Nov. 17 (UPI) — A Florida judge on Thursday awarded Gabby Petito’s family $3 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against Brian Laundrie’s estate.
Sarasota County Circuit Judge Hunter Carroll issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed in May that sought at least $30,000 from Brian Laundrie’s estate in the 2021 death of his fiancee, Gabby Petito, whose body was found in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.
The lawsuit said Brian Laundrie intentionally killed Gabby Petito, and as a result Joseph Petito and Gabby’s mother Nichole Schmidt suffered a loss and incurred funeral and burial expenses.
Petito’s family also filed another lawsuit in March accusing the Laundries of knowledge of Gabby Petito’s death even before Gabby’s parents reported her missing. That suit has not yet gone to trial.
That lawsuit asserts that Laundrie intentionally killed Petito and that the Laundries hindered the search for Petito while knowing that Brian Laundrie had killed her.
Brian Laundrie killed Petito during a roadtrip through the western United States. Her body was discovered Sept. 19, 2021. The FBI said Laundrie, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, admitted killing her in a notebook found near his body in a Florida park in October.
“The Petito family lost their daughter, and they were also denied the opportunity to confront her killer. No amount of money is sufficient to compensate the Petito family for the loss of their daughter, Gabby, at the hands of Brian Laundrie,” said Petito family attorney Patrick Reilly.
In a statement the Laundrie family said they hope the lawsuit settlement brings some closure to this one chapter of this tragedy.
On Nov. 3, the Petito’s also filed suit against the Moab, Utah, Police Department, seeking $50 million for alleged police negligence the Petito’s say led to Gabby’s death.
Police there had stopped Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito after a passerby reported seeing Laundrie hit her, but police did not arrest Laundrie and allowed the couple to drive away together.
