According to the attorney defending Brian Laundrie’s parents, they have “no remorse” on how they handled the death of Gabby Petito.
On Wednesday night, just hours after Petito’s family criticized the Laundries in court for being “callous and humiliating,” attorney Steve Bertolino defended the Laundries, asserting that they “did everything the right way.”
Last summer, Petito, 22, was killed by a strangulation while traveling with Laundrie in Wyoming.
The murderous boyfriend of the van-life blogger and his parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, are being sued by the blogger’s mother and father for the killing of their daughter.
According to the civil lawsuit, the Laundries attempted to aid their 23-year-old son in eluding the police even though they were aware that he had killed Petito after returning home alone.
A motion to dismiss the case had been made by Laundrie’s parents.
Judge Hunter W. Carroll of Sarasota County Circuit Court said he will decide whether the matter will go to trial in two weeks after listening to statements from the lawyers for both families on Wednesday.
The Laundries allegedly “acted with malice or extreme indifference” by withholding what they knew about Petito’s death, according to Petito’s parents, Nichole Schmidt, 41, and her previous husband Joseph Petito, 42.
Following Petito’s abduction, the lawsuit claimed that Laundrie’s parents “exhibited extreme and outrageous behaviour” and demanded “fair compensation for the damages they have incurred, combined with fees, and such additional relief.”
The Laundries attorney, however, has denied the accusations, claiming he and his clients responded appropriately to the circumstance.
Bertolino said on NewsNation on Wednesday night, “We did not have to divulge what I knew, or what Chris and Roberta knew, to any third party, and specifically to law enforcement, or the Petito family.”
“I performed all of my duties properly. We are not sorry. The parents followed the appropriate procedures throughout, and they have no regrets.
Bertolino declined to respond when asked explicitly what the Laundries knew about Petito’s death, stating that it “wouldn’t be right for me to remark” in light of the ongoing case.
He did reaffirm what he had already revealed to the media months earlier: “I don’t know exactly what Brian had said to his parents. I had previously declared that what Brian had told me was confidential. I had no intention of sharing it.
Brian and I had discussions. Chris and Roberta and I had chats. Together and separately, I spoke with them in several conversations. Therefore, I cannot comment at this time on what Chris and Roberta knew.
“I can tell you what I know,” Bertolino continued. Perhaps one day what Brian knew will come to light, but not on this broadcast tonight.
Bertolino blamed the media hysteria over the case when questioned about the allegations that Laundrie’s parents were attempting to help their murderous son depart the country.
He said that “Chris and Roberta did nothing but dwell in their home.”
There were rumors that there were burner phones, that we were dressing him up and sending him across the border into Mexico, sending him across some bodies of water to other nations in the Bahamas, or maybe even sending him out on the Appalachian Trail.
All of that was fill-it labor for the networks, which needed to fill time 24 hours a day.
The Laundries’ claimed lack of grief throughout the hunt across a Florida state park for their then-fugitive son was also blamed, according to Bertolino, on the media.
The attorney said, “They were solemn, they were quiet, and I can tell you they were really sad and quite emotional with me.” But when you have a throng of press and a yelling public outside your door all day long…
Did you believe Chris and Roberta would head to Walmart and start posting signs that read, “Help me find my son”? Where their son was, they were aware. Wherever he went, they knew.
In retrospect, it turns out that everything we claimed about Brian never leaving the preserve was true, and I have no doubt that law enforcement was aware of this all along.
Some members of the media and the general public have questioned whether Chris and Roberta ought to have taken additional action, but how much more could they possibly have done given the number of law enforcement officers searching the preserve?
The Florida lawyer Pat Reilly who is defending Petito’s parents made an additional appearance on NewsNation on Wednesday evening. He asserted that the family’s “emphasis on remaining silent negates all other proof in the case.”
This would be a fairly simple choice, according to Reilly, if we were in a court of morals, which regrettably we are not.
The information the FBI holds might be obtained through a freedom of information request, and the results would be shocking.