Brian Laundrie designed bookmarks covered in BLOOD and Gabby Petito tried selling them Depop before deadly road trip
BRIAN Laundrie designed bookmarks covered in blood that his fiancé Gabby Petito tried to sell online shortly before their ill-fated road trip across the US, from which only he returned.
Gabby, 22, whose body was found at a campsite in Teton County, Wyoming on September 19, listed the custom-made bookmarks for sale on her Depop page, , in February of this year.
Retailing for $5, the bookmarks came in a variety of designs, some of which feature birds, penguins, and even a shadowed outline of the Marvel Comics character Hellboy, a known favorite of Laundrie's.
Another of the designs, titled "Chuck Palahniuk custom", includes a stamp of two angels facing one another over a fountain. Overlayed on top of them is a bright pink lipstick mark.
The mark is seen placed inside Palahniuk's famed novel, Fight Club, which Laundrie frequently referenced in his artwork and on his social media pages.
Droplets of blood and red smudges are eerily seen splatted across the book and bookmark.
A second design, a black outline of a dead mockingbird, is also advertised for sale next to a copy of Palahniuk's horror-satire novel Lullaby, which Gabby and Brian spoke about reading during their doomed adventure.
All the items on Gabby's Depop page are listed as "SOLD", though it's unclear when those sales were made.
BRIAN'S 'STRANGE ART'
The 22-year-old van-life vlogger, who would be found strangled to death seven months later, also sold old clothes, headbands, and jewelry on her Depop page.
The designs of the bookmarks match similar images shared by Laundrie on his Instagram page, @bizarre_design.
In one post, from July 14, 2020, Laundrie uploaded a comic-book-style sketch of Brad Pitt's portrayal of Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club and quoted the character.
"Only after disaster can we be resurrected. It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything. Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart," he emulated.
Also shared on the page were original artworks depicting violence and other marcabre themes.
One such post, dated July 15, 2020, is captioned "Grim Reaper leading sheep to the slaughter" and shows a herd of sheep surrounded by ghoulish figures wielding scythes.
Some of the reapers have been carved into mousetraps and outlined in red.
A second work, uploaded a week earlier, shows what appears to be a man wearing a wolf mask, sitting in a chair and holding a blood-soaked knife, with red splatters up his arms and legs.
Behind the subject's head is a red circle, with three other animal mask-wearing figures holding guns and a bat.
'BAD FEELINGS BECOME VIOLENT MOTIFS'
Dr Orna Guralnik, a Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst from New York, analyzed his work and told The Sun: "Many people translate difficult feelings that they have inside to violent images."
"Many people translate bad feelings into violent motifs," she said.
“Then there can be people in the throes of various mental illnesses that can be kind of bombarded with violent images that are representations of how they feel inside.”
Laundrie was known to suffer from anxiety disorder, but has not been officially linked to other mental disorders.
Dr Guralnik said that she believes Laundrie killed his fiancée Gabby, revealing the 23-year-old was either “extremely sociopathic or mentally ill.”
The psychologist claimed that Brian displayed sociopathic during an encounter with the police in Moab, Utah, following a 911 call about a domestic violence incident between the pair on August 12.
“He knew how to play with the cops, he knew how to be charming," Guralnik said.
“Sociopaths are good at reading a certain aspect of their environment and creating a certain kind of ease and creating a certain vibe that helps them get away with whatever they need to get away with.”
Dr Guralnik believes a “particular, very small subset population will actually go and act on these images” and, based on the provided evidence and background information, said that Laundrie is classified in that small group.
QUESTIONS REMAIN
Specifically what happened between Gabby and Brian during their cross-country road trip is yet to be determined by investigators.
They had been around two months into their planned four-month cross-country road trip touring the US’ national parks before Gabby vanished sometime around August 27.
Brian quietly returned home to Florida alone on September 1, failing to alert police or Gabby’s family that she was missing.
Gabby was eventually reported missing by her mother in New York on September 11. That came after 10 days of allegedly being stonewalled by Brian and his parents about where her daughter was.
Brian then vanished himself on September 13, telling his parents he was going hiking in the Carlton Reserve. They described him as being "upset" and "out of sorts" when he left their home for the last time.
Six days later, on Sept. 19, Gabby's remains were found at a campsite near Grand Teton National Park.
A subsequent autopsy determined that she had been strangled to death by a "human force" around three to four weeks earlier.
PROBE CONTINUES
A five-week nationwide search for Laundrie then ensued. While he wasn't named as a suspect in her death a warrant was issued for his arrest on allegations of bank fraud.
That search came to an end on Wednesday after skeletal remains were found in Myakkahatchee Creek Park, which is adjacent to the Carlton Reserve, in Sarasota County, Florida.
Officials identified the remains as Laundrie's the following day.
The breakthrough in the investigation only came when Brian's parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, agreed to join police in a search of Myakkahatchee on October 20.
Despite ground units, helicopters, cadaver dogs, and drones scouring the park for more than a month, it took Chris and Roberta less than 90 minutes to find a dry bag and another item belonging to Brian at the side of a trail.
A cause and time of death have not yet been determined following an inconclusive autopsy last week.
A forensic pathologist is now investigating Brian's remains, which are believed to consist only of a partial human skull and bones.
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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