Brian Laundrie ‘forced Gabby Petito to say she was his fiancé’ and acted ‘strange’ at store ‘hours before she died’
BRIAN Laundrie "prompted" Gabby Petito to say she was engaged during an "odd" encounter at an Idaho ice cream shop shortly before she died, a store worker has claimed.
Sunny Mason, who works at Victor Emporium, just 30 miles from Grand Teton National Park, says she believes Gabby, 22, and Brian, 23, stopped by her store on either August 25 or August 26.
During Mason's alleged encounter with the couple, she said she remembered bonding with Gabby about the flower tattoo on the vlogger's left arm.
'STRANGE' BEHAVIOR
She says Gabby told her that she and her partner were on a road trip touring US national parks, with Yellowstone being their next stop.
But it was Brian's "strange" behavior that really stood out, Mason said.
Other store owners and workers have previously claimed to have interacted with the couple in the area at around the same time as Mason.
Last month the owner of Rustic Row in Victor, Idaho, said the couple also made a stop at their store on August 25 or August 26.
"They told me they were traveling from Florida," the owner, who wasn't named, told . "They had just been to Teton Park and they said they were interested in going to Yellowstone and I told them they could go to the west entrance."
The store owner added: "They seemed happy and when they left, she hollered back from the door that they were engaged and then I said congratulations."
She was eventually reported missing by her mother on September 11.
were then found at a campsite near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.
The manner of was ruled a homicide and coroner's revealed on Tuesday that she had been , which is otherwise referred to as throttling.
A tireless four-week search for Brian has so far failed to yield any concrete leads.
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Law enforcement has been focusing their efforts on the Carlton Reserve, while TV star Dog the Bounty Hunter has been conducting his own search in Fort De Soto Park, where Brian had gone camping with his parents before disappearing.
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