May 18, 2025 • 40 mins
There are reports that Briian Laundrie's parents “gutted and renovated” their son’s room while he was missing, evan as Gabby family was still searching for the missing 22-year-old.
Nichole Schmidt spoke with Taylor Lautner and his wife on their podcast, “The Squeeze,” revealing the new stunning claim. An individual who claimed to have been in the Laundrie home at the time, said it was obvious that something was “wrong” with Laundrie’s mother, Roberta's mental health.
Gabby Petito's parents have long claimed Christopher and Roberta Laundrie knew their son, Brian, murdered his girlfriend. Petito and Laundrie were on a cross-country road trip last year when Gabby went missing. Her body was later found in Wyoming, and her death ruled homicide by strangulation. Laundrie returned to his parents' Florida home, alone, driving a van owned by Petito. The FBI says Laundrie confessed to killing Petito in a notebook found with his belongings. The Petito family accuse the Laundries of concealing information a bout their daughter's death and, say the Laundries also tried to hide their son from law enforcement. Brian Laundrie committed suicide in a nature reserve in Florida.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Wendy Patrick - California prosecutor, author “Red Flags” www.wendypatrickphd.com 'Today with Dr. Wendy' on KCBQ in San Diego, Twitter: @WendyPatrickPHD
- Caryn Stark - NYC Psychologist, www.carynstark.com, Twitter: @carynpsych, Facebook: "Caryn Stark"
- Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, ColdCaseCrimes.org, Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
- Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan"
- Laura Ingle - Senior Correspondent, Fox News Channel, Twitter: @lauraingle, Instagram: @lauraingletv
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The intrigue surrounding the disappearance and murder of a beautiful
young girl, twenty two year old Gabby Petito seemingly goes
on in the last days. Gabby's mother claims her killer
slash fiance, Brian Laundry's room and the home he shared
(00:30):
with his parents was quote completely empty once he vanished.
What does that mean? Did Brian Laundry's parents know all
along what was happening. I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories.
(00:52):
Thank you for being with us. Gabby Patito's mother says
Brian Laundry's room was quote completely gutted and renovated almost
immediately once he disappeared. She says none of his things
were there anymore. Nicole Schmidt says all of his things
(01:14):
were gone that very same week Gabby was missing. She said,
police going to Laundry's home to try and get a
scent from dogs to look for Brian. All his things
were gone at that time and his room was completely empty,
completely cleaned out. Also, she says that the van that
(01:39):
belonged to Gabby, that Gabby alone had completely remodeled to
be a touring van, was also completely cleaned out that
even the mattress was never recovered. Nicole says Gabby's things
were packed away in a closet. Okay, is it just
(02:03):
strange behavior or does it prove something?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
How does this piece of the puzzle fit into Gabby's
disappearance and murder followed by killer fiancee, Brian Laundry, wandering
into the twenty five thousand acre Carlton Reserve and killing himself. Okay,
where did the whole thing start?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Gabrielle Gabby Potito's body was.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Found out in a dispersed camping area far far away
from home.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
But where was her boyfriend?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
The fiance that she traveled across the country with, vlogging
video blogging the whole way about the van life. If
you haven't looked at those vlogs, they're incredible, She's really talented.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
He comes home and her van with all of her
stuff using her credit cards, but no Gabby. Her family
has now sued the family of so called fiance, Brian Laundry,
saying they aided and abetted him while hiding the evidence
(03:15):
from Gabby's parents as they desperately tried to find their daughter.
I mean when I got pick up the twins at school.
When they start being five ten fifteen minutes late, I
get out of the car and I go looking for them.
Children have disappeared on school playgrounds, in school areas. Can
(03:37):
you imagine what Gabby Petito's parents went through?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
As they called and they called, and they.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Texted and they emailed Laundry's parents, and then they find
out the worst Laundry's home. Gabby's van is part in
the driveway, but no Gabby. How do you think they
felt when they find out the Laundryes take Brian Laundry
(04:04):
on a camping trip. They go camping, and they sit
around the campfire and have Somemores, but no Gabby.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Nobody said, hey, where's Gabby?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Can you imagine that feeling in their gut, in their
mind and their heart when her cell phone goes straight
to voicemail every single time and they know, but yet
they don't know. I don't even want to think about it,
you know. I used to tell that to Jury's all
(04:39):
the years I tried filling the cases. You can't turn away.
You cannot turn away from the truth. It's our beauty
to look at the truth and determine.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
What is just.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Joining me in an all star panel to make sense
of what we know right now? But first I want
you to listen to our cut one from ABC seven.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Patito and her fiance left New York early July in
a van to travel the country. After several weeks of
visiting national parks, Brian returned to Florida in the van
without Gabby. When he refused to cooperate with authorities, suspicion
turned to him, and then he went missing. His remains
were found weeks later.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Think about it.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
We believe Gabby was killed August twenty eight. Her body
was not found until September nineteen. Think about all that
time the family was left hanging blood in the wind,
wondering where is their beautiful girl? With me an all
(05:48):
star panel to make sense of what we know right now?
In first of all, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags,
Wendy Patrick. She's a star of Today with doctor Wendy
kcb Q and you can find her at wendypatrickphd dot com.
Renowned psychologists joining us out of Manhattan. Karen Stark, you
can find her at Karenstark dot com. That's Karen with
(06:09):
a C. Cheryl McCollum, founder and Director of the Cold
Case Research Institute, forensic specialist, and you can find her
at coldcasecrimes dot org. Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author
of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon as star of
a brand new another brand new hit series, This is
(06:29):
Bodybags with Joseph Scott Morgan on iHeart. But first to
senior correspondent Special Guests joining us, Laura Ingele, Laura, does
it never end with the Laundryes?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Does it never end? I mean, don't you think that
at some point they would.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Have held out an olive branch for Pete's say and said, listen,
we're gonna fly to your place this weekend.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I know you hate us.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Right now, but let us tell you our side of
what happened, what we need, when we knew it, what
we thought we knew, what we didn't know to set
your heart at rest?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Can they not do that? And if not, why not,
Laura Ingles.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
You know what it's been months later, Financy, they do
lay out the dates that it is believed that Honor.
About August twenty eighth, Brian Laundry advised his parents that
he had murdered Gabrielle Patito, and on that same date,
Chris Laundry and ROBERTA. Laundry spoke with their attorney, Steve
Bertolino and sent him a retainer. Just a few days later,
(07:38):
September second, think about your reminded of the dates, of
the timing, of the pacing of when the couple was
last seen out west, when Brian Laundry returned to Florida
and Gabby's van without her, and then that radio silence
that broke everyone's heart as everyone stood outside of the
(07:59):
Laundry's home saying, where is Gabby? Do you know something?
And we remember I was at the press conference for
Gabby Patito's parents when Rick Stafford came out and read
a statement saying, we beg you to tell us as
a parent, how did you let us go through this
pain and not help us? And you know, I think
that the other thing that we kind of surmised was
(08:22):
that these this family, if they knew, and it appears
that they did, rolled the dice and said we're not
going to say anything. Because I was in Wyoming when
Gabby was found. I went to that campground where her
body I remember that was and so it was. It
was beautiful and the trees had just turned. But it
turned really cold and icy and snowy very very soon after.
(08:46):
So you got to think, did everybody on the Laundry
side think that if they just stayed quiet long enough,
maybe she would not worry?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Wait a minute, you just gave me an idea, Laura Angele.
First of all, talk to you is like drinking from
a fire hydrate. It's just so much information at once.
