Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
A 22-year-old goes missing after a trip with her fiancé, who strangely returns home to his parents, but his family refuses to speak to the cops, directing them to their lawyer instead. That’s all anyone needs to suspect that the fiancé had something to do with the young woman’s disappearance. Otherwise, he would be out with her parents, looking for her, instead of lawyering up and hiding in his parents’ home.
The three-part Netflix documentary series American Murder: Gabby Petito begins with a 911 call, in which an eyewitness reports a domestic dispute, telling the cops they saw a gentleman “slapping the girl.” The scene then shifts to real bodycam footage of officers stopping a white van, where a couple identifies themselves as Brian and Gabby, two van-lifers, who admit to having been fighting since morning. Gabby is completely distraught and in tears, though she confesses to the cops that she was the primary aggressor in the fight. The officers separate the couple for the night, hoping to de-escalate the situation. But days later, Gabby goes missing, and weeks later, she is found dead…
For non-American viewers (like me) who don’t know much about the Gabby Petito case, the documentary provides adequate glimpses into its history. Interviews with mutual friends, family members, investigators, including FBI agents, and eyewitnesses paint a vivid picture of how Gabby and Brian appeared to be the perfect Instagram couple on social media, but things weren’t so hunky-dory in real life. Brian, though seemingly genial, was a manipulative partner who grew jealous of Gabby’s friends and isolated her from those close to her to maintain tighter control over her life. However, there’s one glaring problem with the documentary – Netflix couldn’t get any of Brian’s family members on record to share their side of the story. But from the evidence collected through the investigation, including text messages and call history, it’s pretty clear that Brian murdered Gabby, and his parents tried their best to shield him from cops and media.
The documentary highlights how media attention in the Gabby Petito case helped fast-track the investigation, with massive resources dedicated to locating her, dead or alive. Since Gabby was a vlogger, the documentary is filled with ample footage of her and Brian traveling together, making it hard not to sympathize with the young woman – something that undoubtedly contributed to the media attention her case received. Their photos paint a picture of a cute couple, but the videos curated in the documentary reveal a noticeable awkwardness between them, though it could simply be camera shyness. “Something was off about him,” says a close friend of Gabby about Brian, and one can definitely sense that through his videos.
While the case could have been covered in a single hour instead of three episodes, ‘American Murder: Gabby Petito‘ is still worth a watch for true-crime fans unfamiliar with the Gabby Petito case. If nothing else, it serves as a stark reminder for younger viewers of how deceptive social media can be.
Watch the docu-series on Netflix.
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