'The Gabby Petito Story': Inside Lifetime's True-Crime Movie About the #VanLife Murder (Exclusive)
etonline.comher disappearance captured America’s attention last year, Gabby Petito’s ill-fated “van life” adventure with fiancé Brian Laundrie, the suspect in her murder who later committed suicide, is now being chronicled in the Lifetime true-crime film,.
Only ET was on set with stars Skyler Samuels and Evan Hall as well as director Thora Birch, where they talked about the responsibility of telling this cautionary tale about domestic abuse in relationships. “When I was presented with the opportunity to portray Gabby I was admittedly quite overwhelmed and it was a hard decision to make,” Samuels says, explaining that “it’s a big responsibility to play someone who was alive.” After failing to return home following a cross country trip, the 22-year-old travel vlogger was first reported missing by her parents in September 2021.
A subsequent nationwide search that quickly became headline fodder eventually led authorities as well as avid followers on social media to Wyoming, where she was last seen alive.
Her body was eventually discovered in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area, with evidence showing that her death was a homicide. “I also felt it was a chance to give Gabby a voice in her own story that I don’t think the media did justice with.
Read more on etonline.com