Yahoo News Gabby Petito: New witness claims ‘aggressive’ Laundrie argued with waiters on last sighting with influencer
A witness has come forward to describe a stand-up argument between Brian Laundrie and a waitress at a restaurant in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, around the time Gabby Petito is believed to have sent her final text to her mother.
Nina Celie Angelo told Fox News she saw Mr Laundrie arguing with several female staff at Tex-Mex restaurant Merry Piglets between 1pm and 2pm on 27 August.
Mr Laundrie reportedly left and returned the restaurant approximately four times during the row, and Ms Angelo described his body language as “aggressive”. Ms Petito apologised to staff about his behaviour, the witness said.
If confirmed, it would be one of the last sightings of Ms Petito alive.
Jackson Hole is approximately 40 miles south of Spread Creek, in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, where the couple’s van was captured parked on the side of a dirt road by a YouTuber later that evening.
Ms Petito’s remains were located by an FBI-led search team in the vicinity of Spread Creek on Sunday.
Ms Angelo said she couldn’t overhear what the argument was about, but it appeared to be over money.
“It’s crazy because it wasn’t just like we passed them on the street. It was a full blown incident,” Ms Angelo told Fox News.
Staff at the restaurant told Fox they couldn’t remember the incident, saying summer was an especially busy time of year.
Local law enforcement in Wyoming referred media inquiries to the FBI, who declined to comment.
Ms Angelo, a photographer from New Orleans, was in town to attend a wedding with her boyfriend Matthew England.
They returned home as Hurricane Ida made landfall in the city.
It was only after seeing police bodycam of a 12 August domestic dispute between Mr Laundrie and Ms Petito in Moab, Utah, that Mr England realised it was the same person they had seen arguing with waitstaff.
“I would bet $10 million, I’m 1,000 per cent sure that was him and that was her,” Mr England, a financial adviser told Fox.
Ms Angelo described feeling the blood drain from her body as she made the connection to the angry restaurant scene she had witnessed.
They produced a bill from the restaurant trip to Fox to confirm the incident, and said they had notified the FBI.
Ms Petito’s mother Nichole Schmidt received a final text from her daughter on 27 August, a police search warrant revealed.
Ms Schmidt said the text was “odd” because Ms Petito mentioned her grandfather by his first name “Stan”.
“Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls,” the text said, according to the warrant.
The text exchange formed part of a warrant obtained by North Port Police to search the Laundrie family home on Monday.
The Independent has approached Ms Angelo for comment.
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