"Clean Laundrie": A Less Popular View of Brian Laundrie's Parents Opens Up a Discussion for Human Thought Patterns Commonly Seen in the Gabby Petito 'Van Life' Case

What If Brian's Parents Have "Clean Laundrie?"  

Recognize it or not, the Laundrie family has a loss to grieve, too, making this national news headline a perfect time to illuminate common unhealthy thought patterns we as humans tend to think with in general.

I want to start this post by expressing my deepest condolences to the family of Gabby Petito, not that they can ever be enough.  There is no greater loss than to lose a child as a victim of homicide, so I don't want to open up the comments for a debate of comparing whose grief is worse; that's not my goal here. One's grief should never be compared in that sense whether by another person or themselves internally. When we experience a devastating loss, we are always allowed to grieve, even if the loss of another connected individual is morally considered far more worse than our own.

Thus, with that being said, what I do want to express from a separate compartment entirely is that I have had a certain sympathy for Brian Laundrie's parents all along, too. Just because their adult son resided with them, they have been the subjects of finger pointing and accusations with the media and protesters parked outside of their home everyday for over a month now. Imagine how that must feel if they honestly did not know anything about what happened to Gabby, if they did nothing to help Brian evade law enforcement. They were wondering if they were ever going to see their son again and would they get to hear answers from him about what they now know happened in Wyoming; and every time they leave to run an errand, people and cameras are there in their faces.  Put yourself in their shoes for a moment and realize how much harder that had to make the past five weeks on them, when they did not control their adult son and they themselves did nothing to harm Gabby. 

 

Heartbreaking: The Laundries wait until nightfall to remove laundry baskets placed on their lawn.

Conspiracy theorists said they were helping him to escape, and some critics may not go that far but maintain that Brian confessed to his parents. You reading this may even believe it is impossible for them not to know when he lived with them.  Did they not ask where Gabby is?  Of course, I am sure they did. He most likely fed them whatever line, maybe said he didn't want to talk about it now. And, it was left at that – at least until she was reported missing (and maybe that's when he decided it was time to leave, because they started asking questions?).  

The truth is we don't know their relationship dynamics. When we make the assumption in their living situation that the parents had to know, we are actually assuming everyone is like ourselves and that our actions are how everyone does or should behave. It's a very common human tendency.

Recognizing not everyone has the same life as you, not everyone responds to situations in the same way you do, nor are they in any way obligated to, can certainly help improve your interpersonal relationships.

Most of us are even also predicting the future of how we "know" we would respond in these situations; but again we don't always respond in the way we thought we would when faced with said tragedy in reality. One such example is saying if it was you, you would talk to the police if you had nothing to hide.  Some people are afraid of saying the wrong thing to cops and having it then be used against them. We don't know their life situations that could have led them to feel that way, so we can't assume that they are being deceitful by communicating through a lawyer. 

 

Plus, their lawyer has now stated to People Magazine that he has been friends with the Laundrie parents for 25 years, so of course, the Laundries would reach out to the lawyer friend they know and have probably heard cautionary tales from over the years. And, a lawyer's advice is usually always not to say anything to law enforcement that could inadvertently incriminate you. 

 

IG: @bizarre_design_ and @gabspetito

 

I can hear some people reading this now saying, "Okay, if the Laundries really didn't know or didn't press to ask, then they must be horrible parents." 

Again, we would be making an inference to support the opinion we choose to believe.  There is always another side to be looked on though. Gabby was living with Brian's parents, not her father and stepmother, nor her mother and stepfather. Her parents were divorced, whereas Brian's are not.  Somebody could easily infer hers must be horrible parents if she chose to move out of state and live with her boyfriend's family before they were even engaged. (And, no, I am not at all making that accusation upon Gabby's parents; I am just trying to prove we don't know what goes on behind closed doors).

 

Furthermore, we tend to only look for evidence to support the opinion we already hold, not for evidence that would contradict it. And, when opposing details like this are brought to us, we tend to fabricate our own reasons to dismiss the information as being inaccurate. 

 

First date picture @gabspetito posted to her IG feed when she announced her engagement to Brian Laudrie

Gabby lived with the Laundries a couple years; she was going to be their daughter-in-law, so you assume they had to be somewhat close. I am sure they are grieving for Gabby, too. And when Brian went missing after Gabby was reported missing, I am sure they hoped their son was not responsible for something happening to her. 

 

Unless there has been a reason ever not to, parents want to believe in their children.  So, if Brian fed them a story about what happened with Gabby, that would explain why there were no calls answered or returned to the Petito's.  If Gabby's two sets of parents didn't normally speak to Brian's, it wouldn't be that odd not to speak now. Remember, only in hindsight do we know Gabby was killed. Until she was reported missing, there was no reason for his parents not to believe whatever Brian may have told them.  

 

Again, if you have grown children, I ask you to put yourself in the Laundrie's shoes. Your son comes home without his fiancee, which he already did once a few weeks prior when he flew home alone. He tells whatever story to explain why he drove solo. I'd say it was something like maybe they got into a fight, she stormed off, and he doesn't know where she went. But, it could even be that he said Gabby was flying back on her own later, as he already did himself. You, as a parent, have never noticed any violent tendencies in your son, he has no criminal record, so why would you even question his story at first? Can you honestly say you would pry immediately if he seemed distraught over it and asked to not speak of the incident yet? Why would you in a million years think he harmed her if there was never any threat made nor indication of such an event happening?

 

No parents ever want to believe their children could do such irreversible harm. Prisons are full of convicted felons who all have parents and families, too, and for many of those parents, it is hard to believe their children could commit the crimes they were convicted of.  However,  just because incarcerated individuals are criminals, or a suspect in a crime is allegedly, does not mean their family is by association.  

 

IG: @bizarre_design_ 

Thus, to make the Laundries out to be scapegoats because Brian is now deceased is not right, nor fair.  Let the law enforcement and the FBI do their job in finding out if the Laundries were involved or withheld information in this case. Remember, in our justice system, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. And, right now, there has been no evidence released to the public indicating the Laundrie parents have committed any crimes. So, respect them and give them some long overdue peace, so they, themselves, can grieve.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I am in no way saying the Laundrie's loss is greater than Gabby's family's, but whether you choose to believe it or not, the Laundrie family has experienced a loss, too. And, that shouldn't be forgotten. Sure, you may assume their son's death was by suicide after he killed Gabby (currently, all just speculation, remember), so the Laundries don't have the pain Gaby's family does. But, if it is proven Brian killed himself after killing Gaby, the Laundries will also have to mourn the loss of the image they thought they knew was of their son. Chris and Roberta most likely have as many questions right now as Gabby's family does.   

 

Likewise, I do hope the Petito family is able to receive some closure about what specifically happened to their daughter, as they most certainly deserve that, just as the Laundrie family deserves to mourn in peace. 

IG: @gabspetito