Gabby Petito’s father calls for new missing persons database law

After Brian Laundrie’s skeletal remains were found in the Myakahachee Creek Environmental Park on 20 October, the internet is now obsessing over his Pinterest page for clues into his mindscape.

The social media page — where Laundrie had Pins saved under several titles like “Outdoors,” “Our House,” “My Girl,” “Bleak,” Life is a trip,” Bizarre Designs” and “Life Goals” — is the latest target for internet sleuths who are trying to find any clues about what might have happened on Petito and Laundrie’s ill-fated cross-country road trip.

The Pinterest page that goes by the name @blaundrie1197 has not formally been acknowledged by the Laundrie family as being Brian’s, but it has pictures of Petito and shows her modelling several custom face masks.

The page includes links to Laundrie’s Instagram and Depop pages. Some have pointed out posts that would suggest the couple might have been planning to have a baby.

There were several Pins saved under “Kids Books” on Brian’s page, and Petito’s Pinterest page also had a sub-folder titled “Oh Baby.”

The FBI is still investigating the cause of Brian Laundrie’s death and experts have said that it might take some more time before they find out the cause.

Brain Laundrie’s Pinterest page had in September also raised alarm bells among those who had been following the case closely.

Commentators said that he had shared several cryptic and “foreboding” images and messages including one that read “Don’t try to find me. I have finally escaped my ‘master’s’ wicked clutches.”

In the wake of massive interest in the fates of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, an intelligence analyst has said that such breakout cases have given rise to an entire subculture of “true crime hobbyists.”

Elise Thomas, an open-source intelligence analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue wrote in the Strategist that “intense, prurient interest in criminal cases isn’t new, but the role of social media platforms adds new and powerful dynamics.”

She added that many have linked interest in the missing persons’ cases to a kind of hobby. “Once, a disappearance or a death might have interested only a local or national audience, but social media has erased any boundaries on who can engage with a case.”

The analyst also pointed to the case of four-year-old Cleo Smith from Western Australia. “A significant number of those creating content about Cleo were American. The people at the centre of a case — investigators, families, witnesses and anyone who may fall under suspicion — are put under an intense spotlight.”

She said that “the transmutation of the suffering of people like the Smith and Petito families into social media content for the dissection of true-crime hobbyists raises a range of practical questions, but it should also spark a deeper ethical conversation about the consumption of tragedy as entertainment.”

Before Gabby Petito’s remains were found near a national park in Wyoming, hundreds of “digital sleuths” had combed through the social media pages of Petito and Brian Laundrie to try and find any clues to her whereabouts themselves.

More than 3,400 people have signed a petition calling for a formal investigation into the North Port police department’s handling of the Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie investigation.

The change.org petition, addressed to Florida governor Ron DeSantis, urged him to start an “internal investigation into this case” but added that the “bigger picture is to bring about change.”

“Police deal with citizens on a daily basis and the actions of incompetence can have tremendous, life-altering effects on numerous people in their communities,” the petition said. “What happens when you have a department that’s full of incompetence? Well, Governor DeSantis, this case right here is what happens.”

Maroosha Muzaffar reports:

The Gabby Petito Foundation is hosting a fundraiser with all proceeds going to the foundation.

Writing on Twitter, the organisation said that the fundraiser was being hosted by Isles Meetups - Tampa Islander “Casey Cizikas” Jersey.

The fundraiser will run until from now until 15 November at 6:00 pm and those who enter can win a jersey autographed by ice hockey star Casey Cizikas.

Joseph Petito is calling on internet sleuths to help try and find a Michigan woman who is missing.

The 30-year-old Mikaiya Ileen Richardson was last seen on 22 October in Waterford, Michigan.

Taking to Instagram, Joseph Petito shared a picture of Ms Richardson, urging people to help find her.

The post read: “Ok #instagram and #truecrime sleuths please help find 30 year old #Mikaiya Ileen Richardson, last seen in Waterford, MI on 10/22 in dark green Chevy cruz with Virginia plate UTL3429.”

It went on: “Please repost/share and show the world these platforms can help. #MissingPerson #missinginamerica #gabbypetito #findmikaiya #Namus”

A missing teenage girl has been rescued in the US after she made a hand gesture which led to her being rescued after it was spotted by a passing motorist.

The 16-year-old was seen making a gesture, which involved placing her thumb over her palm and closing her fist, inside a silver Toyota near London, Kentucky, on 4 November.

A driver contacted the police after noticing “a female passenger in the vehicle making hand gestures that are known on the social media platform TikTok to represent violence at home – I need help – domestic violence,” the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said in a 6 November statement.

The gesture has been circulating on social media, with suggestions that victims can “use this signal to ask for help on a video call without leaving a digital trace.”

Gabby Petito’s father Joseph Petito has shared the domestic violence hand signal on his Instagram.

He wrote: “How to signal you need help without being noticed. Please share and make others aware. #gabbypetito #iamgabby #domesticviolence #domesticviolenceawareness”

A recently uncovered social media account belonging to Brian Laundrie is being pored over by an army of internet sleuths seeking clues to his state of mind prior to his death.

The Pinterest page suspected of being Mr Laundrie’s is also offering new clues into his state of mind in the weeks before his girlfriend Gabby Petito went missing on or about 25 August.

Ms Petito’s remains were found in Wyoming on 19 September. Laundrie was found dead in a Florida reserve a month later, and his remains are still being analysed by a forensic anthropologist.

Bevan Hurley reports from New York:

See below for a timeline of what happened to Gabby Petito and her fiance Brian Laundrie:

Gabby Petito’s mother Nichole Schmidt has spoken of the moment she turned on Hulu to find one of her recommended shows was about the murder of her daughter. In a heartbreaking tweet, Ms Schmidt commented: “This cannot be our life”.