I could even write the notes fast enough. And I
know everybody on the panel has a ton of questions
for you too. But the idea you just gave me,
I want to know where we're getting the date August
twenty eighth, that that's the day we believe Ryan Laundry
(09:17):
told his parents I murdered Gabby and I can guarandamn
t you technical legal term.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
That that's not what he said. He didn't say. I
beat her.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I bludgeoned her head, then I strangled her until she died. No, no, no,
he probably made up some bs about uh she said this.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And then she hit me and I hit her back,
and oh she fell and hit her head on a
rock and died.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's going to be some total cocamanie crap like that.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the mystery surrounding the murder
of a beautiful twenty two year old girl, Gabby Petito,
(10:08):
seemingly never ends. In the last days, we learned from
Gabby's mother that Brian Laundry, Gabby's killer fiance, completely gutted
his room seemingly immediately after he went missing. Why even
(10:32):
cleaning out Gabby's Ford transit the two had traveled in
and getting rid of the mattress. Why would Laundry's parents
do that? What evidence did it contain and what was
in the room that had to be destroyed? If the
(10:56):
Laundry's knew, if it could be proven the Laundry's you
need Gabby was dead and they let law enforcement and
all of the personnel involved, the US Marshals, the FBI,
the local law enforcement at Northport, the law enforcement at
the Granteetos, everybody searching how much did that cost? And
(11:17):
the whole time they knew she was dead and they
need where could they be prosecuted?
Speaker 5 (11:23):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
No, in a nutshell Wndy Patrick.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
I think yes, if they knew something at a time
when they could have prevented further harm when they could
have prevented further expense, when they could have spared law
enforcement at the time and resources. Think about the resources
that were expended looking for Gabby if they knew she
was dead.
Speaker 7 (11:42):
Now, on the other.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
Side of that, you can argue, well, what exactly did
they know? And I think you cube that up nicely.
What did Brian actually say text messages.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Back and forth?
Speaker 6 (11:52):
And that's going to be an important piece of evidence.
You're right about that, what if anything they could face criminally?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Okay, Cheryl McCallum, I here, you're trying to jump in guys.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Oh my gosh. The thing that just drives me insane.
The additional element of waiting the thirteen days, right, and
then the additional eight days before she's actually found, Nancy,
the amount of evidence that could have been lost may
have been lost. She's out in the elements. There's going
(12:20):
to be animal activity, There's going to be weather.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Why do you say animal activity? You and Joe Scott
more than both do that. Wait a minute, let's just
say what it really is.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Okay, and it tastes like dirt, but animal activity, all right?
That rids me on a hike.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I just took the twins on and we were bird
spotting and looking for animals. What you're talking about is
Gabby's body lying out in the elements, the tetons and
animals ripping her body apart and chewing on her and
gnawing on her. That's what we're talking about. That is
(13:05):
what the Gabby Patito family has to live with twenty
four to seven.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Every day of the year.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I mean, that's what we're talking about, all right, So
let's just say what it is.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Cheryl McCollum.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
You're absolutely right, and there is nothing more repugnant and
vile in opinion of hell.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
That's what I'm saying. Correct.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
The Gate agreed for letting her family live through that,
and now they got to live the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
They got to know that's what happened to their girl.
That's right.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
As for she was brutally murdered by the very person
that was supposed to be taken care of her and
the most again repugnant and vile and straight devil when ROBERTA.
Laundry blocked Gabby's mama's phone number and then blocked our
(14:02):
own social media.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Ooh, I forgot about that.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Laura Engel, that the Laundry's actually blocked Gabby's family from
trying to contact them.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Is that true? It is?
Speaker 4 (14:14):
It is true.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It is.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
That is what we have read about in reports. We've
talked to them, and it goes back to that desperation
of that time frame that we're talking about, of begging them,
and to think of that and go back in your
mind of the news coverage, the bike riding, the mowing
of the lawn, taking trips to the store, the camping trip,
all of that. It is believed that he confessed to
(14:38):
his parents, and you're right, Nancy, like, we don't know
exactly what was said. We don't know if he detailed
it a mom and dad, it was an accident. I
don't know what to do. I'm scared them coming home.
We don't know what was said. But if we do
learn exactly the exact times of when Brian was talking
to his parents, the attorney for the Laundry says, look,
(14:58):
I never talked to Brian Lawny. I never spoke to him.
But what if Ryan Laundry was talking to his dad
and Bertolino was talking to the mom. And let's just
say for argument's sake, that everybody was on speakerphone.
Speaker 8 (15:12):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
So there's going to be more information that will be
coming for I think there's something hard, Laura Ingle.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I think there's something hard.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
If the documents say on twenty eight they've got hard
evidence of that?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Our tep is a text, is an email? And hey
happen again, Laura Ingle? Drink from the fire hydrant. Karen starting,
did you hear Laura Ingle? And this is a hypothetical.
We're talking about what he told his parents, and I said,
I can guarantee you he didn't say, hey, I murdered
Gabby and left her body out there to be torn
apart by animals. He probably says some bs story about
(15:48):
she hit me, then I pushed her, she hit her
head on a rock or a treat, she died just
like that. Of course that's a lie. But wait a minute,
Laura Ingle says, Well, what if he says something like, Mom, Dad,
I'm upset Gabby died. I'm so upset, I don't know
what to do. He's not so upset. He didn't stuff
his pie hole the way whole way home, thousands of
(16:09):
miles on Gabby's credit card. You think he felt bad
when he drove through Burger King and had it his way?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Or is that McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, it's burger King. What about that he wasn't so
upset he couldn't eat. He left a trail a mile
wide on her credit card and her debit.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Card, Nancy. He also on August thirtieth, remember he sent
a text message from Gabby's culpho to the Gabby's mall
and saying no service in Yosemite, in an effort to
make her mother believe that she was still alive.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You're so right, Laura ingl He's not upset. He's upset
like a snake after.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
Him biting got the grandfather.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Go ahead, Karen, start champion.
Speaker 9 (16:54):
He didn't just he sent text pretending that he was her.
I'm so upset that he was able to go home
and be with mommy and daddy and Nancy. When you
think about this, when you think about how hard it
is to lose a child, good parents, it's something that
you never get over. It's not the way it's supposed
(17:16):
to be. And then on top of that, it's hard
enough to imagine your child dead, let alone being eaten
by animals, being abandoned, and there is no doubt in
my mind that he said she provoked him.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Oh, no doubt in my mind at all, no doubt.
Take a listen to our cut three our friends from
Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (17:39):
Parents of the young woman who lives such a colorful
life are trying to avenge her death by putting in
black and white the horrible details of what they went through.
In arguing that the laundries quote knew they could alleviate,
at least in part, such mental suffering and anguish. The
Potito said they believe that on August twenty eighth, Laundry,
(18:01):
while still in Wyoming, advised his parents he had murdered Gabby.
For several weeks, the laundry Is not only refused to
talk to the Potitos, they put out statements saying they
hope she could be found alive. The Laundries were accused
for weeks by protesters of not being forthcoming.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Joscott Morgan, professor forensics Jacksonville State University and star of
Bodybags as Joseph Scott Morgan jump in, Joe Scott, Hey.
Speaker 8 (18:26):
You know, Nancy. One of the things that comes to me,
I'm kind of listening back toward Laundry's remains.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Well listening, back listing.
Speaker 8 (18:39):
Go ahead, yeah, sorry, yeah, So going back to Brian laundry.
You know, one of the things I'm thinking about is
there's so much deception. I think that goes along with
where his you know, his his location throughout this whole thing.
The car. You remember, we reflect back to how did
he wind up out there? Where did he go? Your
(19:00):
remember how much time we spent speculating about where he
may have gone. And you know.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I'm speculating, Josica Morgan, I call it analyzing the events
that we knew.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Well, yeah, well people.
