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Petito’s remains were found in an undeveloped camping area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest on Sunday at the eastern end of Grand Teton National Park, officials said. She was first reported missing by her family on September 11, after Laundrie returned home from the trip without her on September 1.
In a series of videos on TikTok, a woman said that she and her boyfriend drove Laundrie on August 29 in Wyoming – and that he claimed he was camping alone for several days while Petito was back in their van working on social media posts. .
Miranda Baker said they picked up Laundrie while he was hitchhiking in Colter Bay, Wyoming, which is not far from where Petito’s remains were found. He offered to pay $ 200 for the ride before even getting in the car, she said.
The FBI said the agency would like to get information from anyone who may have been in contact with Petito or Laundrie or who visited the scattered camping area of Spread Creek in the Bridger-Teton National Forest between August 27 and August 30. or having seen their vehicle.
Since she went missing, Petito’s story has become a national obsession for many, prompting digital detectives to scour the couple’s online trail in an attempt to resolve the case. History has also highlighted the tens of thousands of missing person stories that do not generate such intense interest; there were nearly 90,000 active missing persons cases at the end of 2020, according to the National Crime Information Center.
Police say account on TikTok videos is plausible
Baker, in his TikTok videos, said that when Laundrie found out that she and her boyfriend were going to Jackson Hole instead of Jackson, he fidgeted, asked for the vehicle to stop and got out near the roadblock. by Jackson. She said they dropped him off within 30 minutes of picking him up.
Baker said she spoke to law enforcement about the interaction with the laundry.
North Port Police confirmed to CNN that Baker spoke with the department before posting the videos to TikTok.
“His story is plausible, it seems,” North Port Police spokesman Josh Taylor said.
CNN has not been able to independently verify Baker’s claims. The FBI did not return CNN’s requests for comment.
Laundrie’s parents told investigators he left their home in North Port with a backpack on September 14 to travel to the T. Mabry Carlton Jr. Memorial Preserve near Venice.
It ended Tuesday night around sunset and will resume on Wednesday, they said.
What we know about the building tension
Evidence also emerged suggesting tension was mounting between the couple.
A man who saw the marital dispute between Petito and Laundrie in Utah last month said, “They were talking to each other aggressively, and something seemed to be wrong.”
In a handwritten affidavit, witness named Chris – whose last name was redacted in the document provided by Moab City Police to CNN – said it appeared the two were arguing over control of the Petito’s phone. “At one point she would hit him on the arm and / or face and try to get into the van.”
The witness said he heard Petito say, “Why do you have to be so mean? Though Chris added that he couldn’t be sure the comment should be taken seriously. Moab City Police responded to the incident and the couple agreed to spend the night separately.
In the Grand County Sheriff’s Office recording, a caller reported what he called a “domestic conflict” between a couple.
“We walked past and the gentleman slapped the girl in the face,” the caller said. “Then we stopped. They ran on the sidewalk. He started hitting her, jumped in the car and they drove away. “
Prior to Petito’s disappearance, her conversations with her mother seemed to reveal that she had “growing tensions” with Laundrie, according to a police affidavit for a search warrant for an external hard drive found in the van of the couple.
Petito sent several texts and had numerous discussions with his mother during her trip, Florida police wrote in a request filed last week.
On August 27, Petito’s mother received a final communication from her daughter, which she described as “a strange text,” the affidavit reads.
The message read, “Can you help Stan, I keep getting his voicemails and missed calls.” Because the text message referred to Petito’s grandfather as Stan, his mother was concerned something was wrong, the warrant says.
As a result of this text, Petito’s phone was no longer operational and she stopped posting anything on social media about their trip, the warrant says.
Another text arrived on August 30: “No Service in Yosemite,” but her family doubt she wrote it.
CNN’s Jason Hanna, Steve Almasy, Leyla Santiago, Gregory Lemos, Rebekah Riess, Eric Levenson, Jennifer Henderson and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
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