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Gabby Petito


Scarlett
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6 minutes ago, Katy said:

If you have reason to believe you are a suspect it is a bad idea to talk to police without a lawyer.  But I think it’s a very bad idea to never speak to police.  If you were a victim of crime and witnesses refused to speak to police you might feel very different about the ethics of this.

 I’m so sorry for Gabby’s family and I hope more witnesses come forward. 

Suspect or no, no talking here without an attorney. House rules.

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32 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

Don't talk to cops ever. A refusal to talk to the police is not an admission of guilt. 

This is how criminal justice rolls for the wealthy and informed.  No attorney worth any money at all would recommend a client talk unless forced and with the lawyer present.  

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1 minute ago, Scarlett said:

I would agree with not talking with out an attorney……but he would not  talk with an attorney either. 

Because most good attorneys would advise the client in this situation not to talk to police unless no option left (he hadn’t even been arrested yet so…).

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26 minutes ago, Joker2 said:

Yep! My bil is an ADA and says don’t talk ever without an attorney period. Guilt or innocence doesn’t matter at all.

Sadly, I used to even tell my kids this when they were in ps.  Don't talk to anyone without having them call us first.  

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16 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

I can’t believe the turn this thread has taken. Long before it got to the don’t talk to cops stage an innocent person would have told SOMEONE his girlfriend was missing.

I have nothing but passing interest in this case. It's always sad when lives are taken by others. There are thousands of people everyday who are missing that get ZERO attention. It continues to baffle me why some become a national cause celebre. I hope her killer is brought to justice.

Edited by Sneezyone
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8 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

I have nothing but passing interest in this case. It's always sad when lives are taken by others. There are thousands of people everyday who are missing that get ZERO attention. It continues to baffle me why some become a national cause celebre. I hope her killer is brought to justice.

Because 

1) they had created an on line life

2) there was an encounter with the police

3) he acted suspicious as heck

4) multiple people saw things that seemed suspicious. 

5) it was not in her nature to go silent on her family like that

6) he refused to talk to authorities or aid in finding her

 


 

 

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31 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Because 

1) they had created an on line life
2) there was an encounter with the police
3) he acted suspicious as heck
4) multiple people saw things that seemed suspicious. 
5) it was not in her nature to go silent on her family like that
6) he refused to talk to authorities or aid in finding her

None of these explain why her case gets this much national attention when hundreds of missing girls and women barely make their local paper.

You forgot the most important reason: she is white and attractive.

Just for clarity: Of course I want her killer be found and brought to justice. But don't kid yourself for a moment that a poor black woman vanishing from a problematic neigborhood would get a even fraction of the public attention and armchair sleuthing.
 

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I hope her family can find some peace.

I haven’t followed much for the last few days, beyond basic news reporting (no social media here, other than these boards). This case caught my attention early on for personal reasons - I have connections to the area where they were camping, among other things. 


 

 

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It’s gotten this much attention because she was blonde and pretty and vivacious with a budding YouTube channel. It was more interesting because of the unusual behavior of the boyfriend. And while it was a remote area it wasn’t *that* remote.  Both the other YouTuber and a biker group reported seeing the van in that area, as well as the man who drove in behind them that Friday night, and remembered it because the way he stopped and parked was crooked and unusual. That’s 3 separate groups that remembered them THERE where her body was found snd spoke to the FBI. It’s unusual for there to be that much video & photo evidence, which also made the case interesting. 

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I hope that the main reason her case became widespread was not due to her skin color but  I think though that perhaps a majority of  people that travel+hike+camp and follow others on social media that do the same are young and white. 

We all like to solve things. How many times here have all of you written your opinion on what something is or why someone acted a certain way? It's human nature. And with the ease of social media the hiking-van life community got involved, along with every other wannabe Columbo. I actually think some of these people contributed greatly. One told LEO and they FBI about seeing her van along a creek and then posted the video. I am fairly certain, from other's sleuthing, that the FBI found her remains .2 miles from that spot. So with an entire National Park to search, I believe her family is very, very grateful for that couple to become enterested enough to tell authorities. 

