The Brian Entin piece was not particularly informative for anyone who has followed the case. Locals in Moab would not speak to him, same thing with the SLC hotel and adjacent restaurant where employees shared that they'd been instructed not to speak to media.
When he goes to Jackson WY, he does speak to someone at the Merry Piglets which was the last location where Gabby was ever spotted alive. The person shared that the event at the Merry Piglets was overblown in the media and not accurate. You can find his reporting on that here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ7QBQal5t4
Later in the special, the focus turns to some of the following, how social media impacted the case, how it resulted in more coverage on the married couple whose bodies had been found (Interviews the person who found them), and answers questions from call-in viewers. Example, will the FBI be able to make the case that Brian Laundrie murdered Gabby and how? Yes and I agree with virtually every aspect and method of evidence collection that was contained in the commentary, having seen it pieced together to prove cases where the body of the deceased was never recovered.
What struck me, and this has nothing to do with the details of the case, were the views of the location where Gabby's body was discovered. Brian Entin used the Red, White, and Bethunes video (on camera and as he was driving through Spread Creek) to pinpoint the location of the van, then walked through an icy cold stream to the location where her body was actually discovered and as he stood at the cross constructed by Gabby's step dad. The weather has changed in the area, much like it has in my own area. The trees are stripped of their leaves and the place looks frosty and cold. It seems still and desolate as if frozen in time.
For me, it seemed symbolic of the aftermath of Gabby's death and subsequently, of Brian Laundrie's death. The devastation experienced by both families, two young souls forever suspended in time, now gone, and the finality of the silenced landscape, as the world watched and shared the journey. Learned from it, benefited from it, how others will benefit from it in the future.
Joe Petito has challenged the fact that although Amber and Silver alerts exist for lost/missing children and seniors, there is no alert system in place for teens, young and somewhat older adults. Imagine if there were. How many people, especially teens and young adults, who have been abducted and trafficked, might be recovered before they fall off the grid and disappear forever?
Just imagine that. And imagine what could happen if the traffic stop video were to be used in training videos and to support efforts to re-fund the police so that victim's advocates could be present at encounters such as that in Moab?
I think if we can fathom those things, we can imagine the possibilities, the changes, the steps forward, that this case has the potential to produce to the benefit of society as a whole. If that is the case, then Gabby's death isn't for nothing nor is it entirely senseless. I admire the Petito/Schmidt's family commitment to honoring the life of their daughter by creating a positive from their loss.
It's not for nothing if people make it count for something.