Brian Laundrie hired a powerful defense team in Wyoming with his parents’ money more than a week before his fiancee Gabby Petito was reported missing, according to the latest amended complaint filed in the Petito family’s lawsuit against the parents. de Laundrie and his lawyer.
Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt allege that Chris and Roberta Laundrie and their attorney Steve Bertolino knew Petito was dead, as well as the location of her remains, but gave Petito’s parents false hope that she would be found alive, all while trying to protect to your child, causing serious emotional stress.
The new document, filed Thursday after Petito’s attorney, Pat Reilly, deposed the Laundries and Bertolino, claims that Laundrie told her parents in a “frantic” phone call on Aug. 29, 2021, “that Gabby He was ‘gone’ and needed a lawyer. ”
On September 2, 2021, according to the document, Laundrie’s parents conveyed that information to Bertolino and sent him an advance payment. That same day, according to the filing, “Bertolino entered into a fee agreement with Fleener Peterson LLC,” a criminal defense firm in Laramie, a six-hour drive from where Petito’s remains were found. She had been beaten and strangled.
Just two weeks before Petito’s murder, witnesses in Moab, Utah, called police to report they had seen Laundrie hitting her in public.
The Wyoming firm’s partner, Tom Fleener, is an Army veteran who became a JAG attorney and was featured in GQ in 2017 for representing Guantanamo Bay detainee Ali al Bahlul. Fleener declined to comment on the Laundrie matter when contacted by Fox News Digital on Friday.
Bertolino confirmed to Fox News Digital on Friday that he collected a $25,000 advance from the laundromats and used it to pay Fleener Peterson. He said he has not collected any payment from the Laundries for his legal role in the saga.
Gabby Petito talks to 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 August 12, 2021. AP
Bertolino also contacted other firms in the state, including a public defender in Teton County, where Petito’s remains were recovered on Sept. 19, 2021, according to the filing.
Demand schedule for 2021 in question:
- 8/27: Gabby Petito last seen alive in Jackson, Wyoming
- 8/29: Brian Laundrie tells parents Gabby is “gone” in “frantic” phone call
- 8/30: Brian sends a fake text to Nichole Schmidt from Gabby’s number
- 1/9: Brian arrives at his parents’ house in Florida, driving Gabby’s truck.
- 2/9: Christopher and Roberta Laundrie retain Steve Bertolino
- 2/9: Bertolino signs fee agreement with Wyoming law firm on behalf of Brian
- September 6-7: Laundrie family goes camping at Fort DeSoto Park
- 9/10: Roberta blocks Nichole’s phone and blocks her on Facebook
- September 11: Gabby reported missing
- 9/13: Brian flees “distraught” and then commits suicide, according to the FBI, leaving a confession in a notebook
- 9/14: Bertolino releases a statement on behalf of the Laundries, expressing “hope” that Gabby will be found and “reunited with her family.”
Central to the lawsuit is a Sept. 14, 2021, statement in which Bertolino, speaking on behalf of the Laundries, told reporters that the Laundries’ “hope” was that Gabby would be found and “reunited with her family.” ,” a statement that Petito and Schmidt say is outrageous given the Laundries’ alleged knowledge of Petito’s murder.
Bertolino told Fox News Digital on Friday that the family felt pressured to say something, although they had the right to remain silent, due to extensive media coverage and the “crowds of people” outside the Laundrie home, including protesters. who carried megaphones.
Gabby Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, looks on during a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, in Salt Lake City. AP
He also said that by approaching Fleener Peterson and telling his clients not to discuss the case, he did what any defense attorney would do and that Richard Stafford, an attorney for Petito’s family, said he would have taken similar steps during his own case. . deposition in the lawsuit last month. Stafford did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment. Neither did Reilly, who is handling the civil lawsuit.
“Brian was incoherent, out of his mind and unable to communicate,” Bertolino said. Laundrie reportedly interrupted the phone call and as a result, Bertolino says, her parents were unaware of Petito’s murder. Bertolino is awaiting the court’s decision on whether he can be forced to talk about his own conversations with Brian Laundrie.
Moab Police Officer Eric Pratt is seen speaking with Brian Laundrie on August 12, 2021. City of Moab Police Department.
Laundrie, however, never called. She got into Petito’s truck and drove it to her parents’ house in Florida, leaving her remains in northwest Wyoming.
The lawsuit alleges that the Laundries had direct knowledge of Petito’s death and likely knowledge of the whereabouts of her remains when they went camping with the children and grandchildren in early September, before Petito’s mother could report her daughter missing. .
Brian Laundrie confessed to killing Petito in a suicide note found near his remains in the Florida swamp, about 10 minutes from his parents’ home in North Port.
But in the days after her death, he sent fake text messages to himself and Petito’s mother from his phone, as if she were still alive.
The next hearing is scheduled for December 20.
Since the case made national headlines in 2021, Petito’s parents have become advocates for missing people and victims of domestic violence.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 (SAFE).
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Source: vtt.edu.vn