Is This It for the Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie case?

What Happens When No One Gets Justice

After five weeks of searching, grieving, questioning, and blaming, Brian Laundrie’s body was discovered in the swamp where his family initially said he went for a hike on September 13, 2021. In between his disappearance and his discovery, we heard wild speculation; he was in Mexico, he was somewhere on the Appalachian trail, he was hiding out in a relative’s home.

His parents, Roberta and Chris Laundrie, have been vilified and understandably so. They remained silent for eleven days after Brian returned home without Gabby on September 1. They ignored frantic texts and phone calls from Gabby’s parents. They refused to cooperate with the police. Even the circumstances surrounding the recovery of Brian’s body was suspicious; Brian’s backpack was coincidentally found by his father in an area that had been extensively searched by law enforcement. Until DNA confirmed the remains were Brian’s, conspiracy theories continued to swirl, i.e., that these weren’t really Brian’s remains, that the backpack was planted, etc.

It is unclear what will happen to Brian’s parents. They have been knee deep in obstructing justice and refusing to cooperate with a police investigation. It is hard to imagine that the level of public outrage in this case won’t result in some kind of legal action against the Laundrie’s. And, of course, they will have to deal with the death of their son, the cause of which has yet to be determined.

Like so many others in this case, there are a lot of questions I would like to ask Brian’s parents. I would like to know what Brian and Gabby’s relationship was like before the set out on their fatal cross-country journey. They lived with the Laundrie’s for two years, day in and day out. How often did they fight? What did they hear and see? Did they ever see Brian hit Gabby or vice versa?

What about the days Brian flew back from their trip, allegedly to clean out a storage facility? That doesn’t make sense to me, not with the financial struggles they were having. Surely Brian could have gotten someone else to do that. And it’s not like anyone has said there were priceless valuables in storage. What did his parents see, hear, think when he was home for those few days? What did he tell them?

Living in a van together would stress any relationship. I thought the strain of living in such close quarters might have been the impetus for him to take a break, to leave Gabby temporarily and get his head on straight. If so, it clearly didn’t work. Why? Why didn’t the time apart loosen the pressure valve that seemed to be tightening? It was only a day or two after he returned that he strangled Gabby to death.

There is plenty that Chris and Roberta Laundrie have to answer for, especially to Gabby’s parents. I, too, am angry at how they responded to Gabby’s disappearance and death. You can love your son and still hold him accountable for what he has done. But, as I forensic psychologist, I am more interested in searching for missed opportunities to intervene before Gabby died.

There are hundreds of Gabbby’s that die every day. There are also plenty of Brians, ;people who are insecure and controlling and jealous in their relationships. These are dynamics that often foreshadow abuse.

We focus a lot of getting victims to recognize these dynamics, to speak up, to leave. But shouldn’t we also be calling out friends or family members who we see acting this way? I’m speculating here, but what might have happened if Chris and Roberta had sat Brian down and called him out on this? What if they had set limits in terms of his behavior while in their home? What if Brian’s friends had gotten on his case about the way he treated his girlfriend?

Would it have made any difference? I don’t know. One of the puzzling things about this case to me is that, as far as I know, no one has come forward and talked about witnessing physical violence from Brian to Gabby before August of 2021. This makes me think that intervention was possible, that this wasn’t the case of a chronic batterer whose dysfunctional beliefs allowed him to justify his behavior.

What do you think?