Newly released surveillance camera footage shows slaying victim Gabby Petito and her confessed killer Brian Laundrie shortly before Petito’s death, potentially providing insight on a sensational killing that drew the attention of the nation.
The video — taken on the last day that Petito was known to be alive — was obtained by Fox News.
In the Aug. 27, 2021, footage from Jackson, Wyoming, Petito and Laundrie exit a white van and enter a Whole Foods grocery store.
They later walk out and get back in the vehicle, turning in the direction of a highway leading to the eventual location where Petito’s body was found.
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The Bridger-Teton National Forest campground where Petito’s remains were located two months later is 30 miles north of Jackson, according to Fox News.
Even though the footage appears innocuous enough, one body language expert is pointing out what she’s describing as red flags in the footage.
“It’s very clear that she’s afraid and closed off from him,” body language expert Patti Wood told the U.S Sun of Petito’s demeanor in the surveillance camera footage.
“As soon as they are seen walking toward the door you notice something very off,” Wood said, referring to about the 2-minute mark in the video.
Was there any sign of danger in this footage?
“She is also walking with her legs extremely close together, which could indicate a fear of attack.”
Wood told the Sun that Petito and Laundrie don’t look like an ordinary young couple in the footage.
“One of the most intimate things you can do with your partner is grocery shop with them,” she said.
Their distance suggests interpersonal conflict, according to Wood.
“They are not in the store together, even though it’s just the two of them on this trip,” Wood told the Sun. “You would think that they would want to make decisions together.”
After they leave the store, Petito and Laundrie sit inside the van for about 20 minutes before leaving the Whole Foods parking lot.
Laundrie had argued with the staff of a Jackson restaurant earlier in the same day, according to Fox.
The exact timeline of Petito’s death isn’t known, but it’s possible that Laundrie killed his girlfriend hours after the Whole Foods footage was taken.
Laundrie, 23, described strangling the 22-year-old Petito in a document the FBI presented as his confession.
The handwritten note confessing to Petito’s murder was ultimately found in the area of Laundrie’s body in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Sarasota County, Florida, in October 2021, according to Fox News.
Laundrie death was determined to be a suicide.
Laundrie became a person of interest in Petitio’s disappearance after the Florida man returned home from a cross-country van trip without his girlfriend.
He went missing as a law enforcement investigation into Petitio’s disappearance intensified, with Florida authorities beginning an extensive manhunt for Laundrie in the nature reserve where his remains were eventually found.
The Petito family is continuing with litigation against the Laundrie family after the death of both, accusing Laundrie’s parents of involvement in helping their son obstruct law enforcement.
