Brian Laundrie Got Into Argument at Wyoming Restaurant That Left Gabby Petito ‘Crying,’ Says Eyewitness

Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the homicide of Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, was seen “fighting with the hostess” at a Jackson, Wyoming, restaurant Merry Piglets on Friday, August 27, nearly two weeks before Petito was reported missing, according to an eyewitness who saw the couple.

Nina Celie claimed that she and her boyfriend, Matthew England, “saw a blowout of a situation between Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie” on her Instagram Stories, before admitting that the pair had already talked to authorities. Nina said that it took a few days before her boyfriend was able to make the connection that the couple they saw in Jackson were Laundrie and Petito.

Saying that they were “sitting right next to them” for lunch, Nina claimed that she saw Petito and Brian “kicked out of the restaurant” and that Brian was “fighting with the hostess.”

Following their “abrupt” departure, Petito went outside and “was crying,” Nina said. And while Petito was “standing on the sidewalk crying,” Brian “walked back in four more times to talk to the manager and to tell the hostess off,” according to Nina’s account.

Calling Laundrie’s behavior “angry” and “relentless,” Nina said that Petito later walked in and “just apologized.”

Since Nina shared her account, the Merry Piglets confirmed that Laundrie and Petito had been at the restaurant.

“Yes, we can confirm Gabby and Brian were in Merry Piglets,” they said in a statement shared on Instagram, before adding, “We have already notified the FBI and they are aware. We are letting them do their jobs and we are respecting Gabby’s family and have nothing further to comment.”

The Merry Piglets, a lawyer for the Laundrie family and the National Press Office for the FBI did not immediately respond to In Touch‘s requests for comment.

Laundrie and Petito embarked on a cross-country trip in a white 2012 Ford Transit van in July. In addition to sharing their trip on a YouTube travel vlog, the pair documented some events on their social media accounts. 

On September 1, Laundrie returned by himself to his parents’ home, where he and Petito resided, in North Port, Florida, and was reportedly uncooperative when questioned. Petito was reported missing by her family to the Suffolk County Police Department in New York on September 11. 

Joe Petito, the victim’s father, told In Touch that Laundrie was “useless” in the investigation. On September 15, Laundrie was named a person of interest in the then-missing person’s case one day after Laundrie’s family claimed they had not seen him, according to Josh Taylor, a public information officer for the North Port Police.

Petito was last seen traveling in the Grand Teton and Yellowstone areas of Wyoming. Human remains that were discovered in the vicinity of the Spread Creek dispersed camping area in Wyoming, one of the last places she was seen alive, on September 19 were confirmed by a coroner as belonging to Petito. Her manner of death was also deemed a homicide, with her cause of death still pending before the release of the full autopsy report.