What the body remembers

It starts with someone calling 911 to report a case of domestic violence. The caller says he saw a man in a van slapping a woman. The place is Moab, Utah, and the date is August 12, 2021.

What follows is the tragic end of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, a girl full of life and love, who takes off with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie in a modified van. The couple wants to travel the country and document #VanLife for her YouTube channel. But Gabby, a resident of Long Island, goes missing in Wyoming and Brian shows up at his house in Florida with their van.

‘American Murder: Gabby Petito’ reconstructs Gabby’s life and death through her parents and stepparents, friends, her ex-boyfriend and several law enforcement officers who were part of the investigation.

There is also a bodycam footage in Moab when the policemen interrogated the couple after the call was made.

Gabby’s disappearance and the recovery of her body in a decomposed state received wide media attention in the US, but not in this part of the globe. Her story reminds us of the countless women who have ended up either in a fridge or a suitcase, women who have fallen victim to violence of the worst kind at the hands of those they loved and trusted the most.

‘American Murder: Gabby Petito’ fleetingly brings on the table the phenomenon called the missing white girl syndrome — a term used to describe the disproportionate media attention given to fair-skinned women as compared to persons of colour in similar circumstances. It is also a pointer to the fact that what we see on social media is not always the right picture. The makers drive home the point by inserting happy videos of the two, which comes in sharp contrast with the bodycam image — a shaken Gabby on the verge of losing herself.

Throughout the three episodes, the show remains fast-paced and suspenseful, with a manhunt organised to trace Brian after he goes missing from his house. But beneath the glossy surface, the show grapples with facts. Brian obliquely confesses to killing Gabby, but why? Does his mother know the reason, for she writes a letter to him stating, “You are my boy, nothing can make me stop loving you... If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags.”

Brian supposedly has a controlling nature, but there is nothing on the social media feeds that reveals his dark side. In fact, when the police catch up with the couple at Moab, they find Gabby guilty, not Brian. The strange behaviour of Brian’s family is another piece that doesn’t fit in.

The series ends with Gabby’s family visiting the spot in the wilderness where her body was found. It brings closure to a painful chapter for them. But as for us viewers, it leaves us with more questions than answers.