Just hours before she was strangled and her corpse was left in the woods, security video from a Whole Foods store captures Gabby Petito and her would-be attacker, Brian Laundrie, wandering about the store.
The pair can be seen browsing the aisle of the Jackson, Wyoming supermarket in the disturbing footage, which FOX News Digital was able to collect on August 27, 2021, the day Petito, 22, was last seen alive.
It begins soon after the pair left the neighboring Merry Piglets Tex-Mex eatery after a confrontation between Laundrie, 23, and three female staff members that was broadcast to the public and for which Petito later apologized.
Around 2:11 p.m., they were spotted parking Petito’s white Ford Transit van in the garage, sitting inside for a moment before Laundrie exited the driver’s side and slammed the door. He pulls a baseball hat out of the back storage area as he moves toward the van’s rear.
Suddenly, Petito emerges from the passenger side, her arms crossed in front of her, seeming to be still angry with Laundrie about the incident at the restaurant earlier.
Laundrie, meantime, is hiding his face behind sunglasses and his hands in his pockets while wearing a cap.
The duo can be seen browsing the aisles of the supermarket for nearly 15 minutes, according to footage taken inside.
As she walked around the shop, Petito could be seen collecting a few things and packing them into a white duffel bag.
About 40 minutes after they finish their shopping, the couple is seen getting back into their van and driving onto Highway 89, which goes straight to the campsite in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, where Petito’s remains would be discovered three weeks later.
The pair went out while traveling across the countryside in Petito’s Ford Transit. Along the way, they were pulled over by police who suspected Laundrie of being violent and raising a commotion at a Jackson Tex-Mex restaurant.
Laundrie, according to witnesses, yelled at the wait staff at Merry Piglets after a dispute about the bill. He then stormed out of the establishment, only to return four more times.
After a while, Petito returned to the establishment and expressed regret for his actions.
Later, representatives of Merry Piglets said on Instagram, “Yes, we can confirm Gabby and Brian were in Merry Piglets.”
While Petito was still listed as missing, the restaurant owners commented, “We have already alerted the FBI and they are aware.” We have no additional comments since we are letting them do their duties and honoring Gabby’s family.
Another eyewitness who claimed to have seen Laundrie “swing” at Petito with a “closed fist” during a confrontation in Wyoming only days before her death came forward during the summer.
On August 12, 2021, Chandler, 26, who wished to be identified only by his first name, told The Sun that he had been halted at a stop sign when he saw Laundrie strike Petito outside of Moonflower Community Cooperative in Wyoming.
He struck Petito with a “closed fist,” insisting that Laundrie was the one who was being violent.
He described it to The Sun as “kind of like a slapping action, but with a closed hand.” They started to scream before Brian struck her with what seemed to be his left hand.
The moment Laundrie softly swung at Petito, smacking her in the face and sending her tumbling back against the white van, he also remembered seeing the pair fighting close to the rear passenger-side tire.
Chandler told The Sun, “She obviously felt it (the punch). “She very much banged her back and perhaps the back of her head” when she “slammed into the vehicle.”
After that, according to reports, the two began shouting at one another until Laundrie and his girlfriend left.
When Chandler noticed other people approaching the pair, he continued to drive despite being “very much” horrified by what he had seen.
After that, a third witness phoned 911 to claim seeing Laundrie slap Petito before the two got in the van and left.
Laundrie was said to have made an effort to stop Petito from returning to the vehicle.
The witness, who only gave his name as Christopher, said that “something clearly felt weird” since “they were talking angrily [at] one other.”
They seemed to be arguing at one point over a phone, and I believe the man snatched the female’s phone. He didn’t seem to want her in the white vehicle, according to her.
Shortly after, Moab Police, who is being sued for $50 million by Petito’s family, caught up with the van life couple and split them apart to find out what had occurred.
According to body-cam video, Petito claimed that Laundrie had “grabbed” her, but she stated that she had “slapped” him first.
The young woman’s cheek, which seemed to be slightly bruised, was pointed out by an officer who also asked if he could “see the other side of your face.”
When the officer reiterated that “two independent witnesses” had said Laundrie had struck her and that there had been a domestic conflict, she altered her tale and said the “backpack grabbed me” as she had gotten back into the vehicle.
Well, to be honest, I struck him first, said Petito.
She acknowledged that she had smacked him “a couple of times” after he had “told me to quiet up.”
Then, in August 2021, Petito admitted to police that she “guessed” he had hit her, but she asserted once again that she had struck him first.
The woman said, “He grabbed my face.” “He didn’t, like, strike me or punch me in the face,” the victim said.
She said, “He grabbed my cheek with his nail,” when asked whether Laundrie had slapped her. I can clearly feel that I now have a cut.
After the officers who stopped the couple over failed to see that Petito was in a perilous position, her family has decided to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department.
According to the $50 million notice of claim, authorities in Moab, a popular tourist destination, disregarded warning indicators that Petito had been the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Laundrie.
In a statement announcing the submission of the notice of claim, attorney James McConkie said that Gabby would still be alive today “if the cops had been properly educated and obeyed the law.”
Before suing a government entity, a notice of claim must be filed, and according to the family’s claim, the case will want $50 million in damages.
On September 19, 2021, Gabby’s remains were finally located in a remote area of the Wyoming Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Early in July, the young couple left New York State, where her mother resides, and proceeded west on an adventure.
On September 1, however, Laundrie drove his own white Ford van back to his Florida family’s house. After last speaking with Gabby over the phone on August 25, her mother filed a missing persons report eleven days later.
North Port Police dragged the white vehicle out of the Laundrie’s driveway and transported it away for forensic testing hours after Gabby’s mother first called the police.
Laundrie’s parents informed the officers that he wasn’t accessible when they sought to talk with him at the residence. Whether the murderer was there at the time is unknown.
The FBI, local law enforcement, and at least two sheriff’s departments all became involved in the extensive search when Laundrie went missing in Carlton Reserve.
His parents eventually revised his first statement to say that he disappeared on September 13 in order to go hiking in the reserve.
On October 20, after his parents had joined the local law enforcement, his corpse was ultimately discovered in the marsh.
Authorities claim that Laundrie left behind a notepad with a confession in it.
He reportedly acknowledged in the book that he choked Petito as a consequence of a “unexpected catastrophe” in Grand Teton National Park, when Gabby hurt herself on their road trip last summer when she fell into a stream.
Even so, he started the notebook with a letter to Gabby, saying, “I want I could be at your side, I wish I could be talking to you right now.”
According to Laundrie, he tried to calm Gabby while she was deteriorating, sobbing in agony and shivering from the unrelenting cold.
Nevertheless, he ultimately murdered her, writing: “I don’t know the extent of Gabby’s injuries, just that she was in great agony.
“I took her life.” I mistakenly believed that it was kind and that it was what she wanted, but I now see how wrong I was. I was scared. I was stunned. But as soon as I made my decision, I took away her suffering.
On October 20 of last year, after he had escaped to the alligator-infested Carlton Reserve in North Port, Florida, his notebook was discovered in a dry bag next to his corpse.