Brian Laundrie’s death may rob Gabby Petitos’ family of ‘closure’
by Lee Brown Social Links for Lee Brown View Author Archive Get author RSS feed · New York PostGabby Petito’s devastated family fears that her fugitive boyfriend’s death means they will never get “closure” with answers on why she was murdered, according to a close friend.
While the FBI confirmed that Brian Laundrie, 23, died “a person of interest in the murder of Gabby Petito,” there remains a slew of mysteries over exactly how or why she was strangled in Wyoming.
“She’s gone now. He’s gone. Who’s really got closure?” a Petito family friend told DailyMail.com.
“You don’t get closure because you don’t know what happened,” she said of the 22-year-old Long Island native’s death.
“You don’t know — did they get in a fight, did he kill her? There’s no answer,” said the friend, a male former classmate of the pair from Bayport-Blue Point High School.
“Brian’s not here, so has justice been served?” he asked.
Petito’s mom, Nichole Schmidt, previously told “Dr. Phil” that she wanted to “look [Laundrie] in the eyes.”
“I want to see him in a jail cell the rest of his life,” the murdered woman’s dad, Joe Petito, said.
Laundrie has spent nearly two weeks with his family in their Florida home after unexpectedly returning home in Petito’s white van that the couple had been traveling the US in.
After Petito was officially reported missing Sept. 11, Laundrie’s parents refused to speak to her family nor let police speak to their son, who they say fled home on Sept. 14 — later admitting it had actually been the day before.
His father, Chris, only once joined the search for his son in Florida reserve before he and his wife, Roberta, both went Wednesday — quickly helping find their son’s remains despite a five-week hunt by law enforcement.
While hoping that Petito’s family still “feel some justice,” the high school pal also noted that it was a heartbreaking ending for the Laundries, too.
“Both sides are suffering right now. Nobody wishes this on any of their children,” he said.
It was a message reflected by the Laundries’ attorney, Steven Bertolino.
“These are parents that are suffering,” he told NBC, calling it “tragic for two families.”
“Anybody with a child, and anybody with a sense of humanity can understand the frustration that both families feel on that point,” he argued.