Gabby Petito’s killer’s family knew she was dead weeks before body was found: lawsuit

After 22-year-old Gabrielle Petito disappeared in August 2021, her fiancé Brian Laundrie was investigated by police. An autopsy conducted after Petito's body was found in Wyoming showed that she had died from "blunt-force injuries" and "strangulation," and Laundrie claimed responsibility for her death in a suicide letter.

In an article published by The Guardian on December 5, journalist Ramon Antonio Vargas reports that Laundrie's family allegedly knew that Petito was dead weeks before her body was found.

Vargas reports, "The fiancé and killer of domestic violence murder victim Gabby Petito desperately called his parents and told them that she was 'gone' weeks before she was discovered dead — yet they later shared messages expressing hope that search efforts for her would end in success, her family has alleged. Petito's parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, make that stunning claim in a lawsuit that they are pursuing against Brian Laundrie's family and their attorney in the latest chapter to a case that has generated international news headlines."

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Petito's parents, according to Vargas, "allege that Christopher and Roberta Laundrie received 'a frantic telephone call' from their son on 29 August 2021 in which he said his betrothed Gabby was 'gone' and that he 'needed a lawyer.'"

"That same day," Vargas reports, "the Petitos allege, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie spoke with a lawyer, Steven Bertolino. The Laundries, from Florida, are accused of telling Bertolino that Petito was 'gone' and their son needed an attorney."

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Read The Guardian's full report at this link.