The parents of Gabby Petito, the Blue Point, New York, native whose 2021 disappearance and homicide while on a cross-country road trip with her fiance captured national attention, have asked a Florida judge to add a Long Island attorney as a defendant to their lawsuit against the parents of their daughter’s admitted killer.
A motion filed in Sarasota County, Florida on Tuesday seeks to add East Islip-based attorney Steven Bertolino, who represents the parents of Petito’s confessed killer and ex-fiance Brian Laundrie, to the pending legal action.
The accompanying amended complaint alleges Bertolino was aware that Laundrie had killed Petito but issued public statements that gave the impression Petito could still be alive, including one on Sept. 14, 2021, that stated: “On behalf of the Laundrie family, it is our hope that the search for Ms. Petito is successful and that Ms. Petito is reunited with her family.”
