Gabby Petito’s family: ‘Abandoned’ van spotted near Grand Teton 2 days after last contact

By Edward Era Barbacena

Gabby Petito’s converted white van was spotted last month near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming — two days after the missing Long Island native was last heard from, her family says.

Footage of the 2012 Ford Transit was spotted on Aug. 27 by travel bloggers Jenn and Kyle Bethune and posted to their YouTube Sunday.

“We came across a white van that had Florida plates,” Jenn Bethune said. “A small white van. We were going to stop and say hi because we’re from Florida too, but the van was completely dark. There was nobody there, so we decided to continue on our way.”

The couple, who are documenting their family’s travels across the country, said the van seemed “abandoned.”

The Bethunes said they saw the van around 6 or 6:30 p.m. parked off to the side, and later traveled back on the road and saw it again

“It’s kind of freaky for a late Saturday evening,” Kyle Bethune said. “But we just kind of had a brain fart, ‘Oh, there’s that van.'”

“We were going to stop and say hi because we’re from Florida too, but the van was completely dark,” YouTuber Jenn Bethune said

The Bethunes’ video is only one of several sightings reported to authorities, who have asked for the public’s help to determine where Petito could be.

Petito, 22, vanished last month while on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, who also went missing after returning home to their home in Florida.

She last spoke to her on FaceTime on Aug. 25.

Petito’s family said they and the FBI were aware of the Bethune’s video.

Jenn and Kyle Bethune were documenting their family’s travels across the country and said the van seemed “abandoned.”

“We believe this is the van for multiple reasons,” the kin wrote Sunday on the “Find Gabby” Facebook page. “Please do not clog up the tip line with the same video. This is in the hands of the right people. Thank you so much, this is exactly why we are asking people to review older photos and video. #FindGabby”

Among the other reported sightings was by traveler Shannon Baker, who told KST-TV that she and her husband were driving through the Jenny Lake area of Grand Teton on Aug. 25 when they saw the van around 5 p.m.

“I’m sure of it,” Baker told KST. “It had the black ladder on the back and the two black rooftops on top, the two bars, and we made the comment that would be the perfect little camper to go around in.”

It wasn’t until last week, when they saw reports of Petito going missing, that they realized that was the same vehicle.

“I said, ‘Oh my god!’ That’s the same van we saw,” Baker said. “Without a doubt, on my husband’s life, I know for a fact that was their van.”

Authorities have been poring over hundreds of tips and searching large swaths of Wyoming and Utah since Petito was reported missing Sept. 11 and news of her disappearance went viral.

“All those little pieces can be little pieces of the puzzle to helps us figure out where Gabby is,” St. Clayton Platt of the Teton County Sheriff’s Office told KST.

Jenn and Kyle Bethune’s video is only one of several sightings reported to authorities.

Petito, 22, last spoke to her mom, Nichole Schmidt, on Aug. 25, and later mysteriously vanished — while her Laundrie, 23, returned to their home in Florida alone Sept. 1.

Meanwhile, Laundrie, who lawyered up and refused to talk to investigators, is now the subject of another massive search after disappearing last week from the North Port, Florida, home he shared with Petito and his parents.

Laundrie’s parents told police their son went off for a hike in the vast Carlton Reserve near their home on Tuesday and never returned