Is it?
I haven't followed this.
Sure, the ex is an obvious suspect, but what evidence has actually been presented?
All circumstantial evidence.
The two were reported fighting by an eyewitness, the witness said Brian was hitting her
Cops were called, and they interviewed her. She had a mark on her jaw, and said Brian had grabbed her jaw in anger
He locked her out of the van and she said she was afraid he was going to abandon her
He hitch hikes and those who picked up say his story doesn't add up. He claims to have been hiking for a week while Gabby was in the van, but he was very clean.
Gabby's mother receives strange texts that were from Gabby's phone, and supposedly from Gabby. But they were not from her, according to her mother. She refers to her grandfather as Stan, but Gabby never refers to her grandfather by his first name. Only Brian would have this information about her grandfather's name, not a stranger.
An instagram post by her simply says "Happy Halloween!", but this is very uncharacteristic of her style of posting. She is known to provide long, detailed posts on IG, never short sentences. Only Brian could have access to her IG account at the time.
He returns home alone and never mentions Gabby.
He has taken Gabby's credit cards and used several thousands dollars to get home, without her.
The Laundries do not respond to repeated please for Gabby's family for infomation about Gabby, and refuse to cooperate with police
Brian gets a lawyer and refuses to cooperate
His parents buy him a new phone.
Brian is reported missing
He leaves his credit cards and cell phone home (vital items to survive) and leaves on a camping trip with the family. He leaves the phone home so he cannot be tracked. He does not want any pieice of ID such as a driver's license or credit cards on him that would be able to identify him, most likely.
Brian's family somehow is able to find his Mustang in the 25,000 acre park
Brian's parents do no seem worried that he is missing, and do not ask the media for help to locate thier son, and avoid all attention
Brian's parents finally go to the park the day after it is reopened and immediately lead them to Brian's body, finding it in 25,000 acres where FBI and police spent weeks, using helicopters, dogs, and hundreds of agents
Gabby was strangled to death, according to coroner. The cause was manual strangulation, and it is believed that the assailant kept choking her in a fit of rage. This is often seem is domestic violence situations.
Gabby's relationship wtih Brian was volatile, and they fought often, and were on again off again.
Brian is described as a person who seemed very polite and was well-liked. However, he had no friends, and Gabby's friends described his as very controlling. Brian's coworker described him as a chameleion, who could adjust to situations and present himself well, but had a short temper.
Gabby was told by the female cop that responded to the 911 call that she shoud consider leaving Brian because he was physically huriting her.
Gabby most likely realized that thing were not going to work out with Brian, and may have told Brian that she was leaving him
The two were engaged to be married, but Gabby had called it off since she was not happy with Brian
Experts say that when someone grabs a person's neck, the victim often has a instinctive reaction to protect the neck, as it is very sensitive and vulnerable. They often lower their chin to protect the neck. Experts say that Brian had indeed tried to choke Gabby by putting his hands around her neck, but Gabby lowered her head to protect it. His thumb nail hit the side of her chin and left the mark. Brian was not aiming for her jaw, but her throat, most likely. This establishes a precedent behavioural pattern, and shows that Brian could very well have lost control and choked/strangled her another time. this time it was fatal.
Experts say that the most dangerous time for a woman is when the woman is about to leave the man. It is very common for the man to kill the wife in these cases. They cannot stand the idea of the woman to be with another man. Also, they are furious of the thought that the woman dare get rid of him. It is an insult to their fragile self-esteem, and a violent reaction is often triggered.
There is no way to know 100% sure what happened, but Brian's behavior following her disapperance is not that of an innocent man. Let alone, the actions of a fiance that would be deeply concerened for her and loved her very much.