just a rambling
pile of garbage.

He won't admit to murdering her.

He's only admitting
to a mercy killing.

What a prince.

♪♪

-Brian Laundrie's confession
letter was released online.

-The whole story
is likely fabricated.

-People are calling B.S.
on this confession altogether.

-I think it frustrated
everybody online

who wanted justice for her

because he really
didn't tell the truth.

He didn't confess.

-He continues, "I see now
all the mistakes I made.

I panicked, I was in shock,

but from the moment I decided,
took away her pain,

I knew I couldn't go on
without her.

Gabby, we lost our future.
I can't live without you."

A lot of Brian's behaviors,

they're characteristics
of psychopathy.

The fact that he took
no responsibility

for his own behavior,
the fact that he lied

so many times
on the police stop,

he showed no remorse,
never saw any remorse

or empathy towards Gabby.

He strangled her.

That was his ultimate way
of controlling her.

♪♪

-Some really
explosive allegations

about who knew what and when.

-For the first time,

the Petitos came face to face
with the Laundries.

-Christopher Laundrie disclosed
Brian disclosed to him

that Gabby was gone
and that he needed a lawyer.

[ Crowd chanting
"Where is Gabby?" ]

-The Petitos decided,
absent justice

that could be meted out
against Brian,

they would file a lawsuit
against his parents,

the Laundries.

-There are still many questions
that the Petito family has

about what
the Laundrie family knew.

-In 2022, the Petito family
filed a civil lawsuit

against Chris
and Roberta Laundrie

for emotional distress.

♪♪

They claim that
the Laundries hid the fact

that Brian had killed
their daughter.

-This lawsuit
from Gabby's parents,

they claim that the Laundries
knew that Brian killed Gabby,

and they are seeking damages
for intentional infliction

and emotional distress.

♪♪

-For the first time since
their daughter had disappeared,

the Petitos came face to face
with the Laundries.

To be a fly on the wall
at that deposition,

I'll bet you could
have heard a pin drop.

-And then this bombshell --
it comes out in the deposition

that Brian Laundrie
called his parents

almost two weeks
before Gabby Petito

was reported missing,
that she's gone.

And he reportedly called
his family 20 times.

♪♪

I think everybody
was just shocked to hear this.

Joining us now to lay it
all out is Patrick Reilly.

He is the attorney
for the Petito family.

-Well, good evening, Brian.

During that deposition,
for the first time,

Christopher Laundrie disclosed
that, on August 29th of 2021,

he received what he called
a frantic telephone call

from Brian,
in which Brian disclosed to him

that Gabby was gone, uh,
and that he needed a lawyer.

So that just confirmed
what we had suspected

going back almost two years.

-You get a call from
your son August 29th, saying,

"Gabby's gone,
and I need a lawyer,"

and they keep this quiet
for weeks and weeks?

It's really beyond the pale.

♪♪

-The Petitos
have told me directly

that they do not want to settle.

They want to go to trial
with the Laundries.

They feel like this
is their sort of one shot

at justice for their daughter.

♪♪

-I call murders like Gabby's
a murder in slow motion

because it happens over time.

There are a thousand things
that went on prior

to Brian's strangling Gabby
and killing her.

♪♪

A thousand cuts, as we say.

It's the murder,
psychologically,

of the spirit and the soul, too,
not just physically.

-The fact that it didn't fit

that stereotypical
portrait of abuse

made it harder to recognize it
for what it was.

-Well, he, like,
grabbed my face,

and he was, like -- like this.

-I think it's on us
as a society

for not framing certain elements
of coercive control as violence,

whether or not it ends
in bloodshed.

-Think what's so tragic
about Gabby's story is that,

sure, it's a cautionary tale
if we know all the signs.

But not everyone knew
all the signs.

And I think Gabby Petito
said a lot about her life

and was very open and --
and was willing to share,

but was not willing
to share that part.

♪♪

-The Gabby Petito story
changed my life and my career.

We started a "missing" series
at NewsNation

where we highlight
missing people every week.

I've become passionate about
domestic-violence awareness

and covering those stories,
also.

-Gabby's dad, Joseph Petito,

he's really working hard
to make sure

that Gabby's legacy lives on.

The Gabby Petito Foundation
has not only done a lot

to help victims
of domestic violence

but have also helped
so many missing persons.

And there wasn't justice,

but Gabby's legacy can live on.

♪♪

-Every day, there's something
that reminds me about her.

♪♪

Butterflies make me think
about Gabby a lot.

But I want Gabby to be
remembered for who she was,

that person
that just radiates light,

that loved nature and loved
to be adventurous.

I want people to know
there are people in her life

that miss her every day.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