Lifetime Orders The Gabby Petito Story

Network says film will examine her 'complicated relationship' with her fiancé
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted May 6, 2022 4:40 PM CDT
Lifetime Orders The Gabby Petito Story
Gabby Petito talks to a police officer in Utah last year.   (The Moab Police Department via AP)

A made-for-TV movie will be added to the media coverage of the disappearance and killing of Gabby Petito. Lifetime has announced it's ordered production of The Gabby Petito Story, NBC News reports. The 22-year-old Florida woman vanished during a cross-country trip with her fiancé last year. Her body was found in September in a national forest in Wyoming. Officials said Laundrie killed himself in Florida. The network said in a statement that the film "will explore Gabby and her fiancé Brian Laundrie's complicated relationship and what may have gone wrong." Filming is scheduled to take place this summer in Utah, per Deadline, with broadcast planned for later in the year.

Lifetime said the project is part of its Stop Violence Against Women initiative; an independent investigation found that Petito probably was a long-term victim of domestic violence. Thora Birch will direct the project and play the role of Petito's mother, the statement said. Objections surfaced online, which Lifetime has not yet answered. "Too soon. Seems very exploitative," one tweet read. "Isn't there anything else we can make movies out of, besides other peoples tragedy. I can’t imagine being a family member and appreciating all of that," a Facebook post said. (More Gabby Petito stories.)

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