Parents of Gabby Petito File Lawsuit Against Brian Laundrie's Parents, Claims They Knew of Murder

The parents of Gabby Petito accused the father and mother of presumed killer Brian Laundrie of hampering the search for their murdered daughter and working to help him flee the United States, according to a lawsuit the family filed on Thursday, March 10.

The civil action by Nichole Schmidt and Joseph Petito was filed in Sarasota County, Florida, where Christopher and Roberta Laundrie took residence. The lawsuit did not name a specific dollar amount for potential damages they wanted to receive from the Laundries, just that it would be more than $30,000.

Petito's body was discovered in Wyoming on September 19 of last year. A coroner said that the cause of Petito's death was later ruled as a homicide as the 22-year-old victim died by "manual strangulation" at least three weeks prior.

Petito family alleges Brian Laundrie told his parents of the murder

The parents of Gabby Petito alleged in the lawsuit that Brian Laundrie told his parents about killing her around August 28. The lawsuit stated that Petito called family members almost daily while she was on a months-long van-life trip through the western part of the United States. Schmidt's last communication with her daughter transpired on August 27.

Gabby Petito's parents believed that was the day she was killed, citing a text message sent from her phone later that day. Petito's grandfather was referred to as "Stan," in that said text message, something Gabby's parents said their daughter would have never done. The lawsuit alleged that it was Brian Laundrie who sent that text.

The plaintiff's lawyer Patrick Reilly wrote that while Nichole Schmidt and Joseph Petito were desperately searching for information concerning their missing daughter, Roberta Laundrie and Christopher Laundrie were keeping the whereabouts of their son, Brian, secret, and is believed to have been making arrangements for him to leave the United States.

The lawsuit says Laundrie's parents acted with malice

The suit also claimed that Brian pretended to be Gabby when he sent a text message to Schmidt on August 30, saying there was no service in Yosemite Park. Gabby Petito's parents claimed Laundrie sent this message to make them believe their daughter was still alive.

Police have said that Brian Laundrie arrived at his parents' home on September 1 in North Port, Florida. According to Petito and Schmidt's lawsuit, the Laundries refused to respond to law enforcement or to them when they asked whether Gabby Petito was still alive and if she was dead, and where her remains could be found.

Reilly wrote in the civil action lawsuit that Brian Laundrie's parents acted with malice or great indifference to the rights of Nichole Schmidt and Joseph Petito with their refusal to respond to their inquiries regarding the whereabouts of their daughter, as per Boston25 News.

The lawsuit states that the Laundries knew of the mental suffering of Gabby Petito's parents and knew that they could alleviate part of that anguish by disclosing details of her disappearance, but they refused to do so.