Speaker 8 (19:13):
Were saying Mexico, all these other things, and there is
a there's a thread that runs through this of deception,
and it's not surprising relative to you know, when we
look at what happened to Gabby and his his murder
of her, and then moving forward, what happened to him
(19:34):
coming back to his parents, I'm thinking, you know, what
is it that they haven't told us about him and
his activities? You know, when I looked over the and
the report that we got back was absolutely voluminous. I
mean it just goes on and on and on relative
to his body. I don't know that in my memory,
I've seen one quite this inclusive of everything. You know,
(19:58):
they report that he was like scene on the thirteenth.
They didn't fill out this missing person's report until like
the seventeenth of September, and he was so far gone
by the time the authorities got out there they could
not actually pin down. This is the forensic anthropologist could
not actually pin down a specific time of death.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Positive they did.
Speaker 8 (20:22):
And they were able to recover that. But Nancy, to
give you an idea, the best she could do in
one of her calculations was, now get this anywhere from
forty seven days to six hundred and seventy two days
as an estimation of post mortem intervals. That's how far
gone he was. And I still have a major question
(20:42):
again about this gunshot wound. He sustained. He is right
hand dominant. This is a left handed entrance wound that
we have that has been validated by not just the
forensic anthropologists but also the forensic pathologist. And where in
the hell did this revolver come from? Who did it
belong to? What's you know, what's the genesis of it?
(21:03):
And I don't think that that's been thoroughly addressed as well.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Well.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I think you're absolutely correct. What about it?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
CHERRYL.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
McCullum, I agree with one hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
And I have the same feeling about this notebook and
his alleged confession. I don't think it's a confession when they.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Craft words and unicorns and yeah.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
There are drawings, and.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's that's very different.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Like as a parent, if your child is riding the
bike and fall, you might feel responsible that they got
hurt because you couldn't protect him in that moment, but
you didn't cause it. You're not going to confess that
you're the reason they've got to skinned up me.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
What does that have to do with this?
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Because you can take responsibility, but that's not a confession.
If Jackie cusses out a guest, you may apologize and
take responsibility for it, but you're not confessing that you
cussed anybody out. That was Jackie, that word bothers me.
I have seen no confession.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Did you say to Laura Ingele special guest joining us
Christopher and ROBERTA Laundry's behavior explain.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
You know, they say, and to go back a page
and this is the number thirty one that's cricis. It's
utterly horrible but let me let me see this up.
Because they write, on September fourteenth, with full knowledge that
Gabrielle Potito had been murdered by their son, the Laundry
lawyer put out a statement saying, it is our understanding
(22:33):
that a search has been organized for miss Potito in
or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, on behalf
of the Laundry family. It is our hope that the
search for miss Potito is successful and that Miss Potito
is reunited with her family. That's September fourteenth. And as
you go down to fast forwarding to knowing what happened,
they write in the lawsuit, Christopher Laundry and ROBERTA. Laundry
(22:54):
exhibited extreme and outrageous conduct, which constitutes behavior under the
circumstance answers, which goes beyond all possible bounds of decency
and is regarded as shocking, atrocious, and utterly intolerable in
a civilized community. Who could blame them?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Well, who could blame them?
Speaker 4 (23:13):
I mean, you know, you think about the timeline, and
you know, if all of this is true, and if
they knew those details, and then they put out a statement, sure,
we hope that she sound and they knew where she was.
It just makes her stomach turn.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
But Nancy Wee can prove they knew it. On September tenth,
when her daddy went to their house and knocked on
the door and they wouldn't even come to the door.
He had to put out in front of God and
country on social media, I'm going to the police if
you don't tell me something. So then he goes to
the police on September the eleventh. They knew it, they
knew it, and they acted.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I think I might be able to one of you.
I'm not sure. Okay, put this in your pipe of
smoke at Cheryl McCallum.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
You ready.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
On that day, August twenty eight, that's today Christopher and
roberta laundry speak with attorney Steve Bertolino. Suddenly that's the
day they go, whoa, whoa, what we need a criminal lawyer.
And then they follow up about two days later with
(24:19):
the retainer.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
That's right now.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
As I always say, there is no coincidence in criminal laws.
So Wendy Patrick, what about it? California prosecutors, that's the
day they decide they need a high power criminal defense
attorney who ps great criminal defense attorneys are usually not
seen or heard outside the courtroom.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
They don't want to be.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Stars in their own ride on TV or this or that.
Have you ever noticed that, Wendy Patrick.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
That's true, And it's also true that in this case,
the fact that they spoke on August twenty eighth is
going to be so important for the timeline because guess
what days later? On August thirtieth is when Laundry apparently
sent an additional text for Potito's phone to Schmid saying
there was no service in Yourssementy Park in an efforts
leaving her to believe Gabby was still alive. So that's
(25:13):
after the twenty eighth when the lawyer is hired. That's
a huge point.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
According to Gabby Potito's mother, Brian Laundry, Gabby's killer fiance,
his room was completely emptied, gutted, renovated almost immediately after
Brian quote disappeared. Remember, Gabby went missing on a cross
(25:40):
country road trip with fiance Brian Laundry. Her body later
found in the Grand Teta National Park. Laundry accused of
her murder. Many believe it could have all been avoided
when cops stopped the two based on domestic abuse claims,
but they ended up blaming Gabby, naming her the attacker,
(26:06):
and letting Laundry walk free. Shortly after that, he murdered her.
But why would Laundry's mother get rid of his entire rooms,
belongings and even clean out Gabby's van getting rid of
the mattress. She Nicole Schmidt, Gabby's mom, says, quote that
(26:29):
very same week Gabby was missing, cops were going to
Laundry's house to try to get a scent from their
dogs to look for Brian. All his things were gone.
The room was completely empty. She also says the van
that Gabby had used to drive across the country had
been quote completely cleaned out. The mattress was never recovered.
(26:51):
Gabby's stuff was packed away in a closet. Schmidt admit
she was extremely frostrated with Laundry's parents and they're saving
lack of cooperation when she was trying to find her daughter.
Think about it, Laura Ingle, think about it. So he
(27:14):
gets home, they know Gabby's dead and they go for
a camp out. The family goes on a little trip
and camps out. They sit around the campfire, they grow out,
They eat other people at the campground remembers De Soto Campgrounds.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
See them now what I was I was talking about
this this morning about the you know about Brian being
seen walking walking around. We know that the sister was there.
Now did they go camping to try and kind of
come together as the family and say what are we
going to do? But it doesn't look like it. From
the pictures and from the stories that we've heard from
people who saw them there, it looked like they were
(27:54):
genuinely can't tell.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
You, Laura camp And I bring this up only when projecting,
But Laura, I remember when my fiance was murdered. I
couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I lost down to eighty
nine pounds. The smell of food made me sick just
to smell it. I remember the first thing I finally
(28:18):
ate or consumed was a glass of orange juice. It
was the first thing that did not make me literally
nauseous after Keith's murder. So, how in the h E
double l is this family knowing that Gabby is dead
and being torn apart by animals out in the rain,
(28:44):
lying there on the dirt, How can they go to
a campout? How could they do that?
Speaker 4 (28:50):
There's no explanation. There's none. None of us on this panel,
nobody listening could even imagine doing what they did right
if they knew, and it looks like they did, how
could you. You're absolutely right in January when they said,
you know, we're bringing the family together, We're sharing all
the information with them that we possibly can give them
(29:11):
right now. And everybody's like, Okay, the case is closed.
