A documentary looking into the murder of Gabby Petito reveals the moment law enforcement found the 22-year-old's body.
Titled American Murder: Gabby Petitio, the new three-part series debuted on Netflix today (February 17).
It's been over four years since Gabby died, having sparked concern in August 2021 when she stopped communicating with her parents.
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Gabby and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, embarked on a cross-country trip via van a month prior to her disappearance.
The content creator hoped to carve a career for herself as a blogger and YouTuber by documenting their travels, but her hopes and dreams were grounded to a sudden halt.
While traveling with Brian, Gabby was in frequent contact with her parents back in New York. However, her mother, Nichole Schmidt, became increasingly concerned about her daughter's welfare after not hearing from her for several days.
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Nichole went on to report Gabby as missing on September 11. The budding blogger was last seen in CCTV footage taken at a Whole Foods in Jackson, Wyoming, on August 27.
Fast forward to September 19, and Gabby's body was found at the Spread Creek camping area in Wyoming.
An FBI Special Agent from the Denver division, who was simply named as Kyle in the American Murder: Gabby Petitio, recalled the day Gabby's body was discovered.
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"She was laying on her side," said Kyle. "She was wrapped up in a sweater. The last time we had confirmation that Gabby was alive was on August 27. We didn't find her until September 19.
"Between that timeframe, we believed she'd been in that same position [by Spread Creek]."
Going on to share harrowing details of how she was found, Kyle continued to divulge in the Netflix documentary: "In front of her was a burn scar on the ground as if somebody had tried to light a small fire, but we didn't find any fire starting materials.
"Her boots were off and they were next to her body, and next to that fire. She was not laying in a natural position."
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The sight led authorities to one chilling conclusion, as Kyle said: "It appeared to investigators at that time that the crime scene had been staged."
A coroner went on to rule that Gabby's death was a homicide as a result of blunt force trauma and manual strangulation.
It was later revealed that Brian was the one to have killed her, something he admitted to in a penned message in a notebook.
In the chilling confession, he alleged that Gabby fell into a stream at the camp site and that she'd hurt herself in the process.
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"Her feet hurt, her [wrist] hurt but she was freezing, shaking violently," part of the confession read.
"While carrying her she continually made sounds of pain. Laying next to her she said little, [lapsing] between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain. She would fall asleep and I would shake her awake, fearing she shouldn’t close her eyes if she had a concussion."
It went on: "I don’t know the extend of Gabby’s injuries, only that she was in extreme pain. I ended her life, I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted but I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked, I was in shock. But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her."
Gabby's family never got justice for her death as Brian went on to take his own life before he could be arrested.
His body was discovered in the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Florida, on October 21, 2021.
American Murder: Gabby Petitio is now streaming on Netflix.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence 24 hours a day to the national domestic violence helpline on 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) 24/7. You can find a list of local resources here.
Topics: Gabby Petito, Netflix, True crime, Documentaries, Film and TV
Niamh Shackleton