Gabby Petito's Instagram account disappeared for 4 hours, which the platform says was a mistake

• Gabby Petito's Instagram account went down from around 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET.
• Petito used the account to document the trip she and her fiancé went on before her disappearance.
• Instagram said it accidentally removed the page while investigating fake accounts.

The Instagram account on which the missing Gabby Petito documented her road trip before her disappearance disappeared from around 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. The social media site said it was a mistake.

The 22-year-old New Yorker was reported missing on September 11 after she failed to return from a road trip with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie.

The couple set out on June 2 in a converted van, but only Laundrie returned. Both she and Laundrie used social media extensively to document the trip, including Instagram, a webpage, and a YouTube account.

The account @gabspetito, had hosted numerous posts showing Petito and Laundrie traveling through Colorado and Utah.

A spokesperson for Instagram told Insider that the account was mistakenly taken down when the company was investigating fraudulent accounts claiming to be Petito, and that the real account was later reinstated.

"The account was removed in error for impersonation and has now been reinstated," they said.

An account in Laundrie's name, @bizarre_design, frequently tagged the @gabspetito account in his own posts, as well as in its bio. This account remains online.

Both accounts included posts from the same locations, including Zion National Park in Utah and Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Petito's posts made it possible to put together a timeline of the couple's likely locations prior to her disappearance.