On Sunday, what is supposed to be Instagram adventurer Gabby Petito (22), was found dead in Teton in the USA. Her mother responded to a series of suspicious text messages ahead of the disappearance.
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On Monday, the FBI broke into the house where Petito and his girlfriend Brian Laundrie (23) lived with Laundrie’s parents. It reports CNN.
Pictures from the driveway at the couple’s house show FBI investigators carrying boxes of boxes of evidence from the property. They have also towed away Laundrie’s car – a Ford Mustang.
TOWED AWAY: Brian Laundrie’s car is confiscated by the FBI.
1 of 3Foto: Octavio Jones / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
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Petito was reported missing on September 11 – after she and her boyfriend had gone on a long car trip in the US which they documented on Instagram for their hundreds of thousands of followers.
The search warrant was obtained by the police by referring to a number of suspicious text messages Gabby Petito’s mother had received.
According to Reuters, the mother said that on August 27 she received a message from her daughter’s telephone number, in which she described that she had received several calls and voice messages from “Stan”, who is Petito’s grandfather.
She responded to the message, as the daughter usually ages mentioned the grandfather by first name.
In the last text message the family received from Petito’s phone number on August 30, it was written: “No coverage in Yosemite”.
–––STOPPED BY POLICE: Gabby Petito talks to a police officer after she and her boyfriend were stopped in Moab, Utah on August 12. Now she must have been found dead.
1 of 2Foto: The Moab Police Department
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Come back alone – have found remains
Brian Laundrie returned alone to their home in North Port, Florida, on September 1, ten days before Petito was reported missing.
But on Friday last week, he was also reported missing, and the FBI launched a search operation for him in a nature reserve in Florida. His family says they have not seen him since Tuesday.
He still does not have the status of a suspect in the case, but the FBI describes him as a “person of interest”. The Petito family claims he is not missing, but that he has gone into hiding.
MAJOR SEARCH: Police in North Port, Florida are searching for Brian Laundrie in the Carlton Reservation.
1 of 3Foto: North Port Police Department
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The car the two were traveling in together, a white Ford, was found parked outside their home.
It was Sunday that a dead person, who the FBI believes is Petito, was found in a forest in the municipality of Teton in the state of Wyoming, northwestern USA.
The FBI has so far not established 100 percent that it is Petito – and on Tuesday the autopsy of the body will be carried out to confirm the identity.
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–––CAR: This car was carrying the remains that were found Sunday in Teton, Wyoming.
1 of 2Foto: Amber Baesler / AP
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At the same time, the police in North Port in Florida have largely confirmed that it is the missing Instagram adventurer.
– We are sorry and devastated to hear that Gabby has been found dead. Our focus from the beginning has been to get her home, North Port police wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
Petito’s father, Joe, also shared a message on Twitter, in which he wrote that she “touched the world”.
According to the FBI, Monday’s search of the house took place in connection with the Petito case. Laundrie’s parents were also questioned after the search.
The FBI removed several items from the home, and a Ford Mustang was also towed away.
Laundrie refused to speak to investigators before disappearing. And on Monday, a North Fort police spokesman said the investigation had shifted focus after searching the entire nature reserve.
Crying in released video
On Friday, the police released a video from the body camera of an officer. It shows that on August 12, the couple was stopped by police in the state of Utah. The police had received a report from a witness about a possible episode of domestic violence in the car.
In the car, Petito cried uncontrollably, but the police were informed that he had not beaten her. Both are said to have told the police that they were “in love, engaged and did not want to see anyone charged with anything criminal”.
At the same time, Brian Laundrie is said to have told the police that it was emotionally stressful for the couple to have traveled together for so long. At that time, they had been traveling for four to five months.
Police in Moab, Utah, where the incident took place, concluded that it probably had not escalated to violence in close relationships, reported Reuters.
The most important dates in the case
This is what we know about the couple’s road trip:
July: Petito and Laundrie travel on a road trip from her hometown of Long Island, New York. By then, they had first driven up there from Florida. According to the BBC the trip was to last for four months.
12. august: The couple is stopped by police in the city of Moab in the state of Utah. A witness had reported that they had seen something that was a possible incident of violence in the car. The couple tells police that they have been arguing, but that no one has been violent.
24. august: Petito talks to his mother on video chat. She says they travel on from Utah to Teton, Wyoming.
25. august: Petito shares her latest post on Instagram: “Happy Halloween”, she writes, while posing with a pumpkin.
27. august: Petito and his mother send text messages to each other. The family thinks she was in Teton.
30. august: The family receives a recent message from Gabby Petito’s phone number: “No coverage in Yosmite”, which is the name of a national park in California – 130 miles south-east of Teton, where she is said to have been found dead. The Petito family does not think it was Gabby who sent this message.
1. september: Brian Laundrie comes home to North Port, Florida in the couple’s RV.
11. september: Petito’s family in New York reports her missing, since they do not get in touch with her.
14. september: Laundrie’s family says this is the last time they see him. Now he is also missing.
19. september: A dead person is found in Teton, Wyoming. The FBI says the finding is consistent with Petito, but that they can not give a 100 percent confirmation until the autopsy is completed.
20. september: Police are searching the Laundrie family’s home in North Port.