They filed the lawsuit in March 2022 seeking more than $30,000 in damages for the mental anguish they say they suffered due to the alleged deceit of the Laundries, who didn’t return their calls and texts when they were trying to find their daughter.
“A reasonable inference is that the letter was written at a time when Gabrielle Petito was as yet unburied, and Brian Laundrie could go to jail for the crime of murder,” Reilly wrote.
The undated letter was discovered in Brian’s backpack when his body was found.
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On March 6, the Laundries filed a motion for a protective order regarding the letter.
Roberta “does not dispute that the letter was written,” but allegedly says the “letter has no relevancy to the underlying litigation,” Reilly wrote in the May 5 filing.
“They are absolutely correct,” he writes in the May 5 filing. “But that is not the reason why Plaintiffs seek the letter.
Brian’s parents did nothing “but have Bertolino issue a statement expressing hope that Petito would be found,” Reilly said in a previous filing,News Nationreports.
The 22-year-old from Long Island, N.Y., was found strangled to death in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park on Sept. 21, 2021, more than a week after she was reported missing.
She disappeared shortly after, which led to a nationwide search for her after Brian returned home to Florida without her.
Attorneys for the families did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
source: people.com