The mother of missing 'van-life' woman Gabby Petito has blasted her fiancé's sister for claiming she loves Gabby like a sibling, yet failing to get her own brother to share information about her disappearance.
'Instead of just saying Gabby's like a sister and that you hope she's found, how about beg and plead to your brother, from sister to brother, to tell us where she is,' Nichole Schmidt told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.
Cassie Laundrie became the first member of Brian Laundrie's family to speak publicly since the 22-year-old went missing, but offered no specifics about her brother's actions.
In an interview with ABC News that aired Friday morning, she said Gabby 'is like a sister and my children love her, and all I want is for her to come home safe and found and this to be just a big misunderstanding.'
The televised clip didn't sit well with Schmidt, who said Cassie's comments are particularly frustrating because her brother Brian, who had been traveling with Gabby on a cross-country road trip before returning home alone in the couple's camper van September 1, has remained silent.
The 23-year-old, who was living with Gabby at his family's home in North Port, Florida, has refused to speak with investigators, as have his parents.
Gabby Petito's mother Nichole Schmidt (pictured together right) slammed Brian Laundrie's sister after she gave an interview claiming she loves Gabby 'like a sister' despite failing to get her brother to share information on her disappearance
Cassie Laundrie (pictured) became the first member of the Laundrie family to break her silence about Gabby's disappearance in an interview with ABC News in which she said she and her family 'obviously want Gabby to be found safe'
'What's that statement do? It does nothing,' Schmidt added. 'She might have been out of the loop from the beginning. Who knows what the parents kept from family members.
'But instead of saying that, if these people supposedly loved Gabby, if she's like a sister, if your kids love her so much, why aren't you begging them to talk?'
The mother also had strong words for Steven Bertolino, the lawyer representing Brian and his parents, specifically over his decision to speak out about a possible link between her daughter's disappearance and a recent double homicide involving a store worker at a Utah co-op where Gabby, had a fight with her fiance.
Police in Utah said they are investigating a possible connection, prompting the lawyer to offer his two cents.
'Whether or not these two cases deserve to be linked will be determined at some point in the future,' Bertolino said in a statement.
'I don't know anything about any kind of link,' Schmidt said in response. 'Obviously, they were in Moab at the same time as that couple that was killed. That's not our concern now.
'Let those police do their job figuring out how those poor people were killed. But for the lawyer to even comment on that, he's just trying to throw people off the track of getting them to talk about Gabby.
'Let's focus on the family telling us where Gabby is,' she added. 'All I'm concerned about it is the fact I know 100 percent Brian was the last person with her.'
Nicole said her daughter's disappearance is taking a tremendous toll on her and her family, as they struggle to find answers.
Schmidt has issues several desperate pleas for the Laundries to cooperate with the investigation into Gabby's disappearance, but the family has refused to help or even reply to her messages
Gabby's stepmother Tara Petito and father Joe Petito react while the City of North Port Chief of Police Todd Garrison speaks during a news conference for their missing daughter on Thursday
Brian Laundrie had been traveling with Gabby on a cross-country road trip before he returning to Florida in the couple's camper van without her on September 1
Her husband, Jim Schmidt, is now out in Wyoming, where her daughter was last seen, searching for her. She has remained home in Blue Point, Long Island.
'I'm not sleeping, I'm barely eating and I'm just in a lot of pain right now. A lot of pain,' she said. 'I'm trying not to lose hope but it's hard.'
She's also finding it hard to believe the system protects a person like Brian, allowing him a right to remain silent when her daughter is likely in peril.
'The fact that there's a constitution that protects him, it's making me sick because he's home safe while my daughter is probably not safe,' she said.
'The FBI and police is trying, they are doing their job,' she said. 'But I'm thinking long term. There's got to be law changes for situations like this. I will fight to end of earth not only for Gabby but for anyone else that ends up in this situation.
'If somebody is known to be the last person with a missing person, then they shouldn't have a right to not talk. They should lose that right altogether. This can't be allowed.'
