Petito Family’s Witness List Includes Laundrie’s Parents: Lawsuit

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — Gabby Petito’s family filed its initial witness list Friday in their civil lawsuit against Brian Laundrie's parents.

As they seek justice for their daughter’s death at the hands of her fiancé, Laundrie, while on a cross-country road trip visiting national parks last summer, court records show that among those they'd like to testify during the case’s August 2023 jury trial are Chris and Roberta Laundrie.

In the lawsuit, her family claims that Laundrie's parents, North Port residents, not only knew their son had killed Petito during the couple’s trip, but they also knew where her body was located when they took a family vacation to a Florida campground Sept. 6-7.

The Petito family's complaint was initially filed in Sarasota County in March and amended at the end of April.

Others on the family's initial witness list include her parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, and her stepparents, Tara Petito and James Schmidt. They also include unnamed members of the FBI and the North Port Police Department, the primary agencies that investigated their daughter’s death.

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• Petito, Laundrie Lawsuit: Jury Trial Set For 2023 In Sarasota County
• Laundrie Attorney Calls Petito Family's Lawsuit 'Frivolous': Report

“It’s a wish list,” Laundrie attorney Steven Bertolino told WFLA. “I’m sure (Petito and Schmidt attorney Pat Reilly) put every party on that list that (he) believes he needs testimony from to prove his case.”

The lawyer has previously called the lawsuit “baseless and frivolous” and tried to have it dismissed at the end of March.

Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito were Long Island, New York, natives living with his parents in North Port when they left for a trip to visit state parks in the Western United States last summer, but only Laundrie returned to Florida Sept. 1.

Petito, who was last heard from at the end of August 2021, was found strangled to death near a Wyoming national park Sept. 19.

Laundrie and his parents camped at Fort De Soto Park in St. Petersburg Sept. 6-7, while knowing that his fiancée was dead and that her body was at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area in Wyoming, the Petitos claim.

"While Gabrielle Petito's family was suffering, the Laundrie family went on vacation to Fort De Soto Park," according to the Petito family complaint. "They went on vacation knowing that Brian Laundrie had murdered Gabrielle Petito, it is believed that they knew where her body was located and further knew that Gabrielle Petito's parents were attempting to locate her."

The family said Laundrie's parents also stopped communicating with them and Roberta Laundrie even blocked Schmidt, Petito's mother, on her cell phone and on Facebook.

The Laundries, knowing Petito was dead, continued to publicly issue statements that they hoped Petito would be found and reunited with her family, the lawsuit claims.

"For the Laundries to express their 'hope' that Gabrielle Petito was located and reunited with her family, at a time when they knew she had been murdered by their son was beyond outrageous," the complaint said.

Brian Laundrie was reported missing Sept. 17 in North Port. 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 for him.

The medical examiner's office determined in November that Laundrie 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.