Body found, fiance gone, last moments … We summarize the Gabby Petito affair, who disappeared during a road trip in the United States – Nice-Matin

But what happened to Gabby Petito? This is the question that has shaken the United States for ten days, as new developments come to complicate the matter.

A road trip in a van

The 22-year-old influencer, originally from Florida, left last July with her fiancé Brian Laudrie, 23, for a road trip that was to last four months across the United States.

But on September 1, Brian Laudrie returned to Florida alone at the wheel of the van.

The latter does not give news of Gabby. The family of the young woman decides on September 11 to report her disappearance to the authorities.

Police said the young man did “not shown willingness to answer the investigators’ questions” and “did not provide useful information. “

It is then declared “worthy of interest for investigation“.

Runaway on social networks

The mystery surrounding the circumstances of the young woman’s disappearance does not take long to capture the attention of the media and Internet users across the country.

Accounts Instagram, TikTok, Twitter get excited about the case and try to conduct the investigation on their own by studying the various videos, photos, statements, as well as by scanning the young couple’s social networks.

The hashtag #gabbypetito soon counts thousands of occurrences and the Instagram account of the young woman garners hundreds of thousands of new followers in just a few days: as of Tuesday, they were 936,000 following her.

Marital dispute during the trip

The couple are in Moab, Utah, when police are called on August 12. A witness allegedly saw Brian slap Gabby.

The video of the intervention, available here, shows Gabby Petito in tears as Brian Laurie explains how the altercation went.

Gabby claims to have “OCD”, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, which causes her outbursts of anger.

The circumstances of the argument are unclear, Brian showing the officers scuff marks on his hands.

The police decide to separate the couple for the night by taking Brian to a hotel while the two protagonists regain their calm.

A body found

On August 25, the young woman posted her last photo on Instagram and made her last phone call to her mother.

Gabby Petito was then in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

After the report of his disappearance on September 11, a body was found Sunday, September 19 in the search area established by investigators.

At a press conference, the FBI first announces that the body corresponds to the description of the young woman.

Gabby’s father pays tribute to his daughter the next day by posting a photo of the young woman posing in front of angel wings painted on a wall.

An autopsy should determine the causes of his death.

Disappearance of Brian Laudrie

Silent since his return to Florida, Brian Laudrie, considered by the police as a person “worthy of interest” in the disappearance of Gabby Petito, disappears in turn on September 17th.

It was his parents who sounded the alert to the authorities, claiming that they had not seen their son since September 14.

Gabby Petito’s best friend, meanwhile says in an interview with DailyMail that the young man was jealous, even going so far as to steal the identity card of the young woman to prevent her from joining her in a bar.

Gabby told him about “episodes” in which Brian Laudrie said he heard voices and could not sleep.

Brian Laudrie’s parents’ house is searched, a Mustang is taken along with several other objects.

According to the young man’s parents, he was last seen leaving their home with a backpack, heading for the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County.

Police are currently searching for him.

The curious messages of Gabby Petito

“No network in YosemiteThis is one of the last texts Gabby Petito’s mother received from her daughter. It was August 30.

However, it was in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming that the young woman was last seen, a 15-hour drive away.

In another message also sent to her mother, Gabby writes: “Can you help Stan. I keep getting missed calls and messagesStan is Gabby’s grandfather. But she never calls him that, after her mother.

Would Brian Laundrie have written these messages? This is one of the many theories surrounding the young woman’s disappearance.

Many Internet users are also wondering if the last photo published on Gabby Petito’s Instagram account is of her making, the caption and the words used do not correspond to what the young woman usually posts.