♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, gabby petito. >> i love the man. >> what you didn't know about her relationship with brian laundrie. >> they felt safe because she was with brian, and i felt like she would be okay. >> their struggles to make it on social media. now the search for answers. what you haven't heard. >> we knew it was her van. it was an insane feeling. >> and what went so wrong before her violent death? >> strangulation? it's a very personal way to kill. you're feeling the life being snuffed out of a person. >> this special edition of "nightline," "life online: the last days of gabby petito" will

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♪ ♪ tequila herradura. extraordinary awaits. ♪ gabby petito never goes outside. >> she was happy. genuinely happy.

>> she loved her friends. she was a beautiful artist. brilliant artist. just so talented. >> reporter: gabby petito's family clings to precious memories, remembering their vivacious daughter on "60 minutes australia." >> everybody sees the pictures out there as an adult, but when i close my eyes and think of her, i still remember that little blond hair, bright blue-eyed little girl with her hair up, you know, in ponytails. >> reporter: the 22-year-old had been living out her dream crisscrossing the country and camping out in a van with her high school sweetheart and fiance, brian laundrie. both of them posting their adventures on social media. >> so we are right outside capitol reef right now in a free disperse camp spot. >> brian laundrie is a typical american young man. loved the outdoors, by all accounts. >> i worried.

i told her to be careful, be safe. you know. make sure to be aware of your surroundings. you know, don't trust everybody. but i felt safe because she was with brian, and i felt like she would be okay. i think -- i thought he would take care of her. >> i think that for a lot of young people right now, this idea of leaving everything behind, getting in a van, seeing the world, is attractive. >> i love the van. >> reporter: brian and gabby hoped they could turn their new lifestyle into a living, posting on instagram, tiktok, and youtube. but they weren't getting many views. >> got it. >> oh my god. >> they were struggling. they were not the cream of the crop van life creators. they were not going viral. they were really living hand to mouth. >> they'd been on this trip over a month, then on august 12th there is a phone call placed to 911.

>> a witness had reported seeing gabby and brian fighting. that witness said brian had slapped gabby. >> he was slapping her. then we stopped. they ran down the sidewalk. he proceeded to hit her. hopped in the car and they drove off. >> reporter: officers tracked down the van in moab, utah, and found a distraught gabby. >> gabby, brian, okay, what's going on, how come you're crying? >> i'm just crying because we were fighting this morning. some personal issues. >> reporter: they separated gabby from brian and repeatedly asked if he had hit her. >> there's a line on your cheek here? looks like -- did he get -- did you get hit in the face? kind of looks like someone hit you in the face. >> yeah, i don't know. >> can i see the other side of your face? so what happened here and here? >> um -- i -- i'm not sure. i was just trying to get in the

back of the car, and his backpack was on the back, and it got me. >> so there's two people that came to us and told us that they saw him hit you. there's two people saying they saw him punch you. >> reporter: gabby even blamed herself, saying she instigated the fight. >> to be honest, i definitely hit him first. >> where did you hit him?p>> i >> i would have had about 50 questions to ask her about what he's done in the past, has he ever hit you? getting her to describe the dynamic between the two of them. >> reporter: when officers asked brian about scratches on his neck and face, he said they were from gabby. >> he was -- i was -- it wasn't like a push when she jumped on me. she's very -- she was already -- i don't want to -- swinging in there -- >> reporter: she appeared to be the aggressor and she said she was the aggressor. now, do i believe that? no. but the police can only go on the evidence they are given. they had no basis on which to

arrest brian. if anything, they could have arrested her. >> so at this point, you're the victim of domestic assault. even if you didn't want to pursue this, we don't have a choice. >> reporter: but despite signs of trouble, brian and gabby both insisted they were in love, and the police decided not to press charges. >> gabby. this is very, very important. how you answer this question is going to determine what happens next. when you slapped him those times, were you attempting to cause him physical pain or physical impairment? was that what you were attempting to do to him? >> no. i tried to get him to calm down. >> doesn't sound to me like she attempted to injure him. >> all right, brian. she claims that she did not have intent to hurt you. when she was slapping at you.

so technically speaking, it does not fit the letter of the code. so i am not going to be charging her with assault. >> reporter: they separated them, put brian in a hotel, gave gabby the keys to the van. >> they did what appeared to be a very thorough investigation at the scene for over an hour, talking to each one of them, talking among themselves. not really getting that critical element of assault. >> there is no doubt in my mind the moab police had had training in domestic violence. because they kept going back to the statute. back to what proper procedure is. >> the city of moab launched an independent investigation into the handling of the incident, but declined to comment at this time. >> reporter: but two weeks later, gabby and brian were seen in a restaurant in jackson, wyoming.

