BEAU REGED AT EATRYU STAFF
Shaken Gabby rushed to apologize to workers
Gabby Petito’s boyfriend blew his top at a Wyoming restaurant during the couple’s ill-fated crosscountry trip last month, getting so “aggressive” with the staff that Petito had to apologize for him, according to a report.
New details emerged Wednesday about Brian Laundrie’s Aug. 27 freakout at the Merry Piglets in Jackson Hole — which happened two days after the slain 22-year-old spoke last spoke to her mother and the same day her mom reported getting an “odd” text from her daughter’s phone.
“I have chills right now,” Nina Celie Angelo, who witnessed the blowup, told Fox News. “It’s crazy because it wasn’t just like we passed them on the street. It was a full-blown incident.”
Angelo said she and her boyfriend, Matthew England, were at the Tex-Mex eatery at about 1 p.m. when they saw an agitated Laundrie “aggressively” arguing with restaurant staff.
Angelo said she believed the argument was over the couple’s bill and said Laundrie, 23, stormed out and returned four times — while Petito later came into the eatery to apologize for her beau’s behavior.
About 4½ hours later, Angelo and England were driving when they passed the couple’s white 2012
Ford Transit van just north of town, Angelo recalled.
The restaurant encounter provides a more narrow time frame as to what were likely Petito’s final days. The Blue Point, LI, native was found dead Sunday in the BridgerTeton National Forest, 30 miles from the restaurant — though it’s not yet clear when exactly she died.
The same day Angelo saw the incident, Petito’s mom, Nichole Schmidt, told police she received an “odd” text from her daughter’s phone that referred to her grandfather as “Stan” — something Petito never called him.
Angelo said she and England had all but forgotten about the restaurant flare-up — until they saw the couple’s images on TV.
“[England] goes, ‘Nina, that was the couple fighting at the restaurant,’ ” Angelo told Fox. “And it stopped me in my tracks. I felt like the blood left my body. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I completely forgot about that incident.’ ”
Five days later, Laundrie returned home — alone — to his parents’ North Port, Fla., home in the van registered to Petito before disappearing himself days later and sparking a massive manhunt.
Petito’s death has since been ruled a homicide, with Laundrie the sole person of interest.
Meanwhile, dive teams and police canines continued to sweep the dense 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Fla., for any sign of Laundrie.
“Area resources are looking at large bodies of water, including dive teams, boats and sonar equipment,” North Port Police spokesman Josh Taylor said. “At this time this does not mean anything has been found. It’s part of the overall search process.”
Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue, who performed the autopsy on Petito in Wyoming Tuesday, has not yet released the cause of death.
Back in the quiet Suffolk County hamlet of Blue Point where Petito grew up, the community has begun mourning her death.
Hundreds of teal-blue ribbons have been tied around trees across town — the color chosen by her mother because “it reminded her of the color of Gabby’s eyes,” organizer Jennifer McNamara told The Post Wednesday.
The Bayport and Blue Point communities are also planning a “Shine a Light for Gabby” candlelighting vigil for Friday.
Additional reporting by Jackie Salo, Yaron Steinbuch and Jack Morphet