Come on, we all know anything can become viral. I bet plenty of you even watched the slow motion car chase with OJ on TV years ago. 

People can feel sorry for more than one murdered person. Yes, it's a shame most are ignored, but that doesnt take away from the horror. Complaining about it on a board devoted to the minutiae of lives here, mixed in with a bit of serious stuff, with everyone wanting to give their take on things,  seems a bit off putting. 

Edited by Idalou
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1 hour ago, regentrude said:

None of these explain why her case gets this much national attention when hundreds of missing girls and women barely make their local paper.

You forgot the most important reason: she is white and attractive.

Just for clarity: Of course I want her killer be found and brought to justice. But don't kid yourself for a moment that a poor black woman vanishing from a problematic neigborhood would get a even fraction of the public attention and armchair sleuthing.
 

Can we, like, wait for her to be confirmed dead before we use her death to exemplify things other than her death? 

 

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1 hour ago, regentrude said:

None of these explain why her case gets this much national attention when hundreds of missing girls and women barely make their local paper.

You forgot the most important reason: she is white and attractive.

Just for clarity: Of course I want her killer be found and brought to justice. But don't kid yourself for a moment that a poor black woman vanishing from a problematic neigborhood would get a even fraction of the public attention and armchair sleuthing.
 

100s of girls with those details do not go missing. 

Regardless of whether they are white or attractive.  

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1 hour ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

Not necessarily. He's the boyfriend so he knew he was the prime suspect. If he was innocent, maybe he was afraid they would blame him so he didn't say anything? IDK. People do all kinds of dumb things. It doesn't always mean anything. 

Did you know that in almost 25% of the wrongful convictions overturned with DNA evidence there was a confession of guilt? What people say or do may or may not be true. Eyewitness accounts are often unreliable too. 

Oh my word.  Yes, the boyfriend is usually the prime suspect.  That might be a reason for concern,  but to say that is the reason he left WY in HER van and drove to his parents house in FL and then did not report her missing for 10 MORE days….I just can’t even follow that logic. If he was innocent but worried how it might look he would surely think that would make him look MORE guilty.  And it is not like he thought no would look for her .  She has family who talked to her regularly.  

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2 hours ago, Katy said:

Police said it wasn’t him, the tattoos didn’t match 

maybe, maybe not.  The picture I saw was probably more blurry than the one the police have.  To me, it didn't look like a tattoo - it looked like an ace sleeve type bandage.

When would be sleuths want to find something - they'll "find something".

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5 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I didn't say that was why. I just wrote that people do weird illogical things. It happens all of the time. I never wrote that there was nothing suspicious about his behavior. Law enforcement is right to suspect him. But we should never say that an innocent person wouldn't do something so the fact that someone does or doesn't do something proves they are guilty. 

 

It might not prove them guilty but it makes them highly suspect and then other things fall into place that make them even more suspect.  

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14 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

maybe, maybe not.  The picture I saw was probably more blurry than the one the police have.  To me, it didn't look like a tattoo - it looked like an ace sleeve type bandage.

When would be sleuths want to find something - they'll "find something".

The police spokesperson for his town was asked this at a press conference and he said it wasn't Brian.  The only sleuth "finding something" here is you.

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Just an interesting article related this discussion "710 Indigenous people, mostly girls, were reported missing over the past decade in Wyoming, the same state where Gabby Petito reportedly disappeared"

https://www.insider.com/710-indigenous-people-missing-in-wyoming-where-gabby-petito-disappeared-2021-9?fbclid=IwAR2aCDHg_lp9AoS2tofkbopV19YXDI_21qlIJ2VCUGp-IvhMZ_W3CP48bkU

If you don't want a diverse discussion, this probably isn't the board for it.  At least without a JAWM.  There are plenty of places on social media to talk about this type of  sleuthing without people questioning it.  

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Just now, Katy said:

The police spokesperson for his town was asked this at a press conference and he said it wasn't Brian.  The only sleuth "finding something" here is you.

wow - that was rude.

All I said was TO ME (and based on the quality of the photo available) it didn't look like a tattoo, but like a sleeve bandage.

