Gabby Petito Update: Laundrie Family Wants Civil Suit On Alleged Murder Cover-Up Thrown Out

The fight between the families of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie continues as the Laundries filed a petition to throw out a case filed against them by the Petito family on Wednesday, March 30, that alleges that the Laundries helped cover up Brian’s murder of Gabby.

Petito’s family filed a lawsuit earlier this month alleging that the Laundries were told by Brian about his murder of Gabby Petito, and that they concealed the confession from authorities and the public eye in an attempt to protect their son, according to CBS News.

“In doing so, Christopher Laundrie and Roberta Laundrie acted with malice or great indifference to the rights of [Petito's parents] Joseph Petito and Nicole Schmidt,” the suit claims.

The suit also claims that the two had attempted to plan a getaway for Brian to leave the country, though no concrete evidence was given to this assertion. The Petito family is seeking over $30,000 in damages from the family.

In a response to the lawsuit, the Laundries have attempted to get the court to junk the suit–all the while refusing to speak to the Petitos in their court appearance, which their lawyer explained was within the rights of the family to do so, the New York Post reported.

“The Laundries' rights are inalienable and the Laundries can never be liable for exercising their legal rights in a permissible way,” Steven Bertolino, the Laundries’ attorney, said.

Bertolino then said that while the death of Gabby Petito was tragic, the Laundries were not responsible for the killing or the circumstances that surrounded her death or the death of Brian Laundrie.

“[Compelling] individuals to respond to inquiries by private citizens or law enforcement through a civil action like this would turn our entire constitutional system and the freedom afforded individuals in this country on its head,” the motion they filed read.

Gabby Petito was an aspiring travel blogger who was found dead at a Wyoming campground weeks after she went missing. Her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, who was the prime suspect in the case, was found dead more than a month later in Florida from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.