Gabby Petito

[Sinder]

This is what I have been trying to say exactly. I wonder if many of the ppl who have such strong opinions have daughters or no children at all. I also am not saying this is the right thing to do. I’m just saying I get it.

I have strong feelings and I also have kids, sons and a daughter.
I would like to think that I would do the right thing. If I knew my son was guilty I wouldn't help him escape, and I would encourage him to come clean about what happened. I would help in other ways like get the best lawyer I could, I wouldn't let him get away with murder by hiding him.
If I thought he was innocent I'd plead with him to go to the parents of his fiance and tell them about the last time they were together and why he left her.

 

[Dentam]

If he had/has a mental illness, his parents are more likely to also have mental illness. I wouldn’t expect “normal” behavior.

Good point.

 

[Dentam]

Have you ever had a long conversation with a sociopath? I have, but I don't know if Brian Laundrie is a sociopath or not. I don't see anything in this case so far that makes me think of him as a sociopath. True sociopaths are a special breed.

I wasn't referring to Brian.

 

[DLgal]

I'm gonna chime in here with an opinion that seems unpopular. I have 2 sons. They are both autistic. I am fiercely protective of them. I probably protect them too much, at times. Heck, just this afternoon, I was spiraling out with anxiety because their bus was late bringing them home from school. I had been warned the bus was late, but it was MUCH later than I had been told. I could see my kids on Google Maps, as the bus ran them all over our side of town dropping kids off, but inexplicably, an hour after they SHOULD have been home, they were still miles away. I called the bus dispatch to find out what the heck was going on. They assured me everything was fine, but the driver was dropping off 2 routes worth of kids, so it was taking longer than they expected. I was still worried about them. I tell you this so you understand how I worry about them. They are 15 and 17, FWIW.

That said, I have LONG maintained that I will love and support them unconditionally, EXCEPT if they do something criminally heinous. At that point, they are no longer my children. They would be on their own. I would withdraw all support and would under no circumstances cover for them, lie for them, or keep my mouth shut if I knew something. I wouldn't pay for a lawyer. I wouldn't visit them in jail. I'd be DONE. I cannot fathom supporting a murderer or rapist or child abuser. Nope. I would mourn them as if they had died.

Thankfully they are both very good young men who care a lot about others and have never once even broken a rule or lied to anyone about anything. They are very much rule followers with a black and white sense of right and wrong, so I hope to high heaven that I never find myself in the unfortunate situation of being the mother of a criminal. My husband has said he feels the same way.

I will always protect my kids from any real or perceived dangers, but I will never protect them from the consequences of their own actions.

 

[luvsvacation]

I watch a lot of true crime stories and the thing that always gets me is how close family members almost always stick by the guilty. As I said earlier Brian surely would have told them a slanted view of what happened or outright lied. I kind of doubt he said hey I murdered her and they said ok let’s cover it up and hide you. He has probably convinced them of his innocence or that it was a tragic accident. Sometimes when I watch those true crime stories they are a bit iffy and there could be some small room for doubt, but in most cases the persons guilt is so blatantly obvious and still the loved ones deny and believe in their innocence. I think it must be some sort of cognitive dissonance. Believing your loved one could do something so awful (especially your child who you raised) is too much for your mind to accept, so you dig in on believing their innocence. And if you believe they are innocent you’ll probably do all you can to help them.

 

[LSUmiss]

Would you help your kid escape if you thought he was guilty?

You didn’t ask me, but I would most likely help my child escape & or would en hard me to fathom that he was guilty unless I saw him do it or there was history.

 

[JimMIA]

I guess... hard to imagine putting aside morals and integrity for it though. I would definitely be horrified if I produced a kid like the one in the story above! That's a sociopath. And to aid that person in escaping to somewhere where he will no doubt repeat those kinds of horrific crimes? Nope, that's a big nope for me.

This is what a sociopath looks like in real life. His street name was "Lucky" and the Glenfeldt-Worley case mentioned in the story, and a similar related case, are the ones our conversation was about.

Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-errol-ferguson-convicted-mass-murderer-executed-in-fla/

 

[Dentam]

This is what a sociopath looks like in real life. His street name was "Lucky" and the Glenfeldt-Worley case mentioned in the story, and a similar related case, are the ones our conversation was about.

Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-errol-ferguson-convicted-mass-murderer-executed-in-fla/

I guess you missed the story that was detailed before my post, to which I was referring. The high school kid who offered a reward for whoever could bring him someone to murder and then carried out that murder in brutal fashion. That to me is a deranged individual who will absolutely be a repeat offender. And yet his father helped him escape. Luckily he was ultimately caught and subsequently killed it sounds like.