 

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Just now, FuzzyCatz said:

Just an interesting article related this discussion "710 Indigenous people, mostly girls, were reported missing over the past decade in Wyoming, the same state where Gabby Petito reportedly disappeared"

https://www.insider.com/710-indigenous-people-missing-in-wyoming-where-gabby-petito-disappeared-2021-9?fbclid=IwAR2aCDHg_lp9AoS2tofkbopV19YXDI_21qlIJ2VCUGp-IvhMZ_W3CP48bkU

If you don't want a diverse discussion, this probably isn't the board for it.  At least without a JAWM.  There are plenty of places on social media to talk about this type of  sleuthing without people questioning it.  

I actually read today that this was a super misleading statistic in that something like all but 11 of them had been found, and 9 of the 11 were white.  I'll see if I can find the article.

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Just now, FuzzyCatz said:

Just an interesting article related this discussion "710 Indigenous people, mostly girls, were reported missing over the past decade in Wyoming, the same state where Gabby Petito reportedly disappeared"

https://www.insider.com/710-indigenous-people-missing-in-wyoming-where-gabby-petito-disappeared-2021-9?fbclid=IwAR2aCDHg_lp9AoS2tofkbopV19YXDI_21qlIJ2VCUGp-IvhMZ_W3CP48bkU

If you don't want a diverse discussion, this probably isn't the board for it.  At least without a JAWM.  There are plenty of places on social media to talk about this type of  sleuthing without people questioning it.  

White woman, getting her death all over the papers! Privilege, am I right? 

Maybe start a spin off. 

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I don't know if it's been mentioned - Police have confirmed the body was her.  Near the Spread Creek Camp in Wyoming.  I think that was the last place they were confirmed to be at.

 And now he's (maybe) gone off to the everglades.  assuming he told his parents the truth.  (not holding my breath on that one.)

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13 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

I don't know if it's been mentioned - Police have confirmed the body was her.  Near the Spread Creek Camp in Wyoming.  I think that was the last place they were confirmed to be at.

 And now he's (maybe) gone off to the everglades.  assuming he told his parents the truth.  (not holding my breath on that one.)

You have to wonder if his parents helped him escape and he is not in the state or states anymore.  
 

Did anyone else see the report saying that a rainbow appeared in the area they found her body?  If so, I hope that gives a small bit of comfort to her grieving family.  Like she was telling them goodbye.  

Edited by itsheresomewhere
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22 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

Just an interesting article related this discussion "710 Indigenous people, mostly girls, were reported missing over the past decade in Wyoming, the same state where Gabby Petito reportedly disappeared"

https://www.insider.com/710-indigenous-people-missing-in-wyoming-where-gabby-petito-disappeared-2021-9?fbclid=IwAR2aCDHg_lp9AoS2tofkbopV19YXDI_21qlIJ2VCUGp-IvhMZ_W3CP48bkU

If you don't want a diverse discussion, this probably isn't the board for it.  At least without a JAWM.  There are plenty of places on social media to talk about this type of  sleuthing without people questioning it.  

I try to stick with independent news stations. My favorite had a piece on this when it debuted

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19 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

You have to wonder if his parents helped him escape and he is not in the state or states anymore.  
 

Did anyone else see the report saying that a rainbow appeared in the area they found her body?  If so, I hope that gives a small bit of comfort to her grieving family.  Like she was telling them goodbye.  

The couple that saw her van on the 27th have 10,000 followers( Red White and Bethune). Their little boy died in a car accident and they devote Septembers to paying good deeds forward in his memory. His birthday was today. They called the LEO yesterday about seeing the van, but didn't feel like the person they spoke to was interested enough, I think she said, so early today they released the video to their followers in case any of their fellow campers saw it on the campground. They also are not making any money off of it, according to their livestream, though they do fundraise for some type of mental health organization

Edited by Idalou
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25 minutes ago, Katy said:

I actually read today that this was a super misleading statistic in that something like all but 11 of them had been found, and 9 of the 11 were white.  I'll see if I can find the article.

