Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old “van life” blogger believed to be dead, sent an unusual text message to her mother just two weeks before she was reported missing, according to newly unsealed documents.
“Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls,” the Aug. 27 text message read, according to a search warrant application filed Friday and posted online by WWSB, the ABC station in Sarasota, Florida.
“Stan” refers to her grandfather.
However, her mother, Nichole Schmidt, called it an “odd text” because Petito had never called him that and “was concerned that something was wrong with her daughter,” the warrant states.
The warrant was for permission to search a hard drive and other devices belonging to 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, her boyfriend and a “person of interest” in the case who has since disappeared.
The “Stan” message is the last known communication from Petito, the warrant notes, adding that her social media posts also stopped, which “was not normal behaviour” for her.
An additional text message from Petito’s phone sent August 30 said only, “No service in Yosemite,” but an attorney for her family told Insider they do not believe she sent it.
On Sunday, searchers found a body matching Petito’s description at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. An autopsy is underway to confirm the discovery.
The Sarasota home of Laundrie’s parents was searched on Monday. Before he vanished, he hired an attorney and refused to cooperate with police.
“All of Gabby’s family want the world to know that Brian is not missing,” the Petito family said in a statement on Friday. “He is hiding.”