Brian Laundrie Was 'Acting Like a Lunatic' Shortly Before Gabby Petito’s Killing, Witness Says

A man who was on a road trip with his family told the FBI he saw Brian Laundrie “acting like a lunatic” on Aug. 12, 2021 — shortly before Laundrie killed his fiancée Gabby Petito.

The witness said he saw Petito and her fiancé Laundrie in Moab, Utah, as he and his family were traveling through Moab from Las Vegas to Denver.

The witness said that while driving he passed a couple with a van parked on the side of the road and believed he saw the man believed to be Laundrie slap a woman. He made a U-turn and parked on the opposite side of the road and said he observed the couple for 10 to 15 minutes.

“During the time (witness) and his family were observing the couple, the male ‘acted like a lunatic,’ sporadically opening and slamming doors and pacing around the van,” states newly-released FBI documents, which were published by the New York Post. “[Laundrie] seemed to be pleading with the female and at one point may have tried to hug the female, but was pushed back by her. The male ultimately pushed the female’s legs into the passenger side of the van, closed her door, and entered the driver’s side of the vehicle.”

According to the FBI documents, the man allegedly put his head between his hands, and “both passengers appeared to be crying.”

The witness told authorities he watched the couple from 4:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. — minutes before police encountered the couple.

The witness told authorities he considered intervening but decided against it because he had earlier called 911 when a truck almost ran him off the road.

He said he contacted the FBI in September after he and his daughter saw news reports about Petito’s disappearance and became confident “that the couple they observed in Moab were Petito and Laundrie.”

The couple was minutes later pulled over by police in Moab after another man witnessed them arguing. No charges were filed. Police later released body camera footage and reported the incident as “disorderly conduct.”

The 22-year-old vlogger, who was traveling across the country in a van with Laundrie, was reported missing on Sept. 11, 2021.

Her body was discovered at Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area just outside of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, on Sept. 19, 2021.

Petito died from “blunt-force injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation,” according to a FBI Denver report in January 2022. 

Laundrie later died by suicide and claimed responsibility for Petito’s death in a written confession investigators found with his remains, per FBI Denver.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.