Lest Attorney's office, Granteeton Attorney's office closed their case because
the debit card that was brodd, he dead. They've got
to close the case.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
The deception in the hiding, add to that the layer
of the parents going straight out to the body. They
hadn't been out in uh that area, Carlton Reserve forty
(29:43):
five minutes.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
You remember that, Cheryl McCollum, and.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
They remember eight to the body, and then Kyle comes
up and shows them I think it was the dry
pack or something found near Brian Laundry's body, and they're
like mm hmm, they're right, and no emotion. I can
remember again projecting. I remember testifying in court at Keith's
(30:09):
murder trial, and I remember coming down off the witness stand.
It was tall equal my head was equal to the
judge's head. And you go down some steps and then
turn and go down some more steps.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
And I was.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Walking out and I walked by council table and looked
over and saw Keith's bloody denim shirt for the first
time since I saw him drive away that morning before
he was killed. Think about it, when the cops showed
the laundry, those the laundries, those items, saw video, they.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Just stood there. There was really no reaction at all.
Mama was holding the bag.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
Mama had the dry bag in her hands standing there
on that pathway. And again that's the bag that held
this notebook that allegedly has this confession in it.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I've said all along the suggestion that they planted evidence
was far fetched.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
But now I know.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
The level of deception that has been alleged by the
Petito family against them.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
What are they capable of concealing? Cheryl McCollum, Nancy.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
They allowed their son to use a dead girl's debit
card to get his sorry ass home to help formulating
some plan of how to save his behind from what
he had done. And I've said from the beginning on
your show, they knew it. They knew it all along.
I've said even the sister knew it. There is no
(31:43):
way that she went to that camp site for the
day and didn't ask how's Gabby, where's Gabby? What's going
on with Gabby? Everybody had to have known. This is
odd for him to have come home the second time.
Remember he flew home before on August seventeenth, So now
he's back again. That's weird. You're on the trip of
a lifetime and you won't quit coming home to your mama.
(32:06):
That's weird. So there's no way she knew it, didn't
know it. There's no way she didn't have them calling
her phone too, because her mama said they tried to
get her. Then, there ain't no way she missed it.
On social media and the local news.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
You know that whole story, Laura Ingele about him coming home.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
It's not a story.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
He did fly home in the middle of the trip
and leave Gabby alone. And I've always the moment I
heard that, I went, WHOA wait, wait what? And I
believe I was speaking to one of Gabby's family members.
I said, is that true? And they would not confirm
it or deny it. And their answer is they were
told by police not to discuss it, which means it's
(32:47):
true or something like it is true.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
I think he went home to he went home to
he flew home. And what's so weird about it is
that they were tied on not tied on money, but
they were watching their pennies. They were really conscious of
their money and so but they took the time. He
took the time to fly home to clear out a
storage unit. That was the story that he was going
(33:11):
to clear out a storage unit and then returned back
and that.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Was to Utah. I believe.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Versus Lake City.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Beautiful, Young Gabby Potato's mother claims there was something quote
wrong with Brian Laundry's family when police searched his empty
room after her murder, claiming the room of being gutted
and something was quote wrong with his mom after he vanished.
As they continue to search for their missing girl, Gabby's mom,
(33:53):
Nicole recounts eerie circumstances leading up to the discovery of
Gabby's body, including the moment cop searched Laundry's home finding nothing.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
In his room.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
She Nicole says that she continues to find out new
information even now. Take a listen to our cut for
our friends at Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (34:19):
Police in Northport said they'd not gotten cooperation as to
whether they knew anything about where Gabby was, but the
Laundries did tell police Brian had not returned from the
reserve where he was eventually found dead.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
But the new lawsuit alleges.
Speaker 10 (34:34):
The Laundries had been making arrangements for Brian to leave
the country. Their family attorney denied the allegations, saying the
lawsuit does not change the fact that the Laundries had
no obligation to speak to law enforcement or any third party,
including the Potito family. This fundamental legal principle renders the
Potito's claim to be baseless under the law, do we.
Speaker 11 (34:55):
Have a legal system where people are punished civilly for
knaku operating with criminal investigations.
Speaker 10 (35:02):
The lawsuit does not say how the Potitos learned of
the facts they allege, but they did have several meetings
with investigators, including at the Tampa FBI office after the
investigation it was closed. The Potito family attorney said there
were multiple conversations between Brian, his parents, and their lawyer
before he left Wyoming August thirtieth.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
So Joe Scott Morgan if we weren't half wrong, right,
because they were trying to get him out of the
country exactly what we had thought was going on.
Speaker 8 (35:34):
Yeah, push, push, push, you know, I had all kinds
of ideas, you know, back then, thinking about how could
they facilitate Remember when they were at that camping area.
You know, I think a couple of us had thought
that maybe by water, you know, how are you going
to get him out of the reach of the US authorities,
to get him spirited off somewhere. We were thinking about,
(35:55):
you know, him leaving with gobs of cash so that
he could fall off of the radar relative to using
any kind of credit cards, which of course he had
stolen Gabby's and utilized it, and just you know, go
abroad with US currency and try to make that happen.
But how do you make that happen? I think that
that's one of the big problems here when you have
(36:16):
somebody that is not sophisticated in a way that the
criminals work. You know, they don't know, you know, how
were we going to get him away from all of this trouble?
And at the end of the day, and at the
end of the day, they knew where his body was.
I'm very curious as to what that final conversation was
(36:38):
like with him, you know, did he actually did he
actually tell them? You know, Mom, Dad, I think I'm
just going to go out here and end it, and
I'm going to tell you specifically where it was. Think
about what Max said and what you said within forty
five minutes, Nancy, in this vast area and it is vast. Yeah,
and where, by the way, let me remind everybody forgotten
(37:00):
about this group of people. They've put all of the
searchers at risk out here, alligator snakes, dehydration for days,
for days, and they put these people out there at risk,
and they walk right to the body and all of
this evidence, and Nancy, I got to say one more thing,
the most striking piece of evidence to me, and it's
(37:22):
just the old debt investigator in me. Out of everything,
you know, we had skeletal remains, we had this weapon
that we had talked about. But one of the things
that just made me want to bite the head off
a tenpenny nail is that out there at that scene
they found adjacent to his body, red ball cap. You
know what that red ball cap said. It said Moab Roasters.
(37:47):
I wonder where he bought that. Out of all the
hats he could have chosen, that's the one that he
picked up as he was walking out that door for
the final time. And he went out there and he
took that hat, and I think that hat left out
there was a great, big old screw you to everybody.
That's what I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
That's where he was caught beating Gabby out on the
street as we all know, you know to Laura Ingele,
senior correspondent Fox and he he's joining us, Laura. I
believe that in point number fourteen, paragraph number fourteen, the
date it is pinpointed of the murder being August twenty seventh.
(38:24):
I wonder if that's because that's the last day that
her mother and Nicole Schmidt spoke with her.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (38:30):
I do believe it's that, And it also coincides with
their sightings. And remember the Moab incident happens that's been
so widely watched with the police body cam footage. But
then they make their way and then Jackson I went
to this place. It's the Mary Piglets and it's a
restaurant that it was a last known public sighting, and
(38:52):
we don't know what happened, and we've been trying to
get our hands on any security footage of this restaurant.
But there was some kind of a fight, some kind
of an altercation between Brian and Gabby, an argument they
were lasting, and so I and I stood there. So
you're standing at the restaurant and you look down the
long road, and down that long road is where the
campground was. So they were at this restaurant, they have
(39:15):
an argument, they get in the carts to the van,
they go down to the campground, they turn in, they
set up camp. Then you know, the other bloggers bought
the van, which helped us locate where they were. But
it's that last those are the last moments. There was
something going on on that date on August twenty seventh,
during the day and then it was later that night
(39:37):
that that's when they believe. And there's forensics involved here
too in terms of her body, where she was found,
how she was found, that it all ties together that
August twenty seventh is the date that she died.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
I want you to listen to our cut eleven.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
This is jbb know WFLA News Channel eight.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Listen to this point number twenty five.
