FIRST ON FOX: The parents of Gabby Petito added attorney Steven Bertolino to a civil lawsuit against Brian Laundrie’s parents on Tuesday, alleging that it was “insensitive, cold-hearted and outrageous” for Bertolino to express the Laundrie family’s “hope” that authorities would find Gabby’s remains in September 2021.
Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, Gabby’s parents, originally filed the lawsuit against Christopher Laundrie and Roberta Laundrie earlier this year, accusing the couple of knowing that their son murdered Gabby and being aware of the location of her remains, but refusing to speak.
A press conference is held by Gabby Petito’s family in Salt Lake City, Utah, Thursday, November 3, 2022. The family is filing a wrongful death suit against Moab Police Department. Seated, left to right are Tara and Joseph Petito.
(Fox News Digital)
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“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,’” Gabby’s parents said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is believed that at the time the September 14, 2021 statement was issued, the Laundries and Steven Bertolino knew that Gabby Petito was deceased, and that under those circumstances, the statement was insensitive, cold-hearted and outrageous.”
Brian Laundrie and Gabby Pettio pictured in Moab police bodycam during an Aug. 12, 2021 domestic violence stop that led to her family’s wrongful death lawsuit against Moab.
(Moab Police Department)
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Bertolino did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.