Photo: YouTube / TikTok
She shouldn't have to defend herself.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Oct 09, 2021
From the very beginning, when Brian Laundrie returned home on September 1st without his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, and she was reported missing on September 11th, her best friend, Rose Davis has made several statements condemning Laundrie.
Despite all the condemnations and insults she’s thrown at the missing Laundrie, who is wanted for stealing $1,000 from Petito’s accounts and remains a person of interest in her murder, she still gets people accusing her of being involved in her best friend’s homicide.
Was Rose Davis involved in Gabby Petito's death?
Davis has responded to these cruel allegations by thanking another TikToker, Riley Lively, who has made a video defending Davis and debunking the accusations.
Lively broke down each of the reasons people had questioned Davis' innocence and responded to each claim.
Rose Davis was supposed to meet up Gabby Petito around the time of her death.
Davis and Petito had planned to meet up in Yellowstone for Davis’ birthday which was on August 29th.
But some were surprised that Davis had not immediately reported Petito missing when she didn't show up.
This led people to believe that she may have helped Laundrie in committing the murder and then escaping from the scene of the crime — returning home without Petito.
Davis said that she wasn’t worried about the fact that Petito never called her because she’s missed hanging out during past events before and she understood that Petito was on a road trip so she ended up not going Yellowstone.
Many people were suspicious of Rose Davis' social media posts.
To support their allegations, people looked at Davis’ social media posts to see how much she posted about Petito — claiming that since it wasn't a lot, they weren't actually that close.
Though, it is not abnormal for long distance friends to not have many posts together.
On August 31st, she posted a few pictures to Instagram with the caption, “she was innocent…” and stuck her middle finger out in one of the photos, which people also believed was incriminating.
She edited the caption of the photo to include “(Stop assuming. Sorry it looks bad, but it’s coincidence)”.
Some also looked at Davis’ history of drug addiction and trying to use that to accuse her of being violent and murderous, which is a cruel and inaccurate assumption to make about a woman who is now sober.
A woman claimed to have seen Rose Davis at Gabby Petito's van.
Lively also shut down an allegation that had spread across social media.
A supposed witness had claimed that she had seen two women in a van at a campsite near Grand Teton who were acting very strange — although this was quickly disproven because it was at a totally different campsite in a black van on August 24th when Petito and Laundrie were still in Utah.
Rose Davis has been critical of Brian Laundrie.
In the weeks following the announcement that Petito was missing after Laundrie returned home without her, Davis started speaking to law enforcement and reporters about her relationship with Petito and what she knew about their relationship together.
She always called him manipulative, jealous, saying "I feel like Brian never thought that he was gonna be enough, and obviously, he sees the beauty in Gabby. She's gorgeous."
During an episode of CBS’s 48 Hours that aired on September 25th, she recalled a time that they were supposed to go out to the bar.
“He didn't want her to go out one night with me, and he stole her I.D. because you can't get into the bar without your I.D.,” said Davis, “And this was really upsetting to her. You're engaged. It's not supposed to be like that."
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.