The family of murder victim Gabby Petito has announced their plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department, who pulled both her and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie over after a domestic dispute before her death.
“Our story begins because of a domestic violence tragedy and we don’t want to see that happen to anybody else,” Nicole Schmidt stated after announcing that she will be donating thousands to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Kim Goldman — the sister of the man killed with Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994 — invited Gabby Petito's family on her new podcast exploring how media coverage of high profile cases affects survivors.
Attorneys representing Gabby Petito's family hope to call Brian Laundrie's parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, in their civil lawsuit, but the Laundrie's family attorney says that's "not likely."
The wrongful death lawsuit argues that Brian Laundrie killed Gabby Petito, which caused her parents to incur "funeral and burial expenses, and they have suffered a loss of care and comfort, and have suffered a loss of probable future companionship, society and comfort."
“If you don’t affirmatively tell the police what you know, should you be held accountable and should you be sued if you have critical information?” CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson rhetorically asked a CrimeCon 2022 audience.
Steve Bertolino, the attorney for Brian Laundrie's family, said a judge has yet to rule on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and is giving Gabby Petito's parents a second chance to "make a coherent claim."
