20/20 - Gabby Petito: Her Parents Speak Out

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

A new interview with Gabby Petito’s parents reveals what we haven’t heard before about the case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MUSIC You said Brian's home, the van's home, Gabby's nowhere to be found. Gabby loves that van. Oh yeah, she wouldn't have given that van up. Your heart sinks. It's an indescribable feeling in your body. And you don't sleep, you don't eat.

From that moment on, it's nonstop. MUSIC The interview you'll only see here. All four of Gabby's parents together speaking out. I said I'm going to bring our daughter home no matter what. I'm not leaving there until I have her. Two people went on this vacation. You can't keep chocolate in Utah.

And only one returned. Everybody wanted to find Gabby Petito. The whole world was looking for her. It was. It was everywhere. We've gotten leads from 30 countries. Spottings throughout Florida, as far north as the Appalachian Trail.

This urgent search for Gabby Petito. Where is Gabby? Where is Gabby? The text messages you haven't seen, what do they reveal? I looked at Brian and I said, you better keep her safe. And he was like, I will. Were there any red flags that this was coming? I'm going to get my phone to my mom.

And I didn't get that phone call. I think she even realized, I need to get the hell out of this. We believe if a proper lethality assessment was done, Gabby would be here to be alive today. Gabby, you know, never goes outside. Hello, hello, and good morning. Now to a case making national headlines tonight, this urgent search for Gabby Petito. Gabby Petito.

Search for a missing woman, Gabby Petito. Disappearance of Gabby Petito. The 22-year-old who vanished on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend. Gabby's family and those in the community who know and care for her are hoping for answers about her whereabouts. The family is devastated. Every day that this goes on, they get more and more desperate. Whatever you can do to make sure my daughter comes home, I'm asking for that help.

There is nothing else that matters to me now. If anybody just has any information, any information out there. This girl right here, this is what matters. That is it. It's a story that captivated the nation. Wow, on this Gabby Petito case. Dominating social media and news coverage,

now the subject of new headlines with a just released docu-series. American Murder, Gabby Petito is now streaming on Netflix. You know what is my absolute favorite part about the van? Gabby Petito's parents and their spouses, who raised her as a unit for so many years, sitting down together as a blended family. Parking. The whole world was looking for her. many years sitting down together as a blended family.

The whole world was looking for her. We would have went to the edge of the earth to find her. We really had hope. We really did. Because there's a million different scenarios that could play out just the same. Hurt in wilderness, bad reception, you know, all that stuff. But it would all end in tragedy. We're not the same people we were before this

happened. There was life before and life after. Everyone knows this story. When people hear her name, what is it that you want them to think about? That she wasn't just a victim, she was a person. She was an artist. She loved life. She loved adventure. Gabby was a really good person. She really tried to get the best or see the best in people. Gabby's parents told me reliving these horrific days is hard. We share it to help others. We do it because the more we do it, the more people send us emails. And it's Gabby's story that touched us.

Thank you for doing what you do. Gabby gave us a platform. We could go cry all day. What is that going to do? So we're going to use it to try to help others as much as possible. Gabby Petito was raised with so much love. Her mom, Nicole, and dad, Joe, split up when she was just a baby, and they both remarried.

Their spouses, Tara and Jim, become part of the parental unit, all raising her together. It was always about her first, we will figure out the rest. We worked together as a team, and now we're even closer than ever. If there wasn't four of us, I don't think we would be where we are today.

We all have different strengths, We all have weak moments. If I'm down, Jim will call me up. Tara will sit by my side. Nikki, you know, she'll call us up and we pick each other up. Let's talk about Gabby. What was she like as a little girl? She was easy in terms of just going with the flow. She was always up for whatever we were going to, so in that respect, it was easy. Sometimes she'd get in trouble. It didn't happen, you know?

She was a kid, after all. I still remember the first time I saw her. I could tell you exactly what she was wearing. She had these pigtails, and she comes, like, bouncing out, and it was the brightest blue eyes, the biggest smile you've ever seen, and that was the way she was ever since she was little, all the way on up.

Larger than life, she was just always happy and just physically tiny. She was an amazing artist. We had a large kitchen island and she would spread her artwork all over the island and just make masterpieces. Gaffey is the oldest of six, a loving older sister to her siblings from both sets of parents. She was a great big sister. Yeah she was. One of parents. She was a great big sister. Yeah, she was. One of six. That's a lot of siblings.

A lot of siblings. Yeah. Gabby and her family live in Blue Point on Long Island, just outside of New York City. By high school, Gabby has a big circle of friends. One of them is a boy named Brian Laundrie. Do you remember the moment she first started talking about Brian?

They had known each other in high school as friends. He was a year older, so he had graduated and gone on, and then Gabby continued through. And it wasn't until after she graduated that they reconnected. And that's when we started to hear more about Brian and kind of came to the realization that they were going to be more than just friends.

That's a weird feeling, I'm sure, for dads. Well, I never liked anyone that wanted to date my daughter because no one was really good enough for her, in my opinion. Do you like him? What do you think of him when you realize that they were romantically involved. I liked Brian. I thought he was interesting. He was very soft spoken.

He would sit and do art with Gabby's younger sisters. He got along with TJ, her brother, and he just seemed like a nice person. I mean respectful, always came in, shook her hand, was nice, just quiet. He was just a quiet a nice person. I mean, respectful. Always came in, shook your hand. Was nice. Just quiet. He was just a quiet, quiet person. After high school, Gabby and Brian start dating. When things get more serious, they eventually

make the decision to move to Florida to be closer to Brian's family. They move in with Brian's parents. When she mentioned she wanted to move to Florida, what did you guys think of that? She wanted, she was over 18, you can't stop them from doing something like that, right? I said to her, do it if you think you feel like you want to, but you can always come home. At that point she was almost 20, so I couldn't tell her

no, but she was looking for my advice. I think she asked all of us. I wasn't against her going. I just was like, make sure you take care of you. You are number one. You are the most important. Don't rely on somebody else. Make sure you just take care of you.

Yeah, we wanted her to be independent, you know? Make sure you get yourself a job, that you can pay for things. And I'm curious kind of what your relationship with Brian was like at this point. When they were in New York still, I would see him and talk to him quite often. But once they got down to Florida, that relationship was very limited. It was, I was talking to Gabby almost every day, but not Brian. Same for us.

But soon Gabby and Brian take a big step. I thought it was weird that she didn't want to tell us right away. We found out on Facebook. She loved Halloween. It's one of her favorites. Remember that Halloween she painted her face? She painted her own makeup. We're lucky we have a lot of memories.

We're lucky we have so many pictures of her. I'm so happy that she took as many as she did, because that's what we have. That's what we have now. This is the Outer Banks, I think. Yeah, I took that in the Outer Banks. Isn't that the best picture? She was a ham for the camera, that's for sure.

Oh, she never took a bad picture. And this is why photos are so important. Annoy the kids, annoy the friends, annoy the family. Take the photos, because you never know then when that's all you're going to have. Gabby and Brian are now living in Northport, Florida with Brian's parents. Did she say anything about that relationship? There were a few incidents.

Never anything with Brian. It was always like she always felt weird around the parents. I thought about that a lot. I was like, I wonder what's going on with the parents. Like, what's the relationship like? But she would always assure me that it was fine. Gabby makes a new friend in Florida who shares her first impression of Ryan

in the Netflix docu-series. Hey, little birds. We were all going to the beach together and he kind of just sat back there and read his book while Gabby and I hung out. It felt like a parent was watching us on a playdate. It was very weird but he was very nice. I do remember coming home and saying to my mom she's like how was it? How was her boyfriend? And I was like he's a really nice guy but there is something off about him. But in July 2020, after dating a little over a year,

Gabby and Brian go on a camping trip and get engaged. Brian asked me to marry him and I said yes. You make life feel unreal and every day is such a dream with you. Her parents say they found out when someone congratulated the couple on Facebook. I'm an old school person. And as an old school person, the one thing you do

is you go up to the father of the person you want to marry, and you ask him for their hand in marriage, or a parent asks him for their hand in marriage. That didn't happen. We found out on Facebook. All of us, we did. Were you surprised? I thought it was weird now looking back.

I thought it was weird that she didn't want to tell us right away. Like, that's something you get excited about. She wasn't. Yeah, maybe she wasn't. She was, but she wasn't. She was excited about the planning. I feel like she was like, yeah, I can plan this wedding, pick out dresses.

She started a Pinterest page. She wanted to do a beach wedding and all this stuff and then COVID happened and it kind of stalled all of those plans. We're like, listen, we're not, can't travel, your grandparents aren't gonna travel. So she kind of like put it on the back shelf for a while there.

While the wedding planning seems to be on hold, Gabby and Brian make other big plans. They're going on an adventure, road tripping across the country. They get a small van that they were outfitting for the trip. I love the van. The van looked amazing. Everything looked pretty.

That van was her pride and joy. She was really, really proud of that van. And we saw it was done really, really well. Gabby and Brian weren't the only ones inspired to take off in a van during the pandemic. At the time, van life, as it's called online, was exploding. Van life is exactly what it sounds. It's living in, often, a restored van or school bus and having this kind of nomadic lifestyle where you can travel all around the country.

It was growing in popularity, largely through Instagram and YouTube. As parents, like as she's about to set out on this man life adventure, are you going like, how are you gonna feed yourself? How are you going to wash? Are you thinking about all those details? No, yes, 100%.

Cause it was crazy because we would go camping, we had a small little travel trailer, and when she was younger, she hated it. There was bugs, there was sand, there was dirt, and she wasn't really big into it. And as she started getting into that type of stuff, I'm like, is this the same person? And so when she showed us the setup,

you know, we have this cooler that, you know, it plugs in, it's 12-volt, you can turn it into a freezer. Here's our portable sink inside. This is how the sink works. Here's a portable shower that catches rainwater. And I'm like, you're doing all this? Solar power. Solar power to heat it and all this crazy stuff.

So kind of thought of everything. And said that, you know, they had plenty of money saved up for it. You know, she had been working up until right before they left. I mean, we kept sending her money too, though. Let's just be real in this situation. Joan, I was not. I didn't send her any money.

Joan might have sent her money. I would Apple pay her money, and then you would see, what's this Apple charge? And I'd be like, oh, I guess I got hacked. I'll order a new bank card. So I think it was like four times in a year I got to get a new bank card just to play it off, you know? Before heading out on the cross-country trip,

they come back to New York to go to her brother, TJ's high school graduation. She took him camping as a graduation gift and a birthday graduation gift because it was also his birthday, but her, Brian, and TJ went on a camping trip. I think it was in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Then they came back and not too long after that they left. Beginning of July. When they set out on that adventure what did you say to her before she left do you remember? I

was absolutely the luckiest one. I got to give her a hug goodbye. And it was the most amazing, squeezy hug. And she was crying. And I said, why are you crying? And she was like, I don't know. And I just was like, maybe she's just so excited. And then I looked at Brian and I said, you better take good care of her, keep her safe. And he was like, I will.

You know, this is very soft spoken, I will. And I, I cherished that moment. That's, that was the last time I had her in my arms. Did you trust that they would be okay together? I did. I did. I didn't want to worry. I knew she'd be okay. And I mean, as a mom, I was worried a little bit. I said, you're going to be out on the road, the two of you alone.

Just be careful. Be safe. Don't talk to strangers, all that stuff. Gabby and Brian set off on their adventure with big dreams. She wants to be a vlogger and begins to document her trip on social media. So we are right outside Capitol Creek right now. You can't keep chocolate in Utah. Not in July. The way to live a sustainable life as a van lifer is to have millions of followers online. That's how you make money. So Gabby definitely wanted to be part of this community.

She and Brian were posting it on Instagram, on YouTube, and they were documenting this journey for people on the internet to essentially engage with. Was that like what she wanted to do for her career? Was this sort of like her dream? She was living in the moment, I would say. Yeah, I think it's what she wanted to do for her career? Was this sort of like her dream? She was living in the moment, I would say. Yeah, I think it's something she wanted to do. I think she was looking at more as a hobby at the moment and see where it can go from there.

And she always had that creative eye. I mean, she always enjoyed taking the photos and the pictures. And we would go on vacation, and she had her GoPro, and she would take videos of us doing things. So I think that's something that she always really enjoyed to do. So why not try to make it as a career?

She had asked if we could get her a drone. So her grandpa, Stan, and I kind of split that. We bought her the drone and that made that video like so much better. And she was like a natural at that stuff. Brian's stretching, doing some morning yoga. When I look at Gabby's Instagram, I see her building her brand.

She followed a lot of people who also were doing the van life thing too, so it looks like she was following the formula for how to get successful there. Oh my God! Living in a van is a struggle. It is not the beautiful, picturesque life that a lot of internet creators painted out to be.

And Gabby and Brian were in a smaller van than I usually see people in. I imagine that's a lot of pressure. Any relationship has fights, but now you're in this tiny van, there's no place else to go. I don't know what you're supposed to do when you're in this tiny van, there's no place else to go. I don't know what you're supposed to do when you're in that kind of an environment.

Life on the road is difficult. You have to pivot a lot. It changes in a millisecond, and you have to be ready for that. I'd like to report a domestic dispute. Hey, we got a call about a male hitting a female and the two of them getting in this vehicle and taking off. When did you see the video of her?

Let's go ahead and get you to step out of the vehicle. All right. Gabby and Brian are on the road. The photos flooding Gabby's social media accounts paint a picture of a couple blissfully in love. But in reality, it seems van life isn't all it's cracked up to be. Behind scenes, Gabby and Ryan would get into arguments. All right, no, turn it back.

