Inside the disturbing Reddit obsession and theories about Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie

The Gabby Petito case has seen new light thanks to Netflix’s new documentary series, but back in 2021 when the story first broke, the internet was flooded with conspiracy theories ranging from Gabby being an actress to Brian Laundrie faking his death.

In August 2021 Gabby disappeared on a road trip with her boyfriend and was reported as missing in September. Her body was discovered in the same month as Brian fled authorities, with his body later being discovered in October after dying from suicide.

“I don’t know the extent of Gabby’s ingerys [sic] only that she was in extreme pain,” Brian wrote in a suicide note. “I ended her life, I thought 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.”

When the story initially captured attention across the globe, Reddit, Twitter, and other platforms such as Telegram became rife with concerning conspiracy theories. Naturally, with the launch of Netflix’s new project, those same conspiracy theories have started to be unearthed and they are ludicrous.

1. QAnon nutjobs claimed Gabby Petito was an actress

Back in September 2021, numerous publications reported an uptick in Gabby Petito conspiracy theories from the far-right movement known as QAnon. Predominantly posting on Telegram where rules and restrictions are looser, these people claimed that Gabby – and by extension the entire story – was fabricated.

“Somethings not right about this whole situation… this is clearly Black Ops to cover for Biden failures. Was he ever real? Is SHE? Another false flag right before the audits,” posted one person on Telegram, according to Yahoo.

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In the same article, conspiracy theorists on the GhostEzra Telegram channel claimed that the case was created by the FBI to distract people from Joe Biden stealing Donald Trump’s presidency.

“This whole case was nothing but an FBI distraction, literally on every news channel,” one person said.

2. Some people claimed Gabby was sending secret messages

“STAN” – Send The Authorities Now 🤔

— Sandy (@Sandy67749381) January 2, 2023

Around the same time, we learned how Gabby sent a text to her mother on August 27 that read: “Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls.”

The search warrant revealed that Gabby was referring to her grandfather, which her mother said was strange because she never called him Stan, but others claimed the name was an acronym standing for “Send The Authorities Now.”

3. Others believed Brian Laundrie had faked his death

During the search for Brian Laundrie’s remains the police employed everything from sniffer dogs to drones to hunt him down. They found no success, but after the area was open to the public again, his family discovered his body just 45 minutes into the search. This sparked conspiracy theories that Brian had faked his death with help from family, something some still believe to this day.

“Why wasn’t there a gun found near Brian Laundrie? If the cause of death was suicide, the gun should be within arms reach of the remains. It can’t just get up and walk away or be tied to a rock to sink,” one person questioned on Reddit.

Another said: “He could have removed a tooth, given it to his parents, and they dropped it where they ‘allegedly’ found his backpack and notebook and bones. Weird.”

In reality, the area’s flooding had prevented the discovery of Brian’s body.

4. A banned Reddit page accused Gabby of being a white supremacist

According to Yahoo, the now-banned subreddit FriendsofBrian hosted a bunch of conspiracy theories around the devastating murder of Gabby. Before the page was taken down there were reportedly many posts about Gabby being a white supremacist and physically abusive.

“Brian Laundrie is a victim of domestic abuse who is being unfairly maligned in the court of woefully uninformed public opinion,” the subreddit’s description read, referencing the police body camera footage. “This community is dedicated to seeing that Brian receives the treatment that he is entitled to by the Constitution of the United States of America, which is innocence until guilt is proven.”

Another line said: “Did Gabby assault Brian because he was Hispanic?”

5. Gabby Petito actually died from Covid

On the same Reddit page, other people claimed that Gabby had died from Covid-19, or worse, the vaccine. She’d actually died from strangulation, the coroner confirmed.

6. People are still suggesting that Brian killed Gabby over an ex-boyfriend

With the release of the Netflix docuseries, the Gabby Petito case has been given new light and millions of new eyes. Even now, people are still putting together what they think to be realistic theories.

Just this week, one person wrote on Reddit: “Perhaps he found out Gabby was Snapchatting & calling her ex and his ego couldn’t handle it. The fact there’s a missed call from her on the day she disappeared could be one. Brian called from her phone to confront Jackson about the talk they had Two. Gabby calls while Brian listens to hear the nature of the convo three. Her calling on her own as a way of reaching for help. Unfortunately, this call was never connected to find out for sure.

“Just seems to be the simplest explanation. Brian finds out his gf is talking to her ex during their coupley van life trip, and confronts her about it. An argument ensues, and we all know what happened.”

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