Rotten Mango
New Gabby Petito Texts Reveal Brian’s Obsession & Final Moments Before Death
Sun, 13 Apr 2025
15 days before the murder. “Hello, I would like to report a dispute. I saw a gentleman slapping the woman.” The police chase after the van life YouTuber couple in their white, sprinter van. By the end of the hour long investigation of questioning both Gabby and Brian - the two police officers step off to the side to figure out what to do next. One officer tells the other - “Too many times women who are at risk want to go back to their abuser. They don’t want him charged. They don’t want him to go to jail. Then they end up getting worse and worse treatment and then they end up getting killed.” The officers decide not to press DV charges….against Gabby. They believe she is the primary aggressor. In 2 weeks Gabby Petito will be murdered. And the only person that might know where she is - goes missing. Full show notes at rottenmangopodcast.com
Chapter 1: What led to the domestic dispute reported in Moab?
15 days before the murder august 12th 2021 dispatch in moab utah they get a phone call hi i'd like to report a domestic dispute okay what are they doing uh we drove by and the gentleman was slapping the girl he was slapping her yeah and then we stopped they ran up and down the sidewalk he proceeded to slap her hit her hopped in the car and then they just drove off
Okay, you said that the car was a white van. It's like one of those smaller Ford Transit white vans. You could probably fit a mattress in the back. Officers get notified, find the white van, stop the white van, figure out what's going on inside the white van. When they find this little car on the highway, it's going 20 over the speed limit. It's hitting the curbs.
Clearly something is going on inside that car. Moab police officers, they turn on their lights, The van pulls over without incident. And when the officer walks body cam on to the passenger side of this car, they see a very young couple, like 22 years old. They see a young blonde girl in the passenger seat, Gabby. She's very distraught, which makes sense.
Chapter 2: What did the police find when they stopped Gabby and Brian's van?
Someone just reported that her boyfriend was chasing her down the sidewalk, slapping her. Meanwhile, the driver, the guy's name is Brian. It's her boyfriend. He leans closer to the steering wheel so that he can look at the officer because they're on the passenger side. He's like the opposite of upset. He actually seems so calm.
The officer says, turn off your engine and go ahead and set your keys on the dash for me. And what are your names? I'm Gabby. I'm Brian. Okay, Gabby, Brian. So what's going on? How come you're crying, Gabby? Gabby is very emotional. She's trying to explain, I'm just sorry. We've just been fighting this morning and we've been having some personal issues. Brian leans over.
He doesn't look like he's having personal issues. It's a long day. We were camping yesterday and, you know, camping got flies and stuff. Sorry I hit the curb earlier over there. Gabby's eyes are just red and she's trying to explain, I was distracting him from driving. I'm sorry.
Both Brian and Gabby are asked to leave the van so that the officers can talk to them separately to figure out what's going on. They're trying to get both sides of the story. And their stories are kind of adding up, kind of not. There's some inconsistencies here and there, but the officers don't even seem concerned about that because their body cam is left on.
And when the officers, there's three of them. So there's two officers, a park ranger that shows up. And when the three of them, they start talking away from Gabby and Brian, their main debate is, do we file DV charges? Like, it feels like, is it worth the paperwork? That's the feeling. I mean, they're trying to push the decision off to each other. It's up to you. What do you think? It's up to you.
The main debate here is, do we take someone to jail? Do we book them? I mean, one of them says, listen, she's got to be what? 105 pounds soaking wet, 22 years old, full of anxiety, having a really tough time. I'm not making excuses, but I mean, it's written in the code, right? We do have a domestic assault here. Why the domestic assault code is there for a reason?
The reason they don't give us the officer's discretion on these things is because too many times women who are at risk, they want to go back to their abuser. They just want him to stop, but they don't want to be separated. They don't want him to be charged. They don't want him to go to jail. And then they end up getting worse and worse treatment. And then they end up getting killed.
What? Okay.
Ultimately, the officers do a whole back and forth, which we'll go over later. They're back and forth. Do we do it? Do we not do it? Ultimately, they decide that they are just going to split the couple up for the night. They're going to send one to a DV hotel shelter and the other one is going to sleep in the van and they're not going to file DV charges.
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Chapter 3: How did the officers assess the domestic violence situation?
That's crazy. How did that happen?
It's like the dumbest thing ever. Two weeks later, after this incident, Gabby Petito will be killed. And the one person that knows where to find her is going to go missing. This is the case of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie. We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support the official Gabby Petito Foundation.
