6 Huge Red Flags In Gabby Petito And Brian Laundrie’s Relationship

Netflix released the docuseries American Murder: Gabby Petito and it is currently one of the most streamed series on the platform.

The 3-episode show recounts the relationship of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, which ended in Gabby’s murder in August 2021. This article discusses some red flags the Netflix docuseries uncovers, though its important to remember that hindsight is 20/20 and it’s much easier to see red flags from our perspective than it would have been for Gabby to understand that she was in the middle of an abusive relationship at the time. There is no such thing as a perfect victim because looking back, we can always identify something the victim could have done differently.

First, who was Gabby Petito? Gabby was a 22-year-old aspiring vlogger who disappeared two months into a planned four month road trip with her boyfriend, 23-year-old Brian Laundrie. The two began dating in March 2019 and became engaged in June 2020. On July 2, 2021 the two began a road trip in Gabby’s converted 2012 Ford Transit Connect van. In addition to the adventure, she hoped to film and edit videos of their trip in order to start a career as a content creator.

What happened? On August 12, 2021 Gabby and Brian were pulled over in Moab, Utah following a witness complaint that they had seen him hit Gabby twice before taking off in their van. Another witness said Gabby was punching Brian in the arm. Police considered charging Gabby with domestic violence but ended up separating the couple for the night.

Gabby’s mother believes she last heard from her on August 27. On September 11, she filed a missing persons report for Gabby. Following a media frenzy, Gabby’s body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area in Wyoming on September 19. The autopsy found she had been strangled to death. Brian Laundrie died by suicide the following month.

What were there warning signs in Gabby and Brian’s relationship?

Lovebombing

The Netflix series says the couple believed they had fallen in love at “first sight” and the relationship was like “living a dream”. Gabby said that the universe wanted her and Brian to be together, which would have made it difficult for her to take relationship issues seriously. If you believe you are fated to be with someone, you will assume that all issues will be worked through instead of seeing some relationship issues as serious enough to walk away.

Brian was controlling

Those close to Gabby noticed that there was “something off about” Brian. He was controlling of Gabby and would do things like stealing her wallet so she couldn’t go out dancing.

Extreme highs and lows

The relationship went through the typical cycle of abuse: big fights followed by lovebombing repeated over and over.

Brian isolated Gabby

Brian and Gabby moved from New York (where her friends and family were) to live with Brian’s family in Florida. Brian was jealous of the new friends Gabby made in Florida. He complained that she worked too much while Gabby worked 50 hours a week at Taco Bell to save money to fund their road trip.

Extreme clinginess

Brian told Gabby “I can’t live without you.”

Brian blamed Gabby, while Gabby defended Brian

During the Moab traffic stop while being questioned by police, Brian was quick to point the finger at Gabby, holding her responsible for the fight. Meanwhile, Gabby told police she blamed herself for the incident. She was clearly terrified of the consequences of speaking out against Brian, while Brian did not demonstrate a similar fear. This makes visible the underlying dynamic of the relationship.