'OUTRAGEOUS'
GABBY Petito's parents have filed a motion to add the Laundrie's family lawyer to their ongoing lawsuit after slamming a "cold-hearted" statement he released last year.
Gabby's family has already been awarded $3million from Brian Laundrie's estate for a wrongful death lawsuit - however, his parents Chris and Roberta are still facing legal trouble as the mourning family claims the pair refused to release crucial information that would have implicated their son.
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Patrick Reilly, an attorney for Gabby's parents, provided The U.S. Sun with a statement explaining why Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt wish to add attorney Steven Bertolino as a defendant ahead of the emotional distress case set to go on trial in August 2023.
Speaking on behalf of the parents, Reilly said they are alleging that Brian's family knew the location of Gabby's body and refused to provide information after her disappearance.
"When they did choose to speak, it was through statements issued by Steven Bertolino, including a statement on September 14, 2021, that it was the 'hope of the Laundrie family 'that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is reunited with her family," Reilly said.
The attorney wrote that they believe the Laundries knew that Gabby was deceased at this time, making the statement: "insensitive, cold-hearted and outrageous.
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"Thus, after much consideration, the parents of Gabby Petito filed a Motion for Leave of Court this afternoon asking the court for permission to file a Second Amended Complaint to add Steven Bertolino as a defendant in the action.
"Motions of this type are liberally granted by the court.
"Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt are seeking justice and accountability for the loss of their daughter and the attendant harm caused them."
Florida officials have made several key decisions in favor of Gabby's parents recently, including shutting down a motion filed by the Laundries to limit questioning in the incoming trial next year.
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Chris and Roberta Laundrie pleaded with a judge to save themselves from "embarrassment" and "oppression" by restricting the presented evidence to the time period between Gabby's death last August and the discovery of her body a few weeks later.
However, Florida Judge Hunter Carroll struck the motion down on November 22, saying it was "overly narrow" and would block directly relevant evidence based on the allegations in the lawsuit.
Days before this motion was denied, Gabby Petito's family was awarded $3million from Brian Laundrie's estate after their wrongful death lawsuit came to a close.
The Gabby Petito Foundation will receive whatever money is available in Laundrie's estate, which is reported to be somewhere in the five-figure range and likely not $3million.
Gabby's mom, Nichole Schmidt, filed the $30million wrongful death lawsuit against Laundrie's estate back in May, claiming his parents, Chris and Roberta, helped their son flee after killing her daughter.
The lawsuit also claimed that Laundrie intentionally killed Gabby.
Schmidt and Gabby's father, Joe, were seeking compensation for funeral and burial expenses, saying they had "suffered a loss of care and comfort, and mourned a loss of probable future companionship, society and comfort.”
Gabby, a 22-year-old van life vlogger, was found strangled to death in September 2021 in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Laundrie, 23, admitted to "ending" his girlfriend's life last August, calling it a “merciful murder” in a journal found along with his skeletal remains in the Carlton Reserve in North Port on October 20, 2021.
While on the run, Laundrie also revealed in the journal that he was actually considering having two people kill him.
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However, he eventually decided to kill himself via a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
"I have killed myself by this creek in the hopes that animals may tear me apart. That it may make some of her family happy," Laundrie is believed to have written.