Gabby Petito’s mom says texts might not be from her daughter
The mother of missing Long Island woman Gabby Petito said her daughter seemed “OK” before she vanished — though she hinted that there could’ve been trouble brewing.
Petito, 22, last spoke to her mom over FaceTime around Aug. 25 while on a tour of national parks out west in a converted van with her beau, Brian Laundrie.
“She seemed OK to me at the time, other than I don’t know where the relationship was going with the boyfriend,” her mother, Nichole Schmidt, told news station KSL-TV.
Petito — who was last known to be in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park — had plans to make her way to Yellowstone National Park with Laundrie, whom she has referred to on social media as her fiancé.
But it’s unclear whether she ever made it to the destination.
Her family reported her missing Saturday to authorities in Suffolk County, New York, where her mother lives, after several days of not hearing from her.
“Messages were sent sporadically from Gabby’s phone to her mother between August 25 and August 30, but her mom isn’t sure that it was her,” a family friend, Nikki Passannante, said in a video posted to TikTok on Tuesday.
“After August 30th, Gabby’s parents weren’t able to get in contact with Gabby or her fiance. Her fiance’s mother also was not responding to any phone calls.”
Police have said they had not been able to speak directly to Laundrie, who has since returned to his home in North Port, Fla.
“We talked with his parents, who did not make him available,” North Port police spokesman Josh Taylor told The Post Tuesday.
Police said they have recovered the couple’s van and are searching it for evidence.
The Post has been unable to reach Laundrie.
Meanwhile, Petito’s loved ones are trying to piece together the last few weeks before she went missing from her YouTube and Instagram accounts, where she had been actively posting about her travels.
Her last photo on Instagram shows her smiling in front of what friends believe was the Monarch Mural in Ogden, Utah, with the caption, “Happy Halloween” — and was shared the last day that she spoke on the phone to her mom.
“A two-word caption is very odd for Gabby. Usually, it’s a deep meaningful caption or otherwise, she’ll detail her travels,” Passannante said. “This doesn’t really seem like she posted it, in my opinion.”
“Obviously, there’s a lot to speculate, but this is all still part of an ongoing investigation. The main focus right now is finding Gabby,” she added.