Gabby Petito case: Inspired tipsters helped search for missing U.S. man, officials say

An outpouring of tips inspired by widespread coverage of the Gabby Petito investigation helped police find a man who had gone missing in Wyoming.

Robert ‘Bob’ Lowery, a 46-year-old man from Houston, Texas, disappeared in Wyoming on Aug. 20. His body was found on Wednesday.

Teton County Search and Rescue said in a statement posted to Facebook on Wednesday that the search for Petito resulted in at least two members of the public calling local authorities over the weekend with new information about where Lowery was last seen.

Gabby Petito, 22, was an American woman who went missing while travelling in a van with her boyfriend, 23-year-old Brian Laundrie. Her death was ruled a homicide shortly after her remains were found at Grand Teton National Park on Sept. 19, not far from where authorities discovered Lowery’s body.

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Officials said the extensive search for Petito had occasionally mentioned Lowery’s name, and new information led a search team of 25 volunteers and four dog teams to Black Canyon Trail, where they eventually found his body at the base of Teton Pass, a high mountain pass in Western Wyoming.

According to authorities, tipsters said Lowery was wearing a “black baseball cap with a gold P, and carrying a black duffle bag with the Nike logo.”

“Given this new information, TCSAR initiated a response,” Search and Rescue officials said.

“The volunteers split into seven teams and combed the thick timbered area surrounding Black Canyon, a popular hiking and mountain biking trail in the summer. At about 1 p.m., a dog team located a body and black Nike duffle bag significantly off trail on a steep, wooded slope.”

The officials said Lowery’s cause of death is unknown, but said his family has been notified in the meantime.

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The disappearance of Gabby Petito generated an online frenzy, leading to thousands of social media users pouring over the details of the couple’s trip for clues.

Authorities issued a nationwide arrest warrant for her boyfriend last week, and Laundrie has been named a “person of interest” in the murder of Gabby Petito. He has also been charged with debit card fraud, after federal officials accused him of using a Capital One Bank card and someone’s personal identification number to make unauthorized withdrawals or charges worth more than $1,000 around the time Petito went missing.

Laundrie’s parents reported him as missing on Sept. 17, telling police he had already been gone for three days.

Petito’s death has been classified as homicide, meaning she was killed by another person, but medical examiners in Wyoming haven’t disclosed how she died.

Laundrie faces federal charges in Wyoming of unauthorized use of a debit card. He used a Capital One Bank card and someone’s personal identification number to make more than $1,000 in unauthorized withdrawals or charges while Petito was missing, authorities alleged.

— With files from Global News’ Chris Jancelewicz and the Associated Press