TikToker Miranda Baker Claims She Picked up Brian Laundrie Hitchhiking in Grand Teton National Park
Published Sept. 18 2021, 12:50 p.m. ET
The harrowing disappearance of Youtuber and van-life blogger Gabby Petitio has continued to concern the nation, but new evidence has come to light regarding the whereabouts of her recently disappeared fiancé, Brian Laundrie. Laundrie, 23, was declared a person of interest early into the case after he returned to his family home in Florida without Gabby.
New evidence in the case surfaced when TikTok user Miranda Baker said she and her boyfriend had picked up Laundrie hitchhiking by himself on Aug. 29, 2021. Here's everything we know about the content of her TikToks and what it means for the case.
Brian Laundrie on August 13.
Miranda Baker has gone viral on TikTok over her claims she picked up Brian Laundrie hitchhiking alone in Wyoming.
In a series of four TikToks, citizen Miranda Baker begins the first video saying, "Hi, my name is Miranda, and on August 29th, my boyfriend and I picked up Brian at Grand Teton National Park at 5.30 p.m. at night at Colter Bay."
She emphasizes she and her boyfriend had identified Brian first through TikTok, which prompted the couple to contact the police after their experience.
Miranda said that Laundrie claimed to be hitchhiking and wanted a ride to Jackson Hole that evening. "So I said ‘You know, hop in’, and he hopped in the back of my Jeep, and we then proceeded to make small talk. But before he came in the car, he offered to pay us like $200 to give him a ride like 10 miles."
She added Brian did mention his fiancé Gabby, claiming, "he’s been camping for multiple days without his fiancé. He did say he had a fiancé and that she was working on their social media page back at their van."
In a later TikTok, Miranda said that Laundrie claimed he and his fiancé "had not been sleeping in regulated campsites like National Parks, they were basically out in the middle of nowhere along Snake River."
Miranda also noted in her videos that it was suspicious Laundrie did not have a full backpack with him and told the couple he had been sleeping on a tarp. "You think if you’re going camping for days on end, you’d want food and a tent, and he had none of that," Miranda mused in the video.
The strange part about their interaction was over the intended destination. "Then once in conversation, I brought up ‘We’re going to Jackson’ [and] he freaked out. He’s like ‘Nope, I need to get out right now, pull over.'" Miranda said at Laundrie's request, she and her boyfriend pulled over at the Jackson Dam.
She added, "We dropped him off at 6:09 p.m. on August 29th. He kind of hurried out of the car, and then was like 'I’m just going to find someone else to go hitchhike.'"
Brian Laundrie in Utah on August 13.
She also added he "looked clean and didn't smell bad," which also struck her as odd for someone without much camping supplies who had been out in the elements for days on end. He was wearing a backpack, a long-sleeved shirt, pants, and hiking boots.
Laundrie was reported missing from his home in Florida on Sept. 17, 2021, when his family attorney told local and federal authorities in a statement they hadn't seen him since Tuesday, Sept. 14, claiming his whereabouts are "currently unknown."
