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Gabby's gone

FBI identify body in national park as that of missing hiker

A body found in a national park in Wyoming has been identified as Gabby Petito, the young woman who vanished during a road trip with her fiance.

Petito's death is being called a homicide, the FBI said Tuesday.

The confirmation is the latest turn in a story that has gripped Americans since her family reported the 22-yearold missing on Sept. 11 — 10, days after fiance Brian Laundrie returned home from the cross-country trip without her.

Meanwhile, authorities in Florida are “actively” investigating footage from a nature reserve trail camera that shows a man resembling Petito's missing fiance.

Sam Bass said he spotted a man with a packsack Monday at 6:17 a.m., in Baker, Fla., over 800 km from Laundrie's North Port home.

“I'm not saying this is the guy but whoever was on my trail camera this morning in Baker, Fla., strongly fits the description of Brian Laundrie,” Bass wrote in the caption that accompanied the photo he shared on Facebook. “Authorities have been contacted, but people in the northwest Florida area be on the lookout.”

Laundrie, a “person of interest” in Petito's disappearance, was reported missing Friday by his parents, who said he left home with a backpack to go hiking in the area.

He never returned.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said they looked into the sighting but “no one — and nothing — of note was located.”

A park ranger who responded to a 911 call about an incident between Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie in Utah last month tried to warn the 22-year-old woman their relationship seemed “toxic.”

“I was probably more candid with her than I should've been,” Melissa Hulls, the visitor and resource protection supervisor at Arches National Park, told the Deseret News about her Aug. 12 interview with Petito. “I was imploring with her to re-evaluate the relationship, asking her if she was happy in the relationship with him, and basically saying this was an opportunity for her to find another path, to make a change in her life.”

Police responded after receiving a call about a man “slapping” a woman in the face, according to new audio obtained from the Grand County Sheriff's Office, contradicting an earlier police report that portrayed Petito as starting the fight.

The incident was classified by police as a “mental/emotional health break” and no charges were filed.

“This wasn't a good day for anybody,” said Hulls, who “can still hear her voice” and wonders if she could have done more.

NEWS | WORLD

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2021-09-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://nationalpost.pressreader.com/article/281676848052980

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