Speaker 11 (40:00):
On September fourteen, twenty twenty one, with full knowledge that
Gabrielle Potito had been murdered by their son, Christopher Laundry,
and ROBERTA. Laundry, through their lawyer, issued the following statement,
quote unquote, it is our understanding that a search has
been organized for miss Potito in or near Grand Titan
National Park in Wyoming, on behalf of the Laundry family.
It is our hope that the search for miss Potito
is successful and that Miss Potito is reunited with her family.
(40:23):
Point number twenty nine and point number thirty.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
As Laura Ingele told us, full knowing their son had
murdered Gabby, they give a public statement.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
I hope they find her. The search for Gabby is
something I will never forget. We wait as this case
continues to unfold. Goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The intrigue surrounding the disappearance and murder of a beautiful
young girl, twenty two year old Gabby Petito seemingly goes
on in the last days. Gabby's mother claims her killer
slash fiance, Brian Laundry's room and the home he shared
(00:30):
with his parents was quote completely empty once he vanished.
What does that mean? Did Brian Laundry's parents know all
along what was happening. I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories.
(00:52):
Thank you for being with us. Gabby Patito's mother says
Brian Laundry's room was quote completely gutted and renovated almost
immediately once he disappeared. She says none of his things
were there anymore. Nicole Schmidt says all of his things
(01:14):
were gone that very same week Gabby was missing. She said,
police going to Laundry's home to try and get a
scent from dogs to look for Brian. All his things
were gone at that time and his room was completely empty,
completely cleaned out. Also, she says that the van that
(01:39):
belonged to Gabby, that Gabby alone had completely remodeled to
be a touring van, was also completely cleaned out that
even the mattress was never recovered. Nicole says Gabby's things
were packed away in a closet. Okay, is it just
(02:03):
strange behavior or does it prove something?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
How does this piece of the puzzle fit into Gabby's
disappearance and murder followed by killer fiancee, Brian Laundry, wandering
into the twenty five thousand acre Carlton Reserve and killing himself. Okay,
where did the whole thing start?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Gabrielle Gabby Potito's body was.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Found out in a dispersed camping area far far away
from home.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
But where was her boyfriend?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
The fiance that she traveled across the country with, vlogging
video blogging the whole way about the van life. If
you haven't looked at those vlogs, they're incredible, She's really talented.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
He comes home and her van with all of her
stuff using her credit cards, but no Gabby. Her family
has now sued the family of so called fiance, Brian Laundry,
saying they aided and abetted him while hiding the evidence
(03:15):
from Gabby's parents as they desperately tried to find their daughter.
I mean when I got pick up the twins at school.
When they start being five ten fifteen minutes late, I
get out of the car and I go looking for them.
Children have disappeared on school playgrounds, in school areas. Can
(03:37):
you imagine what Gabby Petito's parents went through?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
As they called and they called, and they.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Texted and they emailed Laundry's parents, and then they find
out the worst Laundry's home. Gabby's van is part in
the driveway, but no Gabby. How do you think they
felt when they find out the Laundryes take Brian Laundry
(04:04):
on a camping trip. They go camping, and they sit
around the campfire and have Somemores, but no Gabby.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Nobody said, hey, where's Gabby?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Can you imagine that feeling in their gut, in their
mind and their heart when her cell phone goes straight
to voicemail every single time and they know, but yet
they don't know. I don't even want to think about it,
you know. I used to tell that to Jury's all
(04:39):
the years I tried filling the cases. You can't turn away.
You cannot turn away from the truth. It's our beauty
to look at the truth and determine.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
What is just.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Joining me in an all star panel to make sense
of what we know right now? But first I want
you to listen to our cut one from ABC seven.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Patito and her fiance left New York early July in
a van to travel the country. After several weeks of
visiting national parks, Brian returned to Florida in the van
without Gabby. When he refused to cooperate with authorities, suspicion
turned to him, and then he went missing. His remains
were found weeks later.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Think about it.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
We believe Gabby was killed August twenty eight. Her body
was not found until September nineteen. Think about all that
time the family was left hanging blood in the wind,
wondering where is their beautiful girl? With me an all
(05:48):
star panel to make sense of what we know right now?
In first of all, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags,
Wendy Patrick. She's a star of Today with doctor Wendy
kcb Q and you can find her at wendypatrickphd dot com.
Renowned psychologists joining us out of Manhattan. Karen Stark, you
can find her at Karenstark dot com. That's Karen with
(06:09):
a C. Cheryl McCollum, founder and Director of the Cold
Case Research Institute, forensic specialist, and you can find her
at coldcasecrimes dot org. Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author
of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon as star of
a brand new another brand new hit series, This is
(06:29):
Bodybags with Joseph Scott Morgan on iHeart. But first to
senior correspondent Special Guests joining us, Laura Ingele, Laura, does
it never end with the Laundryes?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Does it never end? I mean, don't you think that
at some point they would.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Have held out an olive branch for Pete's say and said, listen,
we're gonna fly to your place this weekend.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I know you hate us.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Right now, but let us tell you our side of
what happened, what we need, when we knew it, what
we thought we knew, what we didn't know to set
your heart at rest?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Can they not do that? And if not, why not,
Laura Ingles.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
You know what it's been months later, Financy, they do
lay out the dates that it is believed that Honor.
About August twenty eighth, Brian Laundry advised his parents that
he had murdered Gabrielle Patito, and on that same date,
Chris Laundry and ROBERTA. Laundry spoke with their attorney, Steve
Bertolino and sent him a retainer. Just a few days later,
(07:38):
September second, think about your reminded of the dates, of
the timing, of the pacing of when the couple was
last seen out west, when Brian Laundry returned to Florida
and Gabby's van without her, and then that radio silence
that broke everyone's heart as everyone stood outside of the
(07:59):
Laundry's home saying, where is Gabby? Do you know something?
And we remember I was at the press conference for
Gabby Patito's parents when Rick Stafford came out and read
a statement saying, we beg you to tell us as
a parent, how did you let us go through this
pain and not help us? And you know, I think
that the other thing that we kind of surmised was
(08:22):
that these this family, if they knew, and it appears
that they did, rolled the dice and said we're not
going to say anything. Because I was in Wyoming when
Gabby was found. I went to that campground where her
body I remember that was and so it was. It
was beautiful and the trees had just turned. But it
turned really cold and icy and snowy very very soon after.
(08:46):
So you got to think, did everybody on the Laundry
side think that if they just stayed quiet long enough,
maybe she would not worry?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Wait a minute, you just gave me an idea, Laura Angele.
First of all, talk to you is like drinking from
a fire hydrate. It's just so much information at once.
I could even write the notes fast enough. And I
know everybody on the panel has a ton of questions
for you too. But the idea you just gave me,
I want to know where we're getting the date August
twenty eighth, that that's the day we believe Ryan Laundry
(09:17):
told his parents I murdered Gabby and I can guarandamn
t you technical legal term.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
That that's not what he said. He didn't say. I
beat her.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I bludgeoned her head, then I strangled her until she died. No, no, no,
he probably made up some bs about uh she said this.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And then she hit me and I hit her back,
and oh she fell and hit her head on a
rock and died.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's going to be some total cocamanie crap like that.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the mystery surrounding the murder
of a beautiful twenty two year old girl, Gabby Petito,
(10:08):
seemingly never ends. In the last days, we learned from
Gabby's mother that Brian Laundry, Gabby's killer fiance, completely gutted
his room seemingly immediately after he went missing. Why even
(10:32):
cleaning out Gabby's Ford transit the two had traveled in
and getting rid of the mattress. Why would Laundry's parents
do that? What evidence did it contain and what was
in the room that had to be destroyed? If the
(10:56):
Laundry's knew, if it could be proven the Laundry's you
need Gabby was dead and they let law enforcement and
all of the personnel involved, the US Marshals, the FBI,
the local law enforcement at Northport, the law enforcement at
the Granteetos, everybody searching how much did that cost? And
(11:17):
the whole time they knew she was dead and they
need where could they be prosecuted?