They were struggling. They were not the cream of the crop van life creators. They were not going viral. You know, they were really living hand to mouth. And so there was a lot of tension, you could tell, around that, it seemed. I was texting her a lot more like things like, are you and Brian OK? Because I was worried about that dynamic, being stuck in the van together, 24 hours a day. You know, what is my absolute favorite part about the van together, 24 hours a day. You know what is my absolute favorite part about the van? What's that? The fact that we have this nice big open floor

for you to keep your dirty feet. In those videos where he rolls his eyes, I never noticed that before and seeing that really hit me. I was like, wow, that's who he really is. He showed his true colors. But life in the van is about to go from minor annoyances to some far more serious problems.

We've been on this trip over a month. And then on August 12th, there is a phone call placed to 911. A witness calls 911 to report a man with a beard slapping a young woman near a local grocery store. Hi, can you hear me, sir? Yeah, I can hear you. Hi, I'm calling, I'm right on the corner of Main Street

by Moonflower, and we're driving by and I'd like to report a domestic dispute with a white van. Essentially, when police respond to domestic violence calls, it is typically messy, where you might have a witness who sees a piece of it. What were they doing? We drove by and the gentleman was slapping the girl.

He was slapping her? Yes, and then we stopped. They ran up and down the sidewalk. He proceeded to hit her, hopped in the car, and they drove off. Within minutes, one of the responding officers spots Gabby's white van with its distinctive black ladder. Driver is showing some obscure driving, possibly intoxicated. Currently doing 45 miles an hour. Zone through here is 25. Oh, subject's just hit the curb.

Body cameras worn by the Moab police capture a traffic stop that will eventually go viral, but only after she went missing. Developing tonight in Utah, a new glimpse of 22-year-old Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie. Now there's body cam video that shows the moments after police were called. That video is out.

Here it is. What are you guys' names? Gab called. That video is out. Here it is. What's your guys' names? Gabby. Gabby, Brian. Okay. What's going on? How come you're crying? I'm just crying. We've just been fighting this morning. Some personal issues. It's been a long day. We were camping yesterday and camping got supplies and stuff. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I hit the bump there. I was distracting him from stuff. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I hit the bump there. I was distracting him from driving, I'm sorry.

Can I get you to step out of the vehicle for a minute? Yeah. The August 12th incident, when they got pulled over, that day was a pivotal moment in that relationship. We didn't have all the facts. We had no idea how it really played out. Gabby's family was stunned to see these images of her. They were released without any warning.

I was in Wyoming out there looking for her, and there was a news reporter who had said, hey, just an FYI, there's some camera footage coming out of Moab From when they were there and so I remember texting back home not knowing fully what it was When did you see the video of her when everybody else did we were glued to the television watching it? I haven't you haven't watched it. I will watch it. I read the transcript, I won't watch it. Do you want to tell me what's going on? Yeah, I don't know.

It's just, some days I have really bad OCD. And I was just cleaning and straightening up the back of the band before. And I was apologizing to him and saying, I'm sorry that I'm so mean. sometimes I have OCD and sometimes I just get really frustrated. Not like me and poor Tim, I just like, I guess my vibe is like, I'm really in a bad mood.

Why wouldn't you let him in the car? Because of the OCD? Because Tomei and me have gone down, yeah. But I'm perfectly calm, calm all the time. And he really stresses me out. And I just, this is a rough morning. When questioned by officers at the scene, Brian downplays the incident and chalks it up to a disagreement.

So tell me what's going on. The series gets worked up sometimes. And I try and really business myself from her. So like I lock the car and I walk away from her. I think our little squabble started because we were hanging out at the coffee shop and when we got back to the van there was some dirt and stuff in the van. I moved our food around. I haven't even called this room. There's a few little things, just little relationships.

I don't have any other relationships. I've been married for over five years now. There's a lot of little relationship. I don't have a relationship with her. I've been married for over five years now. There's a lot of little things. The interesting dynamic is that Brian Laundrie is really calm. And there's such a discrepancy that it's almost an intentional way to discredit her experience. I'm sorry if I'm in a bad mood. I was really stressed. I had so much work I was doing in my computer this morning. experience. For about an hour, police questioned Brian and Gabby in an attempt to figure out what was really going on. Remember the 911 caller reported seeing

a man with a beard slapping a woman. So there's two people that came to us and told us that they saw him hit you. Where'd you hit him? You slapped him first? How many times did you hit him? I slapped him. You slapped him first? How many times did you slap him? A couple. He got really frustrated with me and he got out of the car and told me to go take a breather, but I didn't want to take a breather. When questioning Brian, police noticed minor injuries on his face. You want to tell me about those scratches on your face?

She hit herself on her hand, that's why I was pushing her away. I said, let's just take a breather and let's not. We're going anywhere. Let's just calm down for a minute. We'll see if she got me a grip on. Can I see your hand? Gabby admits she hit Brian first. Police now have a critical decision to make.

Gabby, this is a very, very important question. How you answer this question is going to determine what happens next. Sitting in the back of that Utah police car, Gabby Petito is visibly anxious and upset. According to both Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, it was Gabby and not Brian who was the initial aggressor. So I, I, I, I, I, I, I just, I don't want to try and defend myself by saying anything. Everybody pushed her away. She gets really worked up. There are relationships in which women

are aggressively violent toward men, but in the vast majority of domestic violence situations, the men are the aggressors. And the women in public, when questioned about it, especially by law enforcement, will often take responsibility for it out of fear that the aggressor, the man, in their relationship will be more angry if they don't.

Tell him what happened, wait. Tell him if you don't mind. As police continue to question Brian, he describes how he says Gabby hit him. So you pushed her and she hit you? She was, it wasn't like a push and she jumped, I mean she was already, she was already, I don't know, she was already swinging and I was just... You got three scratches on your neck, you got one on your left side of your neck, you got one on your face here and you've got three scratches in your neck. You've got one on your left side of your neck. You've got one in your face here, and you've got four wounds.

Well, Brian is speaking to police, and anxious Gabby is in the back seat of that police car. Again, I believe that was the pivotal moment. I think that was the moment when she even realized, I need to get the hell out of this. How can I do it on my own? She didn't want to ask us for help. But she asked for her mom.

Like, in that, you see that in the video. There's a spot in the documentary, and she says, can I have my phone so I can call my mom? Get my phone so I can call my mom. I better get that phone call. Because maybe at that moment, maybe she would have told me what was going on. I'm so full. Because maybe at that moment, maybe she would have told me what was going on. While Gabby did not speak to Nicole during the stop, she did speak to her dad, Joe. She called me during the traffic stop.

What did she say? It was her fault. And that was, we told her it's fine, I'm going to be on the next plane to come get you. And she's like, no, no, no, it's her fault. And that was, we told her it's fine, I'm gonna be on the next plane to come get you. And she's like, no, no, no, it's my fault. We didn't have the information. We didn't have all the other information. That she was being slapped and all this other stuff prior. We didn't have any of that information.

