Utah police have determined there is no connection between the disappearance of 22-year-old Long Island, N.Y., nativeGabrielle Petitoand the gruesome murders of newlywed coupleCrystal Turner and Kylen Schulte, whose bodies were recovered from a hiking trail near camping grounds located in the La Sal Mountains.
Turner, 38, and Schulte, 24, were last seen on Aug. 13 at Woody’s Tavern on Main Street in Moab. The women were found partially clothed five days later, and each had died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Schulte and Turner had been living in their van, moving from campsite to campsite, but primarily stayed in the Moab area. The couple — married just four months — went on a camping trip on Aug. 13. Not long into the trip, they told friends they were having issues with a “creepy” man and planned to move to different campgrounds.
Soon after that, family members stopped hearing from them entirely.
Fox Newsspoke to a representative for the Grand County Sheriff’s Office earlier this week, who said at the time that all investigative avenues available to them were being explored.
“We’re looking at everything, I mean, anything and everything that was suspicious around that time or we’re not ruling anything out at this time,” the unnamed spokesman said. “So, we’re just investigating the information as it comes in.”
According to police, Petito and her fiancé, 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, were in Moab on Aug. 12. That morning,someone called policeafter the two started arguing outside a food cooperative called Moonflower — where Schulte had worked.
Late Wednesday, police released body camera footage from their interviews that day with both Petito — who was crying — and Laundrie. No charges were filed, even though Laundrie told officers Petito had struck him in the face during their fight.
Later, in paperwork, police would categorize the incident as a “mental health crisis.”
Petito and Laundrie —who has been named a person of interest in his fiancée’s disappearanceandhas now been declared missing himself— had been traveling across America in a white Ford Transit van since early July.
Petito and Laundrie started off their trip traveling from Florida to New York. Last month, they arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, staying only a short time as wildfire smoke blanketed the region.
Petito was reported missing on Sept. 11 — 10 days after Laundrie returned to his parents' North Port, Fla., home in their van. Relatives last had contact with Petito on Aug. 25, when she was near Grand Teton National Park in Jackson, Wyo. Laundrie’s family told investigators on Friday that they had not seen him since Tuesday of this week.
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Petito is a white female, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall and 110 lbs. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, and several tattoos, including one on her finger and one on her forearm that reads “let it be.”
Laundrie — who police said had not been cooperating in the investigation — is a white male, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and 160 lbs. He has brown eyes and short brown hair, trimmed facial hair and was last seen wearing a hiking bag with a waist strap.
Anyone with information on Petito’s or Laundrie’s whereabouts is urged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
source: people.com