Speaker 5 (11:23):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
No, in a nutshell Wndy Patrick.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
I think yes, if they knew something at a time
when they could have prevented further harm when they could
have prevented further expense, when they could have spared law
enforcement at the time and resources. Think about the resources
that were expended looking for Gabby if they knew she
was dead.
Speaker 7 (11:42):
Now, on the other.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
Side of that, you can argue, well, what exactly did
they know? And I think you cube that up nicely.
What did Brian actually say text messages.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Back and forth?
Speaker 6 (11:52):
And that's going to be an important piece of evidence.
You're right about that, what if anything they could face criminally?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Okay, Cheryl McCallum, I here, you're trying to jump in guys.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Oh my gosh. The thing that just drives me insane.
The additional element of waiting the thirteen days, right, and
then the additional eight days before she's actually found, Nancy,
the amount of evidence that could have been lost may
have been lost. She's out in the elements. There's going
(12:20):
to be animal activity, There's going to be weather.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Why do you say animal activity? You and Joe Scott
more than both do that. Wait a minute, let's just
say what it really is.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Okay, and it tastes like dirt, but animal activity, all right?
That rids me on a hike.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I just took the twins on and we were bird
spotting and looking for animals. What you're talking about is
Gabby's body lying out in the elements, the tetons and
animals ripping her body apart and chewing on her and
gnawing on her. That's what we're talking about. That is
(13:05):
what the Gabby Patito family has to live with twenty
four to seven.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Every day of the year.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I mean, that's what we're talking about, all right, So
let's just say what it is.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Cheryl McCollum.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
You're absolutely right, and there is nothing more repugnant and
vile in opinion of hell.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
That's what I'm saying. Correct.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
The Gate agreed for letting her family live through that,
and now they got to live the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
They got to know that's what happened to their girl.
That's right.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
As for she was brutally murdered by the very person
that was supposed to be taken care of her and
the most again repugnant and vile and straight devil when ROBERTA.
Laundry blocked Gabby's mama's phone number and then blocked our
(14:02):
own social media.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Ooh, I forgot about that.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Laura Engel, that the Laundry's actually blocked Gabby's family from
trying to contact them.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Is that true? It is?
Speaker 4 (14:14):
It is true.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It is.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
That is what we have read about in reports. We've
talked to them, and it goes back to that desperation
of that time frame that we're talking about, of begging them,
and to think of that and go back in your
mind of the news coverage, the bike riding, the mowing
of the lawn, taking trips to the store, the camping trip,
all of that. It is believed that he confessed to
(14:38):
his parents, and you're right, Nancy, like, we don't know
exactly what was said. We don't know if he detailed
it a mom and dad, it was an accident. I
don't know what to do. I'm scared them coming home.
We don't know what was said. But if we do
learn exactly the exact times of when Brian was talking
to his parents, the attorney for the Laundry says, look,
(14:58):
I never talked to Brian Lawny. I never spoke to him.
But what if Ryan Laundry was talking to his dad
and Bertolino was talking to the mom. And let's just
say for argument's sake, that everybody was on speakerphone.
Speaker 8 (15:12):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
So there's going to be more information that will be
coming for I think there's something hard, Laura Ingle.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I think there's something hard.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
If the documents say on twenty eight they've got hard
evidence of that?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Our tep is a text, is an email? And hey
happen again, Laura Ingle? Drink from the fire hydrant. Karen starting,
did you hear Laura Ingle? And this is a hypothetical.
We're talking about what he told his parents, and I said,
I can guarantee you he didn't say, hey, I murdered
Gabby and left her body out there to be torn
apart by animals. He probably says some bs story about
(15:48):
she hit me, then I pushed her, she hit her
head on a rock or a treat, she died just
like that. Of course that's a lie. But wait a minute,
Laura Ingle says, Well, what if he says something like, Mom, Dad,
I'm upset Gabby died. I'm so upset, I don't know
what to do. He's not so upset. He didn't stuff
his pie hole the way whole way home, thousands of
(16:09):
miles on Gabby's credit card. You think he felt bad
when he drove through Burger King and had it his way?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Or is that McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, it's burger King. What about that he wasn't so
upset he couldn't eat. He left a trail a mile
wide on her credit card and her debit.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Card, Nancy. He also on August thirtieth, remember he sent
a text message from Gabby's culpho to the Gabby's mall
and saying no service in Yosemite, in an effort to
make her mother believe that she was still alive.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You're so right, Laura ingl He's not upset. He's upset
like a snake after.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
Him biting got the grandfather.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Go ahead, Karen, start champion.
Speaker 9 (16:54):
He didn't just he sent text pretending that he was her.
I'm so upset that he was able to go home
and be with mommy and daddy and Nancy. When you
think about this, when you think about how hard it
is to lose a child, good parents, it's something that
you never get over. It's not the way it's supposed
(17:16):
to be. And then on top of that, it's hard
enough to imagine your child dead, let alone being eaten
by animals, being abandoned, and there is no doubt in
my mind that he said she provoked him.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Oh, no doubt in my mind at all, no doubt.
Take a listen to our cut three our friends from
Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (17:39):
Parents of the young woman who lives such a colorful
life are trying to avenge her death by putting in
black and white the horrible details of what they went through.
In arguing that the laundries quote knew they could alleviate,
at least in part, such mental suffering and anguish. The
Potito said they believe that on August twenty eighth, Laundry,
(18:01):
while still in Wyoming, advised his parents he had murdered Gabby.
For several weeks, the laundry Is not only refused to
talk to the Potitos, they put out statements saying they
hope she could be found alive. The Laundries were accused
for weeks by protesters of not being forthcoming.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Joscott Morgan, professor forensics Jacksonville State University and star of
Bodybags as Joseph Scott Morgan jump in, Joe Scott, Hey.
Speaker 8 (18:26):
You know, Nancy. One of the things that comes to me,
I'm kind of listening back toward Laundry's remains.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Well listening, back listing.
Speaker 8 (18:39):
Go ahead, yeah, sorry, yeah, So going back to Brian laundry.
You know, one of the things I'm thinking about is
there's so much deception. I think that goes along with
where his you know, his his location throughout this whole thing.
The car. You remember, we reflect back to how did
he wind up out there? Where did he go? Your
(19:00):
remember how much time we spent speculating about where he
may have gone. And you know.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I'm speculating, Josica Morgan, I call it analyzing the events
that we knew.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Well, yeah, well people.
Speaker 8 (19:13):
Were saying Mexico, all these other things, and there is
a there's a thread that runs through this of deception,
and it's not surprising relative to you know, when we
look at what happened to Gabby and his his murder
of her, and then moving forward, what happened to him
(19:34):
coming back to his parents, I'm thinking, you know, what
is it that they haven't told us about him and
his activities? You know, when I looked over the and
the report that we got back was absolutely voluminous. I
mean it just goes on and on and on relative
to his body. I don't know that in my memory,
I've seen one quite this inclusive of everything. You know,
(19:58):
they report that he was like scene on the thirteenth.
They didn't fill out this missing person's report until like
the seventeenth of September, and he was so far gone
by the time the authorities got out there they could
not actually pin down. This is the forensic anthropologist could
not actually pin down a specific time of death.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Positive they did.
