Shortly before it was confirmed that travel influencer Gabby Petito had died by homicide, Dr. Phil aired a special episode in which he interviewed her father, Joseph Petito.
At the time of the interview, Gabby was still missing and so Mr. Petito was unaware that his daughter had sadly been murdered.
In the interview, Mr. Petito slammed Gabby’s fiancé, Brian Laundrie, who has been named a person of interest in her murder, as well as his family for refusing to help cooperate in her disappearance.
“We called every [Laundrie] number we could find and no phone calls were picked up, no text messages were returned,” he told Dr. Phil.
“You’d think when someone says ‘we’re about to call the police’ to find your missing kid, you’d return a phone call. I mean, that’s just what logic would dictate for normal people. You don’t get any response, that just makes it more and more concerning.”
Mr. Petito also ripped into Brian for leaving Gabby on the road trip and driving home without her.
“It’s not even his van!” he said. “You came home without her, you had her van in your driveway for 10 days.”
He added, “You think it’s okay to leave a young 22-year-old in the middle of nowhere?”
At one point in the interview, Mr. Petito reads out a statement issued by the Laundrie family and rips it apart, bit by bit.
After reciting their statement, in which they wrote that it’s “really hard on the Laundrie family and the Petito family,” Mr. Petito says in response: “Well, my child is nowhere to be found and I’m not getting any answers on where to even start.
“So don’t sit there and tell me how difficult it is for you because you’ve got reporters on your block.”
He continued: “Then there was ‘I want this search to be successful.’ Well, I don’t know about you, but if I want something to be successful, I will assist in making it successful. Not sit in the background.”
“If you love this person and she’s your fiancé, you should turn around and lead the damn charge. You should be number one, and I should be number two,” he said, addressing Brian.
“But he’s sitting behind his mum like he’s four-years-old.”
The interview ends on a heartbreaking note, with the host asking Gabby’s father to address his daughter, in case she’s still alive.
“Gabby, let me come and get you. I will bring you to my home and I will shelter you from all of this crap until you’re ready,” Mr. Petito said. “I don’t care about anything else but my daughter’s wellbeing.”
Watch the full interview below:
