The family of Gabby Petito appears in court for first hearing in civil lawsuit against the parents of Brian Laundrie
The family of Gabby Petito appears in court for first hearing in civil lawsuit against the parents of Brian Laundrie.
Attorneys for Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, the parents of murdered travel blogger Gabby Petito, renewed their quest Wednesday to obtain a letter that her suspected killer Brian Laundrie received from his mother.
Petito's parents are suing Chris and Roberta Laundrie in connection with the killing, which they allege the parents knew about weeks before search teams recovered the 22-year-old's remains from a campsite in Wyoming.
The letter, which is in the possession of the Laundries, allegedly contains an offer from Roberta Laundrie to lend her son a shovel. The Laundries, through their legal team, have maintained that it was written prior to July 1, 2021, the start of the date range for discovery documents Petito-Schmidt family attorney Pat Reilly had previously requested.
After the court advised a revised discovery request, the new filing seeks the letter specifically, but the judge has not yet ordered its release.
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Brian Laundrie's parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, are seen outside their home in Sarasota County, Florida, on Oct. 19, 2022. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
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"Mr. Reilly will send us a specific discovery request for the letter," Matt Luka, the Laundries' attorney, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. "Then, we will have the opportunity to object."
Reilly has said that the contents of the letter indicate it was written after Petito's slaying in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Luka said the judge will likely hold a hearing on the matter.
Gabby Petito in an undated photograph. (North Port Police)
The FBI released the note in June 2022 to Steve Bertolino, the longtime Laundrie family attorney who is now also part of the lawsuit.
Investigators released several other items to Bertolino at the time, including Brian Laundrie’s handwritten confession, found near his remains at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park located 10 minutes from his parents’ North Port home on Oct. 20, 2021.
Read the Plaintiff's Second Request for Production (Mobile users go here)
Both Bertolino and Reilly at the time told Fox News Digital that there were other documents handed over.
Those included what Reilly described as a letter titled "burn after reading."
Brian Laundrie as seen in bodycam footage released by the Moab Police Department in Utah. (Moab PD)
"I don't feel comfortable summarizing the letter," he told Fox News Digital at the time. "The content is very specific and best read when available. If my belief as to the time it was written is accurate, it shows that at least Roberta Laundrie knew of Gabby's murder before Gabby's body was located. The rest of the notebook contained letters to his family."
Roberta's letter was undated, he added, but "the content of the letter seems to indicate that it was written after Gabby’s death."
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Chris and Roberta Laundrie are seen in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Florida, on the morning police discovered their son's skeletal remains. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
Bertolino has maintained that the letter was written long before the murder, and prior to being named in the lawsuit, said Reilly was attempting to "further sensationalize" the case and "taking unrelated comments out of context."
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Reilly did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
Chris and Roberta Laundrie have not been charged with a crime in connection with Petito’s death.
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