Families Of Gabby Petito And Brian Laundrie Reach Deal In Civil Lawsuit
The families of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie have reached a settlement in a civil suit related to her 2021 death during the couple’s ill-fated cross-country trip, it was announced Wednesday.
A resolution was “reluctantly agreed” upon by all parties to avoid further legal expenses and “prolonged personal conflict,” Petito’s family said in a statement released by their attorney, Pat Reilly.
The outcome, which will remain confidential, followed “a long day of mediation,” the family added.
“Our hope is to close this chapter of our lives to allow us to move on and continue to honor the legacy of our beautiful daughter, Gabby,” the statement continued.
In these images taken from police body camera video, Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito and Brian Laundrie speak with police after being pulled over near the entrance to Arches National Park on Aug. 12, 2021.
The families were scheduled to go to trial in May in Florida over the Petito family’s legal claims that the Laundries and their attorney, Steven Bertolino, intentionally withheld information about the 22-year-old’s death by Laundrie. The civil lawsuit sought more than $30,000 in damages for emotional distress.
Bertolino did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment Thursday.
Laundrie frantically called his family for help during his trip with Petito on Aug. 29, saying she was “gone” and that he needed a lawyer. Instead of helping Petito’s family amid their distress and confusion over their daughter’s whereabouts, Laundrie’s family immediately hired Bertolino and released a tight-lipped statement that expressed hope that Petito would be found, Reilly told HuffPost back in December.
“For the Laundries and Steven Bertolino 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 Brian Laundrie was beyond outrageous,” the Petito family’s lawsuit against the Laundries and Bertolino read.
Petito was ultimately found dead on Sept. 19 near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Her death was ruled a homicide. Laundrie was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a month later in Florida. He confessed to her killing in a notebook that was found with his body, authorities said.
The Petito and Laundrie families settled a separate wrongful death lawsuit in Florida for $3 million in 2022. That lawsuit claimed Laundrie was liable for damages because he caused her death.
The Petito family has an additional lawsuit outstanding against police in Moab, Utah. That lawsuit accuses officers there of failing to recognize signs of domestic violence and to help Petito after the couple was questioned by police days before she was found strangled to death.
