Gabby Petito’s mother began to fear the worst for her daughter because of an “odd” text she received on Aug. 27, newly surfaced documents revealed.
The text came one day after Petito’s final Instagram post and four days before her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, arrived in the couple’s van in Florida without her, according to an application for a search warrant made public Monday.
Remains believed to be Petito were found in Wyoming over the weekend, after the Long Island native went missing in late August.
“Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls,” the text message read, according to the application, which obtained permission to search an external hard drive found in the van.
But mom Nichole Schmidt felt that raised a red flag.
“The reference to ‘Stan,’ was regarding her grandfather, but per the mother, she never calls him ‘Stan,’” the affidavit by Detective Daniel Alix said. “The mother was concerned that something was wrong with her daughter.”
“This was the last communication anyone had with (Petito),” the affidavit went on. “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 (Petito), and they became more worried about her.”
The affidavit, which resulted in a judge signing a search warrant last week, did not mention an Aug. 30 text that Schmidt said she received from her daughter’s phone.
“No service in Yosemite,” the message read – but Schmidt had previously told The Post she didn’t believe her daughter sent the text because the van was back in North Port, Fla. by Sept. 1.
“The van was in Florida on the 1st,” she said at the time. “I think I can do the math.”
Schmidt said the relationship between Petito and Laundrie, 23, became more strained during their tour of national parks that began in June, the documents show.
Schmidt and her husband Jim, Petito’s stepfather, had reported their daughter missing on Sept. 11. Laundrie, a person of interest in the case, refused to speak with police and went missing himself last week.
FBI and police raided Laundrie’s parents home early Monday.