NORTH PORT (WSNN) – It was shocking for the family of Gabby Petito, when they found out Gabby’s boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, returned to his home here in North Port, without her. They went on a cross-country road trip together. He came back in a van, she didn’t.
“Very creative, smart, but kind has this ditzyness to her too,” Gabby Petito’s God Mother Flora Rocco said. “She’s so endearing. And so fun.”
Rocco and Petito’s mom, Nichole Schmidt describes Gabby as free spirited and adventurous.
When Laundrie and Petito began dating, they thought this couple was a perfect match.
“They had a lot of the same hopes and wishes, the dream to do this together,” Rocco said.
“They were typical boyfriend and girlfriend, they had their little quarrels, but nothing that caused a red flag,” Schmidt said.
There was nothing alarming until Schmidt didn’t hear back from her daughter.
“Not the type of kid to say I’m going off the grid, I’ll see you in a month,” Schmidt said.
Laundrie and Petito took off on a cross-country road trip on July 2nd, a white van.
“I had constant communication from her,” Schmidt said. “She was excited every time she went to a new place. She sent me photos. She FaceTimed me, she had wifi.”
The last time Gabby posted on Instagram was August 25th. the last time Nichole received a text from Gabby’s phone was August 30th.
“The text was strange,” Schmidt said. “But it didn’t dawn on me at the time of course, now that I know the van was in Florida on the first, I don’t believe that text was from Gabby.
Laundrie returned home on September 1st without Gabby. Schmidt filed a missing person report on September 11th.
“When his mother didn’t text me back, the day I was trying to report her missing, I knew that something was wrong,” Schmidt said.
Laundrie’s family is not talking to anyone right now. However, Wednesday night, the attorney for Laundrie, released a statement explaining why Laundrie won’t speak to authorities, saying ‘the warning that any statement made will be used against you’ is true, regardless of whether my client had anything to do with Ms. Petito’s disappearance. ’ So, on the advice of counsel, Mr. Laundrie is not speaking on this matter.
“We don’t know what Brian knows, that’s the bottom line,” North Port Police PIO Joshua Taylor said. “We’re hopeful talk to him, obviously he needs to talk to us.”
“It’s obvious he’s hiding something, but we want him to just let us know where we can find Gabby,” Schmidt said. “Why won’t he talk? I don’t care what the situation was at this point. Did he drop her off somewhere? Did they get into a fight, did he just leave her? I just want to know
At Wednesday’s presser with the North Port Police Department, which is leading the investigation, a spokesperson said Bryan Laundrie is a person of interest. And they’re asking him and his family to cooperate with the investigation. If you or anyone has any information on this, you can call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
