The parents of murderer Brian Laundrie allegedly “gutted and renovated” their son’s room while he was missing, as Gabby Petito’s loved ones were still searching for the missing 22-year-old, her mother claimed.
Nichole Schmidt sat down with Taylor Lautner and his wife, Tay, on their podcast, The Squeeze, this week to discuss her daughter’s story, and said she recently came across the stunning claim against the Laundries.
“I actually just found out some new information a few days ago,” Schmidt claimed.
“There was — I actually don’t know their name, which is better — that was at the house when Brian was missing and — I would say he was hiding, he wasn’t missing, but he was actually dead — but his room was completely gutted and renovated. None of his things were there anymore. It was gone.”
She claimed that the week her daughter was missing, “cops were going to their house to try to get, I guess, a scent from their dogs to look for Brian, all his things were gone.”
“The room was completely empty, just gone,” Schmidt said.
The unidentified individual, who claimed to have been in the house during that time, told Schmidt that it was obvious something was “wrong” with Laundrie’s mother, Roberta.
“They said that there’s something wrong with that mother she’s clearly not mentally well, and I’m like that’s just add it to the list because I didn’t even know about that,” she said.
Schmidt said it drives her “absolutely insane” when she tries to think of any way to make them “pay for what they did.”
“There is really nothing I can do,” she said.
Roberta Laundrie is suspected of helping her son sneak away while law enforcement zeroed in on him as a key suspect in Gabby Petito’s murder in 2021.
His parents also refused to cooperate with authorities and give any information about their son’s whereabouts.
Schmidt took the stage at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville, Tenn., in June and said she forgave her daughter’s killer for what he did.
“I speak for myself here when I say Brian, I forgive you,” she said.
“I needed to release myself from the chains of anger and bitterness, and I refuse to let your despicable act define the rest of my life.”
However, as for Roberta, she believed she had “no remorse in your heart.”
“As for you, Roberta, and I call you out individually because you are evidently the mastermind that shattered your family and mine with your evil ways, I see no empathy in your eyes,” Schmidt said.
“No remorse in your heart and no willingness to take responsibility for your actions.”
Petito’s family believes the Laundries were aware their son had murdered their daughter and allegedly tried to hide the sinister act while helping him evade justice after he had returned home by himself from a trip the two had been on.
Both of Laundrie’s parents acknowledged in depositions that they had concerns about Petito’s welfare after their son seemed erratic in phone calls shortly after her murder.
Laundrie drove to his Florida home from Wyoming, where he abandoned Petito’s remains.
After returning home, he went camping with his parents, sister, and her children as the Petitos’ loved ones struggled to piece together what happened and where she was.
The 22-year-old’s body was discovered in Grand Teton National Park on Sept. 19, 2021, with investigators ruling her cause of death as strangulation.
Laundrie, 23, subsequently killed himself, and his remains were discovered in a Florida nature park alongside his backpack and notebook with a confession about killing Petito.
