USA: the mysterious disappearance of a young woman who traveled the country in a truck with her boyfriend

Last July, Gabby Petito, 22, along with her boyfriend set off with a van, a tent and the goal of driving through the United States to learn about the country’s most iconic natural wonders.

For the next two months, the blue-eyed adventurer walked barefoot around the chalk pyramids splattering Monument Rocks in Gove County, Kansas. He slid down the slopes of National Park and the Great Sand Dunes Reserve in Colorado on his wooden table. At Zion National Park in Utah, Petito posed with a wide smile in front of the terracotta-colored cliffs and waded along the Virgin River as it meandered across the Strait.

Apparently, Petito stayed in Utah for weeks, visiting Mystic Hot Springs and Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.. Documenting everything on his Instagram and YouTube accounts, until his last photo on August 25, in which Petito holds a small woven pumpkin in front of a mural of monarch butterflies in Ogden, Utah.

The caption that accompanied these photos on a background of butterflies – “Happy Halloween” – and some text messages in the following days were the last words which Petito’s parents read from him. No one has reported communication from the 22-year-old since Aug. 30.

Suffolk County Police in New York, which began investigating Petito’s disappearance late last week, said in a statement Monday that the The woman’s last known location was Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Her parents reported her disappearance on Sept. 11, after she spent a week without news of her daughter, according to police.

Nichole Schmidt, Petito’s mother, told him CBS New York what her daughter left the east coast with her boyfriend for the road trip in early July. The mother and daughter remained in close contact for most of the trip, Schmidt said, until their last call via FaceTime in late August.

“At least three times a week, we used FaceTime, we told each other, we texted each other frequently,” Schmidt told CBS New York. “She kept me on target for this whole trip.”

When Petito stopped responding to his mother’s messages for the first time, his parents assumed he had lost coverage of his phone by camping in a remote location in some national park. They began to worry only after a week of silence, said Schmidt.

“I think he’s in danger because he’s not in touch with us”, Schmidt told TV channel. “She she could be alone somewhere, she could be stranded somewhere in the desert. And he needs help. “

Petito’s parents said that her daughter had been living in Florida with her boyfriend for the past two years, But they offered no further details about the man or the relationship. Her boyfriend had also been documenting the trip on his Instagram account until August 13th.

Police said Monday that officers had located the white Ford Transit 2012 van that Petito and her boyfriend drove across the country during the trip.

CBS New York reported that Petito’s boyfriend returned to Florida and referred the station’s questions to his lawyer. the Washington Post he does not publish the man’s name because he has not been charged with any crime. So far, he has not responded to a request for comment on Tuesday morning.

In a YouTube video uploaded on August 19, the couple was driving from one place to another in the van. They smiled at the camera, shared kisses and did somersaults on the beach. Petito offered his companion bites of food from his fork. They held hands on a swing and played air hockey in a game room in Santa Monica, California. She screams and then laughs when the rain fell on the walls of her store one day. Her boyfriend was doing yoga outside the store. They both laughed at a container of chocolate granola that had melted with the July heat as they camped in Utah.

“I love the van”, Petito said to the camera as he rested inside the tent with his boyfriend. The road trip had to end on next month in Portland, Oregon, According to Petito’s parents.

In an emotional plea asking for help to find her daughter, Petito’s father urged her to contact them, if he could. Nichole Schmidt wiped a tear from his face and addressed his daughter: “We miss you”.

(C) The Washington Post.

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