Gabby Petito told her ex she wanted to leave Brian Laundrie but was scared to: New doc
Supporters of Gabby Petito gather at the entrance of Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port Florida on Wednesday October 20, 2021. (Photo by Thomas O'Neill/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Gabby Petito told her ex-boyfriend she was going to leave Brian Laundrie but was afraid of his reaction, Petito’s ex-boyfriend shared in a new Netflix docuseries.
"American Murder: Gabby Petito," is the first docuseries on the streaming platform about Petito's case involving her friends and family, FOX News reported.
The exclusive new interview with Jackson, Petito's ex-boyfriend, sheds light on her desire to escape, but she feared what may happen if she left Laundrie.
What they're saying:
"She wasn’t sure of what he would do, or what he could do," Jackson told the docuseries filmmakers and executive producers Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro.
Nason and Gasparro told FOX News digital that they felt a responsibility to handle Petito’s story with care.
"It's really important to make sure that we have the people that were directly involved in it being part of the doc," Gasparro said. "The family is at the start of this."
What is the Netflix docuseries about?
"American Murder: Gabby Petito" started streaming on Netflix Monday and includes additional details, videos and photographs that were only known to her family and the FBI, as well as the text messages between Petito and Laundrie.
Petito's family gave the filmmakers their blessing to release the docuseries.
The program also revealed previously unseen text messages from Petito, Laundrie and other individuals key to the murder case, including Laundrie’s mother, Roberta.
FOX News noted that the docuseries also features new interviews with Petito’s parents and stepparents and details from her ex-boyfriend, Jackson, and other close friends.
Petito’s family provided her journals, artwork – and text messages that revealed a dark layer beneath the relationship between Petito and Laundrie in the lead-up to and during their cross-country road trip.
RELATED: Gabby Petito: Judge delivers blow to Laundrie family as civil suit appears headed to trial
"Looking at her text messages with Brian for the first time, knowing that he had murdered her was haunting because it was like the manipulation… was very subtle.," Nason told FOX News digital. "And I think that we're hoping that this series can show the subtlety of intimate partner abuse, especially among young people."
What happened to Gabby Petito?
The backstory:
Gabby Petito was traveling cross-country with Brian Laundrie in a camper van when Moab police stopped the couple on Aug. 12, 2021, after a report of a man slapping a woman. Authorities determined Petito was the aggressor and separated the couple for the night but allowed them to continue their trip the next day.
Petito was later reported missing on Sept. 11, 2021, after Laundrie returned to Florida alone. The 22-year-old woman’s body was found on Sept. 19 near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Authorities learned she was strangled.
Laundrie claimed responsibility for Gabby Petito's death in a suicide note found with his remains on Oct. 20, 2021, in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park behind the Laundries' North Port, Florida, home, FOX 13 Tampa reported.
RELATED: Utah judge dismisses Gabby Petito wrongful death lawsuit against Moab police
The FBI noted that Laundrie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Near his decomposed body, authorities found a handwritten suicide note and confession preserved in a dry bag and other personal effects. In the note, first published by Fox News Digital, Laundrie proclaimed, "I ended her life."
In November 2024, a Utah judge dismissed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito’s parents against the city of Moab, alleging police failed to protect their daughter during an August 2021 domestic violence incident involving Laundrie.
After Petito's murder, her parents started the Gabby Petito Foundation to advocate for domestic violence victims and missing persons. They have also lobbied for new laws to protect victims in at least three states, as well as in Washington, D.C.