This nonprofit is dedicated to supporting missing persons, assisting survivors, and working toward a future free from domestic violence. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team. And we'd also like to thank you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes are available at rottenmingopodcast.com.
Now, today's case involves heavy themes of DV. Additionally, this is going to be a two-part series. I briefly covered this before I was even posting videos on YouTube for this podcast. And with the new Netflix documentary, there have been new text messages, new pieces of the puzzle that I think... weren't necessarily confirmed a few years ago when the case was unfolding in real time.
And I think all of the new details in the documentary really make it more understandable. Because there are certain parts where it's like, okay, we still don't know exactly what happened and why, but now it's pretty clear. So in part one, we're going to go over all of that. In part two, we're going to cover Brian going missing and all the newly dug up conspiracies that he might still be alive.
Now, legally, I do need to disclaim that no living person has been criminally charged and that any and all theories, conspiracies, comments, opinions, and the like that are mentioned are publicly available netizen opinions, not my own. So with that being said, well, you know what?
I will say there are people involved in this case that I have very strong negative personal opinions about, which I think everybody is entitled to. But as always, you guys are so smart. I never really even need to say this. Do your own research. Come to your own conclusions. And with that being said, let's get started. Miranda's mom is not having a good day.
She just got a text message from her daughter that they just picked up a hitchhiker near one of the national parks. And now Miranda's not responding to Miranda's mom's text messages. Miranda's mom is texting her. Are you out of your mind? Share your location right now. What are you doing? I mean, doesn't she know the general rule for hitchhiking? It only takes one bad ride to end your life.
That's the rule. That also applies for the people picking up the hitchhikers. You browse a few forums and all the stories are there. I used to hitchhike from my home in the mountains to my local high school. A long-haired man picked me up once and he starts talking about all the missing girls from the area. He said that they were all probably killed.
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Chapter 4: What were Gabby Petito's final communications?
And that's that. OK, I mean, as a parent, you wouldn't want to know what happened. Brian's dad, Chris, just throws his hands up in the air like, what the hell do you want me to do about it? I understand what you're saying, but no, we're not going to. Well, it makes it very odd, don't you think? Like, from my point of view, Chris, well, goodbye for now. You can call my attorney.
I gave you guys a phone number. I don't have your attorney's phone number, and an attorney's not going to answer at, what, 10, 11 o'clock at night. Like I said, I'm not speaking to anybody. We're not comfortable talking to anybody without an attorney, so that's that. Well, the van is only registered to her. Okay, well, I'm not really sure.
Well, I'm telling you, I'm telling you the title in the state of Florida is only hers, so it's not supposed to be here. Okay, so I'm going to take a tow truck and get it. Is there a car in the way? The laundries offer to move the car if need be, and it prompts the officer to ask. I mean, so you don't have any issue with us taking this van?
If that's what you're saying you got to do, you got to do it. But right now, I'm not speaking to you anymore without an attorney. You don't find that odd that you guys just really, they just start closing the doors on the officers. Good night. Don't knock on my door anymore. As the police are towing the van out of the driveway, the tow truck driver, who's not a cop, he just works with the police.
He even says on body cam, kind of weirded out. I don't even know what's going on.
Really?
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: How did Gabby's family react to her disappearance?
Hmm.
September 11th, Gabby's parents report Gabby missing. They find out the night of the 11th that Brian is home in Florida. And he has been there since September 1st. He has been there for nearly two weeks. He's been back home. Nobody has reached out to Gabby's family. In fact, they've blocked Gabby's parents.
What could they possibly be doing for like 10 days or two weeks?
They go camping. Yeah. Nicole says when authorities told her what happened, the detective said, Brian's there with the van, not Gabby. And he's lawyered up. He has a lawyer already. Nicole says, I never felt anything like that in my life. My body would not stop shaking. Jim is Gabby's stepdad. So she has a really beautiful blended family.
So she has Nicole, her biological mother, which they really don't even like the stepdad names because they've all been in Gabby's life since she was like a toddler. So we've got Nicole and Jim, her stepdad. Then you have Joe, her dad, and Tara, her stepmom. Mm-hmm. Now, both of the step parents, they were also so distraught. They're collapsing on the ground. Like, what do you mean he's home?
What do you mean he has an attorney? Why would he need an attorney? And instantly they start organizing a press conference. The four of them all help standing there raising, you know, pictures of Gabby and their parents. pleading people to just help bring her home. Gabby's dad at the press conference says, what I need everybody here to do is help. The goal is not met.