We didn't have any of that. What happened? What's going on? She never told me about their fight in Moab, but I've seen her that upset before. I didn't hear anything like that. Because of him. Now, police on the scene have a decision to make. Ryan, unfortunately, as a state of Utah,

the state legislature doesn't give us discretion on this. Charges when it comes to domestic assault and your own companion have made it clear that she was the primary aggressor and that she was striking you and you was the chief injuries. So at this point, you're the victim of a domestic assault and then you come up back. Even if you didn't want to pursue this,

we don't have a choice. Now the problem with the herpian, the primary aggressor, is in the instance of domestic assault, be it a male or be it a female, we shall arrest. She appeared to be the aggressor and she said she was the aggressor. Now, do I believe that? No.

But the police can only go on the evidence they are given. After discussing the situation, one of the officers goes over to speak with Gabby. So when you watch this video, what I saw was a bunch of police officers trying to sort this out and They appeared to be compassionate towards both parties so look I'm gonna speak to you frankly. I have a daughter almost your age and I'm looking at you not so much like a suspect

But also it's kind of a victim in the sense that stuff you did today that contributed to this because you both contributed to this is as a result of your inability to cope with the anxiety and the stress that you're having. Normally we take people to jail but he's trying to work it so you can just have the van. I don't want to be separated. You're going to have anxiety? Yeah, no wear a team please. There's no what? What is it?

No, like wear a team please. He's going to give me so much anxiety. Can we just have like a driving ticket? The very best thing I can do is call my supervisor and see if I'm missing something here. Gabby admitted punching him first. The technical requirement under Utah law is that this be done with an intent

to cause some sort of harm or inflict pain. So as they examine the evidence in the case, they ask that specific question when she's in the back of the police car. Gabby, this is a very, very important question. How you answer this question is going to determine what happens next. When you slapped him those times, were you attempting to cause him physical pain or physical impairment?

Was that what you were attempting to do to him? No, I was trying to get him to stop telling me to come back. That doesn't sound to me like she attempted to injure him. Those officers were heading down the path of making an arrest and they changed direction. Remember, while Gabby was unable to contact her mom, Nicole, she did speak to her dad during that traffic stop. She talked to the officer and says, he's going to let me go. It's, you know, it's fine.

It was just a big misunderstanding and that was that. And again, I didn't have the video and I didn't talk to the police or anything and I had to take her word for it. And I'm like, all right, you know, that's what I understand, misunderstandings happen, especially when you're in a small confined space. I get it how a disagreement can come about.

Alrighty, Gabrielle, you want to step out for me? Okay. Police decide not to arrest Gabby. Instead, they separate the couple for the night. Gabby gets to leave in the van while Brian, seen by the police as a domestic violence victim, is taken to a hotel for the night. I'm giving him a ride over to the hotel, okay? So, everything's the hotel, okay? So everything's gonna be okay.

Will it be a bar drive for me to get him in the morning? I'm just curious. I'm not gonna tell you where he's gonna be at tonight. Like I said, I want you guys to be separated. If I had had that opportunity at that moment to speak to her, I think because she was in the back of the police car, she would have said more to me than after thinking about it too long, later on calling me and telling me it was just a bad day. I just had a rough day, I was stressed out, Brian and I are fine. Now that video is the truth.

We have the truth. Brian and Gabby were told to stay away from each other for 24 hours. Too many times women who are at risk want to go back to their abuser and then they end up getting killed. The very next day the couple is back on the road. And what happens next will spark a nationwide search. Developments tonight. A missing woman. Desperate for answers.

She predicted the outcome. wide search. The video shows an idyllic cross-country trip. launches her vlog, Nomadic Static. All the chocolate melted. It's so melted right now. It's a river of chocolate. You can't keep chocolate in Utah. Not in July. But she showed us the video. Like it was an awesome video. Like we, I enjoyed it.

We all enjoyed it. I couldn't believe she made something like that. I think our plan for today is to just hang out here in the tent. She seemed a little stressed, but other than that she was loving every moment, visiting all the national parks, doing things that I've never done. Surfing the sand dunes in Colorado, like that's cool, man, you know? On the other side of the video camera, things seemed to be melting down.

I've been covering the Gabby Petito case since day one. We do know that on August 27th, at Mary Piglet's restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, witnesses reported a lot of screaming, him yelling at the restaurant staff, going in and out of the restaurant. He was really angry. That's the best I can the restaurant. He was really angry. That's the best I can describe it. He was just very visibly angry. And in that moment, Gabby reminded me a lot of how she seemed in that body cam video of the cop.

She just seemed distraught. She seemed really upset. She was emotional. She was crying. Please, I'm going to get so much anxiety. And then people saw them get into this van and leave. The last time Gabby was seen was August 27th on the surveillance tapes at a Whole Foods grocery.

Her parents didn't see it till much later. I was watching the body language in that video and it just didn't look right. He slams the door to the van, they walk in, she's got her arms crossed. Just her body movements and not being close together, stuff like that, you can see the differences. It screams confrontation. Looking back, Gabby's posts that last week of August seem a little off.

Later, internet sleuths combed through every post, offering opinions and coming up with theories about what happened. I do believe that going forward, these massive cases will find more ground on social media. They want to solve these cases. Gabby, in the photo, has perfect hair after being on a trip for two months in a van. And she's holding a pumpkin and writes,

Happy Halloween, which is odd because it was posted on August 25th. So in Gabby's latest Instagram post, her roots are not there, especially in comparison to some of them before that. Were these posts put online by Gabby? They seem like they aren't new photos. Something isn't right.

To her mom, Gabby's texts start to sound odd as well, like one about her grandfather. The text message to her mom read, can you help Stan? I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls. Stan is her grandfather by his name, Stan. The last contact that Gabby's mother has from her daughter is August 30th. She gets a text that says, only no service in Yosemite, which is strange because it's so brief, but also they weren't going to Yosemite. Which is strange because it's so brief, but also they weren't going to Yosemite.

Nicole thinks maybe Gabby and Brian have changed their plans, but it almost sounds like Gabby isn't sending the texts herself. Is Brian sending the texts? So I questioned it, but then I thought, there was fires out that way, maybe they had to reroute. Maybe Brian did send the text, maybe she's driving the van. Like I had all these reasons as to why

maybe it was from her. But that was the last text I received and every day I'm like Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, and I'm getting nothing. Then I'm like, let me check social media, there's gotta be something. Nothing. So I called Joe, I said I'm worried, he said he hadn't heard from her and...

So you guys are texting each other, calling each other? Oh yeah, we did anyway. I just started calling every hospital and national park I could to see if I could find out whether or not maybe it's just bad signal. Were you talking to Brian at this point? Did you reach out to him? None of them talked to us. I sent a text to Roberta and Brian, and I got no response from either one. Same.

I mean, I even went as far as I'm going to call the cops. And usually when you hear someone's going to call the cops, you would be like, let's see what's going on here. And nope. The Petitos have no way of knowing that. While they are trying to find Gabby, Gabby's van is on the move. But Brian is the only one in it. He has driven it all the way from Wyoming back to Florida.

