Gabby Petito's mother received an out-of-character final text message from her daughter's phone roughly two weeks before she was reported missing, according to a police search warrant.
As reported by The Independent, the warrant stated that Petito's mom, Nichole Schmidt, received what she described as an "odd text" on August 27, in which the 22-year-old apparently referred to her grandfather by his first name, "Stan".
"Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls," the text read, according to the warrant.
Schmidt was bewildered by the message as her daughter never referred to her grandfather using his first name.
"The mother was concerned something was wrong with her daughter," the warrant said, and provided "probable cause" that Petito was the victim of a felony crime.
As per the warrant, Petito's phone was switched off on either August 31 or September 1.
Schmidt had previously recalled receiving a final text message from her daughter's phone on August 30, which read: "No service in Yosemite." She does not believe her daughter truly sent the message.
The warrant, written by officer Daniel Alix, continued: "This is the last communication anyone had with the subject."
It continued: "Her cellphone was no longer operational, and she stopped posting anything on social media about their trip. Per her family, this was not normal behavior for the subject, and they became more worried about her."
The warrant also explained that Petito had sent "multiple text messages" and "had many talks" with her mother throughout her road trip. "During these conversations there appeared to be more and more tension between her and Laundrie," the officer wrote.
On September 1, Laundrie returned on his own to the Florida home that he and Petito lived with his parents. Ten days later, Petito was reported missing by her family.
Police later recovered Petito's Ford Transit van - in which the couple had been traveling around the States - at the Laundrie residence.
They confiscated the vehicle and found an external hard drive. Some days later, they were granted a search warrant to look into the drive.
Laundrie, a person of interest in Petito's disappearance, has been missing since September 14, his parents told police.
Yesterday (September 20), FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Laundrie family home - a day after human remains matching the description of Petito were found in Teton County, Wyoming.
