This is how the FBI finally found Gabby Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie after their deaths

The new American Muder documentary on Netflix has reignited interest in Gabby Petito‘s tragic death. Her body was found on 19th September 2021, about three or four weeks after her fiancé Brian Laundrie killed her. Here is an explanation of how the FBI eventually found Gabby Petito’s remains in Wyoming, and Brian Laundrie’s body in Florida.

Where was Gabby Petito’s body found?

The national park in Wyoming

So, Gabby Petito’s family became worried when Brian returned home on 1st September, but Gabby didn’t. They reported her missing ten days later. The FBI started an investigation on 12th September. She and Brian Laundrie were last seen together on 27th August at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. A search team combed the area.

They found human remains on 19th September, very close to where she and Brian camped. Two days later, it was officially confirmed that the body belonged to Gabby. The coroner’s office said she died of “blunt-force injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation”. It is believed she died about three or four weeks before her body was found.

Gabby Petito’s family and friends later visited the place where her body was found. It is believed they scattered her ashes there. Gabby’s mother Nichole Schmidt said in the Netflix documentary: “You could feel her presence and her spirit there.”

It took a while longer for people to find Brian Laundrie’s body

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The FBI started looking for Brian Laundrie nearly straight away. The investigation into Brian’s whereabouts took much longer than the search for Gabby Petito’s body.  Investigators realised he’d used Gabby’s credit card without permission while he was driving back from Wyoming to Florida. He’d also sent texts to Gabby’s phone. His family hadn’t seen him after 13th September.

Journalists outside Brian Laundrie’s family’s house
(Image by Dmaiolo, via Creative Commons)

On 15th September, investigators traced Brian’s car to Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in the North Port area of Florida – a place he visited a lot. Police dogs and drones searched the area of Brian, but didn’t find anything. The nature reserve was partially flooded, and difficult to search.

By 20th October, the water levels in the park had gone down. The park was reopened. Brian’s parents and law enforcers found an item belonging to Brian. Later that day, his body was found along with a gun, a bag and the notebook in which Brian wrote about Gabby’s death.

The autopsy couldn’t determine straightaway what the cause of Brian’s death was. A month later, a forensic anthropologist identified he’d died after shooting himself in the head.

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Featured image via YouTube.