Petito, Laundrie Lawsuit: Jury Trial Set For 2023 In Sarasota County

VENICE, FL — A jury trial date has been set in Sarasota County in the civil lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito’s family against the parents of her confessed killer and fiancé, Brian Laundrie.

The lawsuit filed by Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt in March claims that Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, knew their son had already killed the 22-year-old woman during the period she was considered missing last year.

The trial won’t go before a jury until next year. Court documents show the trial, set to take place at the South County Courthouse in Venice, will begin Aug. 14, 2023.

There’s a chance the lawsuit could be dismissed by then, as a new attorney for the Laundries, P. Matthew Luka with Trombley & Hanes, P.A. in Tampa, filed a motion for dismissal on March 30.

In response to the dismissal request, Judge Hunter W. Carroll allowed the attorneys for Petito’s parents to file an amended complaint.

Related Stories:

• Laundrie Attorney Calls Petito Family's Lawsuit 'Frivolous': Report
• Brian Laundrie's Parents Knew Gabby Petito Was Dead: Family
• Brian Laundrie Confessed To Killing Petito In Notebook: FBI
• Brian Laundrie's Autopsy Released By Medical Examiner's Office

Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito were Long Island, New York, natives living with his parents in North Port when they left for a cross-country road trip last summer, but only Laundrie returned to Florida.

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

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.

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."

In the lawsuit, they claim Laundrie's parents knew their son "murdered" their daughter by Aug. 28. The Laundries 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 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."

In the Laundries’ motion to dismiss the case, Luka, their attorney, wrote that Petito’s parents “cannot set forth factual assertions that can be supported by evidence which gives rise to legal liability.”

He added, “As such, this action for intentional infliction of emotional distress against the parents of Brian Laundrie, however inartfully drafted, is not legally sustainable and the complaint should be dismissed with prejudice.”