The goal is to bring Gabby home safe. All that I'm asking for right now is that. I'm asking help from everyone. I'm asking out for help for the parents of Brian. I'm asking for help of the family members and the friends of the Laundrie family as well. Just help us. Within a day or two, the Gabby Petito case blows up all of our social media.
I remember the floodgates opening, pretty much all my comments, emails, everybody was requesting coverage on this case. Meanwhile, Brian and his family are just releasing these weird statements through their attorney that read, it is our understanding that a search has been organized for Ms. Petito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
On behalf of the Laundrie family, it is our hope that the search for Ms. Petito is successful and that Ms. Petito is reunited with her family. Reporters think this whole thing is so bizarre. They're commenting, I mean, we don't know what he told his parents, right?
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Chapter 6: What were the key details of the investigation that followed?
Meanwhile, Brian, who is not working nearly as hard as her, he's kind of upset that she's working at Taco Bell. Gabby's parents didn't even know about this at the time, but Gabby's friend said, I mean, she would work and then she would hang out with me. So this is a friend from Florida that she made. She like met this friend on Bumble Friends. Her name is Rose.
And that is when Brian started feeling neglected and having this possessiveness over Gabby. That's what Rose says. In fact, he made her feel like shit that she was spending all of her time working at Taco Bell. He wanted her to spend all her time with him. He would text her.
So it wasn't because of Taco Bell. It's just he doesn't want her to be working.
So previously, they both worked at Publix together where it appears the speculation is that at Publix, he could control her or keep an eye on her. Whereas at Taco Bell, he doesn't really know who she's talking to, who she's hanging out with. And then afterwards, she's like, yeah, maybe I do want to go hang out with my girlfriend because I want to let off steam. I'm working 50 hours a week.
He would text her. This is in the Netflix documentary. I'll be happy when I see you, but I'm so pissed right now. I fucking hate that you ever worked at Taco Bell with all those low lives. She responds, okay, dot, dot, dot. Well, I know. Sorry. I don't know why you had to turn into one of them. Fucking disgusting.
What does that even mean?
I don't know. It seems like he feels like all the people working at Taco Bell are lowlifes and he doesn't like Gabby hanging out with him. There's really no, not even anecdotal evidence that the people that she was hanging out with, the people that she was working out with or working with were strange. By any regard, it just seems like he looked down on Taco Bell.
He would even reach out to Gabby's mom, Nicole, telling her things like, Gabby's working really late every night and she's hanging around these people and they're bad people. Nicole said, I kind of believed it at the time because it just seemed like he was trying to take care of her.
And it just seems that while she's at work, he would have these very frantic text messages that he would bombard her with. Sometimes it's the, I freaking hate the low lives. The next time it would be, please, please forgive me for calling your mom, but I'm fucked in every aspect of my life right now. I just wanted this week to go smoothly.
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Chapter 8: What were the dynamics of Gabby's and Brian's relationship?
Yeah. Wow.
Another one is titled Badger's Wake, and the lyrics do have netizens kind of questioning why someone would want to specifically listen to this specific song in this specific context. The lyrics read, below the pond green woods, that's where the badgers do sleep. Deep as a solitary stone, in gray and crimson and greens. In a slumber of blood and bone, the badger lies still as he dreams.
I hear one last slow breath, the smell of a badger's death. This is the playlist Brian Laundrie allegedly created for his road trip back home from Wyoming to Florida alone without Gabby in Gabby's white van after he strangled and killed her. Which leads a lot of netizens to question, is Gabby the only one Brian could have killed? When this case was unfolding, this was a huge question.
Everybody, like there were so many theories. Nearby in Moab, Utah, which is where they were stopped by the police.
So the stop by police incident, like what part of this journey was it? Were they in the road trip, midst of the road trip?
So it's like a month into the road trip. They left early July. This was August 12th. And then she will be missing like technically August 27th.
so in like two weeks yeah okay now in nearby moab utah two women were found dead at another campsite they were partially unclothed and shot in a campground kylan schulte and crystal beck the two were married and they both worked at the same place they were actually both found in a campsite in the mountains that brian and gabby were believed to have visited
So according to friends, Kylan had told them that if they were going to die, if something were ever going to happen to them at this campsite, it was murder. That there was like this creepy guy lurking around their campsite.
So a lot of netizens, of course, they start theorizing, wait, Brian and Gabby were in Moab, Utah around the same time, which means Brian could be responsible because there is a connection here, right? Also, the connection gets deeper. Kylan worked at Moonflower Co-op. Kylan and Crystal actually observed they saw Gabby and Brian getting into an argument outside the Moonflower Co-op.
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