Legally Brunette: Gabby Petito

First, we’re giving the latest updates on the Menendez case, Karen Huger’s latest sentencing and the death of Gene Hackman. 

Then, we’re diving deep into the case of Gabby Petito: a 22-year-old who was strangled by her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, and left to die in the wilderness. 

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, everyone, Welcome to another episode of Legally Brunette. I'll
be your host Emily Simpson with my co host Shane Simpson,
and today we just want to do first some quick updates.
Let's just talk about Menendez quickly, because some things have
been happening there. First of all, their resentencing hearing is
still scheduled from March twentieth and twenty first, but my

(00:22):
prediction is that it is going to get re scheduled
again because on Gavin Newsom's new podcast, he announced that
he's going to use his power of commuting their sentence
possibly maybe I don't know, but he's taking a look
into it.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Why now, you know, he's just, oh, this is popular,
I could do this on my podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
So basically, he's ordering the Pearl Board to do to
investigate whether the brothers would pose an unreasonable risks to
the public if they were released from prison. So what
they're going to do is they'll do this investigation, they'll
come up with a report, and they're going to issue
the report to Newsom but also to the judge and
the court and the DA Hawkman. But I would assume

(01:06):
that report is not going to come out until after
March twentieth. So my guess would be that these hearings
are not going to go forward on the twentieth. They're
going to get re rescheduled until after this report comes out.
But that's a good question because my first thought when
I saw that Gavin Newsom was now getting involved in
this case, where before he said he was kind of
going to let the DA and the court system and

(01:28):
the judge handle it, I thought it looked like a.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Pr Oh yeah, it totally is.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
This is popular, I'll talk about it. I mean, let's
be honest. His image wasn't looking great after the fires.
A lot of people were calling for his resignation and
saying he didn't handle that well. Now he has a
new podcast. His first episode of his podcast, he talks
about how he's going to possibly get involved in the
Menindaz case. Also, I know the DA hawkman came forward
and said that he what he did was he made

(01:56):
an informal response to their habeas petition. Now, the habeas
petition is a completely different avenue. It has nothing to
do with the resentencing, and he said that basically he
didn't think that they should get a new trial. That
would be the habeat route, which I agree, but he
was saying it was you know, he talks about how
they're telling a continuum of lies during their original trials,

(02:17):
and then he doesn't believe that this new evidence that
came forward anyway. So basically, it looks like the habeas
route is not one that's really an avenue that's going
to work for them. We're really going to have to
focus on the recent while right the resentencing, or on
Gavin Newsom, so we'll see what happens there. All right,

(02:38):
let's get into Normally. I don't like to do housewife
stuff because I feel like there's so much going on
with other legal situations. But let's talk about Karen Huger
just for a little bit. So eleven months after Karen
got drunk and crashed her Maserati into a street sign,
the Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Terrence McGahn sentenced Karen

(02:58):
Huger to two years in jail, one suspended. So she
is going to have to spend a year in prison.
I don't know, do you think I think she'll probably
do six months maybe?

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Or do you think I don't know how it works
where she is. But this is not her first UI, correct, No,
it's thing. It's important to know the history to know
if the sentencing is valid or not.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
It is my understanding that this is her fourth Now
I believe that there's been long periods of time maybe
between the first second, and.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
It doesn't matter. But to me it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Matter, no, I know. But also she was fined twenty
nine hundred dollars to go along with her her sentence.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
If you don't want learn your lesson because of a
two year sentence, maybe this twenty nine hundred dollars fine
will teach you something. Probably costs tens of thousands of
dollars of court time and everything, and all sudden they're like, oh,
pay two thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I mean the street sign she hit probably costs twenty
nine hundred dollars. So Karen was found guilty of DUI
negligent driving, failure to control speed to avoid a collision,
and failure to know to fight her change of address.
She won't be allowed to drive for a year after
she's released, and if she violates probation, Hugre will be
sent back to jail to serve the year of the

(04:11):
suspended time. This is Karen Huger's fourth d U.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
I should take people's license away. Sorry, I mean once
maybe after that, it's like, take the license away. You're
no good, you're a minister society.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
You're as sorry you are.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
She is she's gonna kill someone? Well she, I mean
why why is now? Is she gonna be like, oh,
I should start being responsible?

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Well, she's lucky she didn't kill someone after four UI,
so you got really lucky that someone was not injured.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Or it's ridiculous. Remember my daughter, her fifth grade teacher,
mister Clark, and when she got him, she was thrilled
killed by a drunk driver mid school year.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
I remember that.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
And it was not the drunk driver's first killing as
a result of drunk driving.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Oh you mean not only first offense, but they had
that someone?

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yes, yes, wow, not okay, anyway.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
All right, let's move on. This is just an interesting
story that's popped up in the media. I'm sure everyone's been.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Thinking about it.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
And obsessing over it. But it is the death of
Gene Hackman. And I will tell you I find this
really interesting. Luke, my son, our son. I forgot our son,
our son wanted to watch he had watched this before
was Shane, but he wanted to watch the Poseidoniden.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Adventure is an excellent movie, but not like the recent.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
He wanted to watch the nineteen seventy two versions.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
The only good one the one with Kurt Russell, though, okay,
nobody So.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Luke and I watched this the day before, and while
we were watching it, I remember thinking to myself, is
Gene Hackman s so?

Speaker 2 (05:54):
You asked me, and I told you. I said, well,
he's ninety four. Last year a photo popped up of
him being ninety four or he did not look healthy
at all. I said, I don't know he's gonna make
it to ninety five. And then I didn't know you
could put a curse on people. Apparently you're a.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Witch, which thank you for telling our children that. Because
I brought up Gene Hackman two days. I was inquiring
about his health and whether he was still alive, and
then the story broke forty eight hours later that Gene
Hackman and his wife and a dog were found dead.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
I love Gene Hackman, you do, Yeah, I do. I
think he's a great actor. That's partly why Pside Adventure
is really good. I know people aren't here for a
movie Becauseiden Venture has a great story.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay. Gene Hackman and his wife, along with their dog,
were found dead this week and circumstances officials have called
suspicious enough to warrant a thorough investigation. So Hackman and
his wife's bodies were discovered by maintenance workers at their
home just before two pm. And that was the last Wednesday,
February twenty six. Now, I will tell you I was
looking into it again this morning, you see if there

