SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — As the civil lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito’s parents against Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, the parents of Brian Laundrie, her fiance, heads to trial, Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt filed an updated witness with the Sarasota County Circuit Court on Tuesday. (See the list of witnesses below.)
Brian Laundrie killed his fiancee while they were on a cross-country road trip visiting national parks in August 2021.
After strangling her to death, Laundrie left her body at a campsite in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest, where it was found nearly a month later on Sept. 19, 2021.
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Laundrie returned in her van to his parents’ house in Florida, where the couple had been living before embarking on their road trip. Multiple law enforcement agencies across the country undertook a massive investigation into her disappearance, while Laundrie refused to speak with them.
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He later took his own life, shooting himself in the head in a Sarasota County park in September of that year.
His remains and a handwritten confession to killing Petito were found in October 2021. He left his confession in his notebook, claiming he strangled her out of mercy after she fell into a ravine and was injured.
Petito’s parents filed a civil lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents and the family attorney, Steven Bertolino, for intentional infliction of emotional distress. They claim the Laundries and their attorney knew that their daughter was dead and where her body was during a national search for her.
Those listed below are among the witnesses Petito’s family expects to testify in the case:
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