Gabby Petito’s mother gave an interview to American television last week, in which she returned to the murder of her daughter, killed by her fiancé while they were on vacation.
A year after the death of her daughter, Nicole Schmidt continues to lead the fight to obtain justice and to perpetuate her memory. Gabby Petito was found dead in September 2021 in Wyoming, after several days of disappearance. Her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, who was traveling with her, had returned home to Florida alone, then refusing to cooperate with the police. After having disappeared himself, he had been discovered dead in a nature reserve. The investigation revealed that he had committed suicide and a notebook discovered at his side made it possible to learn more about the reasons which led him to attack his companion.
In an interview broadcast last week on NBC, Nicole Schmidt explained that the confessions of Brian Laundrie in this famous notebook had the sole purpose of making him pass for “a good guy”. “That’s how he was, until the end. He wanted everyone to believe that he was a good person. It’s ridiculous, because we know how Gabby died,” she said. It was the parents of the murderer – who are accused of having protected him until the end by refusing to help the police – who revealed, through their lawyer, images from his diary, in which he recognizes the crime. “I thought I was bringing mercy to her, I thought that was what she wanted, I now see all the mistakes I made. I panicked. I was shocked. But from the moment I decided to take her pain away, I knew I couldn’t go on without her. “Narcissists rewrite history so they don’t have to be accountable,” Nicole Schmidt reacted to NBC. According to her, her daughter was a victim of domestic violence, which is why her family donated $100,000 to the National Domestic Violence Hotline on behalf of the victim.
During the investigation, several elements seemed to indicate that Gabby was the victim of domestic violence. New documents released in September showed that Gabby’s mother received a strange message on August 27, 2021 from her daughter. “Can you help Stan, I keep texting but missing his calls,” she wrote. The mother explained that Stan was the first name of the girl’s grandfather, but she never called him that. “The mother began to worry about something wrong with her daughter,” wrote agent Daniel Alix in his report, quoted by the “New York Post”. “That was the last communication with Gabby. Her phone then stopped working and she stopped posting on social media. For his family, it was not normal on his part, ”says the agent again. Gabby and her boyfriend indeed documented their trip through videos and photos, especially on Instagram.
The police involved
In addition, during their stay, the couple called the police after an argument that arose in Utah. Filmed by a camera installed on an agent, the young girl in tears explained that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorders which affected her attitude. The police said they questioned the two lovers, who each explained how complicated life in a van was for them. “Gabrielle, who was in the passenger seat, was crying uncontrollably,” an officer wrote in his Aug. 13 report. Agents wrote that the couple – while battling mental health issues that allegedly led Gabby Petito to slap Brian Laundrie – were trying smartly and sensitively to resolve their issues. On the day of their quarrel, Brian explained to the police that his girlfriend was in a manic state and slapped him because she thought he was going to leave her in Utah without a car. “I’m not going to sue anything because she’s my fiancée and I love her. It was just a quarrel. Sorry this has become so public,” Brian Laundrie said on the officer’s body camera footage. The latter indeed indicated that he did not want to follow up on this case, because he “loved” his companion, while the agents suggested that he file a complaint against her. Making them promise to separate for a few hours, the agents then left.
However, during their meeting with the couple, Gabby had also said that she had been struck by Brian Laundrie. “He grabbed my face with his fingernails instead, I think that’s why I have a little cut here. I can feel it when I touch it, it burns me,” she said. In response, one of the two agents had estimated that Gabby was the victim of her own psychological disorders. “What you two did today was a result of your inability to deal with your fears and anxiety. But you don’t have enough experience in life to navigate through it all yet,” he said.
In their quest for justice, Gabby’s parents have just filed a complaint against the Utah police, indicates the “Salt Lake Tribune”. The family, which claims 50 million dollars, is based in particular on an independent investigation which pointed the finger last January at the errors of the police, estimating that the agents did not know how to see that Gabby was not “the long-term predominant aggressor in this relationship”. “Brian was thoroughly examined, including under his clothing for injuries, photographic evidence was obtained, and he was offered treatment. None of this appears to have been offered to Gabby Petito, even after she too said she was injured in an assault. “Even when Gabby reported an argument that resulted in injury, her statement was entirely ignored as officers appeared to be operating under confirmation bias which influenced how they interpreted the evidence and their theory of the case” , describes the report. However, the report concluded that it was impossible to know whether Gabby would be alive today if the police had handled their intervention differently.