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After suing Brian Laundrie's parents for how they handled their daughter's disappearance and death last year, Gabby Petito's parents were granted $3 million in damages from their late daughter's ex-boyfriend's estate.
According to documents, the family of Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito reached a $3 million settlement in connection with the Petito family's wrongful death claim brought against Laundrie's estate.
A section of the Petito-Schmidt family's legal struggle with Chris and Roberta Laundrie, whose son, 23-year-old Brian, committed himself at a Florida environmental park in 2021, has been resolved thanks to a decision that was made public on Thursday.
Gabby Petito, Brian Laundrie Case
The $3 million figure is "an arbitrary number," according to Patrick Reilly, an attorney for the Petito family, who also stated in a prepared statement that "any money they do get will help Gabby Petito's family in their attempts with the Gabby Petito Foundation."
It's thought that Gabby Petito passed away around August 28, 2021. On September 19, the FBI-led search team located her remains in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Her death was determined to be a homicide by hand strangulation and blunt-force injuries to the head and neck by the investigating team, according to Fox News.
According to investigators, Brian Laundrie visited his parents in North Port, Florida, on September 1 as evidenced by a license plate reader recording of the van pulling into the community.
The FBI claims that in an effort to cover up the crime, he allegedly took Gabby Petito's debit card and sent fake text messages from her phone. The Laundries slept on the beach in Fort De Soto Park, south of St. Petersburg, without making any public statements on Petito's absence.
Investigators found that Brian Laundrie had strangled her, and he eventually confessed to killing her in a confessing note before killing himself in a Florida swamp. Gabby Petito's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Chris and Roberta Laundrie in May, and the matter was scheduled to go to trial in December.
Lawsuit Against Brian Laundrie's Family to Proceed in December
The Petito family's lawyer, Patrick Reilly, told DailyMail.com that no amount of money could make up for their pain. The Gabby Petito Foundation would get any proceeds from the verdict, according to Reilly, who expressed uncertainty over whether the family would receive the whole $3 million sum.
The Petito family founded the non-profit in order to aid missing children's families in finding their missing children and to preserve the memory of their cherished daughter.
In July 2021, Petito and Laundrie embarked on a cross-country journey in their customized campervan, which they had been documenting on YouTube. Additionally, the Petito family sued Moab police for $50 million for wrongful death, claiming one of their officers was "fundamentally biased" towards the deceased woman.
On August 12, police in Moab, Utah, stopped the pair after receiving a 911 call from a witness who claimed to have seen Brian Laundrie hit Gabby Petito. The police department, three Moab police officers, and ten other people are charged with "negligent failure" in the case, as per The Independent.
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