Even the linked article says right up front <<‘The report found 50% of missing Indigenous people are found within one week, while 21% remain missing for 30 days or longer. Only 11% of white people remain missing for that long, according to the report.>

And I don’t think a single one of them was traveling with her boyfriend who inexplicably took her van and drove back to FL alone.  

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10 minutes ago, Idalou said:

The couple that saw her van on the 27th have 10,000 followers( Red White and Bethune). Their little boy died in a car accident and they devote Septembers to paying good deeds forward in his memory. His birthday was today. They called the LEO yesterday about seeing the van, but didn't feel like the person they spoke to was interested enough, I think she said, so early today they released the video to their followers in case any of their fellow campers saw it on the campground. They also are not making any money off of it, according to their livestream, though they do fundraise for some type of mental health organization

I would say helping to find Gabby is a pretty good pay it forward. 💕💕💕

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Look, I recognize that our justice system is jacked. But, as the mom of three middle class white boys, they’d have good lawyers and they’d best be either spilling all of their innocent guts... or their guilty guts and preparing for prison.

In no world am I sitting with my thumb up my rear for 3 days while a family is searching for their child.

Other situations may call for other strategies.

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8 hours ago, lauraw4321 said:

Relisha Rudd. Her story haunts me. What if there had been this attention? This outpouring of attention, sleuthing, focus. What if it had been put toward her case?  So sad. 

I don’t remember this story. Have you ever heard of Morgan Nick? Without Googling……

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15 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

Ok- while partners are *frequently* guilty - that =/= always guilty.   (we had a case up here where the husband reported his wife missing, and instead of looking for her - they hauled him into the station to grill him.  for two days.  The were finally forced to release him and he went looking by himself.  Her car had gone off the (BUSY!!!) road into a heavily wooded ravine while she was driving home from work.  Her cell phone was out of her reach.  Fortunately - she was still alive.)


This guy is almost certainly guilty  - but the cops have hoops they have to jump through in trying to locate Gabby.   Especially if they find her body and the prosecutor files  murder charges against him.  

Someone took a picture of a guy out walking near BL's parents house (he drove past him three times before taking the picture, and was convinced it was BL) - mere hours before his parents reported not having seen him for three days.  Maybe it was him, and maybe it wasn't.   

Remember when Elizabeth Smart went missing and instead of looking for her they spent ours an hours just questioning the dad and her older brothers? I wonder if they would’ve found her if they would’ve gone looking for her right away.

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14 minutes ago, Janeway said:

Remember when Elizabeth Smart went missing and instead of looking for her they spent ours an hours just questioning the dad and her older brothers? I wonder if they would’ve found her if they would’ve gone looking for her right away.

It’s been a long time since I read her story but I think she was kidnapped shortly after everyone went to bed and not found missing until morning. She’d been hiking for hours at that point and was kept in a tent in the mountains outside time for a long time.  So it likely wouldn’t have mattered. 

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5 minutes ago, Katy said:

It’s been a long time since I read her story but I think she was kidnapped shortly after everyone went to bed and not found missing until morning. She’d been hiking for hours at that point and was kept in a tent in the mountains outside time for a long time.  So it likely wouldn’t have mattered. 

I just looked it up: Elizabeth actually shared a room with her younger sister (9 years old at the time), who witnessed the abduction but pretended to be asleep because she was scared. The sister tried to alert her parents right away, but ended up hiding for a couple of hours when she thought she had been seen by the kidnappers. Elizabeth was discovered to be missing at about 4:00 am, probably two or three hours after she was taken.

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45 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

I have. It was all over the news. If I remember correctly, legislation was even proposed and named after her.

You lived near the abduction site then.....as did I.  I have friends who know the family personally.  But I am wondering if the board at large knows who she is without googling.  

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The boyfriend is the usual suspect, but sometimes it's really not him. I remember the case of Chandra Levy where everyone assumed Gary Condit (a sitting Congressman so this case blew up headlines for a loooonnngggg time) had murdered her even though he had an iron clad alibi. He was married and they were having an affair. Then a year later her body was found in Rock Creek Park and it turned out she was one of the victims of a serial killer who preyed on women joggers. 

