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Body Found in Gabby Petito Investigation

The FBI confirm they found body matching description of missing 22-year-old in the vicinity of Spread Creek within the national park

Gabby Petito/Instagram

Investigators in the disappearance of Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito announced Sunday that they have discovered a body fitting the description of the “van life” blogger in the national forest in Teton County.

The discovery of the body comes days after Petito’s family reported the 22-year-old missing on September 11th, and weeks after they last heard from her while she was visiting the national park with her now-missing fiancé Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in her disappearance.

The FBI, Jackson Police Department, Teton County Sheriff’s Office, and the National Park Service confirmed the news at a press conference Sunday afternoon. While the coroner had not 100% positively identified Petito’s body, her family was notified of the death. “Cause of death has not been determined at this time,” the FBI’s supervisory senior resident agent Charles Jones said, visibly emotional. “This is an active investigation.”

On Friday evening, September 17th, Laundrie’s parents allowed North Port, Florida, police officers to enter their home; it was at that point that they revealed they hadn’t seen their son Brian since Tuesday, September 14th. As of Sunday evening, Laundrie was still missing.

“For six days, the North Port Police Department and the F.B.I. have been pleading with the family to contact investigators regarding Brian’s fiancée, Gabby Petito,” the North Port Police Department’s statement said. “Friday is the first time they have spoken with investigators in detail.”

In the week since Petito was declared missing, social media, and especially TikTok, became fixated on the case, with the hashtags #findgabby and #gabbypetito generating tens of millions of views. (One TikTok user, in a series of videos, also detailed an encounter she and her boyfriend allegedly had with a hitchhiking Laundrie — but not Petito — on the evening of August 29th near Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park.)

On Saturday, the FBI announced they were beginning search efforts in the vicinity of Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area within the Grand Teton National Park:

From Rolling Stone US