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Gabby Petito’s tragic story captivated the world.
What began as a suspicious disappearance soon confirmed everyone’s worst suspicions: a horrific murder.
Soon, a manhunt began for her abusive fiance, Brian Laundrie. When authorities found his body, they also recovered a confession to the heinous act.
But the world had unanswered questions. The new Netflix documentary, American Murder: Gabby Petito, managed to answer some of them.
‘American Murder: Gabby Petito’ delves into a violent tragedy
In August 2021, Brian Laundrie murdered Gabby Petito. The two had been documenting their “van life” on a prolonged trip. Gabby’s smiling photos with beautiful backdrops did not reveal the escalating violence that the man she loved was inflicting upon her.
Netflix’s American Murder: Gabby Petito delves beyond Gabby’s disappearance and the eventual discovery of her remains in Bridger-Teton National Forest the following month.
The next month, in October 2021, Brian Laundrie died by suicide. More or less everyone had suspected him immediately, and the discovery of her body and the ensuing autopsy had driven him into hiding.
American Murder: Gabby Petito features members of Gabby’s family as well as several of her close friends. As such, there are details that the public never saw during the search for her — or the manhunt for her killer.
The documentary includes text messages that Gabby had sent, disturbing police body cam footage obtained through the FOIA, and even excerpts from Gabby’s personal journal.
We see all of this juxtaposed with snippets of Gabby’s #Vanlife Vlog. The vlog showed this picture-perfect depiction of a getaway. Gabby was an aspiring influencer who would never live to see her twenty-third birthday.
Gabby Petito called an ex-boyfriend on the day of her murder
The docuseries sheds light upon how Gabby reached out to her ex. This came as a surprise even to filmmakers, according to filmmakers Julia Willoughby Nason and Mike Gasparro’s interview with Variety.
“We didn’t know about that,” Gasparro admitted. “We didn’t know she had reached out to him during a vulnerable time (during her trip with Brian). She was obviously suffering.”
Gasparro continued: “She trusted her ex and reached out. It was like a cry for help. We think that’s probably something that Brian caught wind of.”
As many victims of ongoing domestic violence know, trying to leave can be the most dangerous. Abusers can become even more violent when losing control of their victim. This (usually unspoken) threat is one of the factors that keeps so many from escaping.
The filmmakers are implying here that Gabby Petito’s reaching out to an ex for emotional support could have been discovered by her killer right before he murdered her.
That said, we do not know that. Brian Laundrie took some things to his grave — but only after making sure that Gabby took some to hers.
Why do we hear her voice during the docuseries?
Numerous Netflix viewers expressed concern after watching American Murder: Gabby Petito, wondering on social media whether the moments where Gabby’s “voice” appears on screen were some sort of ghoulish genAI recreation.
Some of those moments were. That is unfortunate, but was at least done with the permission of Gabby’s family.
There is a hope that the media circus that surrounded her disappearance and murder will help others to recognize signs of abuse: in their loved ones and in their own relationships.
Gabby Petito Docuseries Reveals Call to Ex Just Before Her Murder was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.