There’s a federal warrant out for the arrest of Brian Laundrie following the homicide of his fiancée, the late “van life” blogger Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, the Denver division of the FBI announced Thursday. The warrant was issued pursuant to a federal grand jury indictment for “‘use of unauthorized access devices’ related to Mr. Laundrie’s activities following the death of Gabrielle Petito,” according to a statement from the agency.
“While this warrant allows law enforcement to arrest Mr. Laundrie, the FBI and our partners across the country continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of Ms. Petito’s homicide,” FBI Denver special agent in charge Michael Schneider said in the statement. He urged people with information on Laundrie’s whereabouts or Petito’s murder to contact the FBI.
Petito’s family reported her missing on September 11th, weeks after they last heard from her while she was visiting a national forest in Teton County, Wyoming, with Laundrie. Laundrie — who was named a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance — had returned home to Florida on September 1st with Petito’s van, but without her. Petito’s family filed the missing person report after failing to get an answer about her whereabouts from Laundrie.
Laundrie quickly lawyered up and refused to speak with police about what occurred. On Friday, September 17th, Laundrie’s parents allowed police in North Port, Florida, to enter their home; it was then that the Laundries revealed that it had been three days since they’d last seen their son.
Remains consistent with Petito’s description were discovered Sunday, September 19th, and on September 21st an autopsy confirmed it was her. The autopsy also initially listed homicide as the manner of death, though an exact cause of death was not announced.
According to a police report filed a month before Petito’s disappearance, she and Laundrie had gotten into a fight in Moab, Utah. A person called the police about “some sort of altercation” outside a shop, and while officers pulled them over in their van, they decided the incident had been more of a “mental/emotional health ‘break’ than a domestic assault.’” Neither wanted to file charges against the other for the incident, but the officers still separated them for the night, sending Laundrie to a hotel and leaving the van with Petito.
Petito’s disappearance has also captured the attention of true crime communities on social media, especially TikTok, where videos with the hashtags #findgabby and #gabbypetito generated tens of millions of views.