As the search for missing 22-year-old travel blogger Gabby Petito continues, her friends have spoken out about her relationship with 23-year-old Brian Laundrie.
Per The Independent, Gabby and Brian were childhood sweethearts who first met while growing up on Long Island.
Since 2019, the couple has been sharing their trips across the country together on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. However, on September 11, Gabby's family reported her missing after Brian returned to his parents' home on September 1 without her.
The couple had been on a road trip in their converted van around the Grand Teton National Park area, with Petito's last post being shared to Instagram on August 25.
She was last seen on August 30 while traveling in the couple's white van with Laundrie, the New York Post reports.
On Friday, North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor told CNN's Chris Cuomo that Brian is also missing, and has not been seen by his family since Tuesday.
However, the Petito's family attorney, Richard Stafford, has responded in a statement to CNN saying: "All of Gabby's family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing."
Speaking to Insider, the couple's former co-worker, Nicole Kalanich, has said that she is shocked by Petito's disappearance. She went on to say how she had met the couple back in February, and spent time with them outside of work.
She described them as "happy and cheerful", adding that they "never complained." Kalanich went as far as to tell Insider: "They were couple goals for me."
Nikki Passannante and Steven Evans, two of Petito's friends, told News Nation host Ashleigh Banfield that although they had never met Brian, the couple seemed happy.
"I never got the chance to meet him," Passannante said. "They moved to Florida pretty early in their relationship and we're in Long Island and unfortunately we never got to know a lot. But from what she says and what she posts, they seem to be pretty in love."
Evans even revealed that he had been asked to be the photographer at their wedding after Gabby and Brian got engaged.
When Banfield asked if Gabby could have gone missing of her own accord, Passannante shook her head and Evans said: "I wish that could be a possibility, I do, she's not a person that would just go off on her own like that."
He continued: "She's an independent person, but not like that. She wouldn't just fall off the grid and not come in contact with family. She would call her parents every day, sometimes a couple of times a day, so this is just very, very out of the ordinary."
Petito's "best friend", Rose Davis, shared another side of the couple's relationship with the Daily Mail, telling the publication: "I'm [Gabby's] only friend in Florida to my knowledge and that's not because she can't make friends, [Brian] just didn't want her to have friends."
Davis alleged to the Daily Mail that Brian once took Gabby's ID so that she wouldn't be able to go out with her.
Rose added: "He's got these jealousy issues and he struggles from what Gabby called these 'episodes', where he would hear things and hear voices and wouldn't sleep. Gabby had to stay at my house a bunch of times because she just needed a breather and didn't want to go home to him."
Speaking about her friend's disappearance, Davis - who lives roughly 30 minutes from the couple's North Port home - said: "When I saw that Brian was back from the trip, that was the first thing that popped into my mind - that Brian had one of his episodes - and I was just hoping he didn't have a snapping moment."
Gabby Petito is described as 5ft 5" tall, weighing 110 pounds, and has a tattoo saying: "Let it Be".
The FBI is encouraging anyone with information on Gabby Petito’s whereabouts to call its tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).