More than five years after Gabby Petito was killed by her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, his parents reportedly live as 'pariahs' in Florida, shunned by their local community. The couple have faced years of allegations that they helped protect their son and stayed silent as authorities searched for Gabby.
Gabby, 22, was murdered in August 2021 while documenting a cross-country road trip from New York to California for her online audience. Authorities later determined her death was caused by manual strangulation and blunt-force trauma. Brian, 23, disappeared shortly after, and his remains were found in a Florida wilderness park in late October 2021 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and a notebook confessing to the murder. His death was ruled a suicide.
Neighbours describe exclusion and vandalism
The Daily Mail recently visited Roberta and Christopher Laundrie's neighbourhood, where residents claimed the couple are excluded from gatherings, ignored on the street, and have had 'dirty diapers and McDonald's bags just tossed on their lawn'.
'I let the dog s*** speak for itself,' one person told the outlet just outside the Laundrie home. 'It's my little way of remembering Gabby. That's what they deserve.' Another resident said they have seen 'a lot of stuff thrown on their lawn,' even though they know it's 'petty and immature'.
'I don't even know if they know that it's intentional or not. They must know. No one else has that problem,' they added. Someone else told the Daily Mail: 'I think about Gabby every time I walk past the house. I get angry all over again. This is a nice neighbourhood, full of good people. They just don't fit in.'
Claims of helping Brian after the murder
On August 29, 2021, Brian frantically called his parents to tell them Gabby was 'gone' and that he needed a lawyer. The Laundries reportedly contacted attorney Steven Bertolino, who then retained a defence lawyer for their son. As search efforts began, the Laundries initially released statements expressing hope that their daughter-in-law would be found, but Gabby's parents later claimed the Laundries already knew she was dead. The Laundries disputed this, saying they took Brian's words of 'gone' to mean Gabby had gone missing.
Days after Brian reportedly drove Gabby's van back to Florida and used her credit card, the Laundries and other relatives were said to have taken their son on a camping trip to Fort De Soto Park near St. Petersburg. Gabby's parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, later sued Christopher and Roberta, accusing them of knowing about the murder and inflicting emotional distress by staying silent and offering false hope. In February 2024, both families reached a confidential settlement through mediation.
Letter and lack of charges
Following the discovery of Brian's body, authorities found a handwritten letter from Roberta that said 'Burn after reading.' In the note, Roberta reportedly said she would bring a shovel and garbage bags if Brian needed help disposing of a body and would help him escape from prison. Roberta has always insisted she wrote the letter before Brian and Gabby left on their road trip, calling it a 'jokey, stupid letter' that looked incriminating after Brian's crimes were exposed.
Neither Roberta nor Christopher have ever faced charges in connection with Gabby's death or the investigation. Speaking about the Laundries allegedly helping Brian, another neighbour told the publication: 'That's where they lost me. I get trying to protect your son, really I do. I'd do anything for my kids. But not at the expense of someone else's kid. That's just sociopathic.'
The resident continued: 'If I see them, I usually just look away. I think they're a******* for what they did. I don't need to be their friend. Let's just say they're not coming to any block parties anytime soon.' Gabby's family has also been unable to forgive Brian's parents, despite Nicole previously saying she had forgiven Brian. At CrimeCon in 2024, Nicole sent a message to Roberta and Christopher: 'You do not deserve forgiveness. You deserve to be forgotten.'
