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GABBY Petito’s parents have revealed what they did with the van where their daughter spent her final days before her murder.
Gabby, 22, was traveling on a cross-country road trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie in their white van when she went missing, sparking a nationwide search in September 2021.
Her body was found weeks later at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. She was strangled to death by Laundrie.
Four years after her devastating murder, Joe Petito and his wife, Tara, have opened up about the aftermath of the tragedy.
“We crushed the van,” Joe told News Nation’s Brian Entin.
“We didn’t want the van to be out there, someone owning it and, ‘Here’s the van that Gabby was…’ you know.”
In a clip shared on X, Joe and Tara showed the memory cabinet in their living room of keepsakes from the van, including the gas tank and a sticker.
“Gabby loved her stickers,” Tara recalled, showing off a sticker from the Great Smoky Mountains.
Joe explained how he got the sticker off Gabby’s beloved white 2012 Ford Transit Connect van.
“We took a saw [to it] and cut it out,” he said.
Gabby spent her final days traveling the West Coast with Laundrie and documenting their van life together on her Instagram
But her glowing pictures and videos of the former couple’s travels didn’t reveal the darker truth behind their toxic relationship as Laundrie abused her physically and emotionally.
A glimpse at the abuse came to light when, a month after Gabby went missing, cops released bodycam footage from a domestic disturbance call after Laundrie was seen slapping Gabby in Moab, Utah, on August 12, 2021.
A brand new Netflix docuseries called American Murder: Gabby Petito investigates Gabby’s relationship with Laundrie.
The three-part series includes interviews with Gabby’s family and friends for the first time as the producers dove into the traveler’s final days.
FINAL MOMENTS
On August 27, 2021, which cops believe to be the last day of Gabby’s life, she was seen with Laundrie at around 1 pm at a restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming.
The new docuseries revealed the last text messages Gabby sent to Laundrie as he got into an explosive argument with their waitress.
Brian Laundrie’s family blasts docuseries
Brian Laundrie’s family has spoken out about the new docuseries examining their son and Gabby Petito’s troubled relationship. They told The U.S. Sun through their lawyer:
“The documentary was what we expected. One perspective depicted as the ‘truth’ as seen through their lens. Similar to Republicans and Democrats fighting it out lately. Each side believes their perspective is correct. Hard to see through the lens of the other with all the noise and distrust.
“To be clear though, there were no contradictions by my clients Chris and Roberta Laundrie. The documentary contained many inaccuracies, incorrect juxtapositions of timelines, and misstatements and omissions of fact – perhaps deliberate to capture their ‘truth,’ perhaps due to simple error.
“We all know Brian took Gabby’s life and Brian then took his own as well. Let the parents of both Gabby and Brian mourn them in peace.”
Her ex-boyfriend, Jackson Hufham, also revealed in the series that he missed a call from Gabby that day after she had made a vow to him that she would leave Laundrie just days earlier.
Gabby and Laundrie were seen on haunting security camera footage from a Whole Foods parking lot at around 2 pm inthe last time that Gabby was seen alive.
After their visit to Whole Foods, the former couple drove to their camping area in the Wyoming wilderness where Gabby’s body would be found weeks later.
At around 8:30 pm that night, Gabby rearranged files on her computer.
Cops believe these were her last moments alive before she was strangled to death.
Laundrie sparked suspicions when he returned to his Florida home in their van without Gabby after just over a month of what was supposed to be their four-month journey.
LAUNDRIE’S ABUSE
Documenting the cross-country adventure had been Gabby’s longtime dream as she saved up for the van by working at multiple jobs, including Taco Bell.
However, Laundrie belittled her Taco Bell job in text messages shown in the new docuseries.
He slammed Gabby’s co-workers as “low lives” and wrote that it was “disgusting” that she worked there.
Gabby Petito timeline
Gabby Petito, 22, was last seen on August 24, leaving a hotel in Utah. Here is a timeline of Gabby Petito’s disappearance:
- June 2021 – Gabby Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie set off on a cross-country trip across the US.
- July 4 – Gabby posts photos of herself barefoot in Gove County, Kansas.
- July 8 – Gabby posts photos of herself at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.
- July 18 – Gabby and Brian post photos of themselves at Utah’s Zion National Park.
- August 12 – Body camera footage was released in September showing an encounter Brian and Gabby had with police in Utah. Police confirmed that no significant injuries were reported.
- August 17 – Brian flies home to Florida to visit his parents, stock up on supplies, and close a storage unit.
- August 19 – Gabby and Brian post a video on their YouTube channel chronicling their trip.
- August 22 – Gabby texts her ex-boyfriend, Jackson.
- August 23 – Brian returns to meet Gabby in Salt Lake City.
- August 24 – Gabby is spotted leaving a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- August 25 – Gabby Facetimes her mom, Nichole Schmidt, for the final time. In a later police report, Schmidt said her conversations with her daughter revealed “more and more tension” between her and Brian.
- August 25 – Gabby also posts her last Instagram. No location is given.
- August 27 – Gabby messages Jackson for the final time.
- August 27 – Gabby is seen for the final time at a Whole Foods. Witnesses claim they saw Brian in an explosive argument with staff at a restaurant in Jackson Hole, leaving Gabby in tears.
- August 27 – Four hours later, travel bloggers driving through Grand Teton National Park drive past the couple’s van “abandoned” on a dirt road.
- September 1 – Brian returns home to Florida without Gabby.
- September 11 – Gabby’s parents report her missing to Suffolk County police.
- September 14 – Brian’s family issues a statement saying he has retained an attorney and will not be cooperating with investigators.
- September 14 – Brian is allegedly last seen by his family. He reportedly told them he was going hiking in Cartlon Reserve but failed to return.
- September 15 – Florida’s North Port police announce Brian is a person of interest in the case. He is not charged with any crime.
- September 16 – Utah police release body camera footage of the police encounter with Brian and Gabby.
- September 17 – Brian’s parents say they have not seen their son in a couple of days and report him missing.
- September 18 – Police announce they were searching Carlton Reserve in Florida for Brian. Police announce they have not found anything.
- September 19 – Authorities in Wyoming say they found a body in Grand Teton National Park. The FBI announces the body was believed to be Gabby’s but a full forensic identification needs to be completed first to confirm.
- September 20 – Police execute a search warrant on Laundrie’s home, seizing his silver Mustang and a hard drive that may contain “evidence relevant to proving that a felony has been committed.”
- September 21 – Officials announce they will be conducting an autopsy on the remains found in Wyoming to confirm whether or not they belong to Gabby. Police also resumed their search for Laundrie, this time on the Venice side of Carlton Reserve.
- September 21 – The FBI announced the body found in Wyoming was identified as Gabby’s. The cause of death was not yet revealed.
- September 21 – The Teton County Coroner’s office said Gabby’s official cause of death was still pending but the initial manner of death is homicide.
- September 22 – Police continue to scour Carlton Reserve for a trace of Laundrie but yield no leads. A specialist dive team is called in to assist with the hunt.
- September 23 – Officials announced a federal arrest warrant for Brian was issued.
- September 26 – Gabby’s funeral was held on Long Island, New York.
- October 12: Gabby’s autopsy results were made public. Teton County Coroner Dr Brent Blue confirmed Gabby died by strangulation.
- October 20: Laundrie’s personal items were found at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. A medical examiner was called to the scene.
- October 21: The FBI confirmed the remains found have been identified as Laundrie’s.
- November 23: Laundrie’s autopsy reveals he died from a gunshot wound to the head.
- January 21, 2022: The FBI released its final investigative statement on Gabby’s case. The statement said, “The investigation did not identify any other individuals other than Brian Laundrie directly involved in the tragic death of Gabby Petito.”
- October 1, 2022: The Gabby Petito Story premieres on Lifetime without the family’s approval.
- February 17, 2025 – American Murder: Gabby Petito premieres on Netflix.
The new docuseries also revealed what Laundrie really thought of vlogging and the van life in an interview with Gabby’s friend, Rose Davis.
Gabby said Laundrie thought her vlog idea was “stupid,” Davis said in the series.
“I think he was worried that the truth of everything would be on footage,” she added.
“There’s that possibility he says the wrong thing or reacts the wrong way while she’s recording.”
On October 20, 2021, Laundrie was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a park in Florida.
In a notebook found with his remains, Laundrie wrote a letter confessing he “ended” his fiancée’s life.
“We knew at that point we weren’t ever going to get remotely close to answers we were hoping for because the only two people that truly knew what happened are now both gone,” Petito’s stepfather, Jim Schmidt, said in the docuseries.
American Murder: Gabby Petito is available for streaming now on Netflix.