(06:58):
was new information in this case, and I read that
according to his pacemaker, the last known activity on his
pacemaker was February seventeenth.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Wow, So they are assuming just basically what date was
he found Well, he.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Was found dead February twenty.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Six, so that would put him at nine days.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, the last activity that was recorded on his pacemaker
was February seventeenth, so they're assuming that that was most
likely when they died. So a caller told nine to
one one that they could see two unconscious people through
a window but could not enter the home. According to
the call the cause of death of Hackman, who was
ninety five and his wife, Betsy, was sixty three, are

(07:39):
not known at this time, but I did read that
they have ruled out carbon monoxide or any type of natural.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Gas hold out.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
That's what I read on autopsy. I believe so because
the daughters, so Gene Hackman has daughters, had said in
an interview that maybe it was carbon monoxide, and then
I read that had been ruled out.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
But they said that as a just a reasonable assumption
based on them being found dead on the floor.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
And I guess how the investigation right. So the couple's
bodies were found in separate rooms and their secluded home.
This is in Santa Fe. So Jeene Hackman was found
in at.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Went if we died in our sleep, yeah, that's how.
Shane was on the couch with the TV on and
Emily had the phone on her face, laying in bed,
dummy worms.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, and the dogs were everywhere. So they were found
in separate rooms. Gene Hackman was found in a mudroom
and they are assuming that he possibly fell because he
had his cane and like some sunglasses lying next to him,
so it looks like maybe he took a fall were
next to them. But what is strange is his wife

(08:51):
was found in a bathroom with scattered pills. Now, also
there were three dogs in the residence and one dog
was found in a closet inside a crate.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
I read that a lot of reports said, all, there's
three dogs.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
There's three dogs.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
One was found dead inside a crate, so likely lacking
food and water. That would be my thought seven days
based on what we're reading. And then there were two
other dogs found in the residents that were alive and
not in a crate or a closet, right.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
But I did read somewhere that one was in the bathroom,
but I don't know if he was locked in the
bathroom or they just found him wandering and he ended up.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
It would make more sense now that one's in a crate,
passed away because unfortunately neglected with food and water, and
the others maybe were able to kind of fin for themselves,
and you know, right, they.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Maybe they dug through the trash or eat something in.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
A right, or maybe there's plenty of dog food out,
you know right.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
So, Betsy, this is why her body showed obvious signs
of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face, and mummification
in both hands and feet. Hackman's body was then found
on the ground near the kitchen. This is in the
mudroom in a similar condition, So the sheriff later said
there was no indication that either of them had suffered
injuries from a fall. So what is your thoughts? There's

(10:06):
so many scenarios that go through my mind. First of all,
did he fall and when he hit the ground he
died because he's ninety five, so maybe the fall alone
was enough to kill him. Then his wife found him dead.
Then she freaked out because she can't live without him,
so she took pills.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
I thought it was odd when the daughters said that
they had not spoken to him for a few months.
They didn't say it like it was a bad thing.
They said it like just as a matter of fact, like, oh,
we haven't spoken to her dad in a few I'm like,
yeah'm spilling your dad in a few months, especially when
your dad's gene Hackney. Okay, but I have a few
months my dad and a few months Okay, but yeah,
but that's a different scenario.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
But how do you know it's a different scenario.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
I don't know. Well, I don't know because I'll tell
you because the daughters didn't say well, certainly I didn't
read everything, but assuming there was I just find not
talking to your parents after a few months when they're ninety.
That old is a little odd. Now, if there was
distance and they just had no close relationship, then okay,
then that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Okay, Well here's my thoughts as someone who is not
very close with my dad and has a stepmom. My
sister and I have always had a lack of communication
with my dad because my stepmom controls. We call her
the gatekeeper. And when I was reading this about Gene Hackman,
I kind of felt like it was the same scenario
because it said Hackman did not even have a phone

(11:22):
or an email address, and his friends had to go
through his wife to get in touch with him. Now
I understand that because that's what I have to do
to talk to my dad.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, but I think your dad doesn't want doesn't care
for technology.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
I don't think it's just that I think he doesn't
care for technology because he's.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Told okay, well, you know, being ninety five, maybe he
just never really I heard from read what I read,
which doesn't mean it's accurate that she kept him out
of the spotlight, she kept him away from fans this
and that. Now, maybe he wanted that initially, she took
it too far. I don't know, but if she is
this gatekeeper, then him and dying and he wasn't a

(12:01):
small guy. If he's if he fell and got hurt
and she couldn't care for him, and maybe she tried
to care for him and set herself couldn't and it
just went south from there. I don't know. But there
was like a story that like when he was he
was in the hospital a while ago, she would dress
up as a nurse and go in and out so
people wouldn't think she was the wife. She was like hiding.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Wait, but why wouldn't she want people to know that
she was the wife? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
It was like she was hiding from paparazzi or public.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Oh so she dressed up as a nurse in order
to visit him.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Saying what I read was accurate.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yes, Well I don't know. So anyway, what are your
thoughts on this? Here's my question is she's in her sixties.
She's thirty something year younger than him, So the chances
of her dying from a natural caused the same that
he died doesn't make sense. So that's where the suspicion
comes in. Did she take pills because she couldn't live
without him.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Is there some outside the time will certainly tell?

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Okay, but we're going to keep up with the story
because Shane, I did not know Shane had such a
deep love.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
So like The Heist is a really good movie, the
French Connection, he plays Popeye Doyle, really good car chasing there,
he's you know, he's great. I think his Lex Luthor
role was was terrible.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Well, I'm glad that you you do give him credit
words due? Okay, So let's move on to the stream
measures with you.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
You what's his name? You great?

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Okay, good, thank you?

Speaker 2 (13:27):
It was really good.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
We are now legally Brunette and we do movie reviews
at the same time. Let's move on to the murder
of Gabby Patito. Now, I when this case came out,
did you follow it at all?

