Whatever Happened To Brian Laundrie's Parents?

It's impossible to really understand how Brian Laundrie's parents felt when they learned that their son had murdered his 22-year-old girlfriend, Gabby Petito, in 2021, and then died by suicide. To Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, Brian no doubt was, and is, the boy that they raised, saw grow up, and loved no matter what. But to everyone else, he's just a murderer who committed a strangely groundless crime (there are many things about the case that still don't make sense). To the outside looking in, he and Petito smiled in Instagram photos against beautiful backdrops and drove their way across the U.S. on a road trip. To the outside looking in, much like how everyone views the Petitos and Laundries.

The Petitos have appeared here and there in court and in interviews, even going so far as to say that they forgive Brian Laundrie for murdering their daughter. But Brian's parents, Chris and Roberta, have kept out of sight. In 2022, the Petitos brought a wrongful death lawsuit against them in pursuit of compensation for Gabby's murder. In November that year, a judge ruled in favor of the Petitos and ordered the Laundries to pay them $3 million. The Petitos also filed an emotional distress lawsuit against the Laundries and claimed they knew what their son had done, but said nothing. In that lawsuit, the families reached an out-of-court settlement in 2024. 

Besides such legal concerns, much of the information we have about the Laundries comes from their lawyer, Steve Bertolini. After learning that Brian had killed himself, for instance, he spoke about how the family was dealing with the situation. "Chris and Roberta are still mourning the loss of their son and are hopeful that these findings bring closure to both families," he said, via People.

Following Gabby Petito's disappearance in August 2021, the discovery of her body in September, and the discovery of Brian Laundrie's body in October along with his confessional notebook, the Laundrie family must have been reeling, to say the least. Per The Guardian, the Petitos alleged in a lawsuit that Christopher and Roberta Laundrie fielded a "frantic" phone call from their son in August. During the call, he allegedly said that Petito was "gone" and that he "needed a lawyer." 

Christopher and Roberta did exactly this and hired Steven Bertolino for the job, who continues to speak for the family to this day. In 2021, Bertolino contacted Wyoming-based criminal law office Fleener Peterson in the state where Petito was later found, and he also contacted a public defender in Teton County, the exact county where Petito was discovered. While we don't know how heavily the Laundries were involved in these decisions or what was going on in their household at the time, we know that they welcomed their son home for around two weeks before he went missing and died by suicide.

Some, including the Petitos, believed that the Laundries knew about their son's crime. This claim wasn't helped by a letter found later that Brian's mother had sent to him. "If you're in jail I will bake a cake and put a file in it," Roberta wrote, as the BBC quotes. "If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags." Following the discovery of Brian's notebook, in which he confessed to killing Gabby, the Laundries fielded two back-to-back lawsuits from the Petitos.  

In May 2022, the Petitos filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Laundries (they also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against he Moab, Utah police department later that year). Because no criminal charges were ever filed against Laundrie or his family, this was the Petito family's recourse to find some sense of justice related to their daughter's death. As a civil case, it was charged in Sarasota County, Florida, where the Laundries live. 

It didn't take long for this lawsuit to reach a resolution. By November that year, a Sarasota judge awarded $3 million to the Petito family — specifically to Gabby Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, who was in charge of Gabby's estate. As the Petitos said, the money went directly to the Gabby Petito Foundation, a non-profit that they founded in 2021 to assist victims of domestic violence and help locate missing people. "No amount of money is sufficient to compensate the Petito family for the loss of their daughter, Gabby, at the hands of Brian Laundrie," Petito family attorney Patrick Reilly said at the time, per CNN. "Brian did not have $3 million; it's an arbitrary number."

Reilly was speaking truthfully. As of February 2025, the Laundries hadn't yet paid the $3 million because their estate's value was "minimal," as Business Insider quotes. But beyond such basic facts, we have little in the way of information about the Laundries during this time period. Of course they were involved in the whole legal proceeding, but they haven't made any statements about its results or how they feel about it.

The Petitos also filed a lawsuit against the Laundries in March 2022, the same year as the wrongful death lawsuit, but it was resolved much later in February 2024. This time, the Petitos filed a lawsuit against not only the Laundries but also their attorney and representative, Steven Bertolino, for "intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress," as NBC News says. Simply put, the Petitos believed that the Laundries knew that their son murdered Gabby and then lied to the public with proclamations of hope that Gabby might be found. 

This trial was settled out of court, and the terms remain private and the payment to the Petitos undisclosed. As reported by ABC News, the Petito family released a statement after the news. "After a long day of mediation, a confidential resolution has been reached between the parents of Gabby Petito, the parents of Brian Laundrie and Attorney Steven Bertolino to which all parties reluctantly agreed in order to avoid further legal expenses and prolonged personal conflict," it said. For his part, Bertolino simply said, "We look forward to putting this matter behind us." As before, we have zero information about the Laundries' goings on during this period. But we can only assume that they were heavily involved in the court case, perhaps present at certain times, definitely under duress, and not looking to make any public statements about what was happening.

Crimes, tragic events, and the loss of life impact circles of people beyond those immediately harmed. With this in mind, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie have been dealing with the loss of a daughter as well as a son. As of February 2025, their daughter, Cassie, had broken off contact with them for two years. As People quotes, she was "just as upset, frustrated and heartbroken as everyone else" following Gabby's disappearance, discovery, etc., and only found out what was happening via the news. "I am losing my parents and my brother and my children's aunt and future sister-in-law on top of this," she said.

In fact, following Gabby's disappearance, Cassie was the only member of the Laundrie family to speak out publicly. As she told "Good Morning America" in early October 2021, "She's [Gabby's] like a sister and my children love her, and all I want is for her to come home safe and sound and this to be just a big misunderstanding." Speaking of Brian, she said, "I haven't been able to talk to him ... I wish I could talk to him."

Over the past couple of years, Cassie has been chronicling her feelings via Instagram, which contains lots of pictures of flowers and occasional clarification about the case. Judging by the comments, many people don't take kindly to her or her family, which might explain why her parents, Christopher and Roberta, have stayed largely silent. As for her parents, with whom she broke off contact, she said to GMA, "I think if they are [involved], then they should come clean."

Christopher and Roberta stayed silent practically all the way until the present, when they chose to speak out against the 2025 Netflix documentary, "American Murder: Gabby Petito." Even so, they waited a week after the show was released to offer their perspective on it. And even then, as Today reports, all family statements went through the family attorney, Steven Bertolino. 

The Laundries highly disapproved of the documentary, saying via Bertolino that it contained "many inaccuracies, incorrect juxtapositions of timelines, and misstatements and omissions of fact." They also called the show "what we expected" and implied that it contained a one-sided, skewed representation of the events. "Similar to Republicans and Democrats fighting it out lately," their statement continued. "Each side believes their perspective is correct. Hard to see through the lens of the other with all the noise and distrust." 

Finally, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie made what acts as a threefold statement: A thesis of their son's crime, an explanation about why they've stayed silent, and a plea to the public. "We all know Brian took Gabby's life and Brian then took his own as well," they said. "Let the parents of both Gabby and Brian mourn and remember them in peace."

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

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