And when the police go to the laundry home... Hi, sir. I apologize. I have to detect him on the phone. The Petitos are staggered by what they hear. Is Gabriel here? No. She's not here. OK. Brian is inside.

Gabby has disappeared. I said, don't talk to strangers. Little did I know, it doesn't have to be a stranger. That's the evil person. Two people went on a trip, one person returned. This girl right here, this is what matters. The interview you'll only see here, all four of Gabby's parents together speaking out.

We didn't know where she would be. She could be somewhere in a hospital or a shelter. Lights, cameras, reporters, we are everywhere. Everybody wanted to find this woman. Suddenly we have internet sleuths. There was a clue like that's probably the last location. They didn't have that. We could still be looking today. Trump is Gabby!

Protesters started gathering outside the laundry house. The truth always comes out. Where's Brian? Where's Gabby? I said he did something to her and I know it. There was a note. It was a letter. It said burn after reading. Hello, hello and good morning. Brian's stretching, doing some morning yoga. The version of ourselves that we show online isn't always the full picture. Gabby Petito has spent weeks crafting her posts. She's trying to become a van life influencer,

traveling the country with her fiance, Brian. I love the van. But in the back of that van, it seems tensions are growing, according to Gabby's friend Rose, who spoke in a just released docu-series, American Murder, Gabby Petito, now streaming on Netflix. I think a big reason Brian didn't want to do the vlog is because I think he was worried that the truth

of everything would be on footage. There's that possibility that he says the wrong thing or reacts the wrong way while she's recording. You know what is my absolute favorite part about the van? What's that? The fact that we have this nice, big, open floor for you to keep your dirty feet. Ah.

Ha ha ha. Behind scenes, Gabby and Brian would get into arguments. I was texting her, are you and Brian okay? Because I was worried about that dynamic, being stuck in the van together 24 hours a day, but never in a million years do we think that he would harm her. That didn't cross your mind? Yeah.

At what point did it get, wait, something's going on here. This doesn't make sense. What didn't make sense is when we couldn't get in touch with her. The Petitos call and text Gabby. What they don't know is that on September 1st, Brian, in that little white van, has driven back to Florida to his parents' house alone. The neighbors saw the van in the driveway. One of the neighbors told me I did think it was strange that I didn't see Gabby. But what do I know? I'm just a neighbor here.

The Laundrie family is going about their business. Neighbors told me that they saw Brian and his parents going for walks down the street. And then eventually, Brian and his parents went camping for a few days. They were camping at Fort DeSoto, which is our usual camping spot. And because it was Labor Day and the kids had school the next day, we just went for

a couple of hours and we ate dinner and had s'mores around the campfire and left. There was nothing peculiar about it. His sister says she didn't have any reason to ask about Gabby and she had no idea that anything was wrong. It just never came up. I'm frustrated that in hindsight, I didn't pick up on anything. It was just a regular trip.

10 days after they last hear from her, on September 11, the Petitos report Gabby as missing. And on that very day in North Port, Florida, the police go to the laundries house. Northport Police Department. Hi, sir. I apologize for bothering you. I have the detective on the phone. I'm not talking to anybody right now.

You don't want to talk to us? Okay, she's on the phone. You don't want to talk to her now? No. Okay, when was the last time that you saw Brian and Gabriel? Well Brian is here. Brian is here? Yeah and that's all I'm gonna say. And that's all you're saying? Yeah we have an attorney they've been calling out on that's all I want to say I don't know why so many he's from the attorney's where. Okay. The coin, so I can give you his number. Who's number? The attorney's number?

Yeah. Okay, I would like that, please. I can give it to the detective. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. And just to let the detective know, is Gabriel here? No. She's not here? Okay. They said that Gabriel's not here. That's all they're saying. That his son is here, but Gabriel's not.

They're not talking. Brian's home. The van's home. Gabby's nowhere to be found. And he has a lawyer. And he's got an attorney. And he's got an attorney. To hear all of that, Gabby loved that van. Oh yeah, she wouldn't have given that van up.

Did you immediately just think something is not right? Oh my God, I think he said he did something to her. All of that. Gabby loved that van. Oh yeah, she wouldn't have given that van up. Did you immediately just think something is not right? Oh my god, I think I said he did something to her. I know it. As shocking as it may seem, the laundries are under no legal obligation to assist or to talk to the Petitos.

Right now on ABC Action News, desperate for answers. The ever expanding search for Gabby Petito. Tonight, new developments in the nationwide search for a missing Long Island native, Gabrielle Petito. In their desperation, Gabby's parents are grasping at straws. Maybe it's just a hoax. They're trying to get this YouTube video up. So maybe it's just a hoax to try to get more followers.

I mean, your brain just goes and goes and goes. But in the back of your head, it's like, he's not talking and he has a lawyer. That's always, that just stuck right there. It's like, if something bad didn't happen, then he would have been talking. I've never had to contact an attorney when my daughter broke up with somebody.

And there's the van in the laundry driveway. I'm not speaking to anybody. Yeah, we're not comfortable talking to anybody. So that's that. Okay. So the van is only registered to her, okay? I'm not really sure. Well, I'm gonna tell you, I'm telling you,

the title on the state of Florida is it's only hers. So it's not supposed to be here. Okay. So I'm gonna take a tow truck and get it. Is it a car in the way? It's my car, I can move it. I mean, so you don't have any issue with us taking the van? If that's what you're saying you gotta do, you gotta do it.

But right now I'm not speaking to you anymore. You're without our attorney. We don't know what Brian knows. I mean, that's the bottom line. And we're hopeful to talk to him. He needs to talk to us. We need to know exactly where he was, where she was, their last locations.

Gabby's parents beg for information from her boyfriend. Police have said that deafening silence from Gabby's boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, is hindering their investigation and search efforts. We would have went to the edge of the earth to find her. She's just going to like a hyper mode and all we were thinking about was getting the word out to try to find her and doing what we had to do to try to assist in that and we had no idea that it was going to take the entire world by storm and our focus was

just on her at that point. Did you feel that at the time? Did you know that it was everywhere? It was hard not to, because we would do interviews and they would tell us. The police get a search warrant for Gabby's van. They don't find any evidence of a crime, but the FBI says something is missing.

The mattress is gone. The Laundrie family lawyer gives only a statement that they hope the search for Gabby is successful and that Brian will remain silent on advice of counsel. Joe gives a press conference. What I need from everybody here is help. The goal is still not met. That goal is to bring Gabby home safe. This is what matters. That is help. The goal is still not met and that goal is to bring Gabby home safe. This is what matters. That is it. Anything else comes second to this.

Tonight her boyfriend is now a person of interest but he's not talking. The new pleas for him to share what he knows. It seems like a stalemate, but suddenly everything changes. When we got that alert that Brian Laundrie was missing, my stomach dropped. I remember looking at my phone and not being able to believe what I was reading. Now the Laundrie parents are searching too.

Brian Laundrie has disappeared. What do you know? What do you know? Where is Gabby? Where is Gabby? Where is Gabby? Where is Gabby? Please, what do you know? What do you know?

