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Brian Laundrie's parents faced protests amid search for Gabby Petito. Were they charged?

Brian Laundrie's parents faced protests amid search for Gabby Petito. Were they charged?

USA Today20-02-2025

Brian Laundrie's parents faced protests amid search for Gabby Petito. Were they charged?
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Gabby Petito's parents reach settlement
The parents of Gabby Petito have reached a settlement in a civil lawsuit against Brian Laundrie's parents and their attorney, Steve Bertolino.
Fox - 10 Phoenix
A new docuseries on the investigation into the 2021 killing of Gabby Petito has brought a fresh wave of attention on the parents of her alleged killer and their controversial actions amid the search for Petito.
The docuseries, "American Murder: Gabby Petito," showed Christopher and Roberta Laundrie stonewaling investigators and Petito's family amid a high-profile search for the 22-year-old who went missing while on a cross-country roadtrip with Brian Laundrie.
Petito was reported missing after Laundrie returned, without Petito, to his Florida home, where he was living with his parents. As the search for Petito gained national attention, the Laundries mostly ignored relentless protesters assembled outside their house amid constant surveillance from law enforcement.
"Speak up!" demanded one protest sign seen at their North Port, Florida, home.
The documentary showed evidence that Laundries retained a lawyer before the search for Petito began and refused to cooperate with police as they started to investigate Petito's disappearance.
Though speculation over the extent of their involvement was rampant, the Laundries were never charged with a crime. (Petito's parents filed suit against the Laundries for emotional distress and settled last year out of court.)
Legal experts in Florida consulted by USA TODAY were unsurprised by the lack of charges.
The Laundrie parents were not legally obligated to speak to authorities or to Petito's family even if they did know something, said University of Miami law professor Craig Trocino, who also directs the school's Innocence Clinic.
"There are a lot of facts that don't look good," he said. "It's a bad case. It's horrible any way you dice it... but the law is the law."
The documentary also depicts the events leading to Brian Laundrie's death.
While authorities searched the country for Petito, Brian Laundrie also went missing. Petito's body was found near a Wyoming campground on Sept. 19, 2021, and investigators said she had been strangled.
The documentary shows a massive, weekslong search for Laundrie that only ended with the discovery of his body when his parents joined the search. Authorities believe Laundrie died by suicide.
The Laundries' attorney, Steven Bertolino, issued a statement to USA TODAY that was critical of the documentary, saying it "contained many inaccuracies, incorrect juxtapositions of timelines, and misstatements and omissions of fact - perhaps deliberate to capture their 'truth,' perhaps due to simple error.
The statement continues: "We all know Brian took Gabby's life and Brian then took his own as well. Let the parents of both Gabby and Brian mourn and remember them in peace."
The right to remain silent
Any person generally has the right to remain silent when speaking with police, which can lead to some moral quandaries, experts said.
"If I'm walking down the street and I see you shoot somebody, morally, I'm compelled to call the police and say, 'I just saw this.' Legally, I don't believe you have any obligations to do that," Trocino said. "Especially if it puts you in the crosshairs, if it implicates you."
In the Laundries' case, it's also unclear what the parents knew about Gabby Petito's death, said Randolph Braccialarghe, a law professor at the Nova Southeastern University College of Law, in an email.
"The difficulty with charging the parents was that the police did not know what Brian Laundrie had told his parents," Braccialarghe wrote.
(The issue came up in a deposition for the civil suit, where the Laundries said they weren't sure that Petito was dead when a panicked Brian contacted them on Aug. 29 and asked them to call a lawyer.)
But questions of "who knew what, when?" aren't the most important legal consideration, according to Trocino, who said the parents would have been within their rights to withhold information from police and direct questions to their lawyer.
That's exactly what footage in the documentary shows, when Florida officers starting their investigation asked to speak with Brian.
"He's not going to talk to anybody," Christopher Laundrie told Florida officers. "Goodbye for now. You can call our attorney."
Law enforcement may have considered charges like being an accessory to the crimes their son allegedly committed, Trocino said. But those charges would have required evidence they had helped him evade capture while knowing he had killed Petito.
What about the 'burn after reading' letter?
The docuseries also highlighted a letter Roberta Laundrie acknowledged she wrote to her son, contained in an envelope that said "burn after reading."
"If you're in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags," she wrote in the letter that was undated.
See the letter: Brian Laundrie's mom wrote him letter saying she would help 'dispose of a body'
Roberta Laundrie said in statements through a lawyer she wrote the letter months before Petito's death, but Petito's family argued in court documents in their civil suit that it was evidence the Laundrie parents knew about their daughter's death.
"It is really bad. That's kind of a messed up thing for a mother to write to a son, even jokingly. But is it criminal?" Not by itself, Trocino said.
What happened to Gabby Petito?
Petito and Brian Laundrie, 22 and 23 at the time, were an engaged couple who set out on a cross-country road trip in a van in July of 2021. Petito's friends and family said in the documentary that she wanted to build a large following on social media by making "van life" videos, and her footage and posts to social media depict a blissful couple in love and on the adventure of their lives.
But the next month, a passerby called 911 to report a domestic dispute between them: "the gentleman was slapping the girl," the caller said. Police in Moab, Utah, responded and separated the couple for the night, and believing that Petito was the aggressor, found Brian Laundrie a place to stay.
Brian Laundrie returned home to North Port, Florida, with the van but without Petito in early September. After she didn't respond to her parents' texts or calls for days, they reported her missing in their home state of New York.
After he and his parents refused to speak to law enforcement, Brian Laundrie soon vanished as well, telling his family he was going hiking in a vast reserve near the home on Sept. 13, slipping out of the house undetected by law enforcement keeping watch. His parents reported him missing on Sept. 17.
By the time Petito's body was found in Wyoming on Sept. 19, 2021, the search for Laundrie as the prime suspect turned into a massive manhunt that lasted weeks before his body was also found on Oct. 20.
Authorities found a journal with his belongings in which they said he confessed to killing Petito.
Contributing: Grace Pateras Sarasota Herald-Tribune

