Gabby Petito biography: 10 things about vlogger born in Blue Point, New York

Who was Gabby Petito?

Gabrielle Venora “Gabby” Petito was an American vlogger from Blue Point, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, United States. She is Joseph “Joe” Petito and Nichole Durivou Schmidt.

In 2021, amid the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Gabby quit her job to pursue her dream to become a travel blogger. At the time, she was living in her fiancé Brian Laundrie‘s family house in North Port, Florida, USA with his parents Christopher John “Chris” Laundrie and Roberta Maria Vinci Laundrie.

In June 2021, Joe moved from Selden, New York to Vero Beach, Florida in part to be closer to Gabby. Here are 10 more things about her:

1. She was born in Blue Point.
2. Her father is married to Tara Petito.
3. Her mother is married to James “Jim” Schmidt.
4. She and Brian both graduated from Bayport-Blue Point High School in Bayport, Town of Islip, Suffolk County.
5.  She loved travel, art and nature. 
6. She posted about her travels in her YouTube channel Nomadic Statik.
7. She had several tattoos, including one on her forearm that read, “Let it be.”
8. She was 5’5″ tall.
9. She weighed around 110 pounds.
10. She has five half-siblings.

TIMELINE

2014

• In July 2014, she visited Davis Park, Fire Island in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York.

2016

• In December 2016, she visited Costa Rica.

2019

• In 2019, she worked as a staffer for NOLE Café juice bar in Patchogue, Suffolk Count, started dating Brian and moved in with him in North Port.

2020

• In June 2020, she visited the Sope Creek Paper Mill Ruins in Georgia, USA.  
• In July 2020, Brian proposed to her and she said yes.

2021

• On March 19, 2021, she turned 22.
• On June 17, 2021, she and Brian went to Blue Point and attended her brother’s high school graduation.
• On July 2, 2021, she and Brian left from Blue Point for their cross-country camping trip, planned to visit a family friend in Portland, Oregon, USA around Halloween and started traveling across the U.S. in a white 2012 Ford Transit van with a Florida license plate.
• On August 12, 2021, a witness saw her and Brian arguing over a phone while their 2012 Ford Transit van was parked near Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab, Utah. The responding Moab Police Department officers determined that insufficient evidence existed to justify criminal charges. He told one of the officers that she tried to slap him because she thought he was going to leave her in Moab without a ride. That night, he stayed in a hotel while she stayed with their van.
• On August 19, 2021, she uploaded a YouTube video featuring a glimpse into her van adventures with Laundrie. In the caption, she explained that after their first cross country trip in a Nissan Sentra, they both decided to downsize their lives and travel full-time so they handcrafted their 2012 Ford Transit van. In the video, he is briefly seen reading Jeff VanderMeer‘s novel “Annihilation.”
• On August 21, 2021, while she and Brian were in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, her father placed an Uber Eats order for her because she did not have WiFi due to power outage.
• On August 24, 2021, she and Laundrie stayed at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Salt Lake City then left the city for Grand Teton National Park in Teton County, Wyoming.
• On August 25, 2021, her 2012 Ford Transit van was spotted at Grand Teton National Park, her mother spoke to her on a FaceTime call and she took to Instagram to share photos of herself with a caption, “Happy Halloween.”
• On August 27, 2021, a surveillance camera recorded her and Brian at a Whole Foods store in Jackson, Wyoming, USA, which was the last time she was seen alive. That day, her mother received a text message sent from her that read, “Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemeails and missed calls.” Stan is her grandfather but she never called him that name, according to her mother.
• On August 30, 2021, her mother received a message from her cellphone, which read, “No service in Yosemite.”
• On September 10, 2021, her 2012 Ford Transit van was recovered at his Brian’s home in North Port.
• On September 11, 2021, her mother reported her missing to the Suffolk County Police Department.
• On September 15, 2021, Brian was named a person of interest in her disappearance and on September 17, 2021, his parents reported him missing.
• On September 19, 2021, she was found deceased at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest on the east boundary of Grand Teton National Park.
• On September 21, 2021, Teton County coroner Dr. Brent Blue made an initial determination that she died by homicide.
• On October 12, 2021, Blue said she was strangled to death three to four weeks before her body was found.
• On October 20, 2021, Brian’s remains were found in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port. A notebook was found near his remains in which he admitted to killing her.