And a second time, he allegedly made a very abrupt exit from the vehicle.
A second woman has come forward claiming she picked up a hitchhiking Brian Laundrie.
Norma Jean Jalovec told Fox News she only realized who she had in her car after watching the TikTok posted by Miranda Baker (pictured), who says she had dropped him off that same day, just minutes beforehand.
Jalovec said she spontaneously decided to visit the Chapel of the Sacred Heart for a 5 PM church service on August 29, which is just over a mile away from where Laundrie reportedly jumped out of Baker’s vehicle.
Laundrie Neighbors Describe Family's 'Odd' Behavior the Weekend Gabby was Reported Missing
At around 6.15 PM, Jalovec was driving past the dam near Pacific Creek Landing in her Toyota 4Runner, when she said she spotted the man, walking backward and holding out his thumb. “I picked him up…” Jelovec said. “… Something just said, ‘Hey, ask him where he’s going.'”
Climbing into the passenger seat, he asked Jelovec if she was going to Jackson; she told him no, she lived in the opposite direction, but she agreed to drop him off at the Spread Creek dispersed camping area.
Amid small talk, he allegedly said he’d been hiking near Snake River, offered gas money, and mentioned he had a fiancé.
But as they approached the gate of the remote campground, at the top of the dirt road extending for miles to the various campsites, he asked to be let off there; when Jelovec offered to drive him inside, he tried to “get out of the moving car,” she said.
Jalovec said she joked that Laundrie was trying to impress his fiancé by claiming he hiked to the campsite rather than hitching a ride; he responded by once again insisting to be let out of the vehicle.
“I can’t explain why I was there,” she said of her decision to both visit the church and pick up a hitchhiker. “It was something I don’t typically do. I don’t pick up hitchhikers in Florida. I’ve gotten so much s— from family and friends for picking up a hitchhiker.”
Jelovec brought her story to the FBI, only realizing the significance of the interaction after watching the original TikTok posted by Baker, who claims she dropped him off right before Jelovec picked him up.
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Baker told a similar story; however, she and her boyfriend were going to Jackson, yet she said Laundrie made a similarly abrupt exit after “freaking out” in the car:
“He approached us asking us for a ride because he needed to go to Jackson, which we were going to Jackson that night. I said hop in. He hops in the back of my Jeep. We then proceeded to make small talk,” she said.
“Before he came into the car he offered to pay us like, $200 to give him a ride, like 10 miles. So that was kind of weird. He then told us he’s been camping for multiple days without his fiancée. He did say he had a fiancée, and that she was working on their social media page back at their van.”
“In conversation, I brought up that we’re going to Jackson. He freaked out. He’s like ‘nope, I need to get out right now, you know, pull over.’ So we pulled over at the Jackson Dam. It’s not very far from Colter Bay.”
After her “hurried” out of the car at 6.09 PM, he told them he was going to find someone else to hitchhike with. “It was a weird situation,” she said.
Baker said that while Laundrie had beard scruff, he didn’t look or smell dirty for someone who claimed to have been camping for several days. “So that part was kind of weird,” she said.
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On Thursday, the FBI finally issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie — not for fiancée’s homicide, but for Use of Unauthorized Access Devices.
Investigators claim he used a Capital One Bank debit card that did not belong to him between August 30 to September 1 to purchase items totaling at least $1,000. They did not say what he bought, or to whom the card belonged.
Despite the apparent pettiness of the crime, prosecutors requested Laundrie be held without bail before his trial, “because he’s a danger to the community”, according to TMZ, suggesting they also suspect him of a crime far more serious.
Meanwhile, Moab City Police Department has announced it will launch an independent probe into how its officers handled Brian and Gabby’s now infamous August 12 domestic dispute, which ultimately saw both of them go free, just days before Gabby would be killed.
Laundrie Neighbors Describe Family's 'Odd' Behavior the Weekend Gabby was Reported Missing
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