On Thursday it was reported that police in Utah are investigating a potential link between Gabby's disappearance and the murder of a woman who worked at the Moab co-op where Gabby and Brian Laundrie had an explosive fight on August 12.
Six days after Petito and Laundrie had a physical altercation at Moonflower Community Cooperative, store worker Kylen Schulte, 24, and her wife Crystal Turner, 38, were found dead and partially undressed where they had been camping.
Schulte and Turner told friends about a 'creepy man' that had been bothering them and that 'if something happened to them, that they were murdered.' On August 18, their bodies were found at a campsite in the La Sal Mountains, an hour away from Moab.
Around the time Schulte and Turner were killed in Utah, police across the state line in San Miguel County, Colorado warned campers after they found more than 30 weapons at a man's campsite in Telluride, just over two hours away from Moab.
Police said his whereabouts were unknown and it is unclear if police eventually arrested him.
Six days after Petito and Laundrie had a physical altercation at Moonflower Community Cooperative, store worker Kylen Schulte, 24, and her wife Crystal Turner, 38, were found dead and partially undressed where they had been camping
Police in Utah are investigating a potential link between 'van-life' woman Gabby Petito's disappearance and the murder of a woman who worked at the Moab co-op where Petito and fiancé Brian Laundrie had an explosive fight. Around the time Schulte and Turner were killed in Utah, police across the state line in San Miguel County, Colorado warned campers after they found more than 30 weapons at a man's campsite in Telluride
Petito and Laundrie had started a fight at the Moonflower co-op, before they checked out and continued fighting in their van and police was called
Now police in Moab and North Port, Florida, where Petito and Laundrie lived, are looking into possible links between the the double murder and Petito's missing person case.
'The Grand County Sheriff's Office has been in contact with Florida authorities and we are actively looking into any connection between the Gabby Petito missing person case and the double homicide that occurred in Grand County,' the sheriff told FOX in a statement.
North Port Chief of Police said: 'We provided them with whatever information we could. They don't have any [murder] suspect information right now. They told us that they're looking at everything at this point.'
The arsenal found in Telluride included knives, hatchets, a cross-bow and several swords.
'In light of the past week's double homicide of campers outside Moab, l want to caution people to be aware of their surroundings,' the sheriff office said at the time.
Police did not release the identity of the man citing 'pre-trial publicity,' and as of August 23 his whereabout were unknown.
'The individual has been arrested three times in the Norwood and Telluride areas since July 1st for charges including weapons offenses, burglary of a local laundromat, possession of meth, trespassing, and theft.
'The judge has repeatedly released this man from jail on PR bonds over the objections of the District Attorney's office,' San Miguel County Sheriff shared on Twitter.
Petito and Laundrie got into a physical fight at the Moonflower co-op on August 12, a day before Schulte and Turner were last seen leaving a bar in Moab.
Police bodycam footage shows Petito telling cops why she slapped her boyfriend Brian Laundrie in a dramatic incident 13 days before she was last seen in Gran Teton National Park in Wyoming. She was in a cross-country trip with Laundrie set to end in Halloween, but was reported missing by her mother on Sept 11 two weeks after they last spoke on the phone.
The video shows an emotional Petito, 22, with tears streaming down her face telling officers she 'was trying to get him to stop telling me to calm down' and admitting the couple 'have been fighting all morning.'
In the clip, shot near Moab in Utah, Petito says she suffers from OCD and anxiety, with both her and Laundrie saying she was stressed because of the YouTube blog they were working on to document the doomed cross-country trip.
Laundrie is seen with scratches on his face and arm which he tells an officer were caused when Petito 'was trying to get the keys from me' and 'hit me with her phone'.
He later said she was angry with him because of his dirty feet. When an officer asks Petito if her boyfriend hit her, she replies 'I guess' and makes a grabbing motion on her chin.
Schulte and Turner told friends about a 'creepy man' that had been bothering them and that 'if something happened to them, that they were murdered'
The pair was found dead in a nearby creek, partially undressed and with multiple gunshot wounds to the bodies
The arsenal found in Telluride included knives, hatchets, a cross-bow and several swords. 'In light of the past week's double homicide of campers outside Moab, l want to caution people to be aware of their surroundings,' the sheriff office said at the time. Police did not release the identity of the man citing 'pre-trial publicity'
Laundrie admits he 'pushed her' during the altercation.
