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No connection between Gabby Petito disappearance, Utah murders, authorities say

By Theresa Seiger, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Gabby Petito Police in North Port, Florida, released this image of missing 22-year-old Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, who family last heard from in late August. (North Port Police Department)

By Theresa Seiger, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

GRAND COUNTY, Utah — Authorities in Utah said Friday that they have ruled out any connection between the case of a Florida woman who vanished during a cross-country road trip with her fiance and the unsolved deaths of a newlywed couple last month, according to multiple reports.

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“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,” officials with the Grand County Sheriff‘s Office said in a news release.

Previously, authorities said they were “not ruling anything out” in the investigation into Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito’s disappearance, KTVX reported.

Petito’s family reported her missing Sept. 11, weeks after they last heard from her at the end of August, while she was visiting Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. Police said Petito, 22, contacted family members regularly until then. Petito and her fiance, Brian Laundrie, had been traveling the country since July in a converted Fort Transit camper van, according to The Associated Press.

Police said Laundrie drove the van back to the Florida home he shared with Petito and his parents on Sept. 1. Petito was not with him. He has declined since to speak with investigators, who say that he is a person of interest in the case.

Authorities found Kylen Schulte, 24, and Crystal Turner, 39, shot to death in a creek on Aug. 18, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The couple had last been seen Aug. 13 at Woody’s Tavern in Moab, according to the newspaper.

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Schulte told friends before her death that she saw a “creepy man” around their camp, and that “if something happened to them, that they were murdered,” the Tribune reported.

Schulte worked at the Moonflower Community Cooperative in Moab, according to the newspaper. Speculation rose that the deaths and Petito’s disappearance might be connected after it became public that a witness reported a domestic incident involving Petito and Laundrie outside the store on Aug. 12, according to KTVX.

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Police in Moab, Utah, released footage Thursday taken from a body camera during their Aug. 12 encounter with Laundrie and Petito near the Arches National Park. Petito appeared emotional after the couple fought over what she described as “personal issues.” Authorities ultimately separated the couple for the night. No charges were filed.

Officials continue to investigate.

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