 

[AndreaA]

This is what a sociopath looks like in real life. His street name was "Lucky" and the Glenfeldt-Worley case mentioned in the story, and a similar related case, are the ones our conversation was about.

Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-errol-ferguson-convicted-mass-murderer-executed-in-fla/

Sociopath or just plain psychotic? With his “I’m the Prince of God” talk, one wonders...

 

[GreatLakes]

Seriously? This is kind of mind boggling to me. But then I don't have kids... just feel like my own sense of right and wrong would outweigh everything else.

Before having a kid there wasn't anyone I'd get in front of a bullet for, push out of the way and get run over by a truck for, or jump into a raging river to save knowing I would likely die. My little guy changed all that.

I'd be disappointed in both him and myself if we ever got there but in the situation it would be protect him at all costs, especially if I knew he didn't do it but was likely to be blamed for it.

 

[Dentam]

I'd be disappointed in both him and myself if we ever got there but in the situation it would be protect him at all costs, especially if I knew he didn't do it but was likely to be blamed for it.

I think the original question was asking if you would help them if you thought they were guilty. Definitely a difficult situation to imagine.

 

[JimMIA]

Sociopath or just plain psychotic? With his “I’m the Prince of God” talk, one wonders...

Trust me, Lucky Ferguson was a sociopath. A psychotic can't tell the difference between reality and unreality. A sociopath knows the difference, and they know the difference between right and wrong. They just don't care.

 

[Skywalker]

The whole idea of an animal killing her ignores the fact that in order for that to have happened, she would have had to be abandoned in the park. Unless Brian killed her (accidentally or otherwise) why wouldn’t he contact authorities to tell them that his manic fiancée was lost in the park? There is really no logical and innocent explanation for why he came home alone with HER van without alerting anyone to the fact that she was missing. If she had left him in a town, it seems as if she would have called her mother, with whom she had been in close contact.

Yeah, but how do you know that really...the word abandoned is dramatic and all but how do we not know, oh for example she gave him the keys to the van and told him to get lost and go home. Maybe she decided to stay with other seeming friends and go on without him...how do we really know. I am not willing to assume my assumptions are reality at this point.

 

[JimMIA]

I guess you missed the story that was detailed before my post, to which I was referring. The high school kid who offered a reward for whoever could bring him someone to murder and then carried out that murder in brutal fashion. That to me is a deranged individual who will absolutely be a repeat offender. And yet his father helped him escape. Luckily he was ultimately caught and subsequently killed it sounds like.

I saw it. It has nothing to do with Brian Laundrie or understanding the difference between "deranged" and sociopath.

Because we are good people, we are way too quick to put psychiatric labels on people who do things we would never do. We don't understand what they could have been thinking, so they must be nuts. Truth is, many of them are just bad people.

The kid in the case you mentioned may well be nuts; I've never met him. Lucky Ferguson and his buddy Marvin Francois were sociopaths.

 

[DLgal]

I'd be disappointed in both him and myself if we ever got there but in the situation it would be protect him at all costs, especially if I knew he didn't do it but was likely to be blamed for it.

This is a different discussion. If my kid was being accused of something I KNEW he didn't do, without a shadow of a doubt, I'd pull out all the stops to protect him. But this isn't that. His parents can't possibly know with certainty because they weren't with him. And we are talking about what we would do, given a situation similar to what the Laundrie parents are facing right now.

 

[Kms943]

Thankfully they are both very good young men who care a lot about others and have never once even broken a rule or lied to anyone about anything. They are very much rule followers with a black and white sense of right and wrong, so I hope to high heaven that I never find myself in the unfortunate situation of being the mother of a criminal. My husband has said he feels the same way.

I will always protect my kids from any real or perceived dangers, but I will never protect them from the consequences of their own actions.

This is a very important point. I have had a few cases that completely divided and destroyed marriages because one parent vehemently believe/supported their child and the other parent disowned the suspect. In this case, it seems that both of Brian’s parents are of the same mind in supporting their son.

