What to know
Gabby Petito and her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip in the summer of 2021. Gabby, a budding influencer, planned to vlog about living in the van and her grand adventures with Laundrie. They took off from Blue Point, New York on July 2, but the trip was anything but magical.
Instead, Laundrie killed Gabby and left her body in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. Laundrie took off in her van and headed back home to Florida. He claimed Gabby disappeared and would not cooperate with the investigation.
After authorities found her on September 21, Laundrie ran away. They found his skeletal remains on October 20 and a notebook that connected him to her death. Five years later, Gabby’s stepmother says she should have known Laundrie could hurt Gabby.
Gabby’s stepmother claims Laundrie abused the young woman.
Tara Petito told Criminally Obsessed that Laundrie was a walking red flag for a long time before the 22-year-old’s tragic death. She explained that Laundrie used emotional and mental abuse to control Gabby. Tara co-signed on a car for Gabby in 2018, but soon after she met Laundrie, she stopped making the payments.
“I always thought abuse was physical. I didn’t realize that there were many forms of abuse, one being financial, and I didn’t realize there was something going on deeper. So, I never asked her, ‘Is there something else going on? Why are you not making the payments?'” Tara explained.
Laundrie allegedly wanted nothing to do with Gabby’s family.
Tara said she and Gabby’s dad, Joe, visited Gabby and Laundrie in Florida before their van trip began. Tara recalled spending nearly two weeks and having very little contact with Laundrie. He reportedly avoided them, which, looking back, feels very suspicious to Tara.
“I don’t know how many conversations that I’ve had with Brian. I never met him when they were in high school together. Before they went on their first road trip, I met him a couple times, but they weren’t dating,” Tara recalled.
She said that Gabby and Laundrie moved to Florida not long after their first road trip together, and she didn’t really speak to him after that.
Gabby’s family had no idea how serious their relationship became.
Tara told Criminally Obsessed that, unlike many parents who know their children’s partners and plans, she and Joe were blindsided by Gabby’s engagement to Laundrie. According to Tara, it felt as if Laundrie didn’t care at all about what Gabby’s family thought of him or their relationship. He seemed to want all the control over Gabby.
“He did not ask her father for her hand in marriage. I found out through a Facebook post by his mother. That’s weird. I confronted Gabby. I asked her about it, and she got very standoffish and weird about even trying to talk about it. And I think that was another missed opportunity where I probably could have asked and been there for her a little bit more,” Tara said.
She added that she had an opportunity to speak up then, but she didn’t. Instead, it took Gabby’s death to realize how wrong things really were right in front of her eyes.
It’s the pieces of a puzzle that you just don’t want to see. And now I know he was financially abusing her. Then he was love bombing her,” Tara admitted.
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