It started as an exciting cross-country road trip, but it's now one of America's most mysterious missing persons cases. Gabby Petitio has not been seen in weeks, her fiancé Brian Laundrie returning home without her in the camper they shared. Her family is very concerned about the 22-year-old – but Laundrie is silent.
Gabby's last sign of life is almost three weeks old
The last time Gabby's mother Nicole Schmidt received a sign of life from her daughter was almost three weeks ago. On August 25, Schmidt and Gabby spoke on the phone for the last time. Her daughter was in Grand Teton National Park at the time.
"I don't know if she left Grand Teton or not," Schmidt told Fox News. "I got another text message from her on the 27th and 30th, but I don't know if the messages were really from her. I haven't spoken to her."
Fiancé apparently doesn't want to talk to Gabby's family
In July, Petitio and Laundrie set out from Florida in their white camper van on their road trip, first to New York and then inland to Salt Lake City in the western United States. The couple's next destination was supposed to be Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park. Whether Petitio ever got there is unclear.
The 22-year-old documented her trip extensively on social media. She posted a vlog of the trip on YouTube, and numerous pictures of Gabby in nature on her Instagram channel "gabspetito" show – in rivers, in forests or on the edge of a canyon. The last picture was uploaded on August 25th. It's been quiet on the channel ever since.
Laundrie returned in the couple's white camper to North Port, Florida, where the fiancés had lived together for two years, in late August. However, according to Petitio's family, the young man refuses to talk about Gabby's disappearance. He had hired a lawyer and did not want to give any information.
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After not hearing from her daughter for weeks, Schmidt filed a missing persons report last Saturday. The authorities have started investigations, but there is still no trace of Gabby. The police are asking for information, her family set up a Facebook and a GoFundMe page to search for the 22-year-old.
His daughter's disappearance is like "drowning with his hands tied," Maggy's father, Joe Petitio, told Newsday. "You can't describe it. You can't do anything. You have no control."
His daughter is "a free spirit," says Petitio. "Clothes didn't impress her. Cars didn't impress her. Experiences – that's what impressed her."