Speaker 8 (20:22):
And they were able to recover that. But Nancy, to
give you an idea, the best she could do in
one of her calculations was, now get this anywhere from
forty seven days to six hundred and seventy two days
as an estimation of post mortem intervals. That's how far
gone he was. And I still have a major question
(20:42):
again about this gunshot wound. He sustained. He is right
hand dominant. This is a left handed entrance wound that
we have that has been validated by not just the
forensic anthropologists but also the forensic pathologist. And where in
the hell did this revolver come from? Who did it
belong to? What's you know, what's the genesis of it?
(21:03):
And I don't think that that's been thoroughly addressed as well.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Well.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
I think you're absolutely correct. What about it?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
CHERRYL.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
McCullum, I agree with one hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
And I have the same feeling about this notebook and
his alleged confession. I don't think it's a confession when they.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Craft words and unicorns and yeah.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
There are drawings, and.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's that's very different.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Like as a parent, if your child is riding the
bike and fall, you might feel responsible that they got
hurt because you couldn't protect him in that moment, but
you didn't cause it. You're not going to confess that
you're the reason they've got to skinned up me.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
What does that have to do with this?
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Because you can take responsibility, but that's not a confession.
If Jackie cusses out a guest, you may apologize and
take responsibility for it, but you're not confessing that you
cussed anybody out. That was Jackie, that word bothers me.
I have seen no confession.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Did you say to Laura Ingele special guest joining us
Christopher and ROBERTA Laundry's behavior explain.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
You know, they say, and to go back a page
and this is the number thirty one that's cricis. It's
utterly horrible but let me let me see this up.
Because they write, on September fourteenth, with full knowledge that
Gabrielle Potito had been murdered by their son, the Laundry
lawyer put out a statement saying, it is our understanding
(22:33):
that a search has been organized for miss Potito in
or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, on behalf
of the Laundry family. It is our hope that the
search for miss Potito is successful and that Miss Potito
is reunited with her family. That's September fourteenth. And as
you go down to fast forwarding to knowing what happened,
they write in the lawsuit, Christopher Laundry and ROBERTA. Laundry
(22:54):
exhibited extreme and outrageous conduct, which constitutes behavior under the
circumstance answers, which goes beyond all possible bounds of decency
and is regarded as shocking, atrocious, and utterly intolerable in
a civilized community. Who could blame them?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Well, who could blame them?
Speaker 4 (23:13):
I mean, you know, you think about the timeline, and
you know, if all of this is true, and if
they knew those details, and then they put out a statement, sure,
we hope that she sound and they knew where she was.
It just makes her stomach turn.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
But Nancy Wee can prove they knew it. On September tenth,
when her daddy went to their house and knocked on
the door and they wouldn't even come to the door.
He had to put out in front of God and
country on social media, I'm going to the police if
you don't tell me something. So then he goes to
the police on September the eleventh. They knew it, they
knew it, and they acted.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I think I might be able to one of you.
I'm not sure. Okay, put this in your pipe of
smoke at Cheryl McCallum.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
You ready.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
On that day, August twenty eight, that's today Christopher and
roberta laundry speak with attorney Steve Bertolino. Suddenly that's the
day they go, whoa, whoa, what we need a criminal lawyer.
And then they follow up about two days later with
(24:19):
the retainer.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
That's right now.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
As I always say, there is no coincidence in criminal laws.
So Wendy Patrick, what about it? California prosecutors, that's the
day they decide they need a high power criminal defense
attorney who ps great criminal defense attorneys are usually not
seen or heard outside the courtroom.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
They don't want to be.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Stars in their own ride on TV or this or that.
Have you ever noticed that, Wendy Patrick.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
That's true, And it's also true that in this case,
the fact that they spoke on August twenty eighth is
going to be so important for the timeline because guess
what days later? On August thirtieth is when Laundry apparently
sent an additional text for Potito's phone to Schmid saying
there was no service in Yourssementy Park in an efforts
leaving her to believe Gabby was still alive. So that's
(25:13):
after the twenty eighth when the lawyer is hired. That's
a huge point.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
According to Gabby Potito's mother, Brian Laundry, Gabby's killer fiance,
his room was completely emptied, gutted, renovated almost immediately after
Brian quote disappeared. Remember, Gabby went missing on a cross
(25:40):
country road trip with fiance Brian Laundry. Her body later
found in the Grand Teta National Park. Laundry accused of
her murder. Many believe it could have all been avoided
when cops stopped the two based on domestic abuse claims,
but they ended up blaming Gabby, naming her the attacker,
(26:06):
and letting Laundry walk free. Shortly after that, he murdered her.
But why would Laundry's mother get rid of his entire rooms,
belongings and even clean out Gabby's van getting rid of
the mattress. She Nicole Schmidt, Gabby's mom, says, quote that
(26:29):
very same week Gabby was missing, cops were going to
Laundry's house to try to get a scent from their
dogs to look for Brian. All his things were gone.
The room was completely empty. She also says the van
that Gabby had used to drive across the country had
been quote completely cleaned out. The mattress was never recovered.
(26:51):
Gabby's stuff was packed away in a closet. Schmidt admit
she was extremely frostrated with Laundry's parents and they're saving
lack of cooperation when she was trying to find her daughter.
Think about it, Laura Ingle, think about it. So he
(27:14):
gets home, they know Gabby's dead and they go for
a camp out. The family goes on a little trip
and camps out. They sit around the campfire, they grow out,
They eat other people at the campground remembers De Soto Campgrounds.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
See them now what I was I was talking about
this this morning about the you know about Brian being
seen walking walking around. We know that the sister was there.
Now did they go camping to try and kind of
come together as the family and say what are we
going to do? But it doesn't look like it. From
the pictures and from the stories that we've heard from
people who saw them there, it looked like they were
(27:54):
genuinely can't tell.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
You, Laura camp And I bring this up only when projecting,
But Laura, I remember when my fiance was murdered. I
couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I lost down to eighty
nine pounds. The smell of food made me sick just
to smell it. I remember the first thing I finally
(28:18):
ate or consumed was a glass of orange juice. It
was the first thing that did not make me literally
nauseous after Keith's murder. So, how in the h E
double l is this family knowing that Gabby is dead
and being torn apart by animals out in the rain,
(28:44):
lying there on the dirt, How can they go to
a campout? How could they do that?
Speaker 4 (28:50):
There's no explanation. There's none. None of us on this panel,
nobody listening could even imagine doing what they did right
if they knew, and it looks like they did, how
could you. You're absolutely right in January when they said,
you know, we're bringing the family together, We're sharing all
the information with them that we possibly can give them
(29:11):
right now. And everybody's like, Okay, the case is closed.
Lest Attorney's office, Granteeton Attorney's office closed their case because
the debit card that was brodd, he dead. They've got
to close the case.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
The deception in the hiding, add to that the layer
of the parents going straight out to the body. They
hadn't been out in uh that area, Carlton Reserve forty
(29:43):
five minutes.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
You remember that, Cheryl McCollum, and.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
They remember eight to the body, and then Kyle comes
up and shows them I think it was the dry
pack or something found near Brian Laundry's body, and they're
like mm hmm, they're right, and no emotion. I can
remember again projecting. I remember testifying in court at Keith's
(30:09):
murder trial, and I remember coming down off the witness stand.
It was tall equal my head was equal to the
judge's head. And you go down some steps and then
turn and go down some more steps.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
And I was.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Walking out and I walked by council table and looked
over and saw Keith's bloody denim shirt for the first
time since I saw him drive away that morning before
he was killed. Think about it, when the cops showed
the laundry, those the laundries, those items, saw video, they.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Just stood there. There was really no reaction at all.
