Gabby Petito’s parents recently said that they thought Brian Laundrie would keep Gabby Petito safe for the rest of her life.
Petito’s parents recently spoke on Australia’s “60 Minutes.” In an interview published Sunday, the family suggested they thought Brian Laundrie would keep Gabby Petito safe.
- “He just seemed like a nice guy,” Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, said in the interview. “I worried. I told her to be careful, be safe. To be aware of your surroundings. Don’t trust anybody.”
- “But I felt safe because she was with Brian and I felt like she would be OK,” she said. “I thought he would take care of her.”
Petito’s father, Joe Petito, said in the same interview that her happiness online might have been masking the truth.
- “She did look happy,” he said on Australia’s “60 Minutes” show. “But as we look more and more into this, it might not have been as great as people online perceived.”
Laundrie and Petito went on a cross-country road trip that included stops in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, among other locations. The two showed off their trip on their YouTube page and social media platforms.
But only Laundrie returned home to North Point, Florida, on Sept. 1 — driving Petito’s van.
- Ten days later, Petito was reported missing.
- Her body was later found in Wyoming.
- A Wyoming coroner ruled she had died by homicide, specifically through strangulation.
Laundrie, however, went missing on Monday, Sept. 13, his family said.
- He has not been seen since and his whereabouts remain unknown.
- Police have focused their search on the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve, where Laundrie would frequently hike.
Petito’s mother, Nicole Schmidt, told Fox News senior correspondent Laura Ingle in October that she might have an idea of where Brian Laundrie might be hiding right now.
- “I’m not certain,” she told Laura Ingle. “But I would think that he’s in an area like the Appalachian Trail or a campground where he can live off the land because he had those skills.”