Brian Laundrie Lawsuit Court Date Set In Sarasota County

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — A judge has set the first court date in a civil lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito’s parents against the parents of her confessed killer, Brian Laundrie, in Sarasota County.

The families will face each other in court for the first time on June 30 at 1:30 p.m. via Zoom, according to records from Sarasota County’s Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller.

In January, after four months of investigating the disappearance and death of Petito, the FBI said that her fiancé, Laundrie, admitted to her slaying before he also died.

Petito, who was last heard from at the end of August 2021 while on a cross-country road trip with Laundrie, was found strangled to death near a Wyoming national park in September.

Laundrie was reported missing Sept. 17 in North Port, Florida, where the couple, Long Island, New York natives, previously lived with his parents. His skeletal remains, as well as a notebook and other items belonging to him, were found in a Sarasota County park after more than a month of searching.

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The medical examiner’s office determined in November that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

In January, the FBI said the notebook found near Laundrie’s body included written statements from him claiming responsibility for Petito’s death.

According to the complaint filed by Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, Gabby Petito’s parents, on March 10, they’re seeking “damages that exceed $30,000 exclusive of prejudgment, interest, costs and attorney fees.”

They claim that Laundrie’s parents — Chris and Roberta Laundrie — knew that their son “murdered” Gabby Petitot by Aug. 28. They spoke with their family attorney, Steve Bertolino, on that date, and sent him a retainer on Sept. 2, according to the complaint from Petito’s parents.

Petito’s family also claims that around Sept. 10, “Roberta Laundrie blocked Nichole Schmidt on her cellular phone such that neither phone calls nor texts could be delivered, and she blocked her on Facebook.”

Throughout the search for their daughter, Petito and Schmidt said that the Laundries “acted with malice or great indifference” by not responding to them.

The complaint also says the Laundries “exhibited extreme and outrageous conduct which constitutes behavior, under the circumstances, which goes beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as shocking, atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.”