What happened to Gabby Petito? When did she go missing? Here's the Timeline

On Monday, the frantic search for the missing 22-year-old Gabby Petito, a US blogger who mysteriously went missing on a cross-country trip with her 23-year-old fiancé  Brian Laundrie, came to conclusion after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that they discovered a body on the scene of Moran Vista camping area of the Wyoming park "consistent" with the description of the girl whose case of disappearance rocked the United States. Although, in a press release, the FBI noted that the investigation was still ongoing and that the identification had yet to be obtained. 

Petito, who had documented her road trip with Laundrie, was last seen in Grand Teton National Park in late August. She spoke with her mother, Nicole Schmidt on 25 August, and the family later filed a missing person’s report on 11 September, according to several reports. Petitio’s fiancé, Laundrie, who had returned home alone driving her van on 11 September from the couple's week-long trip, had also gone missing in one of the most complex and bizarre missing person cases.

Here’s a timeline of the famous social media influencer Gabby Petito’s disappearance

The 22-year-old YouTuber and Instagram influencer Gabby Petito, a resident of Suffolk County, New York, went missing in late August during her van road trip to the West Coast and visit state national parks with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. Laundrie and Petito were engaged in July 2020 but the engagement was called off. She went missing on 24 August. The resident of North Port, Florida, had headed for their cross country road trip from Big Apple on 2 July in Petito’s Ford Transit van and had decided to make it to a friend’s home for the destination in Portland, Oregon.

Moab City Police Department released footage from 12 August, just less than a month before Petito was reported missing by her family.  In the "domestic incident” visuals, emotional Petito was seen talking to a cop after the couple’s van was pulled over near a grocery store in the city, about 140 miles southeast of Provo. Petito was seen crying as she told the responding officer she had OCD and struggled with her mental health. “I’m sorry," Petito said, as the officer interrogated the reason for her emotional breakdown. 

[This screen grab from a video provided by the Moab Police Department shows Gabrielle Petito talking to an officer near the entrance to Arches National Park in Utah, Aug. 12, 2021. Credit: AP]

"We’ve just been fighting this morning. Some personal issues,” she said about her fiancee Brian Laundrie. The latter had scratches on his face, and he responded: "She had her phone and was trying to get the keys from me. I said, "Let's just step back and breathe,and she got me with her phone." The couple had gotten into a fight. 

But despite physical altercation, and argument, "both the male and female reported they are in love and engaged to be married and desperately didn't wish to see anyone charged with a crime," a report from officer Eric Pratt stated. 

Towards the end of August, the family received last text messages from Gabby Petito, and Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt last spoke with her daughter. On 24 August, Petito FaceTimed with her mother as she informed that she would be leaving Utah for the Teton range in Wyoming.

Her last post on Instagram documenting her journey was dated 25 August where she was seen in front of a mural of monarch butterflies in Ogden, Utah. Petito's was last seen in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. "She had earlier maintained regular contact with her family members during her travels,” North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said in a Thursday news briefing, last week. Petito exchanged texts with her mother and the family believed that she was in the Tetons at the time. 

Petito went missing in the last days of the month of August and her fiancee was labeled a "person of interest" in the case. Her last established location was Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, police said at a presser. Petito family attorney Richard Stafford, in a statement, said that  the family's last communication with Petito was 30 August as they received a final message that read, "No service in Yosemite.” But the mother doubts whether the message was typed by Petito herself, according to the police’s statement. 

[Brian Laundrie is a person of interest. Credit: AP]

On 1 September, Petito’s fiancee Launderie returned alone to the couple's North Port home driving her white van. North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor said at a news briefing that his parents lived in the same home and the reason he travelled back alone remained unclear but the authorities found “some material" in Petito’s van. 

On 11 September, failing to establish contact with their daughter, Petito’s family that lives in New York reported her missing to the Suffolk County, New York, Police Department by evening. Police headed to Laundrie's home demanding to speak with him and his family but the family refused to co-operate saying, “We were essentially handed the information for their attorney," Taylor, the police spokesperson told a news briefing. "That is the extent of our conversation with them,” he said. 

Petito's family attorney, on 16 Septembe requested Laundrie's family to help in the investigation to find Petito and bring her home. "Please, if you or your family have any decency left, please, tell us where Gabby is located,” cop Stafford said reading the letter at the presser. “All we want is for Gabby to come home. Please help us make that happen,” the family requested. 

On 17 September, Launderie, Petito’s fiancee went missing. Local and federal authorities launched a search mission. He is a person of interest in Gabby's disappearance, but not wanted for the crime, according to the police. 

On 18 September, 50 law enforcement officers from five local agencies and the FBI were roped into the investigation, as they deploy K9 dogs for ground surveys in Grand Teton National Park where Petito was last seen. 

[North Port Police Department, law enforcement officials conduct a search of the vast Carlton Reserve in the Sarasota, Fla., area for Brian Laundrie on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. Credit: AP]

On 19 September, the FBI found human remains in Teton County, Wyoming, which the officers said are "consistent with the description of" missing 22-year-old Petito at a news conference.