Brian Laundrie’s parents have never said sorry for their son’s slaying of Gabby Petito while the late couple was on a cross-country tour back in 2021.
Petito’s father Joe Petito and mother Nichole Schmidt sat down with their respective partners for an interview with NewsNation on Monday to mark four years since their daughter’s death, as well as the release of a new Netflix documentary documenting the killing, American Murder: Gabby Petito.
Joe and his wife, Tara Petito, offered a resounding “no!” when network reporter Brian Entin asked the pair if they’d ever received an apology from Laundrie’s parents, who have long faced scrutiny for what they knew, and when, about their son’s role in Gabby’s death.
Tara said, “At this point, I don’t want one. I don’t want one,” with Joe adding, “It doesn’t help us.”
Gabby’s stepmother went on, “I would love for them to be charged with something, I really really would love that. Do I think that’s happening now? Unfortunately, no, so I really want to erase that name out of my memory.”
Petito was reported missing in August 2021 after the couple returned from their trip. Laundrie, however, refused to discuss her whereabouts with authorities, who ultimately found Petito’s body in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest. Laundrie went on the run and was found dead by suicide in October 2021.
Petito’s family has since been focused on a foundation in her honor.
Since its launch after her death in 2021, The Gabby Petito Foundation has helped pass four laws regulating the way missing persons cases are handled by police, as well as establishing new protocols for the way officers assess signs of domestic abuse and violence.
Entin also asked Gabby’s mother Nichole if there were still any lingering questions she would like to have answered about the events surrounding her daughter’s killing.
Nichole answered, “I don’t think we’ll ever know why–the only two people who know why, and how, are the two people that were there when this happened.”
She added that what’s clear is that “things were known” by Laundrie’s parents, but that she “doesn’t like to talk about them” or even “say their names.”
