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19th Sep 2021

Woman claims to have picked up Gabby Petito’s fiancé hitchhiking

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Gabby had been missing since August.

A woman on TikTok has claimed that she and her boyfriend picked up Brian Laundrie last month in Wyoming as he was hitchhiking.

In a series of viral TikTok videos, Miranda Baker alleged that the couple saw Gabby Petito’s fiancé at Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park on August 29th and gave him a lift towards Jackson.

The couple has since been in contact with authorities after realising who he was and the connection he has to Gabby’s missing persons case.

A body matching the description of Gabby was found in the search yesterday.

North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor told People that officials have spoken with Miranda and taken her information.

@mirandabaker_##gabbypetito ##findgabby ##brianlaundrie♬ original sound – Miranda Baker

Gabby was reported missing on September 11th, 10 days after Brian arrived back to Florida from their cross country trip without her.

Her family were last in contact with Gabby in late August and a search is now underway for Brian too after he disappeared from his parent’s home in Florida.

The viral TikTok revealed that Miranda allegedly came into contact with Brian at around 5.30pm, with him asking for a lift to Jackson, the same place she and her boyfriend were headed.

She said that Brian offered them $200 for the 10 mile journey, later telling them how he had been camping with his fiancé and had left her “working on their social media page back at their van.”

@mirandabaker_##findgabby ##brianlaundrie ##gabbypetito ##wheresgabby♬ original sound – Miranda Baker

As soon as he discovered the couple were also going to Jackson, Brian allegedly “freaked out” and insisted on getting out, pulling over at the Jackson Dam.

“He kind of, like, hurried out of the car,” she alleged, “and was like, ‘Okay, I’m just going to find someone else to hitchhike [with],’ and we were like, ‘Okay.’ It was a weird situation.”

Miranda said he was wearing a backpack, long sleeves, and hiking boots and while he had some scruffy facial hair, she claims Laundrie didn’t seem to look or smell “dirty” for someone who had been camping for multiple days.

@mirandabaker_##findgabby ##brianlaundrie ##gabbypetito ##wheresgabby♬ You Are Enough – Sleeping At Last

“I hope this can help somebody identify him because I saw him from TikTok, which made me call the authorities,” Miranda added.

Showing the location of where she picked him up in another video, Miranda said he was “not frantic, very nice and very polite.”

“I first heard about this on TikTok a few days ago, which is why I’m putting this up on TikTok — to reach out to someone who also might have seen him and picked him up before or after we did,” she said in the last clip.