They’re still in that house. Honestly, if you drove through the quiet, sun-baked streets of North Port, Florida, today, you might miss it. It’s just a three-bedroom, two-bathroom stucco home, the kind of place that looks exactly like every other house on the block. But for years, this specific patch of lawn was the most famous piece of real estate in America. Protesters screamed from the sidewalk. News helicopters circled overhead like vultures.
Where are Brian Laundrie's parents now? They are still living in the same home on Wabasso Avenue where it all started.
People always assume they moved. You’d think they would want to, right? After their son murdered Gabby Petito in the summer of 2021 and then took his own life in a swampy nature preserve nearby, the world turned on Christopher and Roberta Laundrie. There were rumors they fled to a condo in Venice. People swore they saw "For Sale" signs on the lawn. But their attorney, Steve Bertolino, has stayed pretty consistent on this: they haven't gone anywhere.
They’re basically living a life of self-imposed isolation.
The Settlement That Changed Everything
For a long time, the biggest thing hanging over their heads wasn't just the public hatred—it was a massive civil lawsuit. Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, Gabby’s parents, sued the Laundries for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The core of the argument was pretty brutal. The Petitos alleged that Chris and Roberta knew Gabby was dead while her family was still desperately searching for her.
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They claimed Brian called them on August 29, 2021, and told them Gabby was "gone."
In February 2024, everything shifted. After a long, high-tension day of mediation, both families reached a confidential settlement. It was a "reluctant" agreement on both sides. No trial. No more public testimony. The Petitos’ lawyer mentioned the goal was to finally close the chapter. Since then, the Laundries have essentially vanished from the news cycle.
What the Depositions Revealed
Before that settlement, some truly weird and chilling details came out during the legal process. You might remember the "burn after reading" letter. Roberta Laundrie wrote a letter to Brian that mentioned bringing a shovel to help bury a body and baking a cake with a file in it if he went to jail.
She claimed it was written way before the trip. She said it was just a way to connect with her son during a period where they were arguing.
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Whether you believe that or not, it’s a huge part of why the public perception of them is so polarized. During his deposition, Chris Laundrie admitted Brian called him in late August saying Gabby was "gone" and that he needed a lawyer. Chris says he didn't know exactly what "gone" meant at the time. He thought maybe she’d just walked away or they’d broken up.
But within days, they were reaching out to a high-powered defense attorney in Wyoming.
Life in North Port Today
These days, you won't see Chris and Roberta giving interviews. They don't have social media. They’ve stayed incredibly private. Neighbors have occasionally reported seeing them doing the most mundane things imaginable—getting groceries, going for walks, or visiting the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
That park is where they eventually helped the FBI find Brian's remains and his notebook.
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It’s gotta be a strange existence. You're living in a town where everyone knows your face, but nobody really wants to talk to you. They are mourning a son while knowing that the world views him as a monster. And they’re doing it in the same house where Brian returned alone in Gabby's van while her family was still texting him, asking where she was.
The Reality of Their Legal Standing
It's important to be clear about one thing: the Laundries were never charged with a crime.
The FBI investigated. The police searched. But in the end, there was no evidence that they committed a felony under Florida law. Being a "bad person" or "unhelpful" isn't a crime. That’s been the hardest pill for the public to swallow. There was a separate wrongful death lawsuit against Brian’s estate that resulted in a $3 million judgment for the Petitos, but since Brian didn't have $3 million, it was mostly a symbolic victory.
So, what’s left for them?
- Confidentiality: The terms of their 2024 settlement mean we likely won't ever know if money changed hands or if there were specific conditions about their future behavior.
- The House: Property records still show them as the owners of the North Port home.
- The Foundation: While the Laundries stay silent, the Petito family has turned their grief into The Gabby Petito Foundation, which is actively working on domestic violence awareness and "lethality assessments" for police.
Honestly, the "where are they now" is less about a physical location and more about a state of being. They are in a legal and social purgatory. They aren't in prison, but they aren't exactly free either. They are the parents who stayed behind in the house that became a landmark for a tragedy that captivated the entire world.
If you are following this case for updates on legal precedents, the best next step is to look into the Gabby Petito Act and similar "Lethality Assessment" laws being proposed in states like Florida and Utah. These are the real-world changes coming out of the investigation into what happened between Brian and Gabby before he returned home to his parents.