>> witnesses reported a lot of screaming, him yelling at the restaurant staff, going in and out of the restaurant. >> what we would later know is that that was the last time gabby petito was seen in public. >> reporter: and on august 25th, gabby called her mom for the last time. to tell her that she was in wyoming, but probably heading to yellowstone. >> after that conversation over the phone, gabby's mother started receiving some odd text messages. >> the text message to her mother was, can you help stan, i just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls. well, stan is her grandfather's name. >> what's weird about that is, gabby never called her grandfather by his name, "stan." the last contact that gabby's mother has from her daughter is august 30th. she gets a text that says only, no service in yosemite.

which is strange because it's so brief, but also, they weren't going to yosemite. >> that's hundreds and hundreds of miles away. so mom knew immediately something was very, very wrong. >> i was texting her every day anyway, but i wasn't getting responses. by day six, seven, i was checking her social media. i didn't see any activity. i'm worried. everybody was like, she's fine, she's fine. they're out in the mountains, they have no signal. and i said, no, it's not like her. >> unbeknownst to gabby's mother, brian laundrie has driven gabby's van back to florida. he arrives on september 1st. >> authorities say brian used a debit card that was not his to withdraw $1,000, and he made his way all the way back home to florida with no sign of gabby. >> reporter: the petitos have no idea that brian is home, in florida, without gabby, driving the van they had been traveling in.

>> once brian got home, it appeared to be family business as usual.or td m that they saw brian and his parents going for walks down the street, then eventually, brian and his parents went camping for a few days. >> reporter: it's been ten days since gabby's family has heard from her, and they are worried enough that on september 11th they report her as a missing person. but when the police try to speak with brian and his parents, they were told to reach out to the family's attorney. >> his attorney, mr. berlino, told the parents not to talk. but i think the average person saying, this is not right. >> it's not a crime to hire a defense lawyer. but it really looks bad. >> and then it all takes a turn. >> ever-expanding search for gabby petito. tonight her boyfriend is now a person of interest, but he's not talking. the new pleas for him to share what he knows.

>> we've been assuming that brian laundrie was at home with his parents. but then his parents told investigators that brian had gone on a hike into a swamp, that he had left days ago, and that he hadn't returned. >> the carlton reserve is a 25,000-acre wildlife reserve. that is twice the size of manhattan. it is massive. i can tell you from being there, it is a rough environment. >> the threats that he faces out here are numerous. he's got alligator, he's got snake. he gets bit by one of those, if he doesn't get help within 24 hours, he's most likely going to be dead. >> reporter: even reality stars wanted to help find him. >> fox news capturing "dog the bounty hunter" knocking on the family's door. >> boom, boom, boom, i let loose on a knock. the reason i got involved in the gabby case was purely by request from our fans. this is a real hunt.

this is probably right now in america the most wanted man there is. >> if you have personalities like "dog the bounty hunter" being involved, then that's a win. the more eyes on this case, the better. >> reporter: despite the nationwide manhunt, brian remained elusive. >> there had been spottings of him throughout florida. >> where is brian laundrie? >> as far north as north carolina. >> possible brian laundrie sightings along the appalachian trail, calls coming into 911. >> we've gotten almost as many tips for the appalachian trail as we have for mexico. is struggling to manage your type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? lowering your a1c with once-weekly ozempic® can help you get back in it. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! my zone... lowering my a1c, cv risk, and losing some weight... now, back to the game! ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it.

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where does the stress go when you're driving a lincoln? maybe it winds up somewhere over the bermuda triangle. you might have your own theory. but maybe it's better to just let it go. most bladder leak pads were similar. until always discreet invented a pad that protects differently. with two rapiddry layers. for strong protection, that's always discreet. question your protection. try always discreet.

here again, juju chang.