Brian has vanished. Crowds start to gather outside the Laundrie home in Northport, Florida, demanding answers. Gabby has not been heard from in over two weeks. You were feeling pretty desperate then. Nobody actually laid eyes on Brian, but his parents came to the door and said he was home. It was just chaos.

Your heart sinks. It's an indescribable feeling in your body, and you don't sleep, you don't eat. From that moment on, it's nonstop. In the very beginning of this investigation at Brian's parents' house, media was lining the street up and down. Be respectful of everyone's property, please. Northport police told us that they had been surveilling the house

and had surveillance on the house during this time. But at some point, Brian left. The Laundrie family says they don't know where their son is at this point, and they're hoping for him to come home safely. We're going to turn next year to the search for that person of interest, Brian Laundrie. That search intensifying tonight. After Brian's parents tell Northport police he has gone camping in the Carlton Reserve, a massive manhunt ensues. Numerous law enforcement agencies are involved in the search inside the Carlton Reserve. They're using drones, UTVs, ATVs, and they're searching a heavily wooded area.

75% of it is underwater. The Carlton Reserve is a 25,000 acre wildlife reserve. It is massive. And I can tell you from being there, it is a rough environment. We do know that Brian Laundrie has quite a lot of experience camping. Brian's sister Cassie says Brian is skilled in surviving outdoors. He reads books about it and it wouldn't surprise me if he could last out there a very long time. While authorities hunt for Brian in the Carleton Reserve, Gabby's parents band together in their search for Gabby.

Gabby's parents try to stay upbeat. A million things racing through your mind at that point. Just have no idea. We've all said it, you know, we're not naive to the fact that we thought. We really had hope. Because there's a million different scenarios that could play out just the same.

Hurt in wilderness, bad reception, you know, all that stuff. Maybe they split up and she's just done with him and doesn't want to tell us yet because she's really upset. You really try to rationalize any scenario. You have that hope. While there are initially many empty leads in Florida, something extraordinary unfolds. One thing that happened immediately after this case blew up in the media and on the internet was it opened up this broader conversation

about missing women and specifically missing Black and Indigenous women and the lack of attention given to them. Gabby's case, luckily, has brought awareness to that. Let's stand up for missing and murdered indigenous women. It's really hard to talk about the missing white woman syndrome in the context of this case because of course we care deeply, deeply about Gabby Petito.

But at the same time we have to recognize that we have an outsized compassion for young white women who are missing or murdered and we have a negligence about brown women. There is really a vast difference. Minorities do not get shared the same as a blonde hair blue-eyed white girl. They have family, they have friends, and they just want them found. Indigenous women go missing and are murdered at rates ten times higher than the rest of the country. And it was, how can we help?

What can we do to help elevate your voice? Mary Johnson Davis, Kimberlina Yellowhair, Sarah Nicole Graham. Wyoming, the last place Gabby was seen, issued a report in 2020 that only 18% of Indigenous women's missing cases got media coverage. There's a phrase in Indian Country that when a Native American woman goes missing, she disappears twice. Once in life and once in the news. Lori Ann Boffman, Wanda Faye Walker.

Why do we have greater compassion in our hearts for Gabby Petito than we do for these other women? We have to really dig deeply to ask ourselves that question. It's on all of you, everyone that's in this room, to do that. And if you don't do that for other people that are missing, that's a shame. Because it's not just Gabby that deserves that. It is our belief, and we want others to be inspired to share people

and try to be cognizant of those who do not look like you. Six hundred thousand people go missing a year. Half of them are people of color. So, you know what? we have to share everybody. Meanwhile, Brian has now been missing for weeks, the search going on. A lot of the public forms the opinion that Brian Laundrie has to be involved

in Gabby Petita's disappearance. But police need actual evidence of criminal activity before they can make an arrest. What would you say to them? Nothing. Nothing. They don't deserve anything. Earlier today, human remains were discovered, consistent with the description of Gabrielle Gabby Petito. The cause of death has not been determined at this time.

Now this is no longer a missing persons case. It would soon become a murder investigation. And amazingly, it's someone online who cracks the case. When we found the footage, I'm like, please, please keep recording. Please keep recording. Please be on here. And all of a sudden, we see this white speck

getting closer and closer and closer. The search continues for Gabby Petito, Grand Teton National Park, where Gabby spoke directly with her family for the last time before she disappeared. Where we're at right now is the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, just north of Jackson Hole on Spread Creek Road, which is the camping area that Brian Laundrie

and Gabby Petito were last camping at. Once someone goes missing, you hope you have a starting point. Where were they at last? When did you see them? The quicker you get search teams out, the better. The reality is, time's against you. The urgent search for a missing woman, Gabby Petito. Her family telling us they have no idea where she could be.

Everyone wants to find Gabby, and now with social media, many are taking it upon themselves to track her down. The internet sleuths get to work. The fact that she randomly posted it on August 25th with just that caption, to me, is very suspicious. And we had no idea that it was going to take the entire world by storm. Also notice that the capitalization is different. She never capitalized anything but the first word.

It's a true crime story happening in real life, which you feel like you can participate in. So people on TikTok were immediately going to scrutinize, why is she posting with a pumpkin? Why is this video framed like that? They're getting into Gabby Petito's mind and trying to align themselves to find out what happened. They're looking at the body language. They are looking into the timestamps.

They're creating a map of everywhere that they traveled in this van. It just seemed like everybody came together as one because they had a mission to find her. Then a new discovery on TikTok, as a young woman named Miranda Baker says, she thinks the hitchhiker she picked up in her Jeep on August 29th was actually

Brian Laundrie. My boyfriend and I came into the Tetons. That's when Brian had approached us and he said, hey, I need to get a ride back to Jackson. He offered $200 to drive a few miles and they thought that that was a little odd. He was really clean for someone who had been hiking for multiple days. That did strike me as weird, and especially his backpack. It wasn't full. He said him and his fiance were camping at a dispersed campsite near Snake River. The biggest red flag is why would you go camping

by yourself for multiple days, alone with just a backpack, and leave your fiancecé in your van. It just doesn't make sense. We were driving for 15 minutes and I had brought up, you know, why are you going to Jackson Hole? And once I said Jackson Hole, that's when the energy shifted. He got very upset about that, said, please let me out of the car.

He got out of the car. And as Miranda Baker states, about 10, 15 seconds later, he was gone. And after people spend days online poring over countless posts, it is social media that helps find Gabby's body. There is video found of Gabby's white van in the Grand Tetons. Yeah.

How did you find out about that? I was out in Wyoming there and they were getting a tremendous amount of tips. And so people started recognizing, hey, I was in that area around that time. So they started going back and looking at their own photos and their own videos. My name is Jen Bethune and I travel with my husband Kyle, our three kids and four dogs, in our 1983 Silver Eagle bus. Our story is very intertwined with Gabby's story. We're YouTubers and so we film all the time.