Here's the wiki if you'd like to read up on the case:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Levy

 

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3 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

The boyfriend is the usual suspect, but sometimes it's really not him. I remember the case of Chandra Levy where everyone assumed Gary Condit (a sitting Congressman so this case blew up headlines for a loooonnngggg time) had murdered her even though he had an iron clad alibi. He was married and they were having an affair. Then a year later her body was found in Rock Creek Park and it turned out she was one of the victims of a serial killer who preyed on women joggers. 

Here's the wiki if you'd like to read up on the case:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Levy

 

I remember that well.  It is true it is not always the boyfriend.  He didn't help himself much though by continue to lie and sneak around trying to hide evidence of the affair after she went missing.

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1 hour ago, Katy said:

It’s been a long time since I read her story but I think she was kidnapped shortly after everyone went to bed and not found missing until morning. She’d been hiking for hours at that point and was kept in a tent in the mountains outside time for a long time.  So it likely wouldn’t have mattered. 

She heard the search parties calling for her - but was afraid to respond.  If they'd been looking earlier, it's possible they wouldn't have gotten as far from the house as they did.  Remember - they were on foot.

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4 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

Yes, but it's a good example of how people don't act the way that they should act or that we expect them to act. People do dumb and irrational things all of the time and actually are probably more likely to do dumb things when they're under stress. 

On my Youtube recommend page, there are 3 videos about this from yesterday. All from drama channels that will make money for every view. It's just...yuck. 

I get dragged into this stuff too. I watched a few videos about Josh Duggar after he got arrested. I lurked at Free Jinger too. But just...yuck! It was all, a cousin of so and so told me this and maybe Anna thinks that it's Biden. So much gossip and such a tragic story for everyone involved. 

Ugh. Profiting from voyeurism. Reading here, I’m often glad that I don’t consume SM or even YouTube videos, aside from what I read here. Yuck. I kept up with news outlets - big fan of actual journalism school graduates here, not random online personalities.

I did get interested in the story early last week. I traveled/camped in those areas with my college roommate/close friend/later fieldwork tentmate. She was killed two years ago by her longtime travel companion (they were semi-nomadic filmmakers, lived on the road mostly, almost always camping). So the story, at first, had an eerie familiar feeling. My lifelong friend was not white, not blonde, not the stuff of which great stories are made apparently. Her story was reported very briefly.

I do think it’s interesting that the online attention did, apparently, help lead the FBI to the area. That part is a positive, and I hope it helps her family find peace.

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3 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Ugh. Profiting from voyeurism. Reading here, I’m often glad that I don’t consume SM or even YouTube videos, aside from what I read here. Yuck. I kept up with news outlets - big fan of actual journalism school graduates here, not random online personalities.

I did get interested in the story early last week. I traveled/camped in those areas with my college roommate/close friend/later fieldwork tentmate. She was killed two years ago by her longtime travel companion (they were semi-nomadic filmmakers, lived on the road mostly, almost always camping). So the story, at first, had an eerie familiar feeling. My lifelong friend was not white, not blonde, not the stuff of which great stories are made apparently. Her story was reported very briefly.

I do think it’s interesting that the online attention did, apparently, help lead the FBI to the area. That part is a positive, and I hope it helps her family find peace.

I am so very sorry about your friend!

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Just now, Faith-manor said:

I am so very sorry about your friend!

Thank you. She was an amazing person. We were friends for 30 years, and we were not finished. I miss her.

The man who killed my friend died by suicide shortly after. In some ways, I think it’s made moving forward easier though it left a lot of questions. I have a suspicion that BL may be heading that direction as well.

I don’t know what would help the Petito family, but I hope that BL is found, one way or another, and the Petito family gets the answers they need.

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The FBI has hauled his parents in for questioning, and are searching the house.  

I'm skeptical the parents really thought he was "just" going off to his favorite camping spot.  (assuming that story was true- and not their contribution to a cover-up.) They *knew* his girlfriend had disappeared, and they had to have realized he would be the prime suspect.

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