As many, if not most of you are probably aware, social media poster and traveller Gabby Petito was found dead in a remote area of Grand Teton National Park, in the US state of Wyoming, It's a sad end to a tragic series of events involving Gabby and her boyfriend, who is now apparently wanted by Federal authorities in connection with her murder.
Now, I hadn't been following the news much over the past few weeks -- outside of the brief news reports I heard on the radio while writing, I haven't paid much attention to news. I've just gotten burnt out on it.
But I kept seeing references to a "lost blonde girl" in social media, and a couple days later someone on Facebook posted a pic of Gabby which was taken when the Moab Police (in Utah) pulled over the white van, in which she was riding, for erratic driving. The boyfriend was driving.
In the pic, Gabby was crying. There was talk about how the police handled the situation, as it appeared Gabby was possibly a victim of abuse. There were some people talking about how Gabby was travelling across the country, living her dream. But in that pic, her sadness was deeply touching.
The pic struck me -- she was such a pretty girl, was living a glamourous life of travel and adventure -- and here she was, miserable. Why?
It turns out that she and her fiancee had a tumultuous and probably violent relationship. And it also appears that her boyfriend Brian Laundrie was verbally (and physically, according to witnesses) abusive -- witnesses had seen Brian hit Gabby and slap her on one occasion, and witnesses also saw her crying in a Mexican restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, not too long before she disappeared. Her boyfriend was described as volatile, enough to where the witnesses were concerned. In the police video available to see online, Gabby mentioned that he had struck her.
I checked out some of the Moab Police bodycam footage, and a few other videos about Gabby, and then I found Gabby's Instagram, which is still available online to see.
Gabby's Instagram is full of pics that make it look as if she were living a dream life: there's pics of her on the beach, pics of her posing in the mountains, posing in front of murals in California, and even a couple pics of her near the beach in Costa Rica. There are pics of her and her boyfriend hugging, laughing, enjoying life together. From the pictures, the two appeared to be in love, nothing but happy, and living their dreams.
Apparently, Gabby's dream was to be a "travel blogger". Now, I know a bit about blogging, and know a little about social media, but I hadn't heard of "travel blogging" before. I knew that some people blogged during travel, but wasn't so aware of it being a big thing. But I guess there are people who travel all over the US, Europe, and all over the world, and they blog about it, and have lots of followers.
Gabby's Instagram is undoubtedly an example of this: she has 1.2 million Instagram followers. Gabby's posts on Instagram had the hashtag "VanLife". I wasn't aware that the idea of living out of a van was a big social media deal, but I guess it is.
Gabby wanted to have a successful VLOG website -- a video blog, based on her travels with her fiancee. She had been working on her website the day the cops pulled them over when they were fighting. It seems that Gabby -- 22 years old, who had just quit a nutritionist's and pharmacy tech's job to travel and blog -- had a dream of being an internet personality. Both Gabby and her boyfriend were described as online 'influencers' -- people who post pictures and videos online that bring in lots and lots of followers. Many people apparently make a lot of money being influencers.
Perhaps Gabby was aiming for that goal -- to be a popular influencer.
I won't go into more detail on what happened. It appears Gabby was murdered in some remote campsite in the Tetons, and a lot of evidence points to her boyfriend as the murderer -- right now, as I write this, he is a fugitive.
But I can't get over the tragic nature of what happened to Gabby Petito. I've known girls like her in the past -- they dreamed big. There are a lot of young women who dream big, using the internet and social media as a platform to achieve their dreams. All one has to do is peruse Instagram for a while and you'll see all sorts of examples. It's not difficult to find attractive young women who have thousands of followers, their social media loaded with fashionable photos. Like Gabby's Instagram, their pics often reflect the perfect life, where nothing goes wrong, and all is happiness.
In some cases, perhaps it's illusory. In others, maybe it's real.
Gabby Petito didn't have that luck She had her whole life ahead of her, and a big dream of making a living as a travel blogger. Now she's gone.
Rest In Peace, Gabby. You deserved better, no matter what the circumstances. You deserved a chance to pursue your dream, to find your happiness, and be known for your travels and your pictures and videos. But not this way.
