“[If my parents are involved], then they should come clean.”
Watch the Full Video & Read the Cassie Laundrie Good Morning America Interview Transcript Below
Cassie Laundrie (sister of Brian Laundrie) Good Morning America Transcript: Cassie discusses Brian’s past trips to the Appalachian Trail, his level of survival skills & confirms she has not spoken to her parents in a brand new GMA interview released on October 5, 2021.
[Begin Cassie Laundrie Good Morning America Interview Transcript]
MICHAEL STRAHAN: That ABC News exclusive interview with Brian Laundrie’s sister who’s speaking out as police hunt for her brother. And this morning, a new message from Gabby Petito’s family as well. ABC’s Victor Oquendo is in Miami Beach, Florida with the very latest. Good morning, Victor.
VICTOR OQUENDO: Good morning, Michael. We have learned so much more about this case in the week since we last heard from Cassie Laundrie. It turns out she was also on that family camping trip that Brian took with his parents after he returned home without Gabby Petito. Cassie insists she still doesn’t know where her brother is.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: No, I do not know where Brian is. I’d turn him in…
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: Overnight, Cassie Laundrie attempting to set the record straight, speaking out for the first time since Gabby Petito’s body was found and her brother Brian was reported missing, later named a person of interest in Petito’s murder and wanted by the FBI in a fraud investigation.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: I really wish he had come to me first that day with the van, because I don’t think we’d be here. I worry about him. I hope he’s okay. And then I’m angry and I don’t know what to think. I would tell my brother to just come forward and get us out of this horrible mess.
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: And now detailing the last time she saw her brother.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: The last time I physically saw and the last time I physically spoke to my brother was on the sixth [of September]. I’ve tried to get in touch with him… phone went to voicemail.
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: Cassie sharing this photo exclusively with ABC News, showing Brian and his five year old nephew camping at Fort DeSoto park with their parents, five days before Gabby was reported missing.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: We just went for a couple of hours and we ate dinner and had smores around the campfire and left. And there was nothing peculiar about it. There was no feeling of grand goodbye. There was no nothing. I’m frustrated that in hindsight, I didn’t pick up on anything. It was just a regular visit.
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: By the time Gabby was found 13 days later, Brian had already vanished. The day Cassie learned of his disappearance, she says she immediately told investigators about that camping trip.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: It was not hidden from law enforcement. I’ve been cooperating with the police. Since day one, I have been in touch with law enforcement.
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: And now, she’s calling on her parents to do the same.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: Justice for Gabby would look like having someone come forward and tell the truth. I don’t know if my parents are involved. I think if they are, then they should come clean.
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: Cassie says her brother has taken multiple trips for up to five days at a time on the Appalachian Trail, where multiple tips have been reported. And over the weekend, a possible sighting was reported to investigators along the nearly 2200 mile trail near the Tennessee/North Carolina border.
[Audio clip is played of DENNIS DAVIS calling 9-11 to report possible sighting of Brian Laundrie]
DENNIS DAVIS: “I wasn’t sure about what he looked like. And then I went and parked and pulled up the photographs of him. And I’m 99.99% sure that was him.”
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: Police have said they’re factoring in Brian’’s reported skills living off the grid in their search for him. But Cassie says it’s unusual for him to be gone for this long.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: I’d say Brian’s a mediocre survivalist. It wouldn’t surprise me if he could last out there a very long time. But also, I don’t think anything would surprise me at this point. If the FBI finds him in Timbuktu, I’d be like “alright, well, that’s where he was”. I’ve got, I’ve got nothing. I hope my brother is alive. Because I want answers just as much as everybody else.
[Snippet of audio/video from Moab Police body cam footage plays, showing an officer questioning Gabby Petito]
OFFICER: Is there something on your cheek here? Looks like… did you get, did you get hit in the face?
GABBY PETITO: To be honest, I definitely hit him first.
OFFICER: Did he hit you though? I mean, I mean it’s okay if you’re saying you hit him and then I understand if he hit you, but we want to know the truth if he actually hit you.
GABBY PETITO: But like, he like grabbed me like with his nail and—
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: She says the body cam video from the Moab Utah police encounter is hard to watch.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: It’s definitely painful to see everybody just be upset. It was pretty typical of them to argue and try and take space from each other. But people saying that they saw public domestic violence? I’ve never seen anything like that from either of them.
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: Now, she wonders if more could have been done.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: I definitely feel like if they had all of the 911 calls from the multiple people they said, that I think that it would have gone a lot differently and we’d be in a different situation.
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: Cassie says she’s– as concerned as she is for her brother– she is mourning for Gabby, and wants her family to know her heart is with them.
CASSIE LAUNDRIE: I’ve been cooperating so that everyone gets answers. They deserve answers.
VICTOR OQUENDO [voiceover]: Gabby’s parents sending a message to Brian on the Dr. Phil show.
[Video/audio clip from The Dr. Phil Show plays featuring Gabby’s family]
TARA PETITO (Gabby Petito’s Stepmother): If you truly loved her, you should turn yourself in.
VICTOR OQUENDO: The Laundrie family attorney released a statement saying in part that Brian’s parents don’t know where he is. And the speculation by the public– and some in the press– that the parents assisted Brian in leaving the family home or in avoiding arrest, is “just wrong”.
[End Cassie Laundrie Good Morning America Interview Transcript]
Other Gabby Petito Case Transcripts:
Gabby Petito Press Conference Transcript (Body Located)
Transcript Source: Cassie Laundrie New Interview on Good Morning America
