Gabby Petito Fundraiser Held Days After Brian Laundrie's Parents Dismiss Lawsuit

Gabby Petito’s parents are keeping her spirit and legacy alive.

On Sunday, April 3, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt held a fundraiser at Top Golf on Long Island to raise funds for the “Gabby Petito Foundation.”

The foundation was created in honor of Gabby’s life which was cut short by her fiancé, Brian Laundrie.

Last summer, Gabby went missing after embarking on a cross-country, National Parks tour with Laundrie.

She was reportedly killed in August; however, her parents reported her missing on September 11 after not hearing from her for a few days.

Within that time, Laundrie returned home to North Port, Florida in Gabby’s white conversion van without her.

On September 19, Gabby’s lifeless body was found in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. Her official cause of death was “blunt force injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation.”

A manhunt for Laundrie began in