Gabby Petito, 22, and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Brian Landry, traveled to the United States together in July. In early September, the young man returned home alone and refuses to tell the police about what happened. Gabby’s family wants answers and believes Brian is responsible for their daughter’s disappearance.
Gabby Petito was last seen on 24 August leaving her hotel in Salt Lake City. Traveling the roads of North America in a van, the couple shared their impressions on social media until there were no updates. The girl regularly spoke to her mother on the phone until she contacted her via text messages.
“I don’t know if it was technically her or not, because it was just text. I didn’t speak to her verbally, ”Nicole Schmidt, Gabby’s mother, told CBS News.
According to family members, Gabby last contacted her parents in late August when the couple was in the Grand Teton National Park area in Wyoming.
Unexpectedly, Brian Landry returned home on September 1, ten days before the girl’s family reported missing, hired a lawyer and refused to speak to investigators with his family. The van the couple was traveling in returned with their boyfriend and had already been detained by the authorities for analysis.
According to CNN, the Petito family contacted Brian and his family separately for information that could help authorities find the girl.
“We believe that you [pais de Brian] Know where Brian left Gabby. We ask you to inform us. As parents, how can you let us get through this pain and not help us? “They began with questions.” Please, if you still have any decency, let us know where Gabby is. Let us know if we are really looking for a suitable place, ”the parents of the 22-year-old asked in an open letter addressed to the parents of the laundry.
The investigation is in the hands of North Port Police in conjunction with the FBI, which revealed Wednesday that Brian has been formally identified as a “person of interest” in the case.
“We share the frustration with the world,” North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said Thursday. “Two people arrived, only one returned, and the one who returned does not give us any information about what happened,” he concluded.
Neither Brian nor his family members will make “further comments” according to a statement released by the family’s attorney. Stephen Bertolino also stated that the young man is only “exercising his constitutional rights” and therefore will not speak.
the couple had a falling out during the trip
On August 12, Utah police responded to a report of domestic violence involving Petito and Laundry.
At the time, authorities said the couple was with a witness who witnessed physical confrontations following an altercation. Crying, the 22-year-old admitted that she had mental health problems and therefore tried to attack her boyfriend.
However, “both said they were in love and were about to get married, and that they did not want either of them to be charged with a crime,” police officer Daniel Robbins wrote in the report. At the suggestion of the police at the scene, the couple broke up overnight, but Gabrielle was “confused and agitated.”
“After assessing the circumstances, I don’t think the situation has escalated into a level of domestic violence or a mental health crisis,” said Daniel Robbins. Therefore, the police decided that no charges would be brought.
The search for Gabby Petitio is centered in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, the last location a young woman is believed to have visited.
A page has also been created on the GoFundMe platform to help families find, pay investigators, and pay travel expenses. So far, the family has managed to raise more than 20 thousand euros.
The case attracts a lot of media attention in the United States of America because of its contours.
