The distraught parents of Gabby Petito, whose remains were found near a campground in Wyoming, have opened up about her fiance Brian Laundrie.
The heartbroken parents of Gabby Petito have revealed how they welcomed her still missing finance, Brian Laundrie, into their home and had complete confidence in her cross-country trip because they thought he would “take care of her”.
Mother Nichole Schmidt, her husband Jim and Gabby’s biological father Joe Petito sat down for an interview with Channel 9’s 60 Minutes just days after an autopsy result was released about how the 22-year-old was killed.
The remains of Petito were found on September 19 after a frantic search in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.
Days later, an initial autopsy revealed the manner of death in relation to the young Youtuber was homicide, and this week a final ruling identified the cause of death as “strangulation”.
Mrs Schmidt and Mr Petito reported their daughter missing on September 11, after she failed to correspond with them in any form for several days. Mrs Schmidt said the lack of messages was highly unusual, and after finding out Mr Laundrie had returned to his family home in Florida without her daughter — she knew something was wrong.
“Almost every day she [Gabby] would text, she would FaceTime, send me pictures of where they were going,” Mrs Schmidt told the current affairs program.
“I loved getting the updates. I was in awe of what she was doing it was just amazing.”
“The night of the 11th, when the Detective came to my door to let me know that the van was in Florida with him.
“She [the Detective] also said that he [Laundrie] had obtained a lawyer. I almost fell on the ground because I was just like, “Where’s Gabby?” And that was my response to that information. And I just went into shock. I knew something was wrong.”
There is only a single ‘person of interest’ in the case of Gabby Petito — and that’s her finance, who has not been since September 14.
After returning to his parents’ house in North Port, Florida, Laundrie and his parents — Roberta and Chris — requested to remain “in the background” while investigations into Petito’s disappearance continued.
Mrs Schmidt said in the years their daughter dated Laundrie and then became engaged — he was “polite” but “quiet”. Regardless, he was a part of the family.
“Nobody expects anything like this to happen, let alone the attention that it’s gotten,” she explained.
“It’s very surreal. It’s almost like you’re outside looking in. It doesn’t even feel like it’s you.
“He [Brian] was very polite and quiet.”
Gabby’s stepfather, Mr Schmidt, said Laundrie always engaged with the family’s other children.
“They got to know him and they liked him,” he said.
“[He would] draw them pictures and stuff,” Mrs Schmidt added. “He would read books to my little one at night before bed. So he just seemed like a nice guy.”
Petito and Laundrie quit their jobs and decided to head off an a cross-country adventure together which they documented on Instagram and YouTube.
Their posts, to an outsider, were filled with smiles and laughter, while showing off scenic locations across the US.
“She always wanted to do this,” Mr Petito said.
“And she planned it out. She knew what she wanted to do, and she knew where she wanted to go. She had a really good plan.”
Mrs Schmidt said that while she had concerns about her daughter travelling across the country, and often to very remote regions within national parks, she had comfort in knowing she wasn’t on the road alone.
“I worried,” Mrs Schmidt explained.
“I told her to be careful, be safe, make sure to be aware of your surroundings, don’t trust everybody.
“But I felt safe because she was with Brian and I felt like she would be okay. I thought he would take care of her.”
Mr Laundrie has not be charged with Petito’s death, but has a warrant issued for his arrest for credit card fraud.
Mrs Schmidt said that she just hopes her daughter’s final moments were “peaceful”.
“I hope that she didn’t suffer and that she wasn’t in any pain,” she said.
“That she was in a place that she wanted to be, looking at the beautiful mountains.”
60 Minutes airs on Channel 9 at 9.30pm Sundays.
