A new video has emerged that shows Gabby Petito's boyfriend, Brian Laundrie reading a book on women who go missing. Interestingly, it's one of the many videos that were uploaded by the couple on their YouTube travel channel sometime back. Social media users are now trying to find a connecting between the video and Petito's death.
The viral video comes just hours after the FBI found a body of a woman believed to be that of Long Island native Petito, 22, who disappeared while on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend last month. Laundrie too disappeared last week after refusing to cooperate with police and since has been untraceable.
Strange Connection
Internet sleuths spotted a strange connected between Petito disappearance and eventual death and Laundrie's choice of books. Hours after police discovered Petito's body on late Sunday, social media users pointed out a clip from a video uploaded by the couple on their YouTube channel that shows Laundrie reading what appears to be Jeff VanderMeer's "Annihilation." The book is a 2014 novel that revolves around four women who venture into the so-called Area X, where three of them die and the fourth stays permanently.
"The clip is of ... Brian reading a book, and it is apparently called Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, about groups of people exploring uncharted terrain that go missing," Alyssa Rose a TikTok user said about the "disturbing" video.
Interestingly, the clip was posted on the couple's channel Nomadik Statik on August 19, just days before Petito, according to her family, spoke to them for the last time and then mysteriously disappeared.
Social Media Debates
Petito went missing late last month while on a cross country trip with Laundrie, who returned home without her on September 1. Following that Laundrie refused to cooperate with police and vanished last week after he was named a person of interest.
On Sunday, police recovered a body of a woman in Wyoming national park, which resembles that of Petito. Social media users after watching the clip are now debating if Laundrie had something to do with the van-life woman's death.
While some TikTok users are claiming that Laundrie had a role to play in Petito's disappearance many feel that the connection far-fetched. "This particular book in the series follows four women. What?" Rose said under her handle, @alyssaest93 said. "So many people have said that that information needs to be handed over to the police," she reportedly added.
"This book 'Annihilation' 10000% has nothing to do with this case. It's literally about aliens. This is almost just offensive at this point," wrote @julezandtherollerz countering Rose's claim.
The story revolves around four women — a biologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor and a psychologist. The four women cross the border into the uninhabited area that has been closed to the public for 30 years, according to Conan Daily.
The popular book was also made into a movie in 2018 starring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
That said, while police is still searching for Laundrie and stormed his family home on Monday, the eerie clip that has emerged has now gone viral with social media users engaged in a heated debate.
