'American Murder: Gabby Petito' is first documentary produced with her family's blessing
Gabby Petito documentarians discuss Brian Laundrie's 'subtle' manipulations in newly unveiled texts
Documentary filmmakers Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro on their new project "American Murder: Gabby Petito," the first docuseries on the high-profile case made with the blessing of her family.
Days before her murder in the Wyoming wilderness, Gabby Petito told her ex-boyfriend she was planning to leave Brian Laundrie but was afraid of how he might react, the ex revealed in a new docuseries, which is the first project on the case involving her friends and family.
"American Murder: Gabby Petito," on Netflix unveils previously unseen text messages from Petito, Laundrie and other figures central to the case, including the killer's mother, Roberta. It also includes new interviews with her parents and stepparents, as well as revelations from her former boyfriend, Jackson, and other close friends.
Filmmakers Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro, who are both directors and executive producers on the project, said they felt a heavy responsibility to handle her story with care, in an interview with Fox News Digital shortly before its release.
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While their social media told one story, there was a dark side beneath the cross-country road trip of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, pictured here in "American Murder: Gabby Petito." (Courtesy of Netflix)
"It's really important to make sure that we have the people that were directly involved in it being part of the doc," Gasparro said. "The family is at the start of this."
Petito's parents had seen their prior work and agreed to have them make the docuseries after meeting in person. The family turned over her journals, artwork – and text messages that revealed a dark layer beneath the relationship between Petito and Laundrie in the lead-up to and during their cross-country road trip.
"Looking at her text messages with Brian for the first time, knowing that he had murdered her was haunting because it was like the manipulation… was very subtle.," Nason said. "And I think that we're hoping that this series can show the subtlety of intimate partner abuse, especially among young people."
Against that backdrop, an exclusive new interview with Petito's prior boyfriend, Jackson, reveals she wanted to escape and was afraid of what might happen if she left Laundrie.
"She wasn’t sure of what he would do, or what he could do," he told Nason and Gasparro.
Jackson, Gabby Petito's ex-boyfriend from before Brian Laundrie, pictured on the set of "American Murder: Gabby Petito." (Courtesy of Netflix)
Days after the couple narrowly avoided arrest in a public domestic violence incident in Moab, Utah, on Aug. 12, 2021, Laundrie flew home to Florida and left Petito in Salt Lake City.
While alone, Petito contacted her ex, the docuseries reveals. She confided in him that she wanted to leave Laundrie but was scared of how he might react.
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By Aug. 27, 2021, Laundrie had returned to the road trip and the couple arrived in Jackson, Wyoming. Petito again texted her ex-boyfriend, saying the town's name reminded her of him.
A view from the entrance of Bridger-Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19, 2021, shortly after Gabby Petito's remains were recovered nearby in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Ground. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
That same day, witnesses told Fox News Digital they saw the couple at the Merry Piglets Tex-Mex restaurant, and Laundrie was arguing with female staff. While some experts have speculated the confrontation was a catalyst for Laundrie's rage just hours before Petito's murder, the couple's text messages shed new light on what happened inside.
"Ask for the check and tell her that the smell made me sick… idk the chicken wasn’t right. I actually don’t feel good… gonna be a min," Petito wrote to Laundrie.
"Okay. I got the check, should I wait for you, should I get a to go box?" he replied.
"I don’t want to pay for food that made me sick."
Witnesses told Fox News Digital they believed Laundrie was arguing with staff about money and said he left and returned four times.
Gabby Petito poses for an Instagram photo in Bryce Canyon National Park. (Family of Gabby Petito)
Petito was last seen alive later that afternoon on surveillance video at a nearby Whole Foods.
She tried to call her ex, the docuseries revealed, but he said he was at work and couldn't pick up.
In one of her last known messages, she told her mom, Nichole Schmidt, that she might do better on her quest to become a van-life video blogger without Laundrie dragging her down, and that he had agreed to camp out in the woods that night as she slept in the van.
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"American Murder: Gabby Petito" began streaming on Netflix Monday. It includes additional details, videos and photographs that had previously only been known to her family and the FBI, as well as the text messages between Petito and her killer directly.
Separately, Fox News Digital has obtained what the FBI said is its final disclosure of Laundrie-related material – and the documents reveal another unnamed witness to the Moab domestic assault just two weeks before Petito's murder.
Brian Laundrie as seen in bodycam footage released by the Moab Police Department in Utah. (Moab Police Department)
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The unnamed man told an FBI agent he saw the couple in Moab on Aug. 12, 2021, while driving his family on a trip from Denver, Colorado, to Las Vegas, Nevada. He passed a white Ford Transit van and thought he saw a man inside slap a woman. He was so concerned that he pulled a U-turn and parked across the street to keep an eye on things.
The male in the van "'acted like a lunatic,' sporadically opening and slamming doors and pacing around the van. He seemed to be pleading with the female and at one point may have tried to hug the female, but was pushed back by her. The male ultimately pushed the female's legs into the passenger side of the van, closed her door, and entered the driver's side," according to FBI records. The witness then said both of them started crying.
Read the FBI's notes from previously unknown Moab witness
He said he thought about intervening or calling 911 but eventually decided not to. He had called 911 earlier the same day after a near collision on the road into town. He said he contacted the FBI in September after he and his daughter saw news coverage of Petito's disappearance.
Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, said she had not previously known about this witness and would be interested in speaking with him.
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"[I] wish we could get a hold of this person," she told Fox News Digital. "I would love to ask questions."
By virtue of the widespread attention it received, Gabby Petito's story has already helped saved lives, according to people who have contacted her parents and told them they were inspired to escape abusive relationships. At one point in the series, her friend Rose says she left a relationship of her own.
"This is how the foundation is helping," Gasparro said. "They've become a resource for people like this."
Chris and Roberta Laundrie in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on the morning police discovered their son's skeletal remains. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
Following Petito's murder, her parents started the Gabby Petito Foundation to advocate for domestic violence victims and missing persons. They have also lobbied for new laws to protect victims in at least three states, as well as in Washington, D.C.
They are currently asking for the public's help solving another woman's suspicious disappearance out of Redding, California.
Nikki McCain, 39, was last seen on May 17, 2024, driving a gray Chevy Avalanche, according to the Redding Police Department. The vehicle, bearing California plate DP154UT, was recovered more than a week later in Tehama County, but McCain's whereabouts remain unknown.
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Nikki McCain vanished in Redding, California, on May 17, 2024. Gabby Petito's family is urging anyone with information on her whereabouts to come forward. (Redding Police Department)
Her husband had been accused of felony domestic abuse, false imprisonment and criminal threats months earlier, court records show. That case was dismissed in July because the missing victim was unable to testify.
"A lot of the time, you can't charge a guy if there's no body," Petito's father, Joe Petito, told Fox News Digital. "That’s what we went through with Brian. They couldn’t charge him because Gabby wasn’t found."
By the time she was, he had slipped away and killed himself, leaving behind a confession and suicide note in a waterproof bag, as first reported by Fox News Digital.
"This is something that should be shouted from the rooftop: Help that family find her safe and sound, or bring whoever's responsible to justice, one of the two," Petito said. "The fact that there's prior domestic violence does raise some red flags, but we don’t want to jump to conclusions."
The Shasta County Sheriff's Office has announced a $30,000 reward for information that helps them locate McCain.
Anyone with information is asked to call 530-245-6135 or email the major crimes unit at
A press conference is held by Gabby Petito's family in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 3, 2022. (Fox News Digital)
"We've gotta let the authorities do their due diligence and see where it leads them, but any information anyone has, please come forward," Petito said.
Fox News' Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 (SAFE).
