Res Ipsa wrote: βFri Oct 22, 2021 8:36 pm
Gunnar wrote: βFri Oct 22, 2021 5:43 am
There's probably no way of knowing how this whole episode might have played out, had Gabi's body never been found. If Brian Laundrie did murder her, and he therefore decided to commit suicide, at least he spared society of the legal costs of indicting, prosecuting, trying, convicting and incarcerating him.
Yeah, but he took from her parents something that only he could give them: how her life ended and the chance to tell him what her death means to their lives. I wonder if they feel that justice has been done.
For the record, I don't believe that in a case like this, that justice is ever fully achievable. Had the perpetrator lived and been incarcerated, his parents would have still had a living child to visit and maintain a relationship with. Second degree murder in the state of Wyoming carries with it a penalty of incarceration for up to 20 years. I don't know about the penalty for the federal charges. So if I understand the law correctly (which I may not), he would have been imprisoned for a maximum of 20 years and add on to that the penalty for the federal charges.
He would have been released from prison at some point and gone on to live his life unless prosecutors could prove premeditation which seems impossible based on what we know about the case so far.
I know something about living through a case similar to this where the perpetrator of assault and attempted murder took their own life. Even with a living survivor of the event, I went through daily life doing whatever needed to be done, acting as 'the rock' as someone close to me described me. The rock functioned, advocated, extended grace to the family of the deceased while protecting the survivor, and kept putting one foot in front of the other dealing with whatever I was faced with.
But when I was alone, I raged and I continued to rage for several years. I raged at the deceased, the unanswered questions, I raged at God and continued to rage until I found a place to accept all that had taken place. I will say that my faith carried me through but there were times when I took my faith and threw it right in the face of my God. I do think faith mattered during those years because I had something, a centering place, to come back to.
I don't know where the Petito/Schmidt stand with regard to faith. I believe without question that they are grieving and raging, and we won't hear from them until they have themselves somewhat under control at least enough to go on camera or perhaps just release a statement. I am sure there are pieces of information yet to come to them from the investigations. The investigations aren't over yet. It's just that now there is one investigation lobbed onto the first one, mainly, who killed Gabby Petito and how did Brian Laundrie die?
I wish...I wish for all the world that Gabby could have taken advantage of two spaces of time where she could have left Brian Laundrie. I am sure her parents are feeling that regret far more deeply than we can imagine. The first time (that we know of) would have been after the traffic stop in Moab. The second would have been when Brian Laundrie flew home to Florida to help empty the storage unit.
There is no question in my mind, that her parents are playing out those scenarios over and over and over again in their minds. If only...and I know something about the
if only piece, too. There is no question in my mind that the Petito/Schmidt family will grow something positive from all of this. I don't rage any more and I pray that they reach a place in their lives, where they don't rage any more either.