The parents of Gabby Petito have revealed that they destroyed the van where she traveled through the country with fiancé Brian Laundrie in the run -up to her murder in 2021.
Joe Petito, the father of Gabby, told NewsNation that their decision arose for fear that the vehicle would fall into the wrong hands.
“We crushed the van,” he said. “We didn't want the van there and someone who owns it and then said:” Here's the van that was Gabby … “So we had crushed it.”
Joe and Tara Petito, the stepmother of Gabby, kept some items from the White Ford Transit Connect Die Internet -Speurneuzen discovered shortly after Gabby was missing.
The couple helps on a petrol cap from the outside of the van and a sticker that Gabby had got off her stop in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Gabby, 22, started on the road trip with Laundrie, 23, on July 1, 2021, departs from Blue Point, New York. She was planning to try to make her hand to make 'life' content and hopefully to get social media.
But the journey took a bad turn when the police in Moab, Utah, responded to a domestic dispute between the couple on 12 August.
The camera images of the police brought the last look at the loaded relationship of Gabby and Laundrie, who showed her desperate and crying while he seemed to be calm and collected.
Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie pose next to the White Ford Transit Connect they traveled through the country in the summer of 2021. Gabby's family revealed that they 'crushed' the van to destroy it forever
Gabby, 22, was murdered by Laundrie, her fiancé, less than two months after the trip. Her remains were found Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park
After Gabby's disappearance and death there was widespread speculation that Laundrie hid in the wilderness for the authorities. He had actually killed himself with a gun in a nature reserve near his parents' house
Gabby never returned, although Laundrie briefly returned to his parents' house in Florida on 1 September 2021.
Authorities believe that Laundrie Gabby strangled on 27 August in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, where her remains were found a month later.
A large -scale knock hunt started for Laundrie when Gabby was confirmed dead and there was speculation that he could hide as an experienced outdoor man on the Appalachian trail.
The reality was that Laundrie had crept into the Carlton reserve in Florida and shot herself in the head. His skeleton -like remains were found on October 20.
The role of Laundrie's parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, came into the picture after taking the unusual step to hire a criminal lawyer shortly after the disappearance of Gabby.
The Gabby family has submitted two unlawful death procedures, with one resulting in a payout of $ 3 million of the estate of Laundrie's Estate and another that was arranged in February 2024.
A third lawsuit accused the Moab Police Department of causing the death of Gabby was rejected by a judge in November 2024.
Right of law and statements revealed that Laundrie would have called his parents 20 times to admit that he had killed Gabby and that he needed a lawyer.
The first phone call from Laundrie to his parents is said to have arrived two days after her death and almost two weeks before she was missing.
When Joe and Tara Petito were recently asked whether Christopher and Roberta Laundrie had once apologized with them, they both quickly responded 'no'.
Joe and Tara Petito (photo) said they do not expect an apology from the Laundrie family, nor do they want one
Laundrie's parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, are seen from their house in North Port, Florida.
Gabby's mother Nicole Schmidt (photo next to her husband Jim Schmidt) told newsnation that she forgetting Laundrie for killing her daughter
'No. We will never get that, “said Joe.
Tara Chimde inside to say: 'At the moment I don't want one. I would like them to be accused of something, I would really like that. Do I think that is happening now? Unfortunately no. So I really want to erase that name from my memory. '
Nicole Schmidt, the mother of Gabby, revealed to NewsNation that she actually forgives Laundrie for the murder of her daughter.
'I forgiven Brian, and I know that Gabby would have wanted that. And I am moving forward so that I can help people, “Schmidt said.
“I don't think everyone should forgive. When they are ready or perhaps they may never be ready, but for me personally I had to forgive that anger go. '
The recent comments from Gabby's two sets of parents then come up with a new documentary about the case called “American Murder: Gabby Petito.”
The series with three episodes, which is currently in the first place on the top ten TV programs of Netflix, premiered to millions of viewers on 17 February.