It's the freaking Tetons! She did not know at that time. They were just driving through the Teton National Forest and this van is on the side of the time. It's the freaking Tetons! She did not know at that time. They were just driving through the Teton National Forest, and this van is on the side of the road. It was crazy to us because it had Florida plates, and we're from Florida, and we were like, we can go hang out with them, but the van looked very dark.

It didn't look like anybody was there. She doesn't think much of it till many weeks later. The FBI Denver Twitter account posted this saying that they are conducting ground surveys at the Spread Creek dispersed camping area. Without all that attention, Jen Bethune never would have noticed that white van in her own footage. The crazy part about that video from the Batoons is that for some reason the camera was rolling and it wasn't supposed to be.

When we found the footage, I'm like, please, please keep recording, please keep recording. And all of a sudden we see this white speck getting closer and closer and closer. We both got goosebumps all over our body. We knew it was her van as soon as the footage passed by it. It was an insane feeling. At 1208 in the morning, I called the FBI.

After the Bethune's alert the FBI, they post their video online for the world to see. And when Gabby's parents watch it, they call the FBI, they post their video online for the world to see. And when Gabby's parents watch it, they call the FBI themselves saying, this, without a doubt, is their daughter's van. It was a somebody when we saw it. It gives you like the heebie-jeebies, but at the same time, you're like, there was a clue.

Like, that's where the van was. That's probably the last location. They were already in that area searching. Yeah. But it's such a vast area out there. And that was just like that missing piece of site. They were in the right place. If they didn't have that,

we could still be looking today. I think each of us that had tips and that had the sightings held a piece of the puzzle. So I think it was a community as a whole working together to bring Gabby home. They could pinpoint exactly where that van was and I want to say within a day of that is when they found her. Starting with breaking news authorities found a body in the Bridger-Teton National Park in Wyoming. There is breaking news in the search for Gabby Petito.

Just moments ago, officials say... Tonight, officials confirming they found a body near Grand Teton National Park that... Earlier today, human remains were discovered, consistent with the description of Gabrielle Gabby Petito. And I said, you have to be sure. with a description of Gabrielle Gabby Petito. And I said, you have to be sure. And tragically, Jim is about to face an unimaginable task. That was the worst phone call of my life. I don't know how we did that.

Since there are so many possibilities for what could have happened to Gabby, her parents decide to split up and help out with the different searches across the country. We were told by the FBI they wanted us to stay in Florida. Jim was like, I'm going to Wyoming. Nikki was in New York at the time, you know, so we were just really in all the locations where we needed to be. We would have went to the edge of the earth to find her. Gabby Petito has been reported missing for three weeks.

Gabby's parents are about to live a waking nightmare. Jen had to make the, probably the, I mean, that's safe to say the worst phone call nightmare. Jim had to make the, probably the, I mean, it's safe to say the worst phone call you've ever had to make. I don't even know how he made it. I remember every waking moment of that day, September 19th, meeting with my FBI agent in the morning, kept getting phone calls asking about certain things,

and finally I got a phone call. They asked where I was, if I was close to the hotel. I said, yeah, I'm a few blocks away. They said, you need to meet us there now. And at that moment, I knew it wasn't good. On September 19th, the FBI announced that they had located remains just outside Grand Teton National Park

in Bridger-Teton National Park in Bridger Teton National Forest. Human remains were discovered consistent with the description of Gabrielle Gabby Petito. They came in and they said we found remains consistent of your daughter. We won't know until we do a forensic autopsy, but you have to call your family." And there was another girl missing around the same time who fit her description and I remember I was crying and I said, you have to be sure, like I have to be sure if I'm making this phone call

remains consistent. What does that mean? It could mean it's not her. I said, you have to give me something more than that. And they did. They showed me pictures. I confirmed it was our daughter. I don't know how we did that. Just hearing it, it's like you can't keep it. That was the worst phone call of my life.

I'm 2,000 miles away. I don't have my family with me. I can't hold her. I can't hold my other children. I said, I'm going to000 miles away. I don't have my family with me. I can't hold her. I can't hold my other children. I said, I'm going to bring our daughter home, no matter what. I'm not leaving there until I have her. And yeah, I lost a big part of myself, part of us, our family that day. We're not the same people we were before this happened.

There was life before and life after. We're lucky we have a lot of memories. We're lucky we have so many pictures of her. I'm so happy that she took as many as she did, because that's what we have. That's what we have now. Because that's what we have. That's what we have now. 22 beautiful years.

Through all of it, we still say it could have been worse. Really? Could have never found her. Yeah, we could have never brought her home. There's so many people that we know that have been searching for their loved ones for five, 10, 20 plus years. And they always have that thought in the back of their mind that maybe they're still alive.

Once Gabby has been identified by Jim, there's an autopsy performed and Gabby's death is ruled a homicide. Tonight, breaking news in the Gabby Petito case, what the coroner in Wyoming has now determined. In the manner of death of Gabrielle Lenora Petito, we find the cause and manner to be caused death by strangulation and manner is homicide.

It actually takes five to seven minutes for somebody to actually kill another human being as they strangle him. So that is five to seven minutes where somebody is face to face with their victim, watching as they gasp for air, watching as their eyes fill up with blood. It is an incredibly gruesome, incredibly intimate form of homicide. The reason that's important is when you look at domestic violence homicides that involve manual strangulation, there have often been instances involving non-fatal strangulation. A lot of times if you strangle your loved one, your partner,

it gets dropped down to a misdemeanor. Less than 90% of the people charged with felony strangulation in this country are ever charged and convicted of strangulation. This is a vicious death by any interpretation. And now all the energy that the public had poured into finding Gabby Petito is directed at finding Brian Laundrie.

The nationwide manhunt for Laundrie, still the only named person of interest in Petito is directed at finding Brian Laundrie. The nationwide manhunt for Laundrie, still the only named person of interest in Petito's murder after he returned home from their cross-country road trip without her. Soon, there would be clues about what Brian is hiding. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made.

After a desperate, weeks-long search for Gabby Petito, her body was discovered beside a stream bed near Grand Teton National Park. Gabby was discovered beside a stream bed near Grand Teton National Park. The cause of death, manual strangulation. Where is Gabby? Now that Gabby has been found, the focus turns to finding Brian Laundrie.

According to the FBI, while Brian was driving Gabby's van back to Florida, it seemed as if he was trying to cover his tracks. The FBI would later say he was attempting to deceive law enforcement by sending text messages to and from Gabby's phone, as well as from Gabby's phone to her mother. I was texting every day. I wasn't getting a response. And then finally on August 30th, I get a text that says,

we have no signal. We're in Yosemite. Like, I had all these reasons as to why maybe it was from her. But that was the last text I received. The search for Brian, first out west, then in the south, is now focused on an area in Florida not far from where his parents lived. A few weeks into the search,

Brian's parents join the effort. They go into an area in the park that they had told police to search, but it had been underwater at the time. Shortly after, authorities find his remains. Earlier today, investigators found what appears to be human remains, along with personal items.

