Netflix has premiered another three-episode volume of the American Murder true crime docuseries. American Murder: Gabby Petito is available to watch now, and once you get started, you will probably want to binge it.
Netflix previously brought us American Murder: The Family Next Door (about Chris Watts) and American Murder: Laci Peterson, both of which were chilling compelling, and this installment is no different.
As with the first two American Murders, the docuseries is made up of interviews with friends, family members and law enforcement. There are no dramatic re-enactments. But what makes them all of this so fascinating is the amount of personal video, CCTV footage, phone calls, texts, body cam footage and photos that are included to fully tell the story. To watch all of this electronic evidence put together in sequential order is completely engrossing for anyone who is interested in true crime. The film makers have even used AI to mimic her voice, so Gabby’s journal entries sound as if they were being read by her.
Beginning in early July, Gabby and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie were travelling together in a van while she vlogged the experience, hoping to hit it big on YouTube and Instagram. She was consistently staying in touch with her mother and other friends and family members along the way, so her mom became concerned when she didn’t hear from her for a few days.
American Murder gives us all the details of Gabby’s case
What followed was a story that sounds like a screenplay. Brian returned to his parents house in Florida in the Ford Transit he and Gabby had been living and travelling in with no Gabby in sight. When law enforcement showed up, his parents (and Brian) refused to talk them, stating that they had already hired an attorney and knew nothing about Gabby’s whereabouts.
Somehow, despite the fact that they were under surveillance, Brian managed to get in his parents’ car and drive off, only for them to report him missing four days later.
I won’t give any spoilers for those who don’t know the full story, but you can probably guess that there is no happy ending.
It is fascinating to watch the police bodycam footage from an incident where the couple is pulled over after a passerby called to report a man slapping a woman, and to watch poor Gabby crying and claiming that the incident was her fault, not Brian’s.
And it is very frustrating to watch the bodycam footage of the police arriving at the Laundrie’s house, only to have his parents casually say they (and Brian) won’t talk to them because they have already retained an attorney. In a recorded phone call between Florida police and a New York officer, the Florida officer says they don’t have probable cause to arrest anyone, but the van is only in Gabby’s name and it’s parked in the Laundrie’s driveway. She’s missing, nobody will talk to police, and they don’t have probable cause??
For my money, American Murder is one of the best true crime docuseries available to stream currently, and this installment is a must-see.