Gabby Petito’s mother slams armchair detectives spreading conspiracy theories: ‘Brian killed her, and then he took his life’

A grieving mother has hit out at armchair detectives who continue exploiting the fatal strangling of her daughter five years after the murder, she told The Mirror US.

Nichole Schmidt is the mother of 22-year-old travel vlogger and Long Island native Gabby Petito.

Petito went missing in Wyoming in late August 2021 while living in a van with her abusive fiancé, Brian Laundrie, records show.

The disappearance quickly gripped the nation, according to reports.

Her body was discovered the following month in Wyoming, officials said. The 23-year-old Laundrie shot himself in the head after leaving a note admitting he killed her, but wild speculation by online sleuths rages on to this day.

“Once she was found, the story was kind of still ongoing,” Schmidt told The Mirror US.

The mother criticized independent content creators who continue to promote alternative theories about the case, she told the outlet.

“The creators and the armchair detectives, as we like to call them –– people who are trying to create these other stories, speculation, and trying to make things different than what the simple answer is — Brian killed her, and then he took his life,” Schmidt said.

Online sleuths claimed Laundrie remained alive or suggested the crime was staged, Schmidt said.

“They were exploiting things like, you know, Brian’s still alive, or they were crisis actors. This really didn’t happen. You know, Gabby, this whole story is fake,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said the claims that the killing was fabricated caused immense pain for the family, she told the outlet.

“And I’m just like, I wish it was fake. I wish that my daughter was still here. Like, just horrible, horrible things like that. And then it just kind of kept going. And it’s still today, I still see videos pop up,” she concluded, adding that the conspiracy theories “need to stop.”

Petito and Laundrie spent the summer of 2021 traveling across the western United States, records show.

The couple documented their adventures on social media while traveling together in a white Ford Transit van.

On August 12 of that year, police in Utah responded to a 911 call reporting a domestic dispute in Moab.

Bodycam footage recorded during the stop showed a highly distressed Petito crying uncontrollably, records show.

Officers categorized the incident as a mental health break rather than domestic assault. Instead of making an arrest, they separated the couple for the night, police records show.

Petito was last seen alive in Jackson, Wyoming, according to police.

Her family lost contact with her shortly after August 25, 2021, relatives said.

Laundrie returned alone to his parents’ home in North Port, Florida, on Sept. 1 of that year, police said.

Petito’s family desperately tried to obtain information from Laundrie’s family. Ten days after his return, the family reported Petito missing, police said.

On Sept. 19, 2021, searchers discovered Petito’s body at Grand Teton National Park, authorities said.

An autopsy later determined that the 22-year-old had been strangled, officials said.

Just days after the discovery of the body, the U.S. District Court of Wyoming issued a warrant for Laundrie’s arrest, court records show.

On Oct. 20, 2021, searchers discovered Laundrie’s skeletal remains in a Florida nature park, police said.

The remains were found alongside a backpack and a notebook containing a confession that he had killed Petito, investigators said.

“I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made,” Laundrie wrote in the notebook recovered by the FBI.

Petito’s family currently runs the Gabby Petito Foundation, which supports missing persons and domestic violence prevention.