Brian Laundrie’s Social Media Shows Interest In Death, Violence And Demons
The social media accounts of Brian Laundrie, the subject of a federal arrest warrant after the remains of his fiance Gabby Petito were found in Wyoming on Sept. 19, reveal an interest in dark themes related to violence, demons and death.
Petito, 22, and Laundrie, 23, left Florida in July on a cross-country road trip planned to last four months. They documented their travels in their camper van on YouTube, their blog and their Instagram accounts under the hashtag #VanLife.
Police in Moab, Utah, released police body camera footage dated Aug. 12 that showed Petito sobbing and describing an argument with Laundrie that she said would sometimes get physical. The officers insisted that the two spend the night separated.
A 911 caller had described witnessing Petito slap Laundrie on the side of the road and then Laundrie hit Petito, as reported by the Washington Post, but police did not confirm the couple the witness described to be Petito and Laundrie.
Laundrie came back to his parents’ house in Florida alone on Sept. 1 and has since gone missing. Meanwhile, the FBI has confirmed that Petito’s death was the result of a homicide.
Laundrie is now considered a person of interest in Petito’s death, though his indictment from the U.S. District Court of Wyoming only alleges that he fraudulently used a debit card.
But as 24-hour cable channels have devoted hours of air time to the story, armchair gumshoes on social media platforms have made YouTube videos and other social media posts aiming to sleuth out possible occult or demonic thinking visible in Laundrie’s artwork and online activities.
The description for his Instagram account, @bizarre_design, advocates for an outdoor life and suggests “bug bites are better than being brainwashed by the media,” a statement leading some to wonder if he battles mental illness or lives in an alternate reality of conspiracy theories.
On his Instagram feed, Laundrie has posted several sketches referencing violent video games like Miami Hotline and film characters like Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and the demon Luci from the animated fantasy show “Disenchantment” on Netflix. Luci in the first season of the show is depicted as a traditional demon: He is pure evil and not capable of love or compassion.
In a post from August 2020, Laundrie shared admiration for the book “Lullaby” by Chuck Palahniuk. Its plot is about a man who investigates the death of his wife and child.
In another Instagram post from July 2020, Laundrie shared the saying “Charta Malum” in a drawing, which means “evil character” in Latin.
Yet another post shows a herd of sheep being led to slaughter.
Laundrie also posted a reference to the violent video game Miami Hot Line that shows a wolf with a bloody knife and pigs carrying guns. The first-person shooter game is known for its brutality, gunplay and close combat.
Elsewhere, on his Pinterest account, Laundrie saved many images with a particular style of drawing: a shiny eye that resembles the illuminati eye.
Additionally, Petito’s Spotify account, which was shared with Laundrie, showed activity on Sept. 11, the same day that Petito’s family reported her missing. They had not heard from Petito since the end of August. The account, named Nomadic Statik, included songs about love, heartache and death at the time of this report. One of the songs, “The Badger’s Wake,” is about a badger’s death and subsequent decomposition.
Sofia Kioko is an intern for Religion Unplugged and the 2021-2022 Arne Fieldstead scholar at the John McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute at The King’s College in New York. She hails from Brazil.