This morning, the month-long manhunt for Brian Laundrie ending where it began. The FBI using dental records to confirm the remains are his. Among the materials belonging to Brian Laundrie that authorities uncover was a letter from his mother. And it said, burn after reading. I remember the first time I read that letter I had to read it like three times because I was so confused. I didn't understand. And the letter reads, you are my boy. Nothing can make me stop loving you. If you're in jail, I will bake

a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags. It made me feel like very uncomfortable and I felt sick to my stomach. I was like, how is this even possible? A lawyer representing the Laundries has said the letter had nothing to do with Gabby Petito's death and had been written months earlier. Roberta Laundrie would later say in an affidavit the letter was a reference to a book she had given him called Burn After Writing and it was intended as a way to bond with her son. A month after Brian was found,

the medical examiner released his findings from the autopsy. Brian died by suicide. He shot himself in the head. The attorney for the Laundrie family releases the actual pages from Brian Laundrie's notebook. Now people can read for themselves what Brian Laundrie says happened. Gabby, I wish I was right at your side.

I loved you more than anything. And then it goes from this beautiful sort of love letter to this very serious, scary situation. Rushing back to our car trying to cross the streams of Spread Creek before it got too dark to see, too cold, I hear a splash and a scream. Ryan claims that he wasn't sure exactly where they were. He didn't think he could make it back to the van. She said little, lapsing between violent shakes,

gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain. Brian says he killed Gabby as a form of mercy. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. The Petitos released a statement saying that they don't believe anything that's in this notebook. He was a liar. Nothing he said in those stories were true.

He was a coward to the day that he died. When you look back at all the stuff that happened, were there any red flags that this was coming? Yes, there were. But we didn't notice them at the time. Could you sense if he was controlling her? So Gabby didn't come up to us and say, he's doing this. It's things that we would notice, again, after the fact.

We can see that that pattern was part of that progression that she was in. Since her death, Gabby's parents have uncovered communications between her and Brian that show the darker side of their relationship, shared as part of the new Netflix series. One of those texts from Gabby to Brian said, don't try to control me because it only makes me mad.

I love you so much, but it's the way you speak to me that hurts me the most. They also found a haunting letter that Gabby had written to Brian. Brian, you know how much I love you. Just please stop crying and stop calling me names. You in pain is killing me. Gabby's family says there were potential signs

in their daughter's relationship that could have caused alarm bells to ring earlier. Gabby's parents established the Gabby Petito Foundation to help other parents recognize the signs of domestic violence. There's so many versions of it and a lot of people don't even know where to go when they're in it. Know what we know now. We see that progression that happened. Alienation of friends and family. Isolation. But it's hard to pick up but when you get a high level view and you can see the path that that was leading

to and that's part that it was leading to. That's part that is hard for us. And that's one of the reasons why we started the foundation, the Gabby Petito Foundation, to teach others and other parents there might be some tips that you could talk to your child about. Try to let them know that you are there for them and that there are resources out there. We get messages all the time from people saying, I didn't realize I was in a bad relationship or potentially violent relationship until I saw her story.

I saw it, I got help, and I safely got out. And if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here today. But one thing that brought them a bit of peace. The admixture. Therapeutic growth. And the way Gabby Petito will be changing lives. How did you guys end up with the van? Once everything was done, the FBI asked us what we wanted to do with it.

And we contemplated a few things. At the end, we were like, we just don't want the vibe to it. We had the van crushed. No one really knows that, but we did. It's very therapeutic for us. Yeah. Almost like when you go to one of those rage rooms and you get to smash things. That was fantastic. Gabby's pito, never goes outside.

I understand the laundry's lost a son. And for that, they have my sympathy. Cause I know how that feels, losing a child. You will never get over that. So my heart breaks for them for that. But that's the only thing my heart breaks for for them. Since Brian will never be prosecuted for killing Gabby, the Petitos want someone held responsible. The Petitos file multiple lawsuits.

One of them is for wrongful death against Brian Laundrie's estate. Months later, there is a settlement. The family of Gabby Petito will be awarded $3 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against the estate of Brian Laundrie. An attorney for the Laundrie said in a statement, hopefully this brings some closure to this one chapter of this tragedy. Gabby's parents also file a lawsuit

against Brian's parents, alleging their actions caused them pain and suffering. They allege Brian's parents knew that something was wrong, but didn't share that information. In a deposition, Chris Laundrie says that a frantic Brian called them from the road, said he needed a lawyer, but never said Gabby was dead, only that she was gone. Roberta Laundrie said she thought maybe Brian and Gabby had gotten in a fight. Two years later, announcements by both families.

The parents of Gabby Petito have settled a civil lawsuit against the parents of Petito's former fiance, Brian Landry. Both sides say they've reached an agreement to avoid a civil lawsuit against the parents of Petito's former fiance, Brian Landry. Both sides say they've reached an agreement to avoid a civil trial. The terms are confidential. As for the Moab police, Gabby's parents file a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the department alleging negligence. In filings, attorneys responded that while Petito's murder is tragic, only speculation

supports the assertion that Moab could have changed history. Gabby's parents remain committed to seeking justice for their daughter. The one thing we need more than anything else is don't make it just another cautionary tale. Use her situation and her story as a lesson of what can and should not happen. We've been a part of four law changes since this all happened. SB 1224. Two in Florida, one in Utah, and one nationally. And it's her voice doing it, not us.

They take the call because of Gabby. Because And it's her voice doing it, not us. They take the call because of Gavin. Because of her name. Because of me. She did it, not us. And she's going to continue doing it. She's doing more in her death than she did in her life. The goal is to mandate that in domestic violence situations, police make a risk assessment and better collaborate

with victim advocates. I really think when it came to her and Brian, she saw the best in him. She looked at the good. That's who she was. At Gabby's memorial service, Jim, alongside Joe, delivers a eulogy. Gabby had a tattoo on her arm that read,

Let it be, the title of a song from a band she loved. There's a verse from that song that speaks to me. When the broken hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer. There will be an answer, let it be. It's okay to mourn for Gabby. It's okay to feel sorrow and pain. But we want to celebrate her and how she lived her life. We will need to hold on to all those wonderful memories we shared with her.

Because that will be the answer. Let it be. So many broader ramifications to this story about all missing women. And to that end, the Petitos say they intend to use the $3 million they were awarded in a wrongful death lawsuit to fund the foundation named for Gabby. Meanwhile, we should point out a different lawsuit from the Petito family for 50 million against the Moab Utah police has been dismissed.

The family tells us they do plan to appeal. That is our program for tonight. I'm David Nure. And I'm Deborah Roberts. From all of us here at 2020 and ABC News, good night. their involvement with the serial killer. The one man who helped break the case. Never before a face-to-face interview with the camera. Why now? Let me ask you, what do you think? Am I the evil culprit, the accomplice?

I'd like to know how the audience views me. No! The Fox Hollow Murders, playground of a serial killer, now streaming on Hulu.