Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito’s ‘wedding and baby Pinterest plans’ revealed before her strangulation death
GABBY Petito fantasized about her dream wedding and even thought about having a baby with her fiancé Brian Laundrie before she was strangled to death during the couple's cross-country road trip.
The 22-year-old vlogger had mapped out several design schemes and alfresco ideas for her nuptials on her Pinterest page in an album poignantly titled "Life goals".
The curated collection of images, which include photos of outdoor ceremonies and beachfront banquets, is shared with Brian Laundrie, his mother Roberta, and a fourth account by the name of "PinJunkeeMama".
A sub-folder within the album, titled "Oh Baby" and shared between the same four people, indicates that Gabby and Laundrie may have been planning to eventually have a child together.
That album includes images of mothers-to-be posing in the mirror with their baby bumps, children walking hand-in-hand through the sand, and crocheted outfit ideas for little girls.
Gabby and Brian got engaged in July last year and marked the milestone in a gushing Instagram post.
Her stepfather Jim Schmidt previously revealed that the couple had planned a small beach ceremony to tie the knot, however, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic thwarted their plans.
“Covid happened so they put [the wedding] on hold," Jim told Fox News last month. "They said they were going to live life.”
Ultimately, the couple decided to put their plans for marriage on the back burner and instead began planning what would later prove to be an ill-fated trip across the US, touring the country's national parks.
According to Gabby's mom, Nichole Schmidt, the pair also decided they were too young for marriage and opted to call off their engagement and went back to dating while plotting out their trip.
But still, Gabby and Brian's Pinterest pages show the couple did have plans for a future together before Petito's life was cut tragically short.
TRAGIC END
Her wedding album contains images of favorite ideas, invitation designs, potential venues, and even inspiration for photographs for her special day.
Gabby, who like Brian had a love for nature and the outdoors, also saved one pin of a banner that now reads with an ominous undertone.
"Two people in the woods is the start of a Fairytale," the banner says.
Just over a year after Gabby said yes to Brian's proposal, she would be found dead in a wooded area of a campsite in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park on September 19.
A subsequent autopsy found that the 22-year-old had been strangled to death by a "human force" and had been left lifeless in the wilderness for at least three to four weeks.
The culprit behind her murder has not yet been identified by police but Brian Laundrie, 23, is the sole person of interest in the case.
He returned home to Florida alone on September 1 and failed or alert police or Gabby's family about where she was.
Laundrie, who has been missing for over a month, is also wanted for fraud after he allegedly used a bank card belonging to Gabby and racked up charges of over $1,000 after she's believed to have already been killed.
Followers of the case have voiced their heartbreak that Gabby will never have the future she had mapped out for herself on social media.
"She wanted a wedding, a baby, she wanted to have a family & a future. You deserved better than this Gabby, so much better," one user commented on the page.
Another said: "Just absorbing the #GabbyPetito news thinking of everything she could have had in her life. A man that loves her with all her quirks. Her wedding day with him. Their children."
"The most beautiful young woman, just starting her life," a third added. "My heart hurts so badly for people I don't know on the other side of the world. She had all of her hopes and dreams ahead of her stolen."
BRIAN AT LARGE
As an investigation into Gabby's death continues, the FBI has launched a nationwide manhunt for Laundrie, asking for anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact them.
He vanished sometime around September 13 after allegedly telling his parents he was going hiking at Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County but failed to return.
Laundrie's parents initially told police he'd disappeared on Sept. 14 but later revised their account in a statement through their attorney after more than a week. They didn't report him missing for four days.
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His disappearance came two days after Gabby was first reported missing by her mother in New York and six days before her remains were found in Teton County.
A weeks-long search of Carlton Reserve has so far yielded no trace of him, though police activity inside the 24,000-acre park has increased in recent days.
A second search at Fort De Soto Park - where Laundrie went camping with his parents on Sept. 6 - is being carried out by Dog the Bounty Hunter but has so far proved equally as fruitless.
CAUTIONARY TALE
The couple's story, and Gabby's tragic death, have become a cautionary tale for the false projections so often shared on social media.
