On social media, Gabby Petito and her then-fiancé Brian Laundrie appeared to be living their best #vanlife during a “dream” road trip across the country, which they documented along the way.
But new details have emerged about the abusive relationship.
Nearly four years after the shocking killing, a Netflix docuseries American Murder: Gabby Petito, set to premiere on February 17, reveals new details about the couple’s final days, tearful interviews with her parents, and new revelations from her friends.
Her ex-boyfriend Jackson also disclosed for the first time that she’d called him just days before she was killed, told him about a fight she had with Laundrie and the plan she had to leave him — then tried to call him again on the day she was killed.
In the three part series, an array of footage the couple shot while traveling in their converted camper van shows a smiling, bubbly Gabby as she rambles on about their “van life.”
Unedited clips show as she nervously laughs while repositioning the camera or nudging Laundrie to join her in the shot. It’s a raw version of their life that also showed moments of discomfort as Laundrie is seen awkwardly laughing at Gabby’s play by play of their day and, at one point, rolling his eyes at her.
“Gabby and Brian seemed like a lovely couple,” Gabby’s friend Rose Davis said in the docuseries. “But behind the scenes, they would get into arguments.”
Davis says that Gabby had told her that Laundrie didn’t think the vlog was a good idea and his annoyance was evident in many of the takes shown in the doc.
“The happiest people on social media usually have the darkest skeletons in their closet,” she added.
During one of their arguments, Gabby reached out to an old boyfriend she dated for about a year before Laundrie.
Jackson, speaking out for the first time in the doc, recalled his surprise when his ex reached out to him on August 22, 2021.
He said that Gabby was the love of his life and they had planned to do a similar cross country van trip, but that he was happy for her because she was doing what she had always dreamed of. His happiness turned to concern when she told him she had been in a fight with Laundrie.
“I feel like the phone call was a cry for help,” he said. “I think she wanted to get away but just didn’t know how to do it. I think she wasn’t sure what he would do, or what he could do.”
He said Gabby told her she had a plan to leave him.
