The movie about the tragic final days of Gabby Petito's life has a debut date, which will be just over a year after her body was found following her death at the hands of her fiancé.
The Lifetime network announced Thursday that "The Gabby Petito Story" will premiere on Oct. 1 — the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The movie will explore the relationship between Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie, and what may have gone wrong during their cross-country trip that resulted in her murder, and eventually his suicide.
Emmy-nominated actress Thora Birch is set to co-star, playing Petito's mother, and she will direct the movie. Skyler Samuels will play Petito, the 22-year-old from Long Island who initially went missing in Aug. 2021 while out west. Her disappearance would go on to capture headlines nationwide.
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A notebook recovered from a Florida nature preserve where Laundrie ended his life purportedly contained a confession that he had killed Petito. The eight pages of hand-written notes sent by the Laundrie family attorney in June and credited to Laundrie offer some insight into the tragic deaths of the young couple.
"I ended her life," Laundrie writes in the notebook, recovered after the 23-year-old's body was found in the nature preserve in October. "I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made."
Laundrie's writing details his decision to end Petito's life after she allegedly suffered some kind of injury while the two were camping at night. Laundrie talks about trying to keep her warm and awake while Petito was in "extreme" pain, but his entries don't explain any effort to find her medical help.
In April, Petito's family filed a lawsuit against the parents of her admitted killer, that alleges he and his family went on vacation together while knowing the location of Petito's body.
They also filed a lawsuit against the city of Moab, Utah, where officers stopped and interviewed Petito and Laundrie the month before she was murdered. In that lawsuit, the parents allege that "had the officers involved had the training to implement proper lethality assessment ... it would have been clear to them that Gabby was a victim of intimate partner violence and needed immediate protection."
The movie was filmed in Utah over the summer, and will air Saturday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. EST. Lifetime said it will also debut a documentary immediately following the movie, featuring interviews and insights from people close to the story.
