The distraught mother of a Long Island woman who mysteriously disappeared during a cross-country trip with her boyfriend said Monday she’s convinced her daughter will come back home.
“I believe a mother’s instinct is the most powerful,” Nicole Schmidt said during a press conference at her attorney’s office. “I believe she’s going to come home.”
Gabby Petito, 22, was last known to be in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming late last month with her boyfriend, identified on social media as Brian Laundrie.
Gabby Petito’s mother, Nicole Schmidt and stepfather, James Schmidt show a picture of the missing 22-year-old. Dennis A. ClarkSchmidt said the family has not heard from her daughter since then.
Schmidt said Laundrie and her daughter attended high school together and later “rekindled” their relationship — and had been living together in Florida for 2 1/2 years.
She would not confirm reports that the two were engaged.
“As a mom, I had concerns about a daughter going on a road trip in general, but I felt safe, they were together,” she said. “They had a plan, an itinerary, and we were excited for them. Everyone wanted to be doing what they were doing.
Laundrie has returned home to Florida, retained an attorney and refused to talk to cops, the Daily Mail reported.
Gabby Petito was last known to be in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming during a cross-country trip with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie. Instagram“I think she was the kind of person who was free,” Schmidt added. “She went where the day took her. She didn’t have a plan. This was a plan, but what was next, we don’t know.”
Schmidt said the couple left from New York on July 2 and were due to wrap up their trip by visiting friends in Portland at the end of October.
The van they were traveling in, a white 2012 Ford Transit with Florida plates, has been recovered, authorities said.
“We’re not looking for the van,” she said. “We’re not looking for the two of them. We need to find her and bring her home.”
Schmidt’s husband, Joe Petito, also sent their daughter a personal message.
“Gabby, we just want you to come home,” he said. “Call us. Let us know you’re OK. Come home, please.”
During the press conference, both parents declined to comment on most questions from reporters — following a closed-door interview with a crew from “Inside Edition” at the Bohemia office of family attorney Richard Stafford.
A GoFundMe page set up for the family had raised over $10,000 by midday Monday.
Laundrie could not be reached by The Post.
Additional reporting by Jackie Salo
