Supporters of "Justice for Gabby" gathered at the entrance of Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port Florida on Wednesday October 20, 2021. A press conference was scheduled concerning remains related to Brian Laundrie that were discovered in the park. Laundrie is a person of interest in the murder of Gabby Petito. (Photo by Thomas O'Neill/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Gabby Petito’s parents have been awarded $3 million from Brian Laundrie’s estate, months after filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the suspected murderer’s family, according to RadarOnline.
The judgment comes after the late 22-year-old’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Laundrie’s estate back in May.
Gabby was first reported missing in September 2021, with her body eventually being found later that month.
According to a journalist following the Petito-Laundrie case since the beginning, reports that the $3 million final judgement was reached early Thursday morning, about one year after Gabby’s remains were found in Wyoming’s Bridger–Teton National Forest.
“A final judgement for $3,000,000 has been reached in the lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito’s parents against Brian Laundrie’s estate, according to the family’s attorney,” journalist Brian Entin wrote.
Entin went on to say that the $3 million is an “arbitrary number,” as Laundrie’s estate comes nowhere near that mount. Instead, the judgment appears to be more symbolic that anything.
Any money gleaned from Laundrie’s estate will go to a foundation created in Gabby’s name, Entin said, before reporting that the scheduled December trial will no longer be held.
“Brian Laundrie did not have 3 million – it’s an arbitrary number – but whatever money is received will go to the Gabby Petito foundation, the family says,” the reporter continued. “The trial which had been scheduled for December, 2022 will not be held.”
It was confirmed that Laundrie’s family does not have the $3 million awarded to the Petito family. It remains unclear as to whether any future revenue produced by the Laundrie estate will go to Gabby’s parents.
According to CNN, in wrongful death case, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt claimed that Brian advised his parents that he murdered their daughter on August 28th, 2021, one day after Gabby’s death.
The lawsuit states, “While Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt were desperately searching for information concerning their daughter, Christopher Laundrie and Roberta Laundrie were keeping the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie secret. And it is believed they were making arrangements for him to leave the country.”
In addition, the lawsuit also claimed that on August 30th, Brian sent a text message to Nichole pretending to be Gabby. He claimed to have no service in the message while in Yosemite Park.
However, the family believes the message was sent to make Nichole believe her daughter was still alive. Unfortunately, the last communication Nichole received from her daughter was on August 27th, according to the suit.
August 30 is reported to be the day they believe she was killed by manual strangulation. The family cites a text message sent from Gabby’s phone later that day where she referred to her grandfather as “Stan,” also led them to believe it wasn’t Gabby communicating with them.
Her parents said that Gabby never called her grandfather by that name.
Prior to Thursday’s judgement, Gabby’s parents had asked for a judge to compensate them for pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, and the loss of the capacity for enjoyment of life experienced in the past and the future.
While the Thursday’s judgement brings an end to the Petito family’s wrongful death lawsuit, a separate lawsuit filed by Gabby’s parents’ against Brian Laundrie’s parents is still ongoing, and is scheduled to take place sometime in next year, The Shade Room reported in March.
