(PatriotWise.com) – Last Tuesday, the parents of Gabby Petito added attorney Steven Bertolino to their civil suit against Brian Laundrie’s parents, alleging that it was “insensitive, cold-hearted, and outrageous” for Bertolino to express the Laundrie family’s “hope” that authorities would find Gabby in September 2021 when he knew she was dead.
Gabby’s parents Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt originally filed the lawsuit against Christopher and Roberta Laundrie earlier this year, accusing the couple of knowing that their son Brian killed Gabby and being aware of where her remains were located but refusing to say.
In a statement last Tuesday, Gabby’s parents said the Laundries only spoke through Bertolino who, on September 14, 2021, claimed that the Laundrie family hoped “that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Pettito is reunited with her family.”
Gabby’s parents allege that at the time of Bertolino’s September 14 statement, both he and the Laundries knew Gabby was dead. Given that, his statement was “insensitive, cold-hearted and outrageous.”
In their lawsuit, Gabby’s parents accuse the Laundries of going on a camping trip in early September despite knowing that their son killed Gabby and where her remains were located.
Gabby Petito’s body was found on September 19. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide by manual strangulation and blunt-force trauma to the head and neck.
Last month, the families agreed to a $3 million settlement in the Petito family’s wrongful death lawsuit against Brian Laundrie’s estate.
Gabby’s parents have also filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department in Utah alleging that officers failed to properly handle a 911 call from a witness who claimed he saw Brian striking Gabby and trying to steal her phone just weeks before her death. The lawsuit names the department, two former leaders, and the two officers who responded to the call.
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