Gabby Petito’s Mother Forgives Brian Laundrie, the Killer, but She Calls Him “Evil.” “You Deserve to Be Forgotten,” Roberta Said
Gabby Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, shocked a full auditorium on Friday when she said she forgiven Brian Laundrie, who was dating her daughter and is accused of killing her.
“I speak for myself here when I say Brian, I forgive you,” she stated. “I needed to release myself from the chains of anger and bitterness, and I refuse to let your despicable act define the rest of my life.”
But she let loose on Roberta, Laundrie’s mom.
“I’m not going to forgive you,” she told him. “You deserve to be forgotten.”
Schmidt never got to see the man who killed her daughter in court because he killed himself in a swamp after police started looking for him. Schmidt read a victim’s impact statement to a crowd at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee.
“As for you, Roberta, and I call you out individually because you are evidently the mastermind that shattered your family and mine with your evil ways, I see no empathy in your eyes,” said Schmidt. “No remorse in your heart and no willingness to take responsibility for your actions.”
Roberta Laundrie drove to her civil case deposition in the same car that her son stole the night he killed himself rather than help police find Petito. Pale remains of Petito were not found for days.
In depositions, both of Laundrie’s parents admitted that they were worried about Petito’s well-being after talking to him on the phone in a shaky way soon after she was killed.
Petito’s parents said the Laundries knew about the murder and tried to hide it so their son could avoid going to jail.
The case between the two sides was solved early this year.
Schmidt also said that her daughter was a “bright light” who died too soon. She was an artist with a lot of ability and a strong free spirit.
“I implore you all, live by these simple words directly from Gabby: ‘Just be a nicer person,’” she said.
Gabby’s wife, Tara Petito, was also there to talk. She got very angry at Laundrie for how she acted after the murder.
He drove home from Wyoming, where he left Petito’s body, and went camping with his parents, sister, and her kids. They ate s’mores around a campfire while the victim’s family tried to figure out what happened and where she was.
“Only someone with true evil in their heart would do such a thing,” she stated.
The parents of Laundrie denied knowing about the crime, but they did send a $25,000 fee to a top Wyoming defense lawyer.
In October 2021, their son’s body was found in a park close to their home. He was the only person who could have killed Petito. The FBI also found a confession that was written by hand and kept in a waterproof bag.
Petito went missing in the late summer of 2021, and the whole world was shocked. She had been writing about her cross-country car trip on social media as she and Laundrie went through National Parks.
There was domestic violence in Utah, and even though the cops were called, no one was arrested. That’s when she stopped posting.
Petito’s family created the Gabby Petito Foundation in her honor to fight domestic abuse and help people who have gone missing across the country.
They worked to get federal laws passed last year, and some of them did so with backing from both parties. They also worked to get lethality assessment laws passed in Florida, Utah, and New York.
A year ago, the organization gave $100,000 to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