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On June 11, the possibility of a shake-up within the 12-person jury arose as prosecutors reportedly asked Judge Arun Subramanian to oust one of the jurors. Combs, 55, was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty. Before jurors were dismissed for the day, the prosecution and defense discussed the upcoming schedule. Prosecutors expect to rest their case, or finish going through their witnesses, by Friday, June 20 – or June 18 at the earliest. The defense doesn't yet know how long their witnesses will take once it's their turn to present their case on Combs' behalf. As Geragos presented more texts between Jane and Combs from 2023, the witness was visibly emotional and started crying on the stand. "The feeling you are the reason for my child's joy" means more than she could explain, one of Jane's messages read. 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She asked him to consider other swanky restaurants like Carbone or Papi Steak, but he insisted on Nobu. "Papi Steak is a good restaurant, right?" Geragos asked. "I wouldn't know," Jane said flatly. "I'm sure it is." Reports have emerged that the prosecution is moving to have a juror removed. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey told Judge Arun Subramanian there "appeared to be a lack of candor with the court" from Juror No. 6, according to CNN and NBC News. Alexandra Shapiro from Combs' team reportedly accused the prosecution of trying to get a Black juror dismissed. Both sides are expected to file letters detailing their respective arguments. The issue was first brought to the judge's attention while court was in session on June 10. BET Awards host Kevin Hart alluded to the music mogul during his opening monologue as he joked about why the show was happening on a Monday night. Hart called for "no afterparties" on a work night and said those are were things get "slippery, at them god damn afterparties." After dropping the reference to Combs' propensity for baby oil, Hart added, "We're learning a lot about people, ain't we?" As Combs' lawyers have questioned Jane in recent days, their cross-examination has been markedly different from Mia's cross-examination, even borderline friendly. Mia was the first woman who testified using a pseudonym in Combs' trial and also alleged sweeping abuse. To note, Jane met with Combs' attorneys prior to the trial starting, as recently as April. However, Jane's testimony did turn sharp at one point, when she shared she felt Combs gave other women more gifts and quality time during their relationships. 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Agnifilo is a founding partner at Agnifilo Intrater and, according to the firm's website, has tried more than 200 cases in his 30-year career. He is a former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney. Geragos is also a founding partner at Agnifilo Intrater and is "particularly experienced in defending and investigating allegations of sexual misconduct," according to the firm's website. Despite videos circulating online, which appear to show artificially generated court sketches of Eddie Murphy testifying at the Combs trial, the actor hasn't been in the courtroom and isn't expected to be called as a witness. While a specter of celebrity hangs heavy over the proceedings, many of the big names roped in have merely been name-drops from the stand by lesser-known witnesses from Combs' inner circle. The only true "celebrities" to testify thus far have been Casandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine and Kid Cudi. More: Who is 'Jane'? Witness faces battle for anonymity in Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial You may have seen major celebs like Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio named during Combs' trial. But the A-list actors aren't accused of anything − they've only been mentioned in the background of events Combs attended. For example, Mia alleged that she witnessed a 2012 discussion between Combs and Ventura Fine escalate at the premiere of a Pitt film during the Cannes