This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
The family of Brian Laundrie has broken their silence regarding the Netflix documentary about the death of travel vlogger Gabby Petito, whom authorities said was killed by Laundrie on a cross-country trip in 2021.
The three-part documentary series “American Murder: Gabby Petito" examines Petito's life, disappearance and death through interviews with her family and friends and text messages, videos and excerpts from Petito's personal journals.
The Laundrie family attorney, Steven Bertolino, shared a statement with TODAY in response to the docuseries. Laundrie's parents do not appear as interview subjects in the show.
“The documentary was what we expected. One perspective depicted as the ‘truth’ as seen through their lens. Similar to Republicans and Democrats fighting it out lately. Each side believes their perspective is correct. Hard to see through the lens of the other with all the noise and distrust,” he said in the statement.
“The documentary contained many inaccuracies, incorrect juxtapositions of timelines, and misstatements and omissions of fact — perhaps deliberate to capture their ‘truth’, perhaps due to simple error,” he continued.
“We all know Brian took Gabby’s life and Brian then took his own as well. Let the parents of both Gabby and Brian mourn and remember them in peace.”
TODAY.com reached out to the filmmakers for comment about Bertolino's allegations of inaccuracies and misstatements in the docuseries, but did not immediately receive a response.
Julia Willoughby Nason, one of the documentary’s directors, told TODAY.com in an interview before the film's release on Feb. 17 that her team reached out to the Laundries during the making of the docuseries.
“They didn’t want to participate, and we respect that," she said. "This is a very difficult story.”
Petito’s family filed a civil lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents in March 2022 that accused Christopher and Roberta Laundrie of interfering with the search for their murdered daughter, according to the lawsuit, which NBC News reported on at the time.
The lawyer for the Laundries denied the allegations in the lawsuit filed in Florida’s Sarasota County, according to NBC News.
Petito’s parents and Laundrie’s parents reached a “confidential resolution” in the case in February 2024 to which “all parties reluctantly agreed in order to avoid further legal expenses and prolonged personal conflict,” according to a joint statement by Petito’s parents that was shared with NBC News.
Petito disappeared in August 2021 during a cross-country van trip with Laundrie, who was her fiancé. A widespread search ended when her body was found in a national forest in Wyoming on Sept. 19, 2021.
A Wyoming coroner ruled her death to be a homicide by strangulation, according to his comments in a video shared by NBC affiliate WNBC in October 2021.
On Sept. 15, 2021, police in North Port, Florida, confirmed Laundrie was a person of interest in Petito's disappearance, according to NBC News.
The Laundries believed their son left home Sept. 13 to go hiking, after previously telling police he left home Sept. 14 when they reported him missing, Bertolino told NBC affiliate WFLA via text message at the time.
Human remains were found in the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Florida along with a backpack and notebook belonging to Laundrie, an FBI official told reporters on Oct. 20, 2021, according to NBC News. A day later, the FBI confirmed the remains were Laundrie’s after a review of dental records, WNBC reported.
Laundrie died by suicide from a gunshot wound to the head, an attorney for Laundrie’s family said in November 2021, according to NBC News.
He also left behind writings showing his “responsibility” for Petito’s death, the FBI announced in January 2022, NBC News reported.
This article originally appeared on TODAY.com. Read more from TODAY.com:
