# Van lifer goes missing on cross country trip with fiancee **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604 "2021-09-13T13:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/21 "2021-09-14T14:59:21Z")
However this goes (and I hope it has a happy ending), it will be a miniseries next year. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/22 "2021-09-14T15:35:17Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > However this goes (and I hope it has a happy ending), it will be a miniseries next year. Oh she’s dead. Left in a forest in Yellowstone. Wolves have already picked her clean. If she’d just joined the Moonies, someone would have said something. Miniseries? I wish L&O was still on. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/23 "2021-09-14T15:41:58Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > It’s a stupid rule to follow in English René Descartes and Renée Zellweger might disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/24 "2021-09-14T15:43:29Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > ProTip: “soon-to-be ball&chain” is simpler to spell and doesn’t have the weirdly accented “é” thing. Mod note: This kind of misogynist remark has no place in SDMB. It’s not funny. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/25 "2021-09-14T16:27:17Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I wish L&O was still on. Yes, this is absolutely an L&O plot. L&O:SVU is still on… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/26 "2021-09-14T18:26:53Z")
Wait was it a van or an SUV? ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/27 "2021-09-14T18:50:24Z")
It’s a van. > [@](#): > > In a press release, the van was described as a white 2012 Ford Transit van with Florida license plate QFTG03. Unless a Ford Transit is actually an SUV, but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/28 "2021-09-14T19:23:19Z")
It’s a Ford Transit in the photo. Looks almost new. I’m surprised it’s a 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/29 "2021-09-14T19:56:20Z")
I don’t understand why people don’t just break up instead of killing the other person. Maybe it’s an accident, but usually it’s: I couldn’t stand [person] so I drove to a scenic overlook and pushed [person] into a hot springs. I have precisely zero expectation that she’s alive. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/30 "2021-09-14T20:05:16Z")
Whoosh ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/31 "2021-09-14T20:14:36Z")
?? 123 ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/32 "2021-09-14T20:28:32Z")
But you have a basic problem, you see. You’re rational, so you can’t think the same way many crooks would. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/33 "2021-09-14T21:20:55Z")
Maybe me, I thought SUV and SVU was meant as a jest. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/34 "2021-09-14T21:45:56Z")
oh. That makes sense. I think my brain just elided that, so I didn’t notice. Thank you for explaining. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/35 "2021-09-14T21:53:17Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Where do you get the idea that they weren’t actually traveling anywhere? One of the articles upthread reads, “Officials are looking for a missing 22-year-old woman who was last seen traveling through Utah and Wyoming with her boyfriend.” Well, my silly little joke was silly. Virtual Vanning? Van From Home? Sorry it was lame. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/36 "2021-09-15T16:35:55Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I don’t understand why people don’t just break up instead of killing the other person. As a fan of Law and Order, I find myself saying that in a lot of episodes. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/37 "2021-09-15T16:59:09Z")
Not surprisingly… > **[Fiancé identified as a person of interest in disappearance of New York woman,...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fianc-identified-person-interest-disappearance-new-york-woman-police-say-n1279259)** > > The family of Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito reported her missing over the weekend. She fell out of contact with them in late August during a road trip to Wyoming. > … > According to police, [boyfriend Brian] Laundrie has “not made himself available to be interviewed by investigators” and has “not provided any helpful details.” > > “We know Brian returned here to North Port on September 1st — ten days before her family reported her missing on September 11th. We have no information that a crime occurred here in North Port [Florida],” police said. > > Attorneys for the Petito and Laundrie family did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. > > The news comes a day after authorities in Utah said they investigated an “incident” involving the couple on Aug. 12 — about two weeks before Petito was last seen. > … Boyfriend won’t cooperate with police? Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/38 "2021-09-15T17:08:48Z")
Wellll… I agree things are sketchy-sounding, but I don’t see _that_ as a red flag on its own. The principle may be “innocent until proven guilty” but the police perspective is “assume the person’s guilty.” They’ve got that line about “anything you say can be used against you” for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/39 "2021-09-15T17:31:11Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Boyfriend won’t cooperate with police? Yikes. Too lazy to look it up myself, but there is a great Youtube video about “never talk to the police”, with the sub-text of “especially if you are innocent” ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604/40 "2021-09-15T17:58:13Z")
I mean, given that he’s returned home without her, it’s absolutely in his best interest to not talk to the police. But normally if your fiancee goes missing, you’re reporting the missing person case yourself, rather than it being her family a week later. Now maybe they just parted ways, amicably or otherwise, and he did nothing wrong and just isn’t talking to the cops because that’s the smart thing to do, and she’s vanished because she wanted to drop off the grid or something untoward happened to her after he was gone. But that’s not the way I’d be betting based on the available information. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/van-lifer-goes-missing-on-cross-country-trip-with-fiancee/950604.md?page=3)