Gabby Petito’s parents speak out about her tragic disappearance and death

The heartbroken parents of slain Instagrammer Gabby Petito whose remains were found in a Wyoming national park have spoken out.

The parents of Gabby Petito, the young woman who died on an Instagram-chronicled road trip across the United States with her boyfriend, have spoken at length to 60 Minutes.

Petito was strangled and her death was a homicide, the local coroner said on 12 October.

The body of the 22-year-old lay in a shallow grave in the wilderness of Wyoming for up to a month before it was found in mid-September.

(L-R): Tara and Joe Petito (Gabby Petito’s father); and Jim Schmidt and Nicole Schmidt (Gabby’s mother)

Gabby Petito’s 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 the autopsy result was released.

Mrs Schmidt and Mr Petito reported their daughter missing on 11 September, after she failed to correspond with them in any form for several days.

Tara Petito (L) and Joe Petito react while the City of North Port Chief of Police Todd Garrison speaks during a news conference for their missing daughter Gabby Petito. Picture: AFP

Gabby Petito's mother Nicole Schmidt and stepfather, James Schmidt, during a press conference. Picture: CBS New York

Gabby had quit her job and packed her life into a camper van for a cross-country adventure with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, starting in July, documenting their journey in a stream of social media posts.

Images shared by the couple online present an idyllic portrait of young love against a breathtaking backdrop of natural wonders.

“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.”

“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.”

In Instagram posts and in YouTube videos posted during their trip, Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie are shown kissing tenderly.

Regarding Brian Laundrie, 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.”

“You think you know them but you don’t,” said Mr Schmidt.

Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito. Picture: Instagram

But beneath the politeness and the carefully orchestrated social media personas was a case of young domestic violence.

Details have emerged about how police in Utah responded to a domestic violence report involving Gabby and Brian in August.

Police bodycam footage shows a distraught Gabby saying she had an altercation with Brian.

Speaking to an officer after their van was pulled over, Gabby is seen crying and saying she struggles with mental health problems.

Video Grab from the Moab City Police Department shows officer investigating an incident between Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie on the 8th of Sep. 2021.

She said she slapped Brian after an argument, but added she meant no harm, and then admitted that he had hit her in the face.

The police officer decided no charges would be brought but ordered the couple to spend a night apart to calm down.

Video Grab from the Moab City Police Department shows officer investigating an incident between Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie on the 8th of Sep. 2021.

Mrs Schmidt told 60 Minutes that watching the bodycam footage made her want to “jump through the screen and rescue” Gabby.

She told the program that after six days of not hearing from Gabby or getting any responses to her texts she became very worried. She checked her social media and didn’t see any activity.

“I said, ‘I’m worried,’ and everybody was like, ‘She’s fine. She’s fine. They’re out in the mountains. They have no signal.’ And I said, ‘No, it’s not like her.’”

Mrs Schmidt said after finding out Brian had returned to his family home in Florida without her daughter — she knew something was wrong.

“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.”

Brian Laundrie is wanted over the disappearance and homicide of his girlfriend, Gabby Petito. Picture: Instagram

There is only a single ‘person of interest’ in the case of Gabby Petito — and that’s her fiance, who has not been since 14 September.

After returning to his parents’ house in North Port, Florida, Brian and his parents — Roberta and Chris — requested to remain “in the background” while investigations into Gabby’s disappearance continued.

The Petito family filed a missing-person report for Gabby on 11 September and Brian, 23, was declared a “person of interest” in the case but declined to co-operate with police before disappearing himself.

“The last thing I said to her, my very last sentence was, ‘I love you.’ And her last sentence to me was, ‘I love you too,’” said Mr Petito.

With the whole nation searching for Brian Laundrie, Mr Schmidt says the suspect is not missing; he is “hiding.”

“Can we change missing to hiding? Gabby was missing. … We were up every day and night until we found Gabby. Are the people that love him doing the same thing for him and why not? Because if they were maybe he would be found by now.”

Retired US Marshall Lenny DePaul who has tracked many dangerous fugitives told 60 Minutes he believes someone is helping Laundrie hide.

Mrs Schmidt points to Brian’s parents Chris and Roberta Laundrie and their silence since their son returned alone with the van.

“I believe they know, if not everything, they know most of the information.”

She said she would like to ask the, “Why are you doing this? Just tell me the truth.”