The cops determine Petito was 'the primary aggressor' and say they are separating the couple for the night.
The couple had been traveling around the country in their camper van since early July and were visiting Moab, Utah when they got into an altercation, an incident report reveals.
The report says officers received reports of a 'possible domestic violence' incident involving the couple near the Moonflower Community Co-op in Moab on August 12 around 4:30pm.
The report, released by the Moab Police Department on Wednesday, documented that the couple admitted they had been going through 'issues' over the last couple days.
On Thursday, North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said at a press conference the case was still being treated as a missing person's enquiry, and that there is so far no evidence of criminality in her disappearance.
'Right now, we are investigating a missing person case,' he said.
Garrison, joined by Petito's dad, said police were aware of Laundrie's current location but 'right now, no' they cannot bring him in for questioning.
'Two people went on a trip, one person returned. And that person that returned isn't providing us any information,' he said.
Garrison added that it was Laundrie's 'constitutional right' not to speak with law enforcement but said his lawyer had handed over some property they requested from him.
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A tearful Petito is seen in the back of the police car. Laundrie admits he 'pushed her' during the altercation and cops determine Petito was 'the primary aggressor'
Emotional new police bodycam footage has revealed the moment Utah cops asked missing 'van-life' woman Gabby Petito why she slapped her boyfriend Brian Laundrie in a dramatic incident 13 days before she disappeared on their cross-country trip
Laundrie is seen with scratches on his face which he tells an officer were caused when Petito 'was trying to get the keys from me' and 'hit me with her phone'
Laundrie shows the officers his hands during the incident on August 12 - two weeks before his girlfriend vanished
Petito was reported missing on September 11 after her family hadn't heard from her in 13 days. She last spoke to her mother on the phone on August 25 and her last known location was Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Laundrie returned to their home in North Port, Florida, alone on September 1 in the couple's camper van - which has now been seized by police - 10 days before she was reported missing.
On Wednesday police officially named Laundrie a 'person of interest' in her mystery disappearance and said he is refusing to cooperate with their investigation.
Laundrie's attorney released a statement saying he is not speaking to police or making a statement 'on the advice of counsel' because 'intimate partners are often the first person law enforcement focus their attention on in cases like this.'
Petito's father Joe told Fox & Friends First the focus must be 'to make sure we get my daughter home first' and then 'we'll start worrying about Brian' later.
'I don't care what happens to him right now,' said Petito's father.
'That can't be my primary focus if he's going to sit in the comfort of his home, you know, and get home cooked meals, why my daughter's out, you know, God knows where, you know, I don't give two craps about him.'
'I got to be out there to help her, because the one person who is supposed to be leading the charge is sitting home in his lazy boy chair, you know, not talking to anybody.'
Joe said learning about the August 12 incident and Laundrie being named a person of interest, had left him feeling 'it's not what you thought it was.'
However, he said he just wants to keep the focus on finding his daughter.
'It's not what you thought it was,' he said.
'August 12, the person of interest... I get it from a legal side of it but from a family side we don't have Gabby.
'I want to care about finding my daughter first. That's my first objective.'
The bodycam footage shows an officer reporting that the driver of a vehicle ahead is showing 'obscure driving', driving 45mph in a 15mph road, and is 'possibly intoxicated.'
He says the vehicle has bumped a curb and puts the sirens on.
The officer then gets out the vehicle and approaches the couple's white camper van, which they have pulled over.
Petito, who is crying, is seen sitting in the the passenger seat and Laundrie is driving.
The officer asks them to turn off the vehicle and asks their names and 'What's going on? Why are you crying?'
'We've just been fighting this morning, some personal issues,' says Petito.
Laundrie says it was 'a long day' of camping yesterday.
The officer asks Petito to step out of the vehicle and takes her down the road, separating the couple to ask her what happened.
'I have OCD and I was just cleaning and straightening...,' she says, while sobbing.
