Gabby Petito’s parents issue poignant message as they speak out for first time since documentary release
Gabby Petito's mother Nichole Schmidt has spoken about moving forward after her daughter's death
In the wake of the new three-part Netflix documentary exploring their daughter’s death, Gabby Petito’s parents have issued a statement.
Gabby, 22, was a van life vlogger who went missing back in 2021 on the road with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, 23.
As suspicion turned to Brian and he was named as a person of interest, he too disappeared.
Gabby’s body was found near Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming and it was revealed she had been strangled to death, and the following month Brian’s body was found at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
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It was confirmed Brian had died by suicide, and a notebook found near the body showed that he accepted responsibility for Gabby’s death.
Netflix’s American Murder: Gabby Petito dropped yesterday (17 February), and revealed new details about the heartbreaking case, such as the chilling note Brian's mother wrote to her son.
The doc has also been hit with criticism for using AI to recreate Gabby's voice to read out her diary entries.
Now, in an interview with NewsNation, Nichole, Gabby’s mother, has spoken out after the documentary’s release.
She said: "I don't think we'll ever know why, the only two people that will know why are the two people that were there when this happened.
"I think we have the answers we needed. We know that things were known. I don't want to talk about them or say their names."
This is likely a reference to Brian's parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, and allegations they knew or suspected that Brian had killed Gabby, which they have denied.
The pair were sued by Gabby's parents in an emotional distress lawsuit, and reached an undisclosed settlement last year.
Roberta wrote a chilling letter to Brian which read in part: "If you're in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will bring show up with a shovel and garbage bags. If you fly to the moon, I will be watching the skies for your re-entry. If you say you hate my guts, I'll get new guts."
The letter was undated, but Roberta claimed it was unrelated to Gabby and had been written months earlier, in the context of her trying to fix a rough patch in the relationship with her son.
Nichole went on: "I have forgiven Brian, and I know that is what Gabby would have wanted, and I’m moving forward so I can move on.
"That is my personal experience. I don’t think everyone has to forgive. They can when they are ready if they are ever ready. But for me personally, I needed to forgive to let that anchor go."
Meanwhile Gabby's stepfather, Jim Schmidt, added: "Forgiveness is for you. It is for your healing. For your grief. For you to be able to move on."
Topics: Gabby Petito, Netflix, True Crime
Simon Fearn