Washington, United States

A Florida judge has awarded $3 million to the family of Gabby Petito, an American woman who was killed by her fiancée, Brian Laundrie, while they were travelling together on a van life journey across the United States.

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Gabby Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie embarked on the US tour in July 2021, and the journey was supposed to end after four months. However, Petito disappeared in late August. The lawsuit was filed in May this year, in which Laundrie was accused of murdering his girlfriend, Associated Press reported. A separate lawsuit has also been filed against the Laundrie family.

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Sarasota County Circuit Judge Hunter W. Carroll signed off the settlement on Thursday, where the Petito family declared the awarded money will be wired to the Gabby Petito foundation, a mission dedicated to locating missing people and curbing domestic violence.

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As per the charges, the Laundrie family deliberately concealed Brian’s confession of killing Petito before he returned home in September 2021 to Florida from their trip out West in a converted van.

Also Read: In notebook, Brian Laundrie took responsibility for Gabby Petito’s death in US, says FBI

Petito’s death and the subsequent discovery of her corpse at Wyoming national park became a national obsession last year. Later on, Brian Laundrie also went missing. During the FBI-led search operation, his skeletal remains were discovered in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on October 20. In November last year, it was established that Laundrie died due to a self-inflicted gunshot.

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The Guardian reports that the Petito family has also filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Police in Moab, Utah, where the Police allegedly allowed the couple to continue their journey despite glaring signs of domestic abuse and physical violence. The lawsuits against the Utah Police and the Laundrie family are still going on.

(With inputs from agencies)

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