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Sinister Betrayals | “48 Hours" Full Episodes
48 Hours's 2-hour breakdown, the fullest single telling on file.
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What happened
Gabrielle "Gabby" Venora Petito, a 22-year-old travel vlogger from Blue Point, New York, disappeared on or around August 27, 2021, while traveling in a converted camper van with her fiancé, Brian Christopher Laundrie, on a planned four-month cross-country trip that began July 2, 2021. On September 19, 2021, human remains matching her description were found in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area of Wyoming's Bridger–Teton National Forest. An autopsy determined the manner of death was homicide caused by blunt-force injuries to the head and neck combined with manual strangulation, and estimated the death occurred three to four weeks before the remains were found.
Prior to her death, an August 12, 2021 domestic disturbance incident in Moab, Utah drew police attention: a 911 caller reported seeing a man later identified as Laundrie strike a woman later identified as Petito. Body camera footage showed Petito distressed and crying during the subsequent traffic stop; officers characterized the episode as a mental health crisis rather than domestic violence, and no arrests were made. Witnesses later described further arguments between the couple in Wyoming in the days before Petito was last seen alive, including at a Jackson Hole restaurant and in security footage from a Whole Foods store on August 27, which is the last known footage of Petito alive.
Laundrie returned to his parents' home in North Port, Florida, alone in the van on September 1, 2021, and, on the advice of a family attorney, declined to discuss Petito's whereabouts with investigators. Petito's mother filed a missing person report on September 11, and Laundrie was named a person of interest on September 15. On September 23, the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming issued an arrest warrant against Laundrie for unauthorized use of Petito's debit card. Laundrie had already left his family's home on September 13 and was reported missing by his parents on September 17.
On October 20, 2021, skeletal remains identified as Laundrie's, along with some belongings, were discovered in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida. An autopsy could not immediately determine cause of death, but on November 23, 2021, a forensic anthropologist concluded Laundrie died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
On January 21, 2022, the FBI announced that a notebook found near Laundrie's remains contained an entry in which he admitted to killing Petito and to sending deceptive text messages afterward to suggest she was still alive. In June 2022, Laundrie's family attorney released the full notebook text, in which Laundrie claimed Petito had been injured after falling into water and that he "ended her life," describing the act as merciful; experts have said this account does not match investigators' findings.
The case prompted extensive civil litigation, including a $3 million wrongful death award against Laundrie's estate in November 2022, a settled lawsuit by Petito's parents against Laundrie's parents and their attorney (settled February 2024), and a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department, which a judge dismissed in November 2024 on governmental immunity grounds, though the dismissal is under appeal.
