True-Crime TV Network To Delve Deep Into The Gabby Petito Case

BLUE POINT, NY — The Investigation Discovery cable TV network will air a special report about the Gabby Petito case on Wednesday at 9 p.m.

In the report, John Walsh and true-crime experts will discuss Petito’s “tragic story and the reality of domestic violence,” the show’s producers wrote Tuesday on Facebook.

Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue said Tuesday that strangulation was the cause of death for Petito, a 22-year-old native Long Islander. Petito, who was raised in Blue Point, was found dead near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19, eight days after she was reported missing by her family.

Her contact with her family stopped sometime around Aug. 25 while she was traveling with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. They had been living out of a converted van and were touring the national park system while documenting their journey on social media. Laundrie returned home to Florida in the van without her.

He has now been labeled a person of interest and has been reported missing by his parents. There is a massive manhunt for him, and a federal warrant has been issued for his arrest in connection with the fraudulent use of a bank card that did not belong to him in the days following Petito’s death. An attorney for her family reportedly has said the bank card was hers.

Investigation Discovery will “take a deep look” into why Petito’s story commands so much attention when thousands of cases involving missing Black, Indigenous, and people of color “across the country are neglected and ignored,” the producers said in a Facebook post Tuesday.

Jason Sarlanis, ID’s president of crime and investigative content, said in a news release that the special “will give viewers an in-depth look at the story behind the headlines with exclusive commentary and analysis that only ID’s all-star roster of experts can bring,” The New York Post reported.

According to the Post, Sarlanis said the story “could be the defining case of our generation,” adding, “and we at ID are doing everything in our power to help find Brian Laundrie and use our platform to bring much-needed attention to the many other missing persons cases still left tragically unsolved.”

It’s not the first time that the channel is delving into Petito’s case. Walsh recently featured the search for Laundrie on his show, “In Pursuit.”

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