Gabby Petito's mother makes bombshell new claim after daughter's murder
The mother of a woman who was brutally strangled to death by her boyfriend while on a dream US road trip has made chilling new claims about her daughter's killer.
Gabby Petito, 22, was murdered by her then-boyfriend Brian Laundrie, 23, on August 27, 2021, with her remains being found in a Wyoming forest three weeks later.
Brian strangled Gabby to death and then drove her car back to his parents' home in North Port, Florida, on September 1st. He disappeared as soon as police began their investigation.
Brian's skeletal remains were discovered on October 20 in a Florida national park, with police confirming his identity the following day. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The story made headlines around the world and was re-told in a major documentary this year.
Gabby's distraught mother, Nichole Schmidt, recently appeared on an episode of The Squeeze Podcast, hosted by Twilight actor Taylor Lautner and his wife Tay, where she made some bombshell new claims about the case.
She alleged that by the time Brian had gone missing, his parents had already 'cleared out his room'.
'I actually just found out some new information a few days ago,' she revealed on the show.
'There was [someone] that was at the house when Brian was missing – and I would say he was hiding, he wasn't missing, but he was actually dead – but his room was completely gutted and renovated.
'None of his things were there anymore. It was gone.
'So that very same week, Gabby was missing and cops were going to their house to try to get, I guess, a scent from their dogs to look for Brian, all his things were gone.
'The room was completely empty, just gone.'
Nichole also made an explosive suggestion that she believes Brian's parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, did this to his room as they 'knew he had killed Gabby'.
'It drives me crazy,' she said.
'That is one thing that keeps me up at night.'
Christopher and Roberta Laundrie have not been charged with any crime and have maintained their innocence throughout the years.
Nichole added that while she feels she has to forgive Brian for murdering her daughter, her entire family remain upset with his parents for their behaviour throughout the unimaginable ordeal.
Nichole and Gabby's father, Joseph Petito, have accused Brian's parents of helping him cover up the horrific murder before he vanished into the wilderness and took his own life.
Brian's parents also reportedly refused to speak to law enforcement in the days following Gabby's disappearance as they frantically searched for their daughter.
A recent Netflix documentary about the case entitled American Murder: Gabby Petito revealed how Roberta wrote her son an eerie note that instructed him to 'burn after reading', where she told him she would help him 'bury a body' because she loved him so deeply.
While she claimed the letter was written before Gabby and Brian went on their road trip, the undated note left the Petito family 'sick to their stomachs'.
The Petito and Laundrie families reached a $3 million settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit in 2022.
'They said that there's something wrong with that mother, she's clearly not mentally well,' Nichole added.
'And I'm like, 'just add it to the list', because I didn't even know about that. That was crazy to hear.
'It drives me absolutely insane – that's the one thing I can't let go of, because I'm trying to figure out what can I do to make them pay for what they did, but there is really nothing I can do.'
Nichole also revealed that the last time she spoke with Brian's parents was when they travelled to New York to pick up Gabby's things to take to Florida.
'I think we texted a couple times, we were Facebook friends,' she said on the podcast.
'I thought they were just quiet people and I'm okay with that.
'You don't have to be my best friend but I never actually spoke to them after that until I saw them when they did the depositions for our lawsuit.'
Nichole went on to explain that if the situation was the other way around and Brian had been missing, she would have acted very differently.
'Everybody feels the same. I don't understand. I can't comprehend anything,' she said.
'If it was the other way around, I would've called them immediately.
'I mean, I texted her asking if they'd heard from the kids. I said, 'Did you hear from the kids? I haven't heard from them', and I got nothing back.'
Nichole added that she thinks about her daughter everyday and wants people to remember that she was 'a person'.
'I see her, her bright blue eyes and big smile and energy
'When I think about her, I think about the last hug that I gave her.
'I want people to remember that Gabby was a person. She is not just a story of a documentary character.
'It can happen to anyone. I want to inspire people to live fearlessly.
'She wouldn't want anyone to live in fear because of what happened to her.
'You have to go for it, live the dream.'
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