Brian Laundrie‘s parents broke their silence about Netflix’s Gabby Petito documentary by slamming alleged inaccuracies.
“One perspective depicted as the ‘truth’ as seen through their lens,” Roberta and Christopher Laundrie’s attorney Steven Bertolino told the U.S. Sun and TMZ of the docuseries on Tuesday, February 18, one day after American Murder: Gabby Petito was released.
“Each side believes their perspective is correct,” Bertolino continued. “Hard to see through the lens of the other with all the noise and distrust.”
The statement noted that “there were no contradictions” made by Roberta and Christopher.
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“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,” Bertolino 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 them in peace.”
Bertolino did not specify which details from the documentary were allegedly inaccurate. Netflix and Stage 29 Productions have not publicly addressed the response from Roberta and Christopher.
American Murder: Gabby Petito explored Petito and Brian’s tumultuous relationship leading up to their infamous cross country trip. The engaged couple documented their 2021 getaway for Petito’s YouTube channel but she ultimately didn’t return home.
Brian was discovered at his parents’ home in September 2021 amid Petito’s disappearance. He was reported missing more than a week later after Petito was found dead. A high-profile search for Brian ended in October 2021 when his remains were found in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
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Based on entries from Brian’s journals, the FBI determined in January 2022 that he was responsible for Petito’s murder. Petito’s parents subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against Brian’s mother and father for allegedly knowing about Petito’s murder and the location of her deceased body.
A judge ruled in favor of Petito’s family in the wrongful death lawsuit in late 2022, awarding $3 million to Petito’s mother as the administrator of her daughter’s estate. Before American Murder was released, filmmakers Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro exclusively spoke to Us Weekly about trying to get in contact with Roberta and Christopher.
“We did reach out to his family. It’s hard to open up about this [topic] for that side of the family. So we made best efforts to reach out to them,” Nason noted while Gasparro added, “We reached out to the family, to their lawyer and to Brian’s sister. But we respected the fact that they didn’t want to participate and that’s it.”
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Nason and Gasparro told Us they were able to tell Petito’s side of the story through the help of her parents.
“In all of our docs, we try to go for the source and the people closest to either the victims who are not alive or the people themselves who have experienced this,” Nason explained. “That’s really where we start in terms of sifting through all the data and information that comes with these huge stories.”
She added: “So her parents were the source for us that was key to uncover really what was going on. They had access to her personal archive of video and artwork. We were able to really bring her to life through her own perspective, which we were very lucky to have.”
American Murder: Gabby Petito is currently streaming on Netflix.
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