'And I was apologizing to him and saying I'm sorry that I am so mean as sometimes I am so mean because I have OCD and get really frustrated.
'Not like mean towards him, I guess my vibe is like in a bad mood, and I said I'm sorry I'm in a bad mood I am stressed I had so much work.'
She tells the officer they are traveling the country and trying to 'build a blog'.
'We have been fighting all morning and he wouldn't let me in the car before,' she says.
When the officer asks why he wouldn't let her in the car, she says 'he told me needed to calm down' adding that he 'really stresses me out' and that it's 'been a rough morning.'
A map shows the last known movements of Petito and Laundrie along their cross-country road trip which began July 2
According to the document, cops were called to a local business in Moab, Utah on August 12, after a witness reported seeing the couple 'arguing over a phone' outside their van
The officer tells Petito she is 'not in any trouble' and escorts her to the back of the cop car so she can 'take a breath' and have 'a few minutes.'
The officer then asks Laundrie to step out the vehicle and asks him what has happened.
'She gets really worked up sometimes and I try to distance myself from it,' Laundrie says.
Laundrie also mentions her work on the blog and that 'she got worked up.'
He goes on to say they had a 'little squabble' which started in the coffee shop 'when I moved our food around' and 'I'm dirty, and I can't change being dirty, I got sand in my flip flops and stuff.'
The officer asks about the scratches on his face, with Laundrie explaining that there was an altercation involving her cellphone and their keys.
'She had her cellphone in her hand, that's why I was pushing her away,' he says.
'Coz I had the keys... I said let's take a breather and let's not go anywhere. Let's calm down a minute.'
He adds: 'And she had her phone, and was trying to get the keys from me.
'I know I shouldn't have pushed her but I was just trying to push her away to say take a minute step back and breathe. And she hit me with her phone.'
A tearful Petito tells cops she has OCD and anxiety and that she was stressed because she was trying to 'build a blog'
When an officer asks Petito if her boyfriend hit her, she replies 'I guess' and gestures to her chin. Petito admits he 'pushed her' during the altercation
Laundrie shows cops his arms which they say note scratches on, before officers determine Petito was the 'primary aggressor'
At one point, officers check Laundrie's hands, arm and torso, noting scratch marks on his arm.
A second officer is then seen talking to Petito who is sitting in the back of the cop car.
'Did he hit you?' the officer asks.
'I guess,' she replies, becoming tearful.
When the officer asks where Laundrie hit her, she clasps her chin in a grabbing motion.
'He like, did that with his hand,' she says.
Much of the audio is unclear at this point.
Petito tells the officers she suffers from 'anxiety' and that Laundrie 'gets frustrated a lot'.
She insists neither of them have been drinking because 'we don't drink'.
Petito admits she was 'yelling at him', then said 'you're an idiot'' and made a punching motion.
She is later seen in the back of the car with a distressed expression on her face and her hands clasped in front of her on her lap.
'Were you attempting to cause him physical pain or impairment? Is that what you were attempting to do to him?' an officer asks.
Petito, who is looking at the officer, replies no.
'What were you attempting to do?' the cop asks.
'What was the reason behind the slapping and stuff? What was it you were attempting to accomplish by the slapping?'
'I was trying to get him to stop telling me to calm down,' Petito says, as her face crumples in tears.
The officer replies to her that 'it doesn't sound good.'
Later in the footage, the officer is seen telling Petito he will be keeping her and Laundrie apart for the night.
'I am separating you two tonight, okay?' the officer is heard telling Petito.
The 22-year-old nods through tears in response and mouths 'okay.'
'I want you guys both to be tonight, away from each other,' the officer says.
'Relax, breathe, because there's no need to be crying now,' he tells Petito.
Petito nods and wipes tears from her eyes.
'I understand that this can feel like a nightmare,' the officer says.
'But you have come out as the golden flower on top.'
The cops are also seen talking in the footage about the accounts given by Petito, Laundrie and the witness who reported the incident to police, where they agree she was 'the primary aggressor.'
Laundrie says he doesn't want to pursue any charges but the cops say they have no choice but
