Gabby Petito's dad said her boyfriend should be 'leading the charge' to find her instead of 'sitting at home in his LA-Z-Boy chair'

Madison Hall
Updated ·3 min read

  • Gabby Petito's father said on Fox News that her boyfriend is "sitting at home" instead of helping.

  • Brian Laundrie returned from a cross-country road trip without Petito on September 1.

  • He hasn't spoken with the media or cooperated with the investigation of his missing girlfriend.

  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Missing van-life blogger Gabby Petito's father said on "Fox & Friends First" Thursday that her boyfriend should be "leading the charge" to help find his missing girlfriend instead of "sitting at home in his LA-Z-Boy chair."

"I don't give two craps about him," Joe Petito told host Jillian Mele. "I want to make sure that we get my daughter home first and then we'll start worrying about Brian."

Police opened an investigation into Petito's whereabouts after her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, returned from a joint cross-country without his girlfriend. Laundrie has repeatedly refused to speak with the media and police said he won't cooperate with their investigation.

The statement from Petito's father lambasting Laundrie was not the first from the family - the Petito family released a statement on Wednesday similarly accusing Laundrie of leaving "Gabby in the wilderness with grizzly bears and wolves while he sits in the comfort of his home."

"Your silence is reprehensible!" the family wrote. "We beg you to do the right thing and help us bring Gabby home."

Laundrie's lawyer, Steven Bertolino, released a statement Wednesday explaining his client's refusal to speak with media or assist in the investigation.

"In my experience, intimate partners are often the first person law enforcement focuses their attention on in cases like this and the warning that 'any statement made will be used against you' is true, regardless of whether my client had anything to do with Ms. Petito's disappearance," Bertolino said. "As such, on the advice of counsel, Mr. Laundrie is not speaking on this matter."

Laundrie and Petito left New York on a cross-country road trip on July 2 in their 2012 Ford Transit Van. Both Petito and Laundrie documented their trip on Instagram.

According to police records, an officer in Moab, Utah, pulled their vehicle over for speeding and swerving on August 12 to find Petito crying the passenger seat.

Petito told the officer that the couple was experiencing "emotional strain" and had been arguing. Laundrie alleged that Petito struck him at one point in the dispute, but no citation or charges were issued. The officers were responding to a possible domestic violence report but classified the encounter as a mental health crisis, according to the police report.

Petito's parents believe Laundrie and her boyfriend left Salt Lake City for Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on August 24. Police are searching the national park, believing she may be found there. Their chances of finding her alive after going being missing for two weeks are slim, a private investigator told Insider.

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