Brian Laundrie Called Parents 20 Times in 2 Days Begging for a Lawyer After Killing Fiancée Gabby Petito
Brian Laundrie made roughly 20 phone calls to his parents over the span of two days after Gabby Petito's death.
Court depositions revealed the first call occurred around 4 p.m. on August 29, 2021. The late 23-year-old's father, Christopher Laundrie, admitted his son was "frantic" during their conversation in which he allegedly told him, "Gabby's gone, I need a lawyer."
The initial phone call lasted for 55 minutes. Later that evening, around 9:20 p.m., there was a second call that lasted 22 minutes.
The Laundrie family's lawyer, Steve Bertolino, was retained only a few days later on September 2, 2021.
The Petito family's attorney, Pat Reilly, told a news outlet the Laundries "refused to acknowledge" that they knew "gone" meant that Gabby was dead — a detail the lawyer claimed flew "in the face of logic."
"If your son calls and he’s frantic and he says, ‘She’s gone, I need a lawyer.’ What other explanation of ‘gone’ could there be?" Pat argued.
However, Christopher insisted there were times "Gabby would leave and go away for a couple days to meet with her friends or she’d just leave for a couple hours when she was living with us," and that's what he allegedly thought Brian could have been referring to during their conversation.
"That was his explanation for why he couldn’t admit that ‘gone’ meant she was dead. It was a flurry of calls on those two days," Pat continued. "The calls between Brian and his parents prior to that were very sporadic, around five."
- Brian Laundrie Texted Gabby Petito's Parents From Her Phone After He Murdered Her to Deceive Them Into Thinking She Was Alive
- Brian Laundrie's Father Spotted For The First Time Since Shocking Details Of His Son's Killer Confessions Were Revealed
- Brian Laundrie Was 'Very Upset' When He Left His Home For The Last Time, Family Had No Idea He Would Vanish After His Dad Pleaded With Him To Stay, Attorney Says
The ongoing case was brought forth in part because the Laundrie family released a statement on September 14, 2021, in which they declared they "hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is reunited with her family."
Pat noted, "The key is that they knew Gabby was dead at the time of the statement."
"They were parents themselves and Gabby was going to be their daughter-in-law. How could they stay quiet when they know she’s no longer living?" Pat lamented. "They know Gabby’s parents are frantically searching, they know they can bring some sense of relief to their suffering by letting them know where her body is."
"And instead they allowed the body to remain out there in the wilderness to be attacked by animals or whatever else was out there," he said. "It’s just unconscionable."
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As OK! previously reported, the slain social media personality was reported missing on September 11, 2021, after Brian returned from their cross-country road trip without her. Not long after, Brian disappeared himself and Gabby's body was later found on September 19, 2021, near a camping area in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
This sparked a month-long manhunt which ended on October 20, 2021, when Brian's partial skeletal remains were discovered in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
"I ended her life, I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made," he wrote in a journal found near his body. "I panicked, I was in shock. But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her."
Daily Mail reported Pat Reilly's remarks and other details of the deposition.