Van life influencers were devastated by Gabby Petito's death, saying they felt a sense of camaraderie with the travel vlogger

• The van life community was rocked by the death of 22-year-old travel vlogger Gabby Petito.
• Three van life influencers said they felt camaraderie with her given their shared nomadic lifestyle.

The disappearance and death of 22-year-old travel vlogger Gabby Petito rocked the van life community.

Several van life influencers told Insider that they felt a sense of camaraderie with the travel vlogger, unified by their shared nomadic lifestyle.

Sunny Flaherty, a van life influencer on TikTok, said when she first heard the news of Petito's disappearance, she rerouted her original trip to include the Grand Tetons to aid in the search.

"My initial reaction was that we wanted to help," Flaherty said. "We were on the way, and it was just a disappearance at that point. Our route was a little bit off, so we just altered so that we would go to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone."

Flaherty said she didn't make it to the national park by the time the FBI asked the public to keep distance while they conducted ground surveys as public interest in the case grew.

"I actually didn't know how large the case was. I thought it was something just within my community that everybody knew about, but I remember getting on TikTok and everybody was talking about it," she continued. "In the beginning, I was thinking like, 'Hey, well, it's good to know if I ever went missing, you know, people would be looking out for me.'"

@thenomadicsunny

we’re on the way to Grand Tetons to see if we can help in any way to find Gabby Petito ##gabbypetito ##vanlifer

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Noami Grevemberg, a digital nomad who runs a website with resources for BIPOC road travelers, also said Petito's case was "heart-wrenching" because it hit so close to her lifestyle.

She said she hopes that Petito's death prompts "all women in my community and nonbinary people and vulnerable people, historically marginalized people to know... they have community, and they don't have to be afraid and just to come forward and to trust their instincts when things aren't going right."

"It's an ongoing conversation on how we can strengthen our community, especially for vulnerable people in situations that can jeopardize our lives, you know, because she could have been here with us," Grevemberg said.

Petito's remains were found on September 19. Her death was ruled a homicide, however, the cause of death has not been released.

She had been traveling in a 2012 Ford Transit van with her fiancé Brian Laundrie and was reported missing by her family on September 11. Laundrie returned to North Port, Florida, without Petito on September 1. He has been named a "person of interest" in the case, and he was reported missing by his family in mid-September.

Nikita Crump, a digital nomad, said van lifers have an "unspoken connection" because they go through the same daily struggles.

"If I park in a parking lot and I see a vehicle where it looks like probably someone is asleep in there, I feel this sense of comfort - just each other's existence is comforting," Crump, who has 1 million followers on TikTok, told Insider. "I feel a sense of community - even though I have no idea who that person is, I've never even seen them - so it feels a little closer-knit."

Crump said she and Petito owned the same van, which prompted a specific connection to her.

"You kind of immediately care about other people who live in a vehicle because you know those daily struggles that they go through, you have these things in common: they're also trying to figure out where to shower and they're also worried about their safety," she added.