A new interview with Gabby Petito’s parents reveals disturbing details about the case

Grieving parents wish to turn their tragedy into a purposeful mission after losing their daughter to domestic violence. Following the death of Gabby Petito, her parents discovered warning signs through text messages. What was trumpeted in 2021 on social media to be the adventure of a lifetime for Gabby Petito and her fianc?

Brian Laundrie turned out to be deadly. Petito and Laundrie planned to spend months visiting various national parks in America and Petito started a blog and a YouTube channel to document their journey. The vacation turned tragic when Gabby Petito went missing.

Her body was found on Sept.

19, 2021, in Spread Creek in Grand Teton, Wyoming.

PHOTO: Supporters of 'Justice for Gabby' gathered at the entrance of Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Fla., on Oct.

20, 2021. (Thomas O'Neill/AP) "They said we found remains consistent of your daughter," Gabby's stepfather Jim Schmidt told Eva Pilgrim, co-anchor of GMA3 and ABC News Correspondent, in a new interview for "20/20." "I remember I was crying, and I said you have to be sure, like I have to be sure if I'm making this phone call. They showed me pictures and I confirmed it was our daughter."

ADVERTISEMENT Almost four years after her death, Gabby Petito's parents shared in a new Netflix documentary never-before-seen texts they found on her phone after her death and what they discovered regarding Laundrie and Petito's relationship. The family found an alarming text in Petito's phone that reads:

"Don't try to control me because it only makes me mad," Gabby wrote in the text to Laundrie. "I love you so much but it's the way you speak to me that hurts me the most." They also found a letter Gabby wrote to Laundrie, which gave them a glimpse into their relationship. "Brian you know how much I love you," Gabby wrote in the letter. "Just please stop crying and stop calling me names.

You in pain is killing me." A "20/20" broadcast airing February 21 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC explores the life and murder of Gabby Petito and includes the new interview with Petito's parents and their spouses who raised her following the release of "American Murder: Gabby Petito," a documentary series now streaming on Netflix.

ADVERTISEMENT Petito lived with her family in Blue Point on Long Island, just outside New York City. By high school, she had a large circle of friends, one of whom was Laundrie.

PHOTO: Gabby Petito's father Joe Petito (right) and stepmother Tara Petito. (ABC)

"I liked Brian," Petito's mother Nichole Schmidt said. "I thought he was-- interesting. He was very soft-spoken. He would sit and do art with the girls, my-- you know, Gabby's younger sisters.

He got along with TJ, her brother, and he just seemed like a nice person." After high school, Petito and Laundrie began dating and when things got serious, they relocated to Florida to be closer to Brian's family. They moved in with his parents.

In July 2020, after dating for a little over a year, Gabby and Laundrie went on a camping trip and got engaged. Gabby's parents said they didn't find out about the engagement until someone congratulated them on Facebook. ADVERTISEMENT

"I'm an old-school person, and as an old-school person the one thing you do is you go up to the father of the person you wanna marry and you ask him for their hand in marriage, or parent, ask 'em for their hand in marriage," Gabby's father, Joe Petito, said. "That didn't happen. We found out on Facebook. All of us did."

Due to COVID-19, wedding planning was put on hold, so Petito and Laundrie made plans to travel the country, and they were outfitting a van for their trip. The couple set off on their adventure with big dreams. Petito began documenting every move on social media, aiming to capture an audience like many other influencers.

PHOTO: Gabby Petito's mother Nichole Schmidt and stepfather Jim Schmidt. (ABC)

"She always had that creative eye," stepmother Tara Petito said. "I mean, she always enjoyed taking photos. We would go on vacation and she had her GoPro. "She would take videos of us doing things. So I think that's something that she always really enjoyed to do.

So why not try to make it as a career?" ADVERTISEMENT Before the couple left for their trip, the family saw them when Petito and Laundrie returned to New York for her brother TJ's high school graduation.

They didn't know it would be the last time they'd see Gabby. While Petito and Laundrie were traveling, in Moab, Utah, a witness called police in August 2021, reporting a man hitting a woman. Officers pulled over their van, and after questioning both Gabby and Brian, the officers determined that Petito was the aggressor after she admitted having physically hit Brian first.

The police didn't arrest Petito; instead officers decided to separate the couple for the night. Petito was allowed to leave in the van, while Brian, perceived by the police as a victim of domestic violence, was taken to a hotel for the night. The next morning they resumed their trip.

PHOTO: This police camera video shows Gabrielle 'Gabby' Petito talking to a police officer after police pulled over the van she was traveling in with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, near the entrance to Arches National Park on Aug.

12, 2021. (The Moab Police Department via AP) On Aug.

27, Petito's mother received a strange text from Gabby's phone: "Can you help Stan? I keep getting his voicemails and missed calls." Petito had never called her grandfather by his first name, which was suspicious.

Another text mentioned they were going to Yosemite, when they'd previously said they were going to Yellowstone. "I questioned it, but then I thought there was fires out that way," Nichole Schmidt said. "Maybe they had to reroute. Maybe Brian did send the text. Maybe she's driving the van."

After not hearing from Gabby for more than a week, on Sept.

11 Schmidt reported her daughter missing to the Suffolk County Police in New York. Investigators later found that Laundrie had returned to his parents' home in Southwest Florida with Petito's van, but she was not with him. Three weeks after the search began, Petito's body was found on Sept.

19, 2021. Once Petito was identified by her stepfather, an autopsy was performed and revealed that she died from strangulation. Authorities ruled Gabby's death as a homicide.

Laundrie was identified as a person of interest. Police attempted to speak with Laundrie at his home, but instead his parents referred police to an attorney. Shortly after Brian Laundrie was also reported missing by his parents.

After a nationwide manhunt, 37 days after he was reported missing searchers located his remains on Oct.

20 at Carlton Reserve, not far from his home. Authorities determined that he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Among Laundrie's belongings authorities found a notebook.

The attorney for the Laundrie family publicly released the pages from the notebook in which Brian admitted to killing Petito, claiming that he acted out of compassion after he says she had a bizarre accident and was suffering from unbearable pain. The Petito family has said that they do not believe Brian's version of events. The FBI released a statement regarding their conclusions in the case: "The investigation did not identify any individuals, other than Brian Laundrie, directly involved in the tragic death of Gabby Petito."

Petito's parents have established the Gabby Petito Foundation to combat domestic violence and assist in locating missing persons. The foundation aims to ensure that anyone in a harmful relationship receives the help they need to escape it. "She made a difference," Joe Petito said. "People saw a beautiful soul, and she had an impact that changed the lives of a lot of people and the world.

There's no more amazing legacy that you could have." If you need help or need help supporting someone else, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788 or chat online at TheHotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential.

The hotline is available 24/7.

A new interview with Gabby Petito's parents reveals disturbing details about the case originally appeared on abcnews.go.com[1][2]

References

1. ^ A new interview with Gabby Petito's parents reveals disturbing details about the case (abcnews.go.com)
2. ^ abcnews.go.com (abcnews.go.com)