On Wednesday, lawyers representing the parents of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie went face-to-face over a civil lawsuit. However Laundrie’s mother Roberta, and father Christopher, were not in attendance.
According to People News, the victims' parents, Joseph Petito and Nicole Schmidt, filed a law-suit alleging that Brian Laundrie’s parents knew that their son had murdered Gabby Petito before she was officially reported missing to authorities.
According to Fox News, Brain Laundrie and Gabby Petito, both raised in Long Island, New York, lived with Brian’s parents in North Port, Florida. Around mid-June, Laundrie and Petito left for a trip to visit National Parks in Utah, where Petito supposedly disappeared.
Brian Laundrie returned alone to his parents' home. Authorities and search teams discovered the remains of Petito in Wyoming’s Grand Treton National Park on September 19, 2021.
Now, Joseph Petito and Nicole Schmidt are accusing the Laundries of not only being aware of their son's alleged crime, but also trying to help him to escape. The Wednesday hearing will determine whether or not the lawsuit will go to court. While the Laundries were not legally required to attend, their absence was noted by numerous netizens following the case.
Following Gabby Petito's murder, when authorities identified Brian Laundrie as a suspect, he disappeared. His body was recovered in October 2021 with what autopsies determined to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
What does the lawsuit claim about the disappearance of Gabby Petito?
According to the Independent, in the lawsuit, Joseph Petito and Nicole Schmidt accused the Laundries of having deliberately avoided filing a missing persons report when Brian returned to their Florida home alone on September 1.
The filing read:
“Christopher Laundrie and Roberta Laundrie 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”
The victim's parents claimed that their daughter had stopped responding to their texts in the middle of the trip. According to Law and Crime, Petito’s parents reported her missing on September 11.
The lawsuit also condemned what was perceived by Petito’s parents as feigned sympathy. After the disappearance of Gabby Petito was reported, the Laundries released a statement through their lawyer.
The statement said:
“It is our understanding that a search has been organized for Miss Petito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. On behalf of the Laundrie family it is our hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is reunited with her family”
In response to this, the lawsuit reads that it was outrageous the Laundrie’s could make such a statement.
The complaint read:
“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”
As of now, the court is in recess. The decision as to whether or not the lawsuit will move forward shall be determined by the judge within the next few days.