I watch a lot of true crime stories and the thing that always gets me is how close family members almost always stick by the guilty. As I said earlier Brian surely would have told them a slanted view of what happened or outright lied. I kind of doubt he said hey I murdered her and they said ok let’s cover it up and hide you. He has probably convinced them of his innocence or that it was a tragic accident. Sometimes when I watch those true crime stories they are a bit iffy and there could be some small room for doubt, but in most cases the persons guilt is so blatantly obvious and still the loved ones deny and believe in their innocence. I think it must be some sort of cognitive dissonance. Believing your loved one could do something so awful (especially your child who you raised) is too much for your mind to accept, so you dig in on believing their innocence. And if you believe they are innocent you’ll probably do all you can to help them.

This is another important point. In the cases I have been involved with, the parent who supported their child just refused to accept the fact that they could have created someone capable of committing a heinous crime, so they dig their heels in and just say ”nope, not my son”.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I’ve been reading about this case a little bit today and trying to understand the timeline. If I had to guess, I would say she was killed August 27th. If the witness reports are true, a few interesting things happened that day.

• A couple claims to have seen Laundrie in a Jackson Hole restaurant agitated, arguing with employees around 1-2pm. Petito was there, allegedly, and apologized for his behavior.
• 4-5 hours later, another couple picked up footage of Petito’s van with their dash cam in a camping area near where Petito’s body would later be found. An enhanced version of this video supposedly shows the van door being pulled closed as the couple’s car approached.
• Petito’s mother received an odd text from Gabby referring to her grandfather as “Stan,” something she never did. (Her mother seems to think this text came from her daughter — I wonder if it came from Laundrie which might explain his slip up in calling the grandfather by his name. I can’t find info about what time the text was sent that day. And, did her mother not respond to it?! This whole bit is weird to me.)​

Yet another couple claims to have picked up Laundrie hitchhiking on August 29th in an area just a bit northwest to where the van was seen and Petito’s body would later be found. He told them he had been camping alone for days and his girlfriend was back at their van working on her social media stuff. He offered them $200 to drive him 10 miles to Jackson. Once on the road, he “freaked out and insisted on getting out of the car” when the couple mentioned their plans to go to Jackson Hole themselves. They pulled over and let him out by a dam not far from where they picked him up.

August 30th was when the suspicious “No service in Yosemite” text was sent to Petito’s mother.

On the morning of September 1st, the van is picked up on a license plate reader driving into North Port, Florida.

I want to know, when was the last time he was seen in Florida? Have police ever laid eyes on him? When was this camping trip the Laundries took after he returned, before Petito was reported missing? His parents claim he was in their home until the 14th, but can anyone verify that? For all we know, he called them from Wyoming and told them what happened, whatever that may be, and they told him to come home. (Why was he trying to go to Jackson? Perhaps heading to the airport, then changed his mind and decided to go pick up the van and drive back instead?) Then, he and his parents take off in a new camper for a few days to… get him to a port… the Texas border… a remote family cabin in whoza-ma-whatzit, Michigan…???

By the time the police make their first visit to the Laundries on Sept 11th, they are already lawyered up and saying their son has nothing to say. His parents finally contact the police on the 17th to say he’s been missing since the 14th and point them in the direction of a nearby nature preserve for his whereabouts. But what’s to say they didn’t help smuggle him out-of-state weeks ago?

I’ll edit to link my sources for this info in a few minutes after I get it posted. If I’ve made any mistakes please let me know — it’s a lot to keep straight!

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/us/gabby-petito-timeline-missing-case/index.htmlhttps://www.foxnews.com/us/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-argued-in-wyoming-restaurant-eyewitnesseshttps://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/f...0210921-rvzf7mpayvdjnk6uk2pugriiaa-story.htmlhttps://www.newsweek.com/gabby-peti...k-door-closing-car-filming-approaches-1630795https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loc...ge-as-brian-laundrie-remains-missing/3282127/https://www.wfla.com/news/sarasota-...s-final-odd-text-to-her-mom-raised-red-flags/https://people.com/crime/brian-laun...and-teton-national-park-gabby-petito-missing/

 

[NotUrsula]

dup

 

[Sinder]

They had a lawyer before she was reported missing, they know he did something. They were expecting police to come to the house. If he told them she told him to get lost or that she was staying to meet friends why would they need to hire a lawyer?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Sam Sheinbein was sent to Israel by his father to avoid being tried as an adult and the death penalty, which Maryland still had at the time. There was a huge dust up between US and Israel over his extradition. It was agreed that Israel would try him, since they allowed him to claim citizenship. He entered a plea bargain and got a pretty severe sentence for Israel which of course wasn’t close to what he would have gotten in the US. He did get killed trying to break out of prison after someone smuggled him a gun.