Holy smokes, this is really happening!
Gabby Petito‘s family are suing Brian Laundrie‘s parents over their alleged role in covering up the murder!
Pretty much ever since the 22-year-old YouTuber‘s body was discovered, there’s been a call for justice directed at the Laundries. While most assumed — rightly, per the FBI‘s bombshell filing in January — that Brian had murdered his fiancée, many reasoned that his parents must have known about it.
Related: Gabby’s Parents Warn Of Scammers Using Murdered Daughter’s Name
First off, Chris and Roberta Laundrie refused to help Gabby’s parents when they first announced their daughter was missing. This wasn’t just their son’s girlfriend, she had lived with them for over a year. Who does that? It was instantly suspicious — and one of the major factors that caused the case to go viral in the first place. But their behavior only got more suspect. They waited to tell police their son had disappeared, even moving his car — then they gave them the wrong date AND told them the wrong swamp he had gone to??
Then there was that whole thing with the chain of evidence. After leading authorities right to their son’s body in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park (despite having said he was in the Carlton Reserve), Chris found his son’s dry bag. But the notebook with his confession happened to be outside it? Soaked in swamp water??
As the wheels of justice have ground slowly to a halt here, internet sleuths have wondered if any of this evidence was going anywhere — or if the Laundries were just going to be let off the hook.
Well now we have our answer thanks to a filing from Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt. Gabby’s mother and father filed suit in Sarasota, Florida on Thursday, accusing Brian’s parents of acting with malice or great indifference and extreme and outrageous conduct in relation to their daughter’s investigation.
They claim in their filing not only that the Laundries knew about their daughter’s murder, they knew the whole time. Like, the WHOLE time. They say Brian “advised his parents… that he had murdered Gabrielle Petito” on August 28 — just a day after her murder, before he even got back to North Port in her van on September 1. Wow.
Related: Gabby’s Mother KNEW She Was Dead When Brian Showed Up In Florida Alone
That’s before the Laundries’ only public statement, in which they said they hoped Gabby got home safely. If they knew even then, that’s really messed up!
So how did they come to the conclusion the Laundries knew even then? Well, that’s interesting — according to the suit, they’re claiming that’s the day the parents contacted attorney Steven Bertolino. That was a Saturday. By the following Thursday they’d already paid the lawyer a retainer.
The Petitos go on to say their almost in-laws subsequently ghosted them. Roberta Laundrie blocked Nichole on her phone and Facebook during the investigation to avoid answering questions. The suit says the Laundries weren’t just hiding from the Petitos but “were keeping the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie secret, and it is believed were making arrangements for him to leave the country.”
Whoa.
Does all this constitute being an accessory after the fact? While there haven’t been criminal charges filed, the lawsuit goes so far as saying the Laundries’ behavior “goes beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as shocking, atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community” — and makes the claim:
“As a direct and proximate result of the willfulness and maliciousness of Christopher Laundrie and Roberta Laundrie, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt had been caused to suffer pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, loss of capacity for enjoyment of life experienced in the past and to be experienced in the future.”
Bertolino responded to the suit, releasing a statement saying:
“As I have maintained over the last several months, the Laundries have not publicly commented at my direction, which is their right under the law. Assuming everything the Petitos allege in their lawsuit is true, which we deny, this lawsuit does not change the fact that the Laundries had no obligation to speak to law enforcement or any third-party, including the Petito family. This fundamental legal principle renders the Petitos’ claims to be baseless under the law.”
Is that true? If someone is missing, and you know they were murdered and by whom and where — you aren’t obligated to tell the authorities what you know? You’re allowed to mislead investigators? Hmm.
How about making plans to help a murderer flee the country? Is that protected, too? We feel like if that’s proven, that might be the key here.
Again, we have to stress that no criminal charges have been filed — despite the fact the FBI must know all this. Heck, it must be where the Petitos found out, right? But making accessory charges stick has to be tricky for prosecutors — it’s difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone knew something, and what their intent was. However, assuming this case is allowed to proceed, it’s a civil matter — meaning all the Petitos will need to present to the jury is a preponderance of evidence. We’ve already seen a ton of evidence, and we’re guessing there’s plenty more. And we’re happy for it all to come out in court!
What do YOU think about the lawsuit, Perezcious paralegals?!
[Image via Nomadic Statik/YouTube.]
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