Film Festival in France. She claimed she saw Combs grit his teeth while digging his nails into Ventura Fine's arm, and he eventually insisted that Ventura Fine leave. Mia also referenced a high-stakes poker game between Combs and DiCaprio in texts she sent him around 2020. In one message, she wrote that Combs said, while cursing: "That 'Titanic' (guy) doesn't know (anything). He won $10,000, I won $650,000." During cross-examination on June 10, Combs' lawyers asked Jane about times she willingly participated in hotel nights and other alleged sexual performances. In one text exchange, Jane offered up her house for a "freak off" because she wanted to "spend time with my favorite person." In response, Combs offered for him and Paul, an escort, to "stop by."On the stand, Jane said she wanted alone time with Combs, but "that's the only option I was given. I wanted to see my lover, so I was accepting that." More: Britney Spears, Michael B. Jordan, Rihanna: All the celebs mentioned during the Diddy trial Jane previously testified that she recruited sex worker Sly Williams to join their alleged hotel nights after watching him in adult films. During the June 10 hearing, she explained that she and Combs watched Williams on a pornography site in October 2021. When Jane messaged Williams, Combs was "surprised and really happy because he had never had a girl pick the guy before," she said. Jane also found another sex worker named Anton through the same site. She alleged Williams later threatened to sell a tape of the two of them having sex and extorted her not to release it. Jane said Combs was "livid" and told her to call the police, but she didn't out of fear. On June 10, Jane said she, Combs and one of the escorts they allegedly hired used the nickname "trifecta" when they had sex. Jane claimed she was Kobe Bryant; Paul, the entertainer, was Shaquille O'Neal; and Combs was Michael Jordan. Jane said she frequently called Paul, the escort, her "boyfriend" and called Paul and Combs her "boys." While being cross-examined on June 10, Jane said she became worried Combs was struggling with substance use early in their relationship while they were on a trip to Turks and Caicos. She said Combs' eyes were jaundiced, his gums were gray from alleged drug use and his hands were shaking from what she believed was alcohol withdrawal. Jane said she suggested they go to Thailand, where there was a facility with a 30-day program, to which Combs allegedly responded, "What the hell, you think I need rehab?" "I felt that I encountered somebody that was overdoing the partying," Jane said, adding she would now call Combs a drug addict. She said she wanted "him to get back to his natural form and natural state." Combs' attorneys have once again had their push for a mistrial in his sex-crimes case denied. The embattled music mogul's legal team's latest request for a mistrial has been rejected by Judge Arun Subramanian. Combs' lawyers had renewed a motion for a mistrial due to alleged prosecutorial misconduct in a letter to the judge dated June 7. Combs' lawyers' latest push for a mistrial centered around testimony from Bryana "Bana" Bongolan, a friend of Ventura Fine. Bongolan testified about an incident where Combs allegedly held her up on a balcony in Ventura Fine's Los Angeles apartment in September 2016. Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling case that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry. He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him. Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity. Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in "freak offs" — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have video of. The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings. USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates. Contributing: USA TODAY staff If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (4673) and and en Español If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diddy trial recap: Jane testifies he forced her to have sex with 3 men

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