Gabby Petito's family awarded $3 million in wrongful death lawsuit against Brian Laundrie's parents
JACKSON, WYOMING: Gabby Petito's family was granted $3 million by a Florida judge after filing a wrongful death case against the parents of Brian Laundrie, who they say killed his 22-year-old fiancee, during a cross-country road trip in August 2021. The settlement was revealed on Thursday, November 18, months after Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt filed a civil complaint in Sarasota County, Florida, where Christopher and Roberta Laundrie reside.
According to the lawsuit, the Laundries hampered the search for Petito and knew she "had been murdered by their son," who later died by suicide. "The Petito family lost their daughter, and they were also denied the opportunity to confront her killer. No amount of money is sufficient to compensate the Petito family for the loss of their daughter, Gabby, at the hands of Brian Laundrie," said Patrick Reilly, an attorney for Petito's family, as per NBC.
READ MORE
In a van, Gabby and Brian would travel across the country, sharing their travelogues online, but behind the scenes which later came to the fore, the couple would allegedly fight a lot and on one occasion when police in Moab, Utah, responded to a report of a "domestic problem" between the pair.
After Gabby was reported missing in September 2021, Brian went to his parent's home, alone. The Laundrie family was sued by Petito's parents for failing to take action and disclose Gabby's whereabouts. For days, Brain and his parents ignored Gabby's family's pleas for information. He then fled the house, taking himself to a nearby marsh where he spent days on the run before killing himself.
Gabby's parents sued the Laundrie family for malice and wrongful death, and the case was due to go to trial in December. They also sued Christopher and Roberta Laundrie separately in a case that remains active. They claimed in the May lawsuit that Christopher and Roberta Laundrie not only knew that Brian had murdered Gabby, but that they planned to help him flee the country.
An agreement has been reached between them, which brings an end to the case. But some reports suggest that Laundrie's estate is estimated to be about $20,000. Petito's family plans to donate whatever funds they receive to the Gabby Petito Foundation they started, Yahoo News reported.