Gabby Petito’s Instagram followers question ‘unusual’ last posts

American Instagram influencer Gabby Petito, who has been missing since earlier this month, last posted a photo on her account on 26 August.

Ms Petito, a resident of Blue Point, New York, was travelling the country in a van for the last two years with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie. She was reported missing by her family on the evening of 11 September. She was last seen on 24 August, when she checked out of a Salt Lake City hotel with her boyfriend.

The 22-year-old, who became famous with the #VanLife travel trend, documented her 2,328-mile road journey on the picture-sharing platform. She and her boyfriend shared several pictures, including those from Colorado Springs, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Mystic Hot Springs and the Arches National Park.

But the last post, from three weeks ago, showed her in front of a butterfly mural with a small knitted pumpkin with the caption “happy halloween”. Her previous post, on 19 August, showed the view of a park from inside her van.

Unlike her usual posts, these two did not have a location tag. Some users pointed out that this was not her usual style.

Ms Petito’s mother Nichole Schmidt said she last received a message from her daughter’s phone on 30 August, saying: “No service in Yosemite.” But Ms Schmidt said that she wasn’t sure it was, in fact, sent by her daughter.

“I don’t know if it was technically her or not, because it was just a text. I didn’t verbally speak to her,” she said.

On Wednesday, the North Port Police in Florida revealed that Mr Laundrie was a “person of interest” in the case.

“As of now Brian Laundrie has not made himself available to be interviewed by investigators or has provided any helpful details,” the Florida police department said in a statement.

They said Mr Laundrie had returned to Florida alone in the van on 1 September, 10 days before his girlfriend was reported missing.