Brian Laundrie called his parents up to 20 times in the two days after he killed his girlfriend Gabby Petito, it has emerged.
The frantic barrage of calls was a marked departure from Laundrie’s normal communication with her parents, the Daily Mail reported.
In the two months before Petito’s death, he apparently only called his father, Christopher, once, and called his mother, Roberta, five times.
Laundrie, 23, finally told her parents that Petito, 22, was “gone” and she needed a lawyer two days after the blonde Long Island native was last seen alive, a November 2023 court filing previously revealed.
Now, additional details show that Laundrie first called his parents around 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021 — days after Petito last spoke to his mother, Nichole, the Daily Mail reported.
Gabby Petito (right) was killed in 2021. NORTH PORT POLICE DEPARTMENT HAN
Laundrie’s call lasted 55 minutes, followed by another 22-minute conversation around 9:20 p.m., the outlet said, citing phone records.
Brian Laundrie (right) is believed to have killed his fiancée before killing himself. Instagram
The first two calls were followed by several more throughout Sunday and into Monday, Aug. 30 — mostly between Laundrie and her mother, Petito family attorney Pat Reilly told the Daily Mail.
Laundrie allegedly made the “go away” comment to her father but over her mother’s phone.
“Brian told Christopher, ‘Gabby’s gone, I need a lawyer.’ And he panicked, in Christopher’s words,” the lawyer told the Daily Mail.
“They refuse to admit that that means Gabby is dead, which flies in the face of logic. If your son calls and he panics and he says, ‘He’s gone, I need a lawyer.’ What other explanation of ‘going’ could there be?” he insisted.
Christopher and Roberta Laundrie spoke to their son 20 times in just two days after he killed Gabby Petito, records show. William Farrington
Christopher dismissed Reilly’s interpretation, and said he thought his son was referring to “something that had an impact, there were times when Gabby would go and be gone for days to see her friends or she would just go away for a few hours when she was staying with us.”
“That explains why he can’t admit that ‘gone’ means he’s dead. There was a rush of calls on those two days. The calls between Brian and his parents before that were very sporadic, around five,” said Reilly.
Gabby Petito’s father, Joseph, was in court to hear the deposition, he added.
When the “missing” call came, the grieving father “just put his head in his hands.”
In the middle of their son’s calls, Roberta and Christopher Laundrie also called their family lawyer, Steve Bertolino.
Gabby Petito’s body was found on September 19, 2021. Moab City Police Department/AFP
Bertolino – who is based on Long Island – was retained on Sept. 2, and instructed the parents to remain silent.
After a nationwide search, Petito’s body was found on September 19 in a campground in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Forest.
Laundrie is believed to have strangled her fiance before returning to her parents’ home in North Port, Florida, on September 1 in her white 2012 Ford Transit van.
His skeletal remains were found in October at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. An autopsy determined that he killed himself with a gunshot to the head.
Petito’s parents are suing Kedai Dobi and Bertolino for pain and emotional distress based on allegations that the couple intentionally withheld information about their daughter’s death.
Roberta Laundrie was “cold,” Petitos’ lawyer said. momandpaparazzi.com / SplashNews.com
The case hinges on a statement from the Laundry Keepers on September 14, 2021, in which they said, “On behalf of the family it is our hope that the search for Ms. Petito is successful and that Ms. Petito is reunited with her family,” Reilly explained.
“The key is that they knew Gabby was dead at the time of the statement,” he said.
Roberta Laundrie, he added, “is cold, a very cold woman.”
“He is unemotional, defensive [during her deposition],” said the lawyer.
“Christopher is a different personality, he is more unassertive, polite, and unimportant. She’s not as resilient as Roberta, and I don’t mean that in a positive way,” he said.
Reilly slams Roberta and Christopher’s behavior.
Laundrie and Petito try to be the influence of “van life” at the time of the latter’s disappearance and death. Instagram
“They are their own parents and Gabby will be their daughter-in-law. How can they remain silent when they know he is no longer alive?” he said.
“They know Gabby’s parents are looking, they know they can ease their suffering by telling them where her body is,” he continued.
“And instead they let the body remain out there in the desert to be attacked by animals or whatever is out there. It’s not fair,” Reilly concluded.
Petito’s parents have “sympathy and empathy” for the Laundries because they, too, lost their son — but “that’s something they don’t see that they got from Roberta and Christopher,” the lawyer said.
Reilly also took issue with the famous “burn after reading” letter Roberta wrote while her son was on the run.
“What kind of parent writes a letter to anyone, much less their child?” he said.
“But it’s up to the jury to decide when it was written. I don’t know when it’s right. Roberta said it had been written before, but it was undated. So it is very coincidental that he will discuss the burial of the body and he will be imprisoned in the letter if before Gabby is really killed,” he stressed.
Reilly said Laundrie’s own statement in which he claimed Petito’s death was a “mercy” killing was “absurd.”
Going forward, Reilly explained, Petito’s parents just “want to know what Christopher and Roberta know, what they know, what they hold.”
“And this sounds simple, they want justice. They want Dobi to pay for what they have done,” he added.
“They have been strong since this case was filed in 2022. But there are times when they cry and there are times when they are angry. They have gone through everything by recalling what happened. But their determination is to move forward.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
