Brian Laundrie’s parents remain pariahs in their Florida neighborhood five years after their son murdered Gabby Petito, with residents now openly admitting they trash the family’s lawn and refuse to clean up after their pets.
Roberta and Christopher Laundrie, who still live in the same North Port home that became ground zero for the 2021 manhunt, face ongoing vandalism and social exclusion from neighbors who blame them for protecting their son, reports said. The middle-class community has not forgiven the couple, and the hostility shows no sign of fading half a decade after the case captivated the nation.
Donna Hawley, who resides around the corner from the Laundries, described the routine abuse directed at the property. “Oh, I’ve seen a lot of stuff thrown on their lawn,” she told the outlet. “I know it’s petty and immature, but I’ve seen dirty diapers and McDonald’s bags just tossed on their lawn.”
Another neighbor, walking her dog past the home, took her contempt further. “It’s my little way of remembering Gabby,” the unidentified woman said. “That’s what they deserve,” She added that she lets “the dog s–t speak itself” and deliberately leaves her pet’s waste on the Laundrie property.
Chuck Malina, another nearby resident, offered no sympathy for the ostracized couple. “That’s where they lost me,” he said regarding the Laundries’ claims of innocence. “I get trying to protect your son, really I do. I’d do anything for my kids. But not at the expense of someone else’s kid. That’s just sociopathic.”
Malina made his personal boycott plain. “If I see them, I usually just look away,” he continued. “I think they’re a–holes for what they did. I don’t need to be their friend. Let’s just say they’re not coming to any block parties anytime soon.”
The Laundries have insisted they did not know their son had killed Petito when he returned to Florida alone in early September 2021. In legal papers, they acknowledged Brian called them in a panic to say Petito was “gone,” but claimed they did not understand the word meant she was dead. Christopher Laundrie recalled the call in a prior statement: “He [Brian] was not calm and he got very excited and told me things had — you know, ‘Gabby’s gone’ and he got very frantic. Everything was frantic and quick.”
The family later released a statement suggesting Petito might still be alive, even as investigators scrambled to locate the 22-year-old woman. Petito’s body was discovered strangled near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19, 2021, eight days after her parents reported her missing.
Brian Laundrie, 23, had already vanished from his parents’ home by then, slipping into a Florida swamp where he died by suicide. Authorities recovered his body along with a backpack containing a notebook in which he confessed, writing, “I ended her life,” He added, “I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made.”
Also found in the backpack was a note from Roberta Laundrie labeled “burn after reading,” in which she promised to bring her son a shovel and garbage bags. She later claimed the note was written months before the couple’s trip and unrelated to Petito’s death.
Petito’s parents and step-parents filed a civil lawsuit against the Laundries and their attorney, alleging the family knew of Gabby’s slaying but remained silent. The two families “reluctantly” reached a secretive legal settlement in 2024.
The case began in August 2021 when Petito and Laundrie embarked on a cross-country road trip in a converted van, documenting their journey on social media. The couple’s relationship had drawn police attention in Utah weeks before Petito’s disappearance, with bodycam footage showing her distressed during a domestic incident. Laundrie returned alone to his parents’ Florida home on Sept. 1, 2021, offering no explanation for Petito’s whereabouts. His disappearance days later triggered a massive manhunt that ended when his remains were found in October 2021.
The Petito and Laundrie families reached their confidential legal settlement last year.