Cassie Laundrie said Brian Laundrie didn’t kill Gabby Petito

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On Monday, the sister of Brian Laundrie, Cassie Laundrie took questions from a small group of protesters outside her home. She clarified some of the timelines around her brother’s disappearance and the death of Gabby Petito. The video was taken by a man who claimed to know the Petito family. Cassie Laundrie confirmed that Brian flew home to Florida from the western US at some point on or before Aug. 17, just 5 days after he and Gabby Petito were pulled over and separated by police in Moab, Utah. The group asked whether Cassie Laundrie believed her brother killed Gabby Petito and whether she thought he was still alive. Her answers to both questions were the same: “I don’t know”. She informed the group that she didn’t know anything was wrong until police started questioning her family on Sept. 11.

Cassie Laundrie said she saw Brian Laundrie on Sept. 1 when he and their parents arrived in the family Mustang, not the van he and Petito had been traveling the country in. She also saw him at a family vacation on Sept. 6 but said she had no reason to suspect any problems. Cassie Laundrie admitted doing so likely wouldn’t please their attorney, but she said the protesters’ persistence was upsetting her children and neighbors. She said, “This is not what we want to be doing. This is not how we want the world to find out when we’re angry and upset. But I can’t have my kids be crying for 3 days in a row”. Cassie Laundrie also delivered her words on Sep. 16 in an interview. She said, “I haven’t been able to talk to him”.

On Friday, the family’s attorney, Steven Bertolino said that Cassie Laundrie was with the family at Fort De Soto on Sept. 6. Cassie Laundrie said she has not been able to speak with her family during the investigation and was critical of Bertolino’s statement. However, Bertolino said, “I’m in the boat where I’m getting ignored by my family and thrown under the bus by my family’s attorney. I don’t represent Cassie Laundrie. Cassie’s comments can only be attributed to the press twisting my words and hers, which were only given to clarify prior mischaracterizations by the press, with the hopes of further sensationalizing this tragic story”. Cassie Laundrie also said that Brian Laundrie was never violent or abusive toward Petito or anyone else that she saw. Cassie Laundrie’s husband, James Luycx said, “When you know, they can see their uncle or anything that. He was their hero”.