Content Creator

Living in a van is a struggle. It is not the beautiful, picturesque life that a lot of internet creators painted out to be.

They were struggling. They were not the cream-of-the-crop van life creators. They were not going viral. You know, they were really living hand-to-mouth. And so there was a lot of tension, you could tell, around that, it seemed.

One thing that happened immediately after this case blew up in the media and on the internet was it opened up this broader conversation about missing women and specifically missing black and indigenous women and the lack of attention given to them.

It's a true crime story happening in real life, which you feel like you can participate in. So people on TikTok were immediately going to scrutinize. Why is she posting with a pumpkin? Why is this video framed like that?

Van life is exactly what it sounds. It's living in often a restored van or school bus and having this kind of nomadic lifestyle where you can travel all around the country. It was growing in popularity largely through Instagram and YouTube.

The way to live a sustainable life as a van lifer is to have millions of followers online. That's how you make money. So Gabby definitely wanted to be part of this community. She and Brian were posting it on Instagram, on YouTube, and they were documenting this journey for people on the internet to essentially engage with.

Dude, that clip that they use for going home.

Like a peasant, dude? I gotta take the party bus home? Also, every time they've said elevator, they've shown stairs. Guys... You guys not know what stuff is? Getting the pots and pans out. Cooking like a fucking idiot.

He kind of ate y'all up.

Beautiful.

I'll go first or are we going at the same time? I'll go first. Okay.