Gabby Petito’s mother describes moment she was told Brian Laundrie had returned to Florida alone

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Gabby Petito’s mother says she erupted in anger when she was informed by police that Brian Laundrie had driven back to Florida without her daughter.

“I screamed at the detective, I said, ‘where’s my daughter’,” Nichole Schmidt told Fox News .

“The night I knew the van was in Florida, I instinctively knew that my daughter was not here anymore,” she said.

Ms Petito’s mother, stepfather Jim Schmidt, father Joseph Petito and stepmother Tara Petito sat down for an interview with Fox News on Thursday.

Ms Schmidt said the prolonged wait for answers about what happened to her daughter had only added to her suffering, and she again called on Mr Laundrie to hand himself in to authorities.

“I’m feeling upset, you know. Turn yourself in. It’s just getting more and more frustrating as days go on. I don’t know what’s taking so long.”

Mr Laundrie “knows everything,” Ms Schmidt believes, and hopes he is found alive so he can tell them what happened.

“He’s our missing piece to the puzzle to find out what happened,” Ms Petito’s stepfather Jim Schmidt said.

“What happened out there? Until they find him, we won’t know.”

The manhunt for Mr Laundrie once again focused on the Carlton Reserve near the Laundrie family home on Thursday.

Mr Laundrie’s father Chris Laundrie joined searchers looking for his son after receiving a request from law enforcement.

Mr Schmidt also revealed that the couple began planning their cross-country road trip after their wedding was put postponed due to Covid-19.

“They kindof put it on hold,” Mr Schmidt said.