GRAND COUNTY, Utah, Sept 17, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Investigators looking into the disappearance of Gabby Petito say there is no connection between her case and the double-murder of a married couple found shot to death outside Moab in mid-August.
According to a statement released Friday afternoon by Grand County Sheriff Steven White, “It has been determined that the Gabby Petito missing person case is not related to the double-homicide case involving Crystal Turner and Kylen Schulte.”
Turner and Schulte’s bodies were found in a creek near their campsite last month. When it was learned Petito, and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, had passed through Moab about the same time rumors of a possible connection between the cases began to spread.
Thursday, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office announced they were actively exploring possible connections between the cases. “The Grand County Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with Florida authorities and we are actively looking into any connection between the Gabby Petito missing person case and the double homicide that occurred in Grand County.
“The Sheriff’s Office is not ruling anything out at this time, and appreciates the concerns of the public and their willingness to contact the office with those concerns and information,” Thursday’s statement read.
The sheriff’s office did explain in Friday’s updater how they determined the cases were not related.
Search efforts for Petito are centering on the Grand Teton National Park area outside Jackson, Wyoming where the couple was believed to be headed.
The FBI’s Denver office tweeted about its agents’ involvement in the investigation Thursday:
“The #FBI is working with our partners in the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson Police Department, the @NatlParkService and other state & local law enforcement agencies across the country in the investigation of Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito’s disappearance.”
Other agencies involved in the investigation now include the Suffolk County Police Department in New York City’s Long Island, where Petito’s parents live, and Florida’s North Port Police Department.
Gephardt Daily will update this developing story as more information is made available.