While from the outside Gabby and Brian appeared to be a couple very much in love, embarking on the trip of a lifetime, not all was what it seemed.
Police in Utah responded to a domestic violence report involving Petito and Laundrie in mid-August, just days before she was killed.
Police bodycam footage shows a distraught Petito saying she had had an altercation with Laundrie.
Speaking to an officer after their van was pulled over, Petito is seen crying and saying she struggles with mental health problems. She admitted Laundrie had hit her but only after she struck him first.
Laundrie, meanwhile, is seen smiling and laughing with cops in the clip. He tells the officers he didn't hit Gabby, rather that he had pushed her away in a bid to stop her from attacking him.
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At one stage in the video, he even fistbumps one of the officers.
The search for Laundrie continued into its fifth week on Tuesday.
Gabby Petito timeline
Gabby Petito, 22, was last seen on August 24, leaving a hotel in Utah. Here is a timeline of Gabby Petito's disappearance:
- June 2021 - Gabby Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie set off on a cross-country trip across the US.
- July 4 - Gabby posts photos of herself barefoot in Gove County, Kansas.
- July 8 - Gabby posts photos of herself at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.
- July 18 - Gabby and Brian post photos of themselves at Utah's Zion National Park.
- August 12 - Body camera footage was released in September showing an encounter Brian and Gabby had with police in Utah. Police confirmed that no significant injuries were reported.
- August 19 - Gabby and Brian post a video on their YouTube channel chronicling their trip.
- August 24 - Gabby is spotted leaving a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- August 25 - Gabby Facetimes her mom, Nichole Schmidt, for the final time. In a later police report, Schmidt said her conversations with her daughter revealed "more and more tension" between her and Brian.
- August 25 - Gabby also posts her last Instagram. No location is given.
- August 27 - Gabby is seen for what's believed to be the final time. Witnesses claim they saw Brian in an explosive argument with staff at a restaurant in Jackson Hole, leaving Gabby in tears.
- August 27 - Four hours later, travel bloggers driving through Grand Teton National Park drive past the couple's van "abandoned" on a dirt road.
- September 1 - Brian returns home to Florida without Gabby.
- September 11 - Gabby's parents report her missing to Suffolk County police.
- September 14 - Brian's family issues a statement saying he has retained an attorney and will not be cooperating with investigators.
- September 14 - Brian is allegedly last seen by his family. He reportedly told them he was going hiking in Cartlon Reserve but failed to return.
- September 15 - Florida's North Port police announce Brian is a person of interest in the case. He is not charged with any crime.
- September 16 - Utah police release body camera footage of the police encounter with Brian and Gabby.
- September 17 - Brian's parents say they have not seen their son in a couple of days and report him missing.
- September 18 - Police announce they were searching Carlton Reserve in Florida for Brian. Police announce they have not found anything.
- September 19 - Authorities in Wyoming say they found a body in Grand Teton National Park. The FBI announces the body was believed to be Gabby's but a full forensic identification needs to be completed first to confirm.
- September 20 - Police execute a search warrant on Laundrie's home, seizing his silver Mustang and a hard drive that may contain "evidence relevant to proving that a felony has been committed."
- September 21 - Officials announce they will be conducting an autopsy on the remains found in Wyoming to confirm whether or not they belong to Gabby. Police also resumed their search for Laundrie, this time on the Venice side of Carlton Reserve.
- September 21 - The FBI announced the body found in Wyoming was identified as Gabby's. The cause of death was not yet revealed.
- September 21 - The Teton County Coroner's office said Gabby's official cause of death was still pending but the initial manner of death is homicide.
- September 22 - Police continue to scour Carlton Reserve for a trace of Laundrie but yield no leads. A specialist dive team is called in to assist with the hunt.
- September 23 - Officials announced a federal arrest warrant for Brian was issued.
- September 26 - Gabby's funeral was held on Long Island, New York.
- October 12: Gabby's autopsy results were made public. Teton County Coroner Dr Brent Blue confirmed Gabby died by strangulation.
- October 20: Laundrie's personal items were found at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. A medical examiner was called to the scene.
- October 21: The FBI confirmed the remains found have been identified as Laundrie's.
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