Gaby Petito news – latest: Family shares holiday tribute, saying ‘Live with love, laughter and gratitude’

Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for a formal investigation into the North Port police department’s handling of the Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie investigation, writes Maroosha Muzaffar.

The potion cites an admission from North Port police faced for failing to realise that Mr Laundrie had left home on 13 September, despite Steven Bertolino, the family attorney, informing investigators.

A spokesperson for the North Port Police Department later claimed that officers mistook Roberta Laundrie, his mother, for the 23-year-old, adding that there was a “very good possibility” that Laundrie was dead two days after Petito was reported missing on 11 September.

His body was not found until 20 October in a nearby nature reserve, and many questions about both Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie’s deaths remain unanswered.

Lawrence Kobilinsky, a former FBI agent, told News Nation Now on Wednesday night that although “we don’t know the make, the model or the calibre” of the missing gun, he had “a feeling that law enforcement knows very well.”

He told the news channel: “We know that Brian owned a pistol. The father, Chris, owned about 10 different hand guns and one of them was actually missing when the police came around September 13 or so, September 17, to collect evidence from the home”.

He went on to say that a metal detector would be able to find such a pistol or bullet shells, but that it was unclear if the FBI had found any such weapon because “guns don’t just walk away”.

The agency has so far not commented on the matter.

The news that the FBI knew Brian Laundrie was likely armed while on the run from police has drawn anger, with people who followed the story closely voicing dismay that the bureau did not tell them that Mr Laundrie might be carrying a weapon.

As Andrew Naughtie writes, the chronology of events leading up to his death, and that of his fiancé, Gabby Petito, remain unclear.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, the Laundrie family attorney Steve Bertolino said that while the family noticed one of their guns was missing at the time that Mr Laundrie vanished, they and the FBI “didn’t want the public going into a frenzy on that.

“I don’t think they considered him dangerous to anybody he met on the street.”

There was intense speculation that Brian Laundrie’s notebook could contain a suicide note, or explain how and why Ms Petito, whose remains were found in Wyoming on 19 September, was killed.

When asked about the possibility of the notebook containing answers about his daughter’s death, Joseph Petito said said it wouldn’t bring him closure and definitely wouldn’t bring Gabby back.

Laundrie, 23, was confirmed to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head by lawyer Steven Bertolino on Tuesday.

Laundrie family attorney Mr Bertolino told The Independent’s Bevan Hurley  he didn’t know whether the notebook had yielded any new information or when it might be publicly released.

Nichole Schmidt, the mother of Gabby Petito, says she didn’t suspect the man who might have become her son n law was a domestic abuser.

Speaking with Dr Oz in a recent interview, Ms Schmidt said: “I don’t know why Gabby didn’t open up to me about certain things.”

She added: “We just didn’t see any red flags.”

Ms Schmidt confided with Dr Oz that she was still suffering terribly several months after the family’s worst fears were confirmed when her daughter’s remains were found in Wyoming on 19 September.

Ms Petito’s boyfriend Brian Laundrie was confirmed to have shot himself in the head after an autopsy by a forensic anthropologist.

Joseph Petito has posted a moving Thanksgiving Day message to his daughter Gabby.

“Thanksgiving, a day for being thankful, thoughtful, and giving,” Mr Petito wrote.

“Hug your family and friends. Be thankful for the time you get to spend with them all. We miss you #Gabbypetito You should be with us but now all we have are the pictures.”

Mr Petito has become a tireless campaigner for missing persons and domestic violence victims since his daughter’s disappearance and death.

He and Ms Petito’s other parents have formed the non-profit Gabby Petito Foundation to help raise awareness and reunite families with their missing loved ones.

On 2 July, Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie set out on a dream “van-life” road trip across the United States.

Two and a half months later, her remains were found buried in a shallow grave in a remote part of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Here is a timeline of the tragic events that led Ms Petito’s death.

Brian Laundrie was a prolific social media user, and after his disappearance in September his posts were pored over for clues to his state of mind during his van-life tour with girlfriend Gabby Petito.

Around the time that Ms Petito died, he posted a cover of the book Burnt Out, how to cope with autistic burnout to his Pinterest account.

His death was confirmed to be suicide by gun shot wound in late November.

Paying a tribute to her daughter on Thanksgiving, Nichole Schmidt described herself as a mother who learned from Gabby Petito to “live with love, laughter and gratitude”.

“Gabby will forever remind me to be grateful for every moment, every breath, and every memory. I will cherish what I’ve had, and have in the present, always. Live with love, laughter and gratitude, “ Ms Schmidt tweeted.

Steven Bertolino, an attorney for the Laundrie family, told the Daily Mail that one of the family’s guns was missing when their son went missing, but it was withheld from the general public because they did not want to cause panic.

“We didn’t want the public going into a frenzy on that. I don’t think they considered him dangerous to anybody he met on the street,” said Mr Bertolino.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Bertolino told the Insider that the family had surrendered five to six guns on the same day that Laundrie was reported missing, but one gun was missing.