The tragedy that is Gabby Petito’s life has been on national news, anyone that has any form of media should have at least heard her name. Here is the one place you will have to go for this information you should know regarding the updates on her case.

Gabby Petito was a 22-year-old vlogger and YouTuber who was becoming increasingly popular for showcasing her life traveling and living in a van with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. They had been engaged for 2 ½ years and their life seemed so perfect.

Petito was reported missing early September when Laundrie returned home without her but had their van. He immediately became the prime suspect but before they could find out the fate of Petito, Laundrie disappeared without a trace. It was then discovered on September 19 that Gabby Petito was dead. No other information had been released then.

FBI committed to ground and aerial searches for Laundrie. It seemed like he would be the only one with answers to everyone’s questions. What happened to her and what did he do? Justice for Petitio was important to everyone behind her case.

While waiting for FBI to find where Laundrie was, we wanted to know what happened to Petito. On October 12, Dr. Brent Blue, Tenton County Coroner, disclosed that Petito died 3 to 4 weeks before her body was found. Further information cannot be disclosed as Wyoming police will not let him speak more about the case. If that is the case that will put her death around August 27 to August 30.

With a cause of death, we just needed proof of who it was. DNA, confession, something that will lead to the end of this tragedy. Laundrie would most likely be able to tell the police something if he would return. However, that is not an option anymore.

On October 21, remains found by police in a Florida park were identified as Brian Laundrie. FBI were able to confirm it was him with dental records and belongings found that most likely were his. The FBI have yet to state the cause of death of how long he was in the water. His body was only able to be discovered because the rainy weather had died down and the water levels were able to drop.

It is a terrible state to have found him in. With the prime suspect dead and weeks old evidence to have to go over to discover the truth, this case took a turn for the worse. Nothing is hopeless, because we still have DNA testing that could lead to what happened and get a foggy look into what happened based on that evidence.

What is worse is that if they had been able to find him, they had enough on him for fraud charges that they could have arrested him. Too bad we did not have this information when we still knew where he was.

Hopefully the DNA testing will tell police more, because we will only have circumstantial information to go off of and even that is limited.

With everything going on, her case brings up an important topic of missing people. “White woman syndrome” is strongly tied to this case and it is a discussion to be had. There are thousands of missing people of color that the media does not cover like the Petito case.

Joseph Petitio announced that the Gabby Petito Foundation, created to honor Petito’s life, will hopefully help and assist in finding missing people. It will contribute money to cases that need more resources. It will also aid other organizations to help victims of domestic violence by education, spreading awareness, and prevention strategies.

The Petito family has strongly supported the opinion that other cases need attention too and are aware of the press they have received. Giving back is their way of helping but also keeping Gabby’s name alive. People can do a simple search of the foundation to find their website and support them if people like what the project is doing. Hopefully this tragedy can bring some change in the world so we see less people end up like Gabby Petitio.

Article by Rylan DeHaven