A new documentary exploring the murder of Gabby Petito reveals the chilling moment law enforcement discovered her body.
Titled American Murder: Gabby Petito, the three-part series premiered on Netflix today (February 17).
It has been over four years since Gabby’s tragic death, which first raised alarms in August 2021 when she suddenly stopped communicating with her parents.
A month earlier, Gabby and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, had set out on a cross-country road trip in their van.
Aspiring to build a career as a blogger and YouTuber, Gabby documented their travels, until her dreams came to a heartbreaking and abrupt end.
While traveling with Brian, Gabby remained in frequent contact with her parents in New York. However, her mother, Nichole Schmidt, grew increasingly worried when days passed without hearing from her daughter.
On September 11, Nichole officially reported Gabby missing. The last known sighting of the aspiring blogger was captured on CCTV at a Whole Foods in Jackson, Wyoming, on August 27.
Tragically, on September 19, authorities discovered Gabby’s body at the Spread Creek camping area in Wyoming.
In American Murder: Gabby Petito, an FBI Special Agent from the Denver division, identified only as Kyle, recounted the chilling moment her body was found.
“She was laying on her side,” Kyle recounted. “She was wrapped up in a sweater. The last confirmed sighting of Gabby alive was on August 27. We didn’t find her until September 19.
“Between that timeframe, we believed she had remained in that same position [at Spread Creek].”
Revealing more harrowing details, Kyle continued in the Netflix documentary: “In front of her was a burn scar on the ground, as if someone had tried to light a small fire, but no fire-starting materials were found.
“Her boots were off, placed next to her body, near the fire. She was not laying in a natural position.”
Authorities came to one chilling conclusion. “It appeared to investigators at that time that the crime scene had been staged,” Kyle explained.
A coroner later ruled Gabby’s death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma and manual strangulation.
It was eventually confirmed that Brian was responsible, a fact he admitted in a written confession found in his notebook.
In his disturbing account, he claimed Gabby had fallen into a stream at their campsite and injured herself.
“Her feet hurt, her [wrist] hurt, but she was freezing, shaking violently,” part of his confession read.
“While carrying her, she continually made sounds of pain. Lying next to her, she said little, drifting between violent shakes, gasping in pain, and begging for an end to her suffering. She would fall asleep, and I would shake her awake, fearing she shouldn’t close her eyes if she had a concussion,” Brian wrote in his confession.
He continued: “I don’t know the extent of Gabby’s injuries, only that she was in extreme pain. I ended her life, I thought it was merciful, that it was what she wanted. But I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked. I was in shock. But from the moment I decided, from the moment I took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.”
Gabby’s family never got justice for her death, as Brian took his own life before he could be arrested.
His body was discovered on October 21, 2021, in the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Florida.
American Murder: Gabby Petito is now streaming on Netflix.
