Suit filed by Gabby Petito’s parents can proceed, judge rules

A Florida circuit court judge has cleared the way for a lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito’s parents against Brian Laundrie’s parents, accusing them of failing to come forward amid the intense search for their daughter despite knowing that she was already dead.

Circuit Court Judge Hunter Carroll on Thursday denied a motion from Christopher and Roberta Laundrie to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, who said they suffered emotional distress intentionally inflicted by Laundrie’s parents

Their 22-year-old daughter, Gabby Petito, embarked on a cross-country journey with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, on July 2, 2021. Her family grew concerned when her husband-to-be returned alone to his parents’ home in North Port, Fla., on Sept. 1. For weeks, authorities tried to locate the missing woman, and ultimately discovered her body on Sept. 19 at a campground near Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming.

Her cause of death was ruled to be homicide by strangulation.

Upon returning home, Brian Laundrie reunited with his parents, and they quickly left together for a camping trip on the beach at Fort De Soto Park, south of St. Petersburg. But Brian, did not return from the trip, and after months of speculation regarding his whereabouts, he was discovered dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on Oct. 20.

The Laundries did not address Gabby’s disappearance aside from a press release on Sept. 14: “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.”

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According to the civil lawsuit filed in March, the Laundries helped Brian conceal Gabby’s murder and were arranging for him to leave the country when he disappeared. Petito’s parents further alleged that Christopher and Roberta ignored their pleas for help, going as far as to block their numbers and Facebook profiles.

In their motion to dismiss, the Laundries said they were not obligated to speak out about the case or provide any information regarding Gabby or their son. Carroll on Thursday concluded that if Brian’s parents remained silent he would have ruled in their favor, but then pointed to their September statement, CNN reported.

“The Laundries contend that their statement is not outrageous as a matter of law,” the judge wrote.

“At oral argument they suggested it merely was a plain statement. Plaintiffs, in contrast, countered during oral argument the statement knowingly was false, designed to create false hope, and issued by the Laundries who knew Gabby was dead and where her body was located.”

Carroll went on to agree, writing that the statement itself was not outrageous, but that it could rise to that “when juxtaposed with the other conduct in the case.”

What’s more, if the Laundries were aware Gabby was no longer alive, their statement “was particularly callous and cruel.”

Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt are seeking more than $30,000 in damages.