Published: | Updated:
Gabby Petito's mother once delivered a blistering message to the parents of the man who killed her daughter: You deserve to be forgotten.
asserted
You → publish → daughter
Roberta and Christopher Laundrie faced years of fury over allegations that they helped protect their son, Brian, and stayed quiet as authorities searched for Petito.
asserted
authorities → face → Petito
The once infamous couple may have largely faded from public view, but in their own backyard, their neighbors have neither forgotten nor forgiven.
uncertain
neighbors → fade → backyard
The Daily Mail has learned that the pair have become pariahs in their quiet Florida neighborhood, where residents exclude them from gatherings, ignore them on the street and even deliberately allow their dogs to relieve themselves on the Laundries' lawn.
asserted
dogs → learn → lawn
'I let the dog s*** speak for itself,' one neighbor told the Daily Mail just outside the Laundrie home.
asserted
neighbor → let → home
Leash in hand, she insisted that she usually cleans up after her dog, but makes an exception for the Laundries.
asserted
she → insist → Laundries
'It's my little way of remembering Gabby,' she said.
asserted
she → remember → ?
'That's what they deserve.'
asserted
they → deserve → what
Residents of North Port have largely ostracized the pair from the community surrounding their modest, single-story home that became the center of the 2021 search for Petito.
asserted
that → ostracize → Petito
When the Daily Mail visited the Laundries' quiet, middle-class neighborhood, the couple appeared to be home.
asserted
couple → visit → neighborhood
Brian Laundrie's parents (pictured) have become pariahs in their Florida neighborhood, the Daily Mail has learned
The Laundries have never explained why they went camping with Brian during the search for Petito
Lights were on and cars were parked in the driveway, but no one answered the door.
The surrounding streets were largely quiet, with neighbors exchanging smiles as they went about their days.
asserted
they → picture → days
Residents claim, however, that such pleasantries are rarely extended to the Laundries, with no one ever dropping by except for the occasional reporter or protester.
uncertain
one → claim → reporter
Neighbors claimed to keep their distance, avoiding eye contact and refusing to wave.
The Laundrie property is also routinely targeted by vandals, residents said, with eggs, shaving cream or garbage frequently thrown onto the lawn.
asserted
residents → claim → lawn
'Oh I've seen a lot of stuff thrown on their lawn,' Donna Hawley, who lives around the corner, told the Daily Mail.
asserted
who → see → Mail
'I know it's petty and immature, but I've seen dirty diapers and McDonald's bags just tossed on their lawn.
asserted
diapers → know → lawn
I don't even know if they know that it's intentional or not.
asserted
it → know → ?
They must know.
asserted
They → know → ?
No one else has that problem.
asserted
one → have → problem
'
There is little indication that the Laundries are interested in discussing the hostility they are facing in their own neighborhood, but silence is hardly a new strategy for Christopher and Roberta.
asserted
silence → be → Christopher
It was their refusal to speak during the frantic search for Petito that helped turn the grieving parents of a killer into objects of national fury.
asserted
that → speak → fury
Brian Laundrie, then 23, returned to his parents' Florida home on September 1, 2021, after a cross-country trip with his 22-year-old fiancée, Gabby Petito.
asserted
Laundrie → return → fiancée
He was driving her van and had used her credit card.
asserted
He → drive → card
But Petito was nowhere to be found.
asserted
Petito → find → ?
Roberta Laundrie pictured outside their home in North Port, Florida
Christopher and Roberta Laundrie faced fierce scrutiny for refusing to speak during the search for their son's fiancee, Gabby Petito
Christopher Laundrie pictured mowing his lawn.
asserted
Laundrie → picture → lawn
A neighbor told the Daily Mail that she purposefully leads her dog to relieve himself on his grass
asserted
she → tell → grass
As Petito's increasingly desperate family tried to figure out where their daughter was, Laundrie and his parents remained silent.
asserted
Laundrie → try → ?
Five years later, questions remain about what Christopher and Roberta knew – and when they knew it.
asserted
they → remain → it
Depositions would later reveal that Brian made frantic calls to his parents after Petito's death, telling them that she was 'gone' and that he needed a lawyer.
asserted
he → reveal → lawyer
Christopher Laundrie contacted longtime family attorney Steven Bertolino.
asserted
Laundrie → contact → Bertolino
The Laundries have maintained that they did not know Brian had killed Petito and did not understand his use of the word 'gone' to mean she was dead.
asserted
she → maintain → word
They said they were merely following the advice of Bertolino when they refused to give any insight into Petito's fate.
asserted
they → say → fate
Neither Bertolino nor the Laundries have responded to the Daily Mail's request for comment.
asserted
Bertolino → respond → comment
When Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, desperately tried to contact Roberta Laundrie while searching for her daughter, Laundrie refused to respond, Schmidt previously told the Daily Mail.
asserted
Schmidt → try → Mail
Days after Brian returned home without Petito, the Laundries went camping with their son and other relatives to Fort De Soto Park near St. Petersburg.
asserted
Laundries → return → Petersburg
To a public watching Petito's family desperately search for her, the optics were devastating: Brian was camping with his parents while his fiancee was missing.
asserted
fiancee → watch → parents
Nichole Schmidt holds up a photo of her daughter Gabby Petito during a 2021 press conference
Body cam footage later emerged of the aftermath of a domestic incident in Moab, Utah, where police determined that the couple had gotten into a physical altercation (Petito pictured)
'That's where they lost me,' said Chuck Malina, who lives near the family home.
asserted
who → hold → home
'I get trying to protect your son, really I do.
asserted
I → try → son
I'd do anything for my kids.
asserted
I → do → kids
'If I see them, I usually just look away,' Malina continued.
asserted
Malina → see → them
'I think they're a**holes for what they did.
asserted
they → think → what
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia
