Gabby Petito’s parents have disclosed that they destroyed the van she used to travel across the country with her fiancé Brian Laundrie before her tragic murder in 2021.
Joe Petito, Gabby’s father, told NewsNation that their decision came out of fear the vehicle would fall into the wrong hands.
‘We got rid of the van,’ he confirmed. ‘We didn’t want the van to be out there with someone else owning it and potentially linking it to Gabby’s case, so we had it destroyed.’
Joe and Tara Petito, Gabby’s stepmother, decided to keep some of the belongings from the white Ford Transit Connect, which online investigators came across abandoned shortly after Gabby disappeared.
The couple held onto a gasoline cap from the van’s exterior and a sticker Gabby had gotten from her stop in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Gabby, 22, embarked on the road trip with Laundrie, 23, on July 1, 2021, leaving from Blue Point, New York. She intended to try her hand at making ‘van life’ content and hopefully gain a social media following.
But the trip took a bad turn when police in Moab, Utah, responded to a domestic dispute between the couple on August 12.
The police body camera footage offered the last glimpse at Gabby and Laundrie’s fraught relationship, showing her distraught and crying while he looked to be calm and collected.
Gabby never returned, though Laundrie did briefly go back to his parents’ home in Florida on September 1 of 2021.
Authorities believe Laundrie strangled Gabby to death on August 27 in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, where her remains were found a month later.
A large-scale manhunt began for Laundrie once Gabby was confirmed dead and there was speculation that, as an experienced outdoorsman, he could be hiding out on the Appalachian Trail.
The reality was, Laundrie had slinked away into the Carlton Reserve in Florida and shot himself in the head. His skeletal remains were found on October 20.
The role of Laundrie’s parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, came into focus after they took the unusual step of hiring a criminal defense attorney shortly after Gabby’s disappearance.
Gabby’s family filed two wrongful death lawsuits, with one resulting in a $3 million payout from Laundrie’s estate and another being settled in February 2024.
A third lawsuit accusing the Moab Police Department of causing Gabby’s death was dismissed by a judge in November 2024.
Court filings and depositions revealed that Laundrie allegedly called his parents 20 times to admit he had murdered Gabby and that he needed a lawyer.
The first call from Laundrie to his parents allegedly came two days after her death and nearly two weeks before she would be reported missing.
When Joe and Tara Petito were recently asked if Christopher and Roberta Laundrie had ever apologized to them, they both quickly responded ‘no.’
‘No. We’re never gonna get that,’ Joe said.
Tara chimed in to say: ‘At this point, I don’t want one. 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.’
Nicole Schmidt, Gabby’s mother, revealed to NewsNation that she actually forgives Laundrie for killing her daughter.
‘I have forgiven Brian, and I know that’s what Gabby would have wanted. And I’m moving forward so I can help people,’ Schmidt said.
‘I don’t think that everybody has to forgive. They can when they’re ready or they might never be ready, but for me personally, I needed to forgive to let that anger go.’
The recent comments from Gabby’s two sets of parents come as Netflix released a new documentary on the case called ‘American Murder: Gabby Petito.’
The three-episode series, which currently holds the top spot on Netflix’s top ten TV shows, premiered on February 17 to millions of viewers.
