The Search for Gabby Petito Led to the Discovery of Even More Dead Bodies & What They Found Will Shock You
With renewed interest in Gabby Petito’s murder case, comes the gruesome details that surround her body’s discovery. American Murder: Gabby Petito sheds light on the last couple of days before the influencer’s death and how the high-profile investigation also helped find other missing persons’ bodies.
The documentary, which features real text messages, video footage, and personal journals from Petito, as well as never-seen-before interviews with members of her family, also examines the role Brian Laundrie’s parents played—particularly after Laundrie returned home without Petito.
Gabby Petito was first reported missing on September 11, 2021, after she failed to contact her parents for weeks. Nichole Schmidt and Joe Petito had previously tried to contact Brian Laundrie’s parents, Roberta and Christopher, but their messages went unanswered.
Just eight days after being reported missing and three weeks after the last confirmed sighting of Petito, on surveillance footage walking with Brian Laundrie through a Whole Foods in Jackson, Wyoming, her body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area in Wyoming after thousands of tips are received, one which mentioned a Ford Transit Connect van—like the one Petito and Laundrie were in. The area where her body was discovered is near the border of Grand Teton National Park. However, the search spread nationwide so officials found more bodies than they were expecting.
How many bodies were found when they searched for Gabby Petito?
More than nine bodies were found during the search for Gabby Petito. Most of the bodies were also missing persons and were discovered before they identified Petito’s body.
A body that was suspected to be Laundrie’s was found in a dumpster at an Alabama Walmart on September 20. However, the body belonged to an unidentified homeless man. 19-year-old college student Miya Marcano’s body was found on October 2 in a wooded area near her apartment building. The next was Lauren Cho of Flemington, New Jersey, in Yucca Valley, Calif. Cho was reported missing after her friends reported her “upset and presumably walked away from the resort, leaving behind her personal belongings,” to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. She was planning to move to California after a road trip with her then-boyfriend. Her body was found on October 9, 2021.
Two other bodies were found on the same day. The body of Sara Bayard was found after she was reported missing on July 4. The remains of 33-year-old Josue Calderon from Rhode Island were discovered and the cause of death was that he was stabbed to death on the Blue Ridge Parkway along the Appalachian Trail.
Robert ‘Bob’ Lowery’s body was discovered on September 28. The Houston resident disappeared on August 20 after he was last seen carrying a black duffel bag, sleeping bag and tent in Bridger-Teton National Forest. He died by suicide.
Newlywed couple Kylen Schulte, 24, and Crystal Turner, 38, were reported missing on August 16 and found dead and partially undressed on August 18. Their bodies were found an hour outside of Moab where they were shot and killed. Police were investigating the connection to Petito’s disappearance.
Miya Marcano’s family attorney called out investigators for putting more effort into Petito’s search because she was a white woman. “I think it’s very interesting that we have two of these cases happening pretty simultaneously. And I think what it does is it really gives the world an opportunity to see sometimes some of the differences that you have in the coverage that each case receives,” Daryl Washington, the attorney for the Marcano family, told Insider.
“This is by no means anything against Gabby’s family,” he continued. “I do think they do deserve the type of attention that they’re getting.”
