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'Stan': Did Gabby Petito use code for danger? Internet links last text to Eminem song

The body of Gabby Petito was found in Wyoming just days after her ex-fiance Brian Laundrie mysteriously disappeared

There is wild speculation online that Gabby Petito used a codeword for danger while texting her family days before she went missing.

The body of the 22-year-old YouTuber was found in Wyoming over the weekend just days after her ex-fiance Brian Laundrie mysteriously disappeared from his family home in North Port, Florida. Authorities have confirmed that Laundrie remains a "person of interest" in the homicide. Meanwhile, the FBI has released the final text sent from Petito's phone in which she used the word "Stan" — which many online sleuths believe is a codeword for 'danger'.

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"Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls," Gabby Petito wrote in the August 27 text to her parents. It later emerged that Petito's grandfather is named Stan and that she was referring to him in the messages.

This did not stop social media users from speculating that Stan was a reference to the Eminem hit in which a man tied up his pregnant girlfriend before ending her life. Furthermore, Petito's mother Nicole Schmidt said that while 'Stan' was meant to refer to her daughter's grandfather, she found the text "odd" because she rarely calls him by that name. Petito's phone was switched off later that day after the text was sent.

According to a search warrant obtained by WNYC, police have gained access to a hard drive found in Petito's converted van and it may contain "evidence relevant to proving that a felony has been committed." Meanwhile, social media detectives have also proposed that Petito was pregnant after they discovered a baby-themed Pinterest board titled 'Oh baby' with links to items of clothing including onesies and crocheted bibs. An alleged “sonogram” was also found on a dirt track near where the van was parked.

One online sleuth shared a screenshot from a video posted by travel bloggers Jenn and Kyle Bethune, saying the image looked like a sonogram. The photo was one of several items found by the roadside including what appeared to be a spiraled notebook. However, it is unclear whether a sonogram was actually recovered from items found near the couple's van. Besides, claims that Petito was pregnant at the time of her death are purely speculation at this time. 

This came after a woman claimed she spotted Laundrie "acting weird" around the area where Petito's body was found. Graphic designer Jessica Schultz, 38, camped out at Spread Creek, Wyoming with her friends between August 22 and 29. She shared with San Francisco Chronicle how she saw a young, White man, who she later found to be similar to Laundrie, scouting the area where Petito's body was apparently buried. Between August 26 and August 28, she saw their white van without the man or anyone else near it. The vehicle was parked on a one-car width road near a dispersed camping site.

Schultz was not certain why Laundrie might have scouted the area, but she found his behavior suspicious and out of the ordinary. "He was just acting weird. You know, when you’re out in the middle of nowhere, your hackles go up when you see something that’s out of the ordinary,” she shared. 

Schultz further added that she noticed a familiar item in the police bodycam footage where Petito and Laundrie were seen fighting and Petito crying hysterically. On the car dashboard, a straw hat was visible that convinced Schultz that it was the same couple she had seen at the campsite. "My friend texted me a picture of the hat on the dashboard and I just lost my s**t. And that’s when I called the FBI (on Thursday) and said, ‘Guys, look at Spread Creek'," Schultz said.

The couple had set out on a cross-country adventure in July, four months before Laundrie returned alone to Florida with their van on September 1. Last week, he was reported missing by his family and police initiated a manhunt for him across a vast 24,000 acre Florida nature reserve over the weekend. Petito's last known contact with her family was on August 27, when she and Laundrie reached the Wyoming nature reserve.