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Absolutely? You did, just just like daily what was on
the news.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
Okay, I did not. I know, I didn't. I remember
briefly hearing things about it, but I really didn't know
a lot of details about it. I didn't know what happened.
I didn't even know. I didn't know a lot about it.
But I did watch the Netflix special, which is on
Netflix right now.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Now I know everything.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
There's no, no, But I did watch the Netflix series
and I was so invested in it that I then
went outside and I googled more things, I did more research,
I read more things. So anyway, guys, I'm excited. We're
going to talk about Gabby Patito today. So if you
haven't seen the Netflix special, I would say to watch it.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
It's three episodes.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
It's three episodes. They also, which is interesting, they took
her voice and then made an AI recreation of her
voice to read her journal entries, so that's her speaking,
but not her organic they pull out right, So let's
just do a little background about the facts of this
case so we can all just be on the same page,

(14:47):
and then we're going to go through like a little time.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
So there's Gabby, who's the girl, and then the boyfriend
fiance is Brian Laundry.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Brian So Gabrielle Venora Patito entered the world March nineteenth
of nineteen ninety nine. Tragically, on August twenty seventh, twenty
twenty one, her life was cut short at the young
age of twenty two. She was on a cross country
road trip with our fiance, Brian Laundry, and they were
visiting national Parks when he strangled her to death. This

(15:17):
devastating event highlights the horrific reality that some individuals can
become perpetrators of violence against those that they really should
cherish in safeguard. And I think one of the main
issues in white people are so engrossed in this is
because when you watch the special, or you read the facts,
or you read about what has happened, I think there
are many times where you can see an avenue where

(15:39):
Gabby could possibly escape or someone could help, and it
just doesn't turn out that way. And I think that's
what's so frustrating, So.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
That I think that that and not a conclusive like
timeline of what happened and how he killed her, and
then coupled with lots of video and audio during this
whole time right for us to see.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
Let's start. So in July second and twenty twenty one,
Gabby Patito and her friend and say Brian embark on
a form of trip traveling across the United States and
their camper van. Now the van was purchased by Gabby
and the van is in Gabby's name, which I think
is important. Gabby wanted to be a vlogger and she
wanted to make a YouTube channel. Gabby's friends and families
say that this was something she wanted to make a

(16:24):
career out of, but Brian did not seem to support it.
I mean the interviews on the in the special, they
do talk about how he thought it was dumb, he
thought it was silly. He wasn't really behind it. And
I did find it interesting, or that's just because I
do love tacos. But Gabby worked full time at Taco Bell.
Oh yeah, in order to earn enough money to buy
this van.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, it was to fix up the van.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, well they had to should buy the van. They
had to fix up the van, and I have for
transit some spending money for this trip.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
So well, and they wanted to convert it because it
was just a little delivery van, so they had to
convert it a little bit right to commentate what they
wanted and probably get video equipment right. And her little
sign off to people was have a taco tastic day.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yes, have a taco tastic day. All right. So they're
out and about, they're going to national parks. She's trying
to document it. I can tell she's frustrated because he
doesn't Brian the fiance doesn't seem to be helping her
with any of the technology or editing part that seems
to be all on her shoulders. Then on August twelfth,
this is a very.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Well it's evidenced by when you watch the documentary and
it shows unedited videos, so them trying to capture videos,
video content, and you could tell it's him just kind
of shrugging it off or not really engaging, and she's
trying to figure it out, like she's not a natural.
She was kind of trying to egg him on to
help her, and he was kind of brushing it off.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, you could tell.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
So you wonder if he just didn't want to be
on video.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Well, that was something that I think someone said in
an interview, one of her friends, possibly I think it
was Rose, said maybe he was reluctant or has to
be on this video because he knows what he's like.
I can't always.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Control he comes up. Might actually I don't the camera.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
To be rolling exactly. So August twelfth, at twenty twenty
one is a very important date in the Gabby Patito case.
This is the day when they are going through Moab
and Shane and I have been to Moab just interesting
fun fact there. But bodycam footage from police officer Eric
Pratt shows Brian and Gabby's van being pulled over on
the side of the road in Moab City, Utah. Earlier

(18:28):
that day, officers had received a call from someone reporting
that the caller had witnessed a male slapping a female
and a white van fitting the same description. So through
the bodycam footage, we see Gabby hysterically crying to officers.
She talks about how she has OCD, she has really
bad anxiety. When the officer asked her what's wrong, Gabby states,

(18:48):
We've just been fighting this morning, some personal issues. Yeah,
I don't know, it's just some days I have really
bad OCD and I was just cleaning it, straightening up.
I was apologizing to him, saying that I'm so mean
because sometimes I have OCD and I get frustrated. However,
this is the part that I think kind of boggles
my mind. They do remove Gabby from the van, they
put her in the police car, and she visibly has

(19:12):
her eye has been struck.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
I had injury. I saw the photo that she took
of herself. That injury in that video, not that I
could see clearly there was no injury. But I couldn't
see whether there was or was an injury, So I
don't know if they knew offhand, like maybe it didn't
show remember when my mom got in an accident.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
No, because he referenced it. He says, you have something
on your eye, and it looks like you have a
fresh mark on your So this is the photo from
her camera roll of her eye, and this is the
day that she was pulled over. She has the same
thing on.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
It looks like she was slapped around.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
It looks like she was hit and slapped in the face.
On her She's got a mark on her forehead, a
mark on her cheek, a mark on her cross, her nose,
the bridge of her nose. Her eye is red, it's
got a little bit of blood and scratching. He also
makes a reference to her having a new fresh mark
on her arm. Now I do know that Brian has
marks on his face. He's got some scratches. I found

(20:07):
him Brian, And maybe this is just because I already
have a preconceived notion of who this man is because
I know what happens. But when I'm watching him on
the body cam footage, I find him to be nervous.
I find him to make comments like he's like, well,
I don't know what Gabby's going to tell you. To me,
that's very telling that I feel like he's trying to

(20:27):
hide the fact that he is the aggressor in this situation.
And I think she has been conditioned to take the blame.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
She's or to diffuse it.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
Right, And it worries me that what happened in this
scenario is they separate them, they put her in a car,
and then she's hysterical. She says she has OCD, she
says she has anxiety. She's definitely been hit in the face.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
So the way I was.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Understanding the car position was I felt as if one said, hey,
we don't really have discretion when it comes to domestic abuse.
In this type of situation, someone needs to be arrested.
But then I do know that they pulled the female
officer in, so I felt as if they thought that
they should arrest someone, whether it was Brian or Gabby,

(21:18):
because they do make clear that they think she's the aggressor.
But your opinion is.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
They just well, I think they had an officer come in,
and I remember on video one of the officers was
saying something the effect of like like, hey, if you
want to if you think we're in a situation this
is a scenario where someone needs to be arrested, I'll
support you. If you think this is a situation where
it doesn't meet the checklist of having to arrest someone,
I'll support that too. So it was like, whatever you