Mama was holding the bag.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
Mama had the dry bag in her hands standing there
on that pathway. And again that's the bag that held
this notebook that allegedly has this confession in it.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I've said all along the suggestion that they planted evidence
was far fetched.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
But now I know.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
The level of deception that has been alleged by the
Petito family against them.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
What are they capable of concealing? Cheryl McCollum, Nancy.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
They allowed their son to use a dead girl's debit
card to get his sorry ass home to help formulating
some plan of how to save his behind from what
he had done. And I've said from the beginning on
your show, they knew it. They knew it all along.
I've said even the sister knew it. There is no
(31:43):
way that she went to that camp site for the
day and didn't ask how's Gabby, where's Gabby? What's going
on with Gabby? Everybody had to have known. This is
odd for him to have come home the second time.
Remember he flew home before on August seventeenth, So now
he's back again. That's weird. You're on the trip of
a lifetime and you won't quit coming home to your mama.
(32:06):
That's weird. So there's no way she knew it, didn't
know it. There's no way she didn't have them calling
her phone too, because her mama said they tried to
get her. Then, there ain't no way she missed it.
On social media and the local news.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
You know that whole story, Laura Ingele about him coming home.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
It's not a story.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
He did fly home in the middle of the trip
and leave Gabby alone. And I've always the moment I
heard that, I went, WHOA wait, wait what? And I
believe I was speaking to one of Gabby's family members.
I said, is that true? And they would not confirm
it or deny it. And their answer is they were
told by police not to discuss it, which means it's
(32:47):
true or something like it is true.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
I think he went home to he went home to
he flew home. And what's so weird about it is
that they were tied on not tied on money, but
they were watching their pennies. They were really conscious of
their money and so but they took the time. He
took the time to fly home to clear out a
storage unit. That was the story that he was going
(33:11):
to clear out a storage unit and then returned back
and that.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Was to Utah. I believe.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Versus Lake City.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Beautiful, Young Gabby Potato's mother claims there was something quote
wrong with Brian Laundry's family when police searched his empty
room after her murder, claiming the room of being gutted
and something was quote wrong with his mom after he vanished.
As they continue to search for their missing girl, Gabby's mom,
(33:53):
Nicole recounts eerie circumstances leading up to the discovery of
Gabby's body, including the moment cop searched Laundry's home finding nothing.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
In his room.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
She Nicole says that she continues to find out new
information even now. Take a listen to our cut for
our friends at Fox thirteen.
Speaker 10 (34:19):
Police in Northport said they'd not gotten cooperation as to
whether they knew anything about where Gabby was, but the
Laundries did tell police Brian had not returned from the
reserve where he was eventually found dead.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
But the new lawsuit alleges.
Speaker 10 (34:34):
The Laundries had been making arrangements for Brian to leave
the country. Their family attorney denied the allegations, saying the
lawsuit does not change the fact that the Laundries had
no obligation to speak to law enforcement or any third party,
including the Potito family. This fundamental legal principle renders the
Potito's claim to be baseless under the law, do we.
Speaker 11 (34:55):
Have a legal system where people are punished civilly for
knaku operating with criminal investigations.
Speaker 10 (35:02):
The lawsuit does not say how the Potitos learned of
the facts they allege, but they did have several meetings
with investigators, including at the Tampa FBI office after the
investigation it was closed. The Potito family attorney said there
were multiple conversations between Brian, his parents, and their lawyer
before he left Wyoming August thirtieth.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
So Joe Scott Morgan if we weren't half wrong, right,
because they were trying to get him out of the
country exactly what we had thought was going on.
Speaker 8 (35:34):
Yeah, push, push, push, you know, I had all kinds
of ideas, you know, back then, thinking about how could
they facilitate Remember when they were at that camping area.
You know, I think a couple of us had thought
that maybe by water, you know, how are you going
to get him out of the reach of the US authorities,
to get him spirited off somewhere. We were thinking about,
(35:55):
you know, him leaving with gobs of cash so that
he could fall off of the radar relative to using
any kind of credit cards, which of course he had
stolen Gabby's and utilized it, and just you know, go
abroad with US currency and try to make that happen.
But how do you make that happen? I think that
that's one of the big problems here when you have
(36:16):
somebody that is not sophisticated in a way that the
criminals work. You know, they don't know, you know, how
were we going to get him away from all of this trouble?
And at the end of the day, and at the
end of the day, they knew where his body was.
I'm very curious as to what that final conversation was
(36:38):
like with him, you know, did he actually did he
actually tell them? You know, Mom, Dad, I think I'm
just going to go out here and end it, and
I'm going to tell you specifically where it was. Think
about what Max said and what you said within forty
five minutes, Nancy, in this vast area and it is vast. Yeah,
and where, by the way, let me remind everybody forgotten
(37:00):
about this group of people. They've put all of the
searchers at risk out here, alligator snakes, dehydration for days,
for days, and they put these people out there at risk,
and they walk right to the body and all of
this evidence, and Nancy, I got to say one more thing,
the most striking piece of evidence to me, and it's
(37:22):
just the old debt investigator in me. Out of everything,
you know, we had skeletal remains, we had this weapon
that we had talked about. But one of the things
that just made me want to bite the head off
a tenpenny nail is that out there at that scene
they found adjacent to his body, red ball cap. You
know what that red ball cap said. It said Moab Roasters.
(37:47):
I wonder where he bought that. Out of all the
hats he could have chosen, that's the one that he
picked up as he was walking out that door for
the final time. And he went out there and he
took that hat, and I think that hat left out
there was a great, big old screw you to everybody.
That's what I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
That's where he was caught beating Gabby out on the
street as we all know, you know to Laura Ingele,
senior correspondent Fox and he he's joining us, Laura. I
believe that in point number fourteen, paragraph number fourteen, the
date it is pinpointed of the murder being August twenty seventh.
(38:24):
I wonder if that's because that's the last day that
her mother and Nicole Schmidt spoke with her.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (38:30):
I do believe it's that, And it also coincides with
their sightings. And remember the Moab incident happens that's been
so widely watched with the police body cam footage. But
then they make their way and then Jackson I went
to this place. It's the Mary Piglets and it's a
restaurant that it was a last known public sighting, and
(38:52):
we don't know what happened, and we've been trying to
get our hands on any security footage of this restaurant.
But there was some kind of a fight, some kind
of an altercation between Brian and Gabby, an argument they
were lasting, and so I and I stood there. So
you're standing at the restaurant and you look down the
long road, and down that long road is where the
campground was. So they were at this restaurant, they have
(39:15):
an argument, they get in the carts to the van,
they go down to the campground, they turn in, they
set up camp. Then you know, the other bloggers bought
the van, which helped us locate where they were. But
it's that last those are the last moments. There was
something going on on that date on August twenty seventh,
during the day and then it was later that night
(39:37):
that that's when they believe. And there's forensics involved here
too in terms of her body, where she was found,
how she was found, that it all ties together that
August twenty seventh is the date that she died.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
I want you to listen to our cut eleven.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
This is jbb know WFLA News Channel eight.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Listen to this point number twenty five.
Speaker 11 (40:00):
On September fourteen, twenty twenty one, with full knowledge that
Gabrielle Potito had been murdered by their son, Christopher Laundry,
and ROBERTA. Laundry, through their lawyer, issued the following statement,
quote unquote, it is our understanding that a search has
been organized for miss Potito in or near Grand Titan
National Park in Wyoming, on behalf of the Laundry family.
It is our hope that the search for miss Potito
is successful and that Miss Potito is reunited with her family.
(40:23):
Point number twenty nine and point number thirty.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
As Laura Ingele told us, full knowing their son had
murdered Gabby, they give a public statement.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
I hope they find her. The search for Gabby is
something I will never forget. We wait as this case
continues to unfold. Goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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