>> where is grabby, where is gabby, where is gabby? >> reporter: gabby petito and brian laundrie had transfixed a nation, their story capturing the attention of reality stars like "dog the bounty hunter." >> this is a real hunt. this is probably right now in america the most wanted man there is. >> reporter: but the search intensified when a couple remembered they had seen a white van in the teton national forest. >> it was crazy to us. we're youtubers. and so we film all the time. our everyday lives. >> reporter: they checked their footage. >> we both got goosebumps all over our body. we knew it was her van as soon as the footage passed by it. it was an insane feeling. at 12:08 in the morning, i called the fbi. >> once the bethunes were able to pinpoint the van in their go pro footage, the police who had been searching the entire area

were able to pinpoint to within 1,000 feet where gabby's remains were. >> reporter: gabby's remains were sent to the medical examiner's office for further investigation as the hunt for brian was ongoing. >> there had been spottings of him throughout florida. >> where is brian laundrie? >> as far north as north carolina. >> possible brian laundrie sightings along the appalachian trail, calls coming into 911. >> we've gotten almost as many tips for the appalachian trail as we have for mexico. >> the fact that brian has spent so much time in the outdoors, living with minimal supplies, makes the search for him a lot more complicated. is this person in the middle of a swamp? is he on the appalachian trail? is he out somewhere where no people are located? he has the possibility of lasting out there on his own without any outside help. >> reporter: the frenzy only grew after an autopsy report on

gabby's remains ruled her death a homicide. >> in the manner of death of gabrielle lenora petito, we find the cause and manner to be cause, death by strangulation, manner is homicide. >> strangulation is a very personal way to kill. you're feeling the life being snuffed out of a person. >> that's a whole other level of anger. >> and why that's important is that when you start to look at domestic whom sides that have strangulation in them, almost invariably there's been attempts to do nonfatal strangulation prior. >> where did he hit you? don't worry, just be honest. >> right on my face, like this. >> is that any history in gabby and brian's relationship? obviously we don't know the wide receiver to that question, but it might be there. >> numerous questions were

asked. they were asking what state of decomposition was gabby's body found in? did dr. blue believe the body was moved or if gabby was killed in that location? dr. brent blue was very clear that under wyoming law, he could not comment on those details. >> i don't know when we'll see the autopsy report for gabby peti petito. but for now all we know is that she was strangled, it's a homicide, she was not pregnant, and the coroner referred to domestic violence. >> unfortunately, this is one of many deaths around the country of people who are involved in domestic violence. >> this was a vicious death, by every interpretation. and now all of the energy that the public had poured into finding gabby petito is directed at finding brian laundrie. >> reporter: despite potential sightings from around the country, authorities had never stopped searching that florida

swamp. >> we are weeks into the search for brian laundrie, and i get a call. they probably found brian laundrie. >> his parents decide that they're going to actually go out and help with the search. and they go to an area in the park they had told the police to search, and had been looked at but had been underwater. >> once we're there, we see cadaver dogs are back examiner d at carlton reserve. you start to think that this is likely the case, that brian laundrie was in the swamp, as suspected a month before. >> earlier today, investigators found what appears to be human remains, as well as personal items such as a backpack and notebook, belonging to brian laundrie. >> they were able to quickly confirm that it was him because of the comparison of dental records. >> reporter: but the mystery only deepens. >> the medical examiner declared that there was no cause of death and no manner of death.

me we don't know if it's an accident, a suicide, a homicide, we just don't know. >> brian laundrie's notebook was found near his remains. it was wet for a while, but once it dries out, if his words are legible and he was writing in that notebook and he was writing his thoughts on what had happened in the past weeks, that could break the case open and give us the answers we're all waiting for. it's unsatisfying because two young people are dead. they died with the story of what happened. they died with the knowledge that people want to know and probably never will know. when you're driving a lincoln, stress seems to evaporate into thin air. which leaves us to wonder, where does it go? does it get tangled up in knots? or fall victim to gravity? or maybe it winds up somewhere over the bermuda triangle. perhaps you'll come up with your own theory

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♪ ♪ gabby's family and friends find comfort knowing her story made an impact and could help others. >> she's an absolutely beautiful, beautiful soul, inside and out. >> family recently held a fund-raiser for the gabby petito foundation, they raised $13,700, and their goal is going to be to help women involved in domestic

violence. >> gabby's parents have set up a legacy for her. but i would argue, she set it up for herself with just her spirit of adventure and wide-eyed wonder at the world and believing in all things good. ♪ ♪ tequila herradura. extraordinary awaits.