(21:45):
whichever direction you want to go, I'll support it. And
then clearly they went the direction of not arresting.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
Okay, what do you think about not making an arrest?
Because I have read several articles I have read you know,
we'll talk about it in a little bit. But Gabby Petito,
those parents have gone on to sue the Moab City
Police Department for the way they handled the situation on
this day. Do you think that if a rest was made,
whether it was Gabby or whether it was Brian, that

(22:13):
it could have had a different outcome. There could have
been a they could have and.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
We'll never know. But they kept getting back together. They
kept getting back together because remember what happened is so
they ended up deciding to separate the two for like
a cooling off period, and they got him like a
hotel or motel and escorted him there and they gave
her the camper, probably because it was in her name,

(22:41):
and gave it to her and to give her the
mobility to drive home or go wherever she wanted. And
they advised them heavily do not contact each other tonight,
let it cool off and start again tomorrow. They didn't
do that. She immediately was texting him, so he would
have gone out of jail the next day or whatever
it was, and they would have gone right back together.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Don't think making an arrest would have made much of
a difference.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
I don't know, but that, but that doesn't mean they
I mean, if they should have arrested, they should have
arrested I think.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Maybe possibly arresting Gabby because they did claim that she
was the aggressor in this situation based upon her saying yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
I I well what right? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (23:18):
But I feel like if she were arrested and she
was actually detained and then she had to make a
phone call, even though I do know she called her mom,
but if she had to call her mom and call
her parents and say I was arrested, I need your help,
I have to hire an attorney, you need to come here,
that then maybe her parents.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Would have so it would have been elevated to a
point where maybe they would would have stepped in. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah, And that's where I think that possibly there could
have been a different outcome, is if Gabby was that
was arrested in this situation. Also, I was confused, and
I don't know if anybody else thought this when they
were watching it, but it did bother me that she
was hysterical in the car. She said she had OCDS,
she said she was dealing with severe anxiety. But then
they put her in a vehicle to drive away and

(24:03):
stay alone in her vehicle. I was like, so, the
girl who's hysterical, who says she has OCD and suffers
from anxiety, you just handed her the keys to her
vehicle and said now you're alone in a park and
you're gonna stay alone in your vehicle.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Maybe they could have escorted her.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
I just I didn't like that part. Also, let me
just say one more thing when it comes to the parents,
and I don't know this might be an unpopular opinion.
I had a hard time with the mom. Now I
understand that she lost her daughter and she is a
grieving mother, So I'm not trying to be negative towards
the mom, But as a parent, if my twenty two

(24:43):
year old daughter called me from the side of a
road and said she had gotten in a fight with
her boyfriend and they're on a road trip alone together
and police had pulled them over and she was hysterical,
I'm telling you I would be in a car or
on a plane immediately.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
No, you wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yes, I would.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
I'd be telling me too. Okay, but so on, why
did I get out there right now? That's probably true,
we would.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Have, But I'm telling you there is no way that
I would have hung up the phone and then been like, well,
I hope.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
You proceed along fingers crossed.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
I hope you guys get along the next day. I
just I don't know in what world me as well.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
We also don't know what conversation yet. Maybe Gabby really
talked her mom into like it's fine, Maybe she calmed down.
When we don't know, Let me ask one.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
More question, because when Shane and I were watching this together,
when it first showed Gabby getting the van ready and
getting in the van to go with Brian on this
cross country trip across the United States, he asked, Shane
said to me, how old is she? And I said,
she's twenty two, And he said, would you let your

(25:49):
daughter go on a cross country trip in a van
with her boyfriend? And I said, well, I don't know.
That's an interesting question because one, she's twenty two, so
she's technically an adult. But also I don't think I
would be supportive of it.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Not not someone definitely not with a killer, but definitely
not with him where it didn't seem like her parents
had a close relationship with him, where they knew him
and they were familiar with him and they had a
history together. So it was kind of like, oh, my
new boyfriend and I were going to go travel to

(26:25):
the continental US together in this camper van. That's where
it's like what And I don't remember if there was
any history between him and the parents, but it just
seemed if they had been together for years family friend
engaged and there was a lot of comfort there in
knowing who he was, and they was a good part
at her and then they wanted to go on a

(26:45):
road trip. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
Okay, So here's the difference is what I'm picking up
from you, Because Shane does have a twenty three year
old daughter and she was recently married, so you're saying,
if Shelby went to you almost twenty two and you
didn't really know Evan, that's her her husband's husband, you
would advise her not to go.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
I would be worried about her going. I'd certainly ask
a lot of questions and probably discourage her from going.
But if it was today that she was going to
do that, my questions would be more about like is
it a smart thing financially? Are you going to be sustainable?
Are you going to fall behind in whatever your plant?
Like those things, not like her safety with her husband

(27:24):
because we've known him for years now. He's been nothing
but good to her. They haven't had any domestic issue,
you know what I mean, Right, So it's like, yeah,
of course, now it's just a question of whether it's
a road trip's a good idea, not who you're going with.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Okay, So, as I stated a little bit earlier, so
the potitos end up filing a lawsuit against the City
of Moab for the way they handled that. So they
didn't investigate a report. And I thought this was interesting
because they did feature an interview with Officer Pratt, who
was one of the officers that was there and says,
I'm desperately eft over that she got killed. I really am,

(28:05):
he said, I would have done anything to stop it
if I would have known that that was coming.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
If if anyone knew, they would have stopped.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
If I would have known Laundry that Brian was going
to murder her, I would have taken vacation to follow
them because I care about people to the point where
he was going to murder her, and I would have
intervened and citizens arrested him. In Wyoming, I would have
taken my own time. I would have missed my family
to go do that. Captain Brandon Radcliffe did not lay
blame on Officer Pratt or fellow responding officer Daniel Robbins, saying, quote,

(28:38):
they both believed at the time they were making the
right decision based on the totality of the circumstances that
were presented. That's basically your reasonable person standard in that situation,
and you know that's what we were talking about, not
knowing what was to come in the future. Would different
officers have handled it differently? Did they do the right thing?

