NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – The family of Gabby Petito was awarded $3 million by a Florida judge Thursday in a wrongful death lawsuit against the estate of her fiancé and killer Brian Laundrie.
The judgment was filed more than six months after Petito’s parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, filed the lawsuit against Laundrie’s estate in Sarasota County.
The suit, which sought at least $30,000 in damages, claimed her parents “incurred funeral and burial expenses, and they have suffered a loss of care and comfort, and suffered a loss of probable future companionship, society and comfort.”
His parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, were administrators of the estate.
Patrick Reilly, an attorney for Petito’s family, said the amount awarded is an “arbitrary number” since Laundrie, who was 23 when he killed himself in a Florida swamp, didn’t have that kind of money when he died.
The curator of Laundrie's estate, Florida-based attorney Barry Spivey, told Newsday on Thursday of Laundrie’s assets: “It’s not a lot.”
Reilly said any money received by the family will go towards the Gabby Petito Foundation, which helps find missing people and bring awareness to domestic violence.
“The Petito family lost their daughter, and they were also denied the opportunity to confront her killer,” Reilly said in a statement. “No amount of money is sufficient to compensate the Petito family for the loss of their daughter, Gabby, at the hands of Brian Laundrie.”
Laundrie’s remains were found on Oct. 21, 2021, at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, not far from his parents’ home in Sarasota County.
The discovery followed an intensive search for Laundrie after Petito’s remains were uncovered on Sept. 19, 2021, in the Bridger-Teton National Forest of Wyoming. The Long Island native was 22 when she was killed.
The young couple had been touring national parks on a cross-country summer road trip when she went missing and he returned alone in her van to his parents' house.
In a notebook found near Laundrie’s remains, he claimed responsibility for her death. A coroner found she had died by “blunt-force injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation.”
Petito’s parents have also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the police department in Moab, Utah, as well as a civil suit against Laundrie’s parents, who they alleged knew he killed her and tried to help him flee justice, allegations they’ve denied.
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