Brian Laundrie maintained a high-powered defense team in Wyoming with his parents’ money more than a week before his fiancée Gabby Petito was reported missing, according to the latest amended complaint filed in the Petito family’s lawsuit against Laundrie’s parents and their attorney.
Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt allege that Chris and Roberta Laundrie and their attorney Steve Bertolino knew Petito was dead and the location of his body but gave Petito’s parents false hope that he would be found alive, while trying to protect their son, causing severe emotional distress.
The new document, filed Thursday after Petito’s attorney Pat Reilly deposed Laundries and Bertolino, alleges that Laundrie told her parents in a “shocked” phone call on Aug. 29, 2021, “that Gabby was ‘gone’ and she needed a lawyer.” ”
On Sept. 2, 2021, according to the document, Laundrie’s parents relayed the information to Bertolino and sent him a detainer. That same day, the filing states, “Bertolino entered into a fee agreement with Fleener Peterson LLC,” a criminal defense firm in Laramie, a six-hour drive from where Petito’s body was found. He had been beaten and strangled.
Just two weeks before Petito’s murder, a witness in Moab, Utah, called police to report seeing Laundrie hitting him in public.
The Wyoming firm’s partner, Tom Fleener, is an Army veteran who became a JAG attorney and was profiled in GQ in 2017 for representing Guantanamo Bay detainee Ali al Bahlul. Fleener declined to comment on the Laundrie matter when contacted Friday by Fox News Digital.
Bertolino confirmed to Fox News Digital Friday that he collected a $25,000 retainer from Laundries and used it to pay Fleener Peterson. He said he did not collect any payment from Dobi for his legitimate role in the saga.
Gabby Petito speaks with a police officer after police stopped the van she was traveling in with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, near the entrance to Arches National Park on Aug. 12, 2021. AP
Bertolino also contacted other firms in the state, including the public defender in Teton County, where Petito’s body was found on Sept. 19, 2021, according to the filing.
The timeline of the 2021 lawsuit in question:
- 8/27: Gabby Petito was last seen alive in Jackson, Wyoming
- 8/29: Brian Laundrie tells Gabby’s parents “missing” in “shocked” phone call
- 8/30: Brian sends a fake text to Nichole Schmidt from Gabby’s number
- 9/1: Brian arrives at his parents’ Florida home, driving Gabby’s van
- 9/2: Christopher and Roberta Laundrie retained Steve Bertolino
- 9/2: Bertolino signed a fee agreement with a Wyoming law firm on Brian’s behalf
- 9/6-7: The Laundries go camping at Fort DeSoto Park
- 9/10: Roberta blocks Nichole’s phone and blocks her on Facebook
- 9/11: Gabby is reported missing
- 9/13: Brian ran away “distressed” and then killed himself, according to the FBI, leaving a notebook confession
- 9/14: Bertolino released a statement on behalf of Kedai Dobi, expressing “hope” that Gabby is found and “reunited with her family”
Central to the lawsuit is a Sept. 14, 2021 statement, in which Bertolino, speaking on behalf of the Laundromat, told reporters that it was the Laundromat’s “hope” that Gabby would be found and “reunited with her family,” a statement that Petito and Schmidt said was exaggerated because of Dobi’s alleged knowledge of Petito’s murder.
Bertolino told Fox News Digital on Friday the family felt pressured to say something — even though they had the right to remain silent — because of the extensive media coverage and the “masses of people” outside Laundrie’s home, including protesters with megaphones.
Gabby Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, looks on during a news conference Thursday, Nov. 3. 2022, in Salt Lake City. AP
He also said that in calling Fleener Peterson and telling his client not to discuss the case, he did what any defense attorney would do, and Richard Stafford, an attorney for Petito’s family, said he would have taken the same step himself. . deposition in the lawsuit last month. Stafford did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. So does Reilly, who handles civil claims.
“Brian was incoherent, alone and unable to communicate,” Bertolino said. Laundrie reportedly cut off phone calls and, as a result, Bertolino said, her parents did not know about Petito’s murder. Bertolino is awaiting a court decision on whether he can be forced to discuss his own conversation with Brian Laundrie.
Moab Police Officer Eric Pratt is seen talking to Brian Laundrie on Aug. 12, 2021. Moab City Police Department
Laundrie, however, never called. He got into Petito’s van and drove to his parents’ home in Florida, leaving his remains in northwest Wyoming.
The lawsuit alleges the Laundry Keepers had first-hand knowledge of Petito’s death and likely knew the location of her body when they went camping with their children and grandchildren in early September, before Petito’s mother was able to report her daughter missing.
Brian Laundrie confessed to killing Petito in a suicide note found near her body in a Florida swamp about 10 minutes from her parents’ home in North Port.
But, for several days after his death, he sent fake text messages to himself and to Petito’s mother from his phone, as if he were still alive.
The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 20.
Since the case made national headlines in 2021, Petito’s parents have become advocates for missing persons and victims of domestic violence.
If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 (SAFE).
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