(29:00):
I don't know, But what happened in this lawsuit against
the City of Moab was basically the court dismissed it,
saying that it is really just an issue of police immunity.
You can't sue police officers, and what they did was
say but you can take it to a higher court
if they want to address the constitutionality of this immunity

(29:22):
that they have. So the Potitos have appealed the case.
I believe what I can find so far is basically
that it's in line to possibly be picked up by
the Utah Supreme Court. So we'll see what happens with that.
That could be a long journey there.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
But as when you watched it, do you think the
police officers made the wrong choice, not not knowing the outcome,
just just watching everything as if you were there, do
you think police officers should have done something further to
separate them?

Speaker 1 (29:52):
I do, because to me, she looked like a frail, scared,
timid young girl that weighs one hundred pounds, and I
thought he was creepy, even not knowing, even if you
take out the circumstances of knowing what happens in the future,
then I felt like she looked like she was in danger.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Why did the police? Why do you think the police
did not do anything?

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Because I think she kept saying that he was her person.
She didn't want to be separated. They were a team.
She kept calling them a team, and I think these
cops thought, let's just separate them and then they'll be fine.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
The next day, I wondered when I was watching it,
if because they weren't residents of Moab, and I wondered
if it was just like these people are coming through,
because it's something like five thousand people live in Moab,
but there's like multi like three to four million visitors

(30:47):
a year during peak seasons, So you'll wonder if they're
kind of like, let's just separate them and get them
to move along. Do we really want to, like, you know,
book someone from from out of our city and get
involved that way and keep them around, or are they
just traveling through and just just let them cool off
and travel through. I think them not being a residence

(31:11):
was taken into consideration whether they really wanted to be
invested in either of them being arrested.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
I'm sure that's probably true too, But.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Does that make it right wrong? I don't know. All right,
So this, I like how I make a pretty deep
profound I theorize something and you're like yeah. Yeah, Well,
because you.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Made your profound statement and now the listeners can agree
with you or not. It's not up for me, it's
up to them. So I just want to go on
with a little bit more of that. However, mister Radcliffe
suggested that the traffic stop should have ended with Potito's
arrests because she admitted to hitting laundry. I still kind
of disagree with that, but that's okay. Based on the

(31:50):
information provided in this specific incident, Brian would be the victim,
with Gabby being the suspect. I do not find that
they enforce the law. They responded to a confirmed mestic
violence incident, and they had evidence showing an assault had
taken place. The statements of all this involved, along with
the evidence presented, provided probable cause for an arrest. The
report recommended that both officers be put on probation and

(32:14):
that the entire department receive additional domestic violence investigation training
to ensure that officers understand state laws and statutes. We'll
see what happens. It's the next timeline event, so we're
still on the timeline. So that was the that was
August twelfth when they were pulled over. Now, August nineteenth,
twenty twenty one, Gabby and Bryan share their first and

(32:35):
only YouTube video highlighting their road trip across.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
The United States. One video.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
One out of all of that, Okay, it.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Definitely was not supportive. And what did he want? Then?
What do you think We're just going to go on
a road trip, Like she says, let's go on a
road trip and document it and try to build some
type of channel and following. And he's just like okay,
and then he has no interest in doing that party
this spants to go on the camping part. Like, what
was his plan?

Speaker 1 (33:01):
I think his plan. I think he was just obsessed
with Gabby and his plan was just to be with Gaby,
isolated with her to I think he was fine isolating her.
I think he you know, earlier and the.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Darted day money did support themselves.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
I don't think they needed a lot of money. I
think they ate in the vase and I think they lived.
They took showers whatever those public shower places the police
were talking about where he kept telling her over and
over she could get a hot shower for four.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
He kept saying that. I was like, Okay, good for
your wife.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
I know that the police officer kept.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Telling you beat your wife she shower. Was like, you
can't say that. I don't know what he was saying.
He just kept saying, when my wife gets frazzled, she
takes a hot shower.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Well, I'm sure his wife loves that. They keep showing
that video over. He talks about how his wife suffers because.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
It kind of looked like he sends his wife to
those truck stops for a Showery, you need to cool off, Yeah,
go to here. It's four bucks. Go ahead, a shower.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Okay. So the video there, their first and only video
that they posted, received five hundred views when it was
initially posted, but it has now received over ten million.
And I don't even know. Maybe it's even more than
ten million. Now, I'm not sure how recent that is.
All right, that was August nineteenth. Now we move on
to August twenty sixth of twenty twenty one. Gabby shares
her final Instagram post. It was wishing everyone a happy

(34:13):
Halloween as she holds a crochet pumpkin. The post is
a series of selfies of Gabby looking happy and care free.
Now we move on to August twenty seventh of twenty
twenty one.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
This is the.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Assumed date of Gabby's murder. However, police cannot be certain
because her body was not found right away. This is
also the last footage of Gabby that has ever been captured.
There is CCTV video of her and Brian in a
whole food store.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
You can see the video of.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
Them walking down the aisle shopping together, and that's the
last known time that anyone saw her.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Alive August twelve. They get pulled over by the MOAB
troopers August nineteenth, so one week later they post their
first and only video, and then another week later, August
twenty six, she heard her final Instagram post, and then
and then the following day is the assumed date of murder.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Okay, Now, also, I know you didn't get this far,
but Gabby called an ex boyfriend.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Right, Oh yeah, I saw, I did see, I did watch. Okay, Well,
the first text she sent him was I'm sure I'm
the last person you want to hear from, or I'm
sure you're the I'm the last person you think you'd
hear from. Something that matter of fact, meaning they have
not communicated and it wasn't normal for her to reach
out to him. She reached out to him, and he
felt there was a reason, like it was a cry

(35:38):
for help.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
So when Gabby was texting with this ex boyfriend, she
did make it clear. I believe that she wanted to
break up with Brian, and so I think she was
reaching out to the ex boyfriend for some kind of
help or guidance or you know, sometimes when you're just
like I'm done, but I'm stuck something.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Should want her mom to judge her, say, see, he
was not good for you, or maybe her mom wasn't
really her parents weren't so quick to come out and
save her the way she wanted it. So she called
her former boyfriend and was like, I need help. I
don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
But so she calls him and he doesn't answer. He
says in an interview that he was at work so
he couldn't answer, and then that was the last time
he heard from her. Because we assume she was murdered
shortly after.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
That now, and she left no message right so she
could have a lot could have been told had that
phone call been picked up.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
So August twenty seventh was the last time Gabby was
seen on any footage, so we know that she was
alive on August twenty seventh. On August twenty ninth, twenty
twenty one, Brian called his parents on this day and said, quote,
Gabby is gone. He later asked his father to arrange
an attorney for him. Following this, the father.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Coust, well, how do we know these phone calls exist?
Because well, they.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
End up getting the phone records and they can see
that he called his parents in the habit.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
They can't see the content, So how do we know
the content?

Speaker 1 (37:00):
Because I believe that the father came forward later and
said that that was what was.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
I just wanted to make sure it was accurate, okay.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
So following this, Christopher Laundry, who is the dad, claimed
that quote he had no idea what to think about
what had happened to Gabby. He just asked me to
get a lawyer, and I couldn't get any more information
from him. End quote. Speaking about the day Brian called them, ROBERTA. Laundry,
who is the mother, told the court his voice was
very upset and I didn't know why. I didn't want
to push him, so we just said goodbye. When I

(37:28):
got off the phone, I told Chris, that's the dad,
you know. Brian sounded upset, maybe you should give him
a call. So then that's when it ended up being
a longer call. I think that's when he asked for
the attorney and said Gabby is gone. Now we get
to August thirtieth, a final text message is sent from
Gabby's phone. This is likely Brian posing as Gabby. The

(37:48):
text was sent to Gabby's mom, Nicole. However, Nicole felt
something was really strange with the wording of the message
because it referred to Gabby's grandfather by his first name, Stan,
which Gabby would never normally call. She would say Grandpa
or something, but she said Stan in the text message.
So you can assume on August thirtieth that he's texting

(38:11):
from his phone to or using her phone to reply.
He also that same day zeld himself from Gabby's account
seven hundred dollars, and then you know, on zellan notes,
he puts something to the effect of I never want
to see you again, basically if from her to him,

(38:32):
as if from her to him, she was buying out
of reship, like that's it. So not only did Brian
zell himself money from Gabby's account, but also on his
road trip home driving her van. He also used her
debit card to get gas, So there's a little bit
of a trail that's starting to come forward as far

(38:53):
as Zell is using her phone, he's using her debit card.
And I assume so you think that he most likely
ended his life when he did, because these things are starting.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
I'm guessing if I don't remember, but I think, yeah,
things started a surface and the next thing you know,
he disappears and he dies, probably because he realized, how
am I going to explain that I used your credit card?
How am I going to explain this? How am I
going to explain that? And I used your phone? Trying
to cover up her death?

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Right But September one, twenty twenty one, Brian arrives back
at the home of his parents, Chris and Roberta. And
this is in Florida. So he shows up September first,
in Florida. He shows up alone, though he was in
his and Gabby's van. While he's in Florida, Brian and
his parents move between the family home and a local
area for a camping trip.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Now when he shows up, that's odd. I remember that. Now,
that is odd. They went camping with him?

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
Well, what's odd is if you're almost like, it's not
their first rodeo, Oh, let's go camping.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Well, what's odd is your son is on a road
trip with his girlfriend and then he shows up back
in Florida driving her van that's registered in her name,
and she's nowhere to be found, and then you're just
going to go camping and continue to live life like
nothing happened and nobody would know how.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Before we have our initial consultation with my new criminal attorney,
let's go camping. They went out where there was no where,
They're off the grid, away from everyone, and then they
could talk in private.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
That's yeah, I didn't think about that, but probably so
on September fifth. Now, remember he arrives back in Florida
on September first, alone September fifth, His sister, Cassie says
this date is the last time she saw her brother
or was able to contact him. She also claims her
parents stopped responding to her as the investigation is playing out,

(40:42):
so he's disappeared, the sister doesn't know where he is,
and the parents are also not responding to the sister.
Now September eleventh of twenty twenty one, Gabby's mother, Nicole
reports Gabby missing to police. The police toe Brian and
Gabby shared van away from the laundry family Strive Way,
and when confronted by police Roberta and Chris these are

(41:03):
his parents deny having any knowledge of Gabby's whereabouts. Now
this was so did you see this?

Speaker 2 (41:09):
This was so.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Frustrating for me. Gabby's mom calls and makes a missing
person report about Gabby, saying they haven't heard from her
since it would have been the twenty seventh, right, because
that was the last day anybody heard from her or
saw her on video. Here we are September eleventh, so
you're talking two weeks. At this point, the police show
up at Brian's house at his parents' house. Gabby is

(41:35):
not there. The van is there, Yeah, the van is
registered and heard name. The sister said that Brian said
that he flew back from their trip, which is a
blatant lie because there's the van.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
He clearly drew it back, unless he's yeah, unless he's
arguing that she drove it back. He flew back. But
then be like, oh, yeah, we'll show us your flight.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
But then when the police go to the door and
request to speak to Brian. The dad comes out, refuses
to speak, refuses to answer quoes, rssians, and hands them
the business card of their lawyer.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
If my kid murdered his girlfriend, I'd be driving them
down to the police station.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
Yeah, you know I am.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
That doesn't mean I would take reasonable precautions. Okay, you
know you have your rights high lowre. But it'd be like, sorry, dude,
we're not going camping. We're going to go to the police.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
You're not going to help bury the body. You're not
going to hinder the investigation. And you're not going to
allow this mother who has no idea where her daughter
is continue to guess and not know where her daughter is.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
No, apparently you would, well you'd be like, oh, lukie,
come to bed with mama.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
I mean, I have boys, and that.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
Doesn't mean i'd be okay with it, but that's what
you got to do.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
Yeah, I mean, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
I mean it would be tough. I had I would
be I would feel awful, but it would be like, sorry.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Dude, all right, this is the question now. So then
by September seventeen, twenty twenty one, Brian's family reports him missing.
They haven't seen him in three days and suspect that
he's in the Carlton Reserve in Sara Sarasota County in Florida.
They claim they did not alert police about it sooner,

(43:13):
as they thought Brian was going on a camping trip
to get away from all of the chaos. Lots of
questions here. First of all, the night that the police
come in, they're asking about Gabby. Did you think that
they had probable cause to arrest Brian at that time?
Here's my thoughts. She's reported missing, the mother hasn't heard
from her, The van is parked in the driveway, it's

(43:34):
registered in her name. The dad won't talk, Brian won't
come to the door. They hand him a card, a
business card of an attorney and say contact my attorney.
Is that enough to arrest him? And should they have
arrested him at that time?

Speaker 2 (43:46):
They should have because the car is in her name,
so that it's like my daughter's missing for two weeks.
She was with that guy. He doesn't know where she
is or he's not talking, and he has her car.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
But I've also read and thought about that they don't
want to arrest too early in an investigation.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Here's what I'm thinking, I'm thinking the Potito parents did not,
did not. We're not aggressive enough in saying our daughter
is missing, something's wrong, just as they weren't very protective
of her when she wanted to just go across the
country with some new guys.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
So you're saying you're not You're not saying they're bad.
Parents are not blaming their parents, but you're saying they
could have been more.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
I would have been like, she's been gone for two
weeks if I knew, if assuming they knew all these facts,
she's been gone for two weeks. I have not heard
from her. She called me crying once when the police
pulled her over. There's been some scuffling between the two
of them, and she's he came back without her and
he has her car, and I am fearful. I needed,
I needed. We need to look into this.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
What would you have done differently? Because she called the
police and she she reported her missing in Florida, to
where his parents live. So I'm saying, if you don't
know where they are on their road trip, because you
haven't heard from her for two weeks, where are you
physically going to go?

Speaker 2 (45:08):
I don't know. I don't know but you would have had.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
Life three sixty on her. I would have done Yeah, yeah,
we have life three sixty on Annabel. I would unless
she but he took her phone. How do you can't like?

Speaker 2 (45:22):
I don't know, but I would not have been sleeping
normal and going back to work the next day and
all this. I would have been trying to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
Well, here is my problem with the way the police
handled it. When Brian ends up back on Florida, we
don't know where the body is, we don't know where
Gabby is. Brian was the key to finding Gabby Petito,
and they did not have a trail on him. They
were not watching him. He disappeared from the police and
the police had no idea where he was. We are

(45:50):
lucky that someone else ended up finding the body, But
what if someone didn't find the body outside of Brian.
The police lost him. They don't know where he is.
Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah, I think I'm
saying that Brian is the key to finding out what
happened to Gabby, where her body is, how she was right.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
He knows everything. He's the only one that.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Knows, the only one that knows, and the police lost him.
They didn't know where he was, and it took his
parents to go to this camping site, which, by the way,
is also suspicious that police were apparently looking for him
for days and days and days in this campsite and
then his parents show up and they literally like walk
to where he is. They're like, oh, there he is

(46:33):
with his backpack and you know, his camping things. They
found him like that, Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Don't know that family's dirty.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Let's back up a little bit. Let's go through this timeline.
September seventeenth is when Brian's family reports him missing. They
haven't seen him in three days. They suspect that he's camping.
September nineteenth is when Gabby's body is found near Grand
Titan National Park in Wyoming. After speaking with her family
and having her identified, the news was made public, So
her body is found on September nineteenth. Now, remember he

(47:05):
went missing on September seventeenth. This was my point from earlier.
If someone did not come across her body in that park,
this guy eluded police, disappeared into a campsite, and nobody
can find him. He is the only one who knows
where she is buried, knows how she died knows anything.
I'm just saying that police lost him.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Yeah, they lost their their hot lead. They did, and
that a person of interest exactly. So September twenty first,
the coroner rules her cause of death as homicide. So
now it's turned into a murder investigation. They should have
put like a tracker on his car. That's what they did,
like Scott Peterson that, oh you're very suspicious, Scott Peterson, right,

(47:47):
and they put a tracker on his car.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
I'm telling you. If they didn't want to take him
into custody because they didn't feel like they had enough
evidence for a murder investigation, I get that. I understand
that you want to make sure when you arrest him
that you have all your docks in a row because
you don't want him to get out. However, they don't
know where he is. They're not tracking him, they don't
have someone following him. They're not watching the house. This

(48:10):
guy shows up in Florida without his girlfriend and he disappears.
Her body was in a national park. It could have
eluded people. Police campers her family forever. On October twentieth,

(48:33):
after over a month of searching, Brian's belongings and his
body are found by his parents and the authorities. And
the authorities should actually just be in parentheses because the
authorities have been looking for him for over a month.
They can't find him. But then his parents just like
walk up and find him within an hour. Then on
November twenty third, at twenty twenty one, following an autopsy,

(48:56):
police confirmed that Brian died by suicide with a gunshot
who in his head. Now here's some other important details
about this story. Police, this is very interesting. You'll like this.
Police found a letter that Brian's mom, Roberta, had written
to him. There is no way to know when the
letter was actually written. It was not dated. But the
envelope reads Brian Christopher Laundry and then it says burn after.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
Reading and this is found on him.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
I believe so. The letter reads, I just want you
to remember I will always love you, and I know
you will always love me.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
You are my boy.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Nothing can make me stop loving you. Nothing will or
could ever divide us. No matter what we do, or
where we go, or what we say, we will always
love each other. If you're in jail, I will bake
a cake with a file in it. If you need
to dispose of a body, I will show up with
the shovel and garbage bags. If you fly to the moon,
I will be watching the skies for your re entry.

(49:52):
If you say you hate my guts, I will get
new guts. Roberta, that's the mom, has said the letter
was written before her son's trip Withtito, and one of
her attorneys released a statement saying it was quote in
no way related to Gabby end quote, although Potito's family
has challenged those assertions. Now the Potitos end up suing

(50:16):
Bryan Laundry's family, It did not go to trial, which
I think is a good thing. They ended up settling,
and I'm sure it's because both sides did not want
to litigate the details of what happened to Gabby, and
so it ended up settling out of court for I
don't know if it was an undisclosed I think it

(50:38):
was three million. Yeah, So what are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 (50:43):
It's a shady family.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
That is a shady family.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Would not I would not recommend dating anyone in that family.
I have a question his parents found his body.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
His parents found his body.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
Yeah, they knew where he was. They were in communication
with them. Did they search his phones after they found
his body or anything like that that we know of?

Speaker 1 (51:06):
You know what I always thought, because I did think
of that myself. I thought maybe they found that the
police found Brian's phone when they found him dead, because
they did find a notebook with Brian that happened that
had like his handwritten journal entries in it. So I
just want to read a few passages from his notebook
that was found with his belongings after he committed suicide.
I'm sorry to everyone this will affect. Gabby was the

(51:28):
love of my life and I know adored by many.
I'm so very sorry to her family because I love them.
I consider her younger siblings my best of friends. I
am sorry to my family. This is a shock to
them as well as a terrible grief. Please do not
make this harder for them. This occurred as an unexpected tragedy.
Rushing back to our car, trying to cross the streams

(51:49):
before it got too dark to see, too cold, I
hear a splash and a scream. I could barely see.
I couldn't find her for a moment. Shouted her name.
I found her, breathing heavily. I carried her as far
as I could from the stream toward the car, stumbling,
exhausted in shock, knew I couldn't safely carry her. I
started a fire and spooned her as close to the heat.
She was so thin, had already been freezing too long.

(52:11):
While carrying her, she continually made sounds of pain. Laying
next to her, she said little, gasping between violent shakes,
gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain.
She would fall asleep, and I would shake her awake,
fearing she shouldn't close her eyes if she had a concussion.
I don't know the extent of Gabby's injuries, only that
she was in extreme pain. I ended her life. I

(52:32):
thought it was merciful, that is what she wanted. But
I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked,
I was in shock. I knew I couldn't go on
without her. I rushed home to spend any time I
had left with my family. I wanted to drive north
and let James or TJ kill me. I assumed James
or TJ is dad and stepdad, but I wouldn't want

(52:53):
them to spend time in jail over my mistake, even
though I'm sure they would have liked to. I'm ending
my life not because of a fear of punishment, but
rather because I can't stand to live another day without her.
I've lost our whole future together, every moment we could
have shared. I'm sorry for everyone's loss. Please do not
make life harder for my family. They lost a son
and a daughter, the most wonderful girl in the world, Gabby.

(53:15):
I'm sorry. So that was found in his notebook next
to his body when he committed suicide, the part that
bothers me about him committing suicide again. I'm going back
to the police, and I believe they have probable cause
that night to either arrest him, detain him, question him,
track him, follow him. Is I want to see this
guy brought to justice. Suicide is too easy of a

(53:38):
way out for him. I want him to go to court.
I want there to be even though I feel badly
that the parents would have to go through a trial.
But don't you want to know what happened? Don't you
want to go through his phone? Don't you want to
question him and depose him and put him on the stand.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
Yeah, he's going to rot in hell.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Well, so what happens after this Gabby.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
Petti no pain before, like after all your surgeries and stuff,
and you're miserable, and I never once thought, oh, I'll
strangle you and put you out of your misery. No,
thank you for that.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
I appreciate it. I mean I did have a hip replacement,
and I will tell you the pain that I was
in before my hip replacement was the most severe pain
I have ever been in. And I'm thankful to you
for not ending.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
No, I will not strangle you as a result.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
I as I moaned and gasped and pain at night,
because I did do that for a long time.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
Yeah, I mean, are you buying anything he wrote there?

Speaker 1 (54:34):
No?

Speaker 2 (54:34):
This, I mean you know, he strangled her. She gasped
for air, she begged it to stop at all those
things he said. But it's because he was killing her.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
I think it had to do with jealousy. I think
he probably saw her phone, saw that she had texted
the ex boyfriend, saw that she called the ex boyfriend.
I think he went into a jealous rage because he
knew that she was probably trying to get away from him.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Oh yeah, is he out? Yeah, because she might have
been saying I'm going to break up with you. And
things like that, and then he sees the phone. It's
the ex boyfriend.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
Yeah, So Gabby Patito's family appealed to Utah judge's decision
dismissing their wrongful death lawsuit against the MOA Police Department.
We talked about this earlier. The family is seeking to
change a state law that limits wrongful death claims against
the government agencies. The family hopes to change the law
to prevent future victims of domestic violence from going without justice.

(55:26):
So where it's at now is they are appealing to
the Utah Supreme Court. So we'll see if the Utah
Supreme Court picks up the case. It's a constitutional.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
Issue with really all that can happen the best the
outcome is the police department learns something, they do an
internal review, and they do something to make it better
for nixt time. That's that's all you can do, right
And then.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
In twenty twenty two, the Petito and Schmidt family Potito
is his family, Schmidt is the mom, settled a wrongful
death lawsuit against Brian's parents for three million. And then
in twenty twenty four, the Potito family settled another case,
a ledging that the laundries had inflicted emotional distress, and
I think that's the undisclosed amount. I don't know how
much that was, but they settled that. So that's where

(56:08):
we're at. Also, just if there's any good that came
from the Potito case, there is the Gabby Potito Bill,
which was passed in Florida in twenty twenty four. It's
a new bill passed by the House and Senate and
it was advocated for by Joseph Patito, Gabby Patito's father,
and it creates a set of twelve mandatory questions law

(56:29):
enforcement we'll have to ask a potential victim when responding
to a domestic violence call. It's referred to as the
Gabby Patito Act. And I'll just go through something. We
don't have to go through all twelve, but it's too
I think it's to streamline the process better, especially when
you think back to the Moab situation where they pulled
her over and they put her in another car and

(56:49):
they were just kind of asking her who's the aggressor
or was it you did you hit him? It wasn't.
There wasn't a structured system of trying to find find
out what happened. So the mandatory set of twelve questions include,
let's just go through some of them. Did the aggressor
ever use a weapon against you or threaten you? Did
the aggressor ever threaten to kill you or your children? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (57:11):
But then what happens when the scared person in this
relationship is saying no, no, they didn't, No, no they didn't,
everything's fine.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
Well, I don't know, you know, I don't know. I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
The kind of asked her questions and she just made
it like he was the love of her life and
they're a team and I'm sorry I acted out and
I hit him and that's why he was driving like that.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
Well, you know, maybe the fact that it's twelve questions,
which is a lot of questions, maybe that the point
is to build a rapport. Yeah, and if you're asking
twelve mandatory questions, that it's a long enough conversation that
maybe that person calms down.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
And maybe the police are forced to kind of, you know,
basically these twelve questions to dig deeper.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
And kind of not just valuate maybe the body language
the answers and make a determination. I think now is
it going to make a huge difference? I don't have
any idea, But at least the point is is that
based upon what happened to Gabby, people legislatures are saying, hey,
there needs to be a better system in place so

(58:19):
that we can protect people better. So at least that's
a positive start. So anyway, all right, thank you guys
so much for listening. We appreciate it. And again, let
us know if there's any cases out there that you
would love for us to cover, to talk about, and
we always appreciate feedback, so thank you so much for listening.
Thank you,