Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie‘s high-profile deaths from late 2021 started out as a missing case. The former, a 22-year-old van-life vlogger, and her fiancé, Laundrie, embarked on a cross-country trip in June of that same year.
Disclaimer: The article contains mentions of murder and suicide. Readers’ discretion is advised.
By September, Laundrie returned to his Florida home alone following which Petito’s family reported her missing. Later that same month, police found her remains and a medical examiner confirmed that she was strangled to death.
Prior to the discovery, detectives were looking into Laundrie as a person of interest in her missing case. However, the suspect himself disappeared at the time. They found his remains, along with other key evidence including a notebook, in October at Carlton Reserve in Florida. He reportedly died by suicide of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Moreover, his notebook revealed a written confession in which he claimed responsibility for Petito’s murder.
Gabby Petito’s autopsy: How did she die and where was her body found?
According to CBS News, authorities revealed that they found Gabby Petito’s remains near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19, 2021. They made the discovery more than a month after her family official reported the 22-year-old missing. By October of that year, a medical examiner determined that she died by stragulation. The truth eventually surfaced after Brian Laundrie’s body was discovered along with incriminating evidence.
The outlet reported that law enforcement considered Laundrie, the fiancé, a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance. But he also disappeared a couple of days later. They found his remains at Carlton Reserve in Florida in October, following a weeks-long manhunt. FBI reports confirmed that other evidence found alongside the 23-year-old’s remains included his notebook with a written confession in it.
In his confession, Brian Laundrie claimed responsibility for Gabby Petito’s death. People Magazine reported that the note said, “I ended her life.” He allegedly thought that “it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but 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.”
The high-profile case remains one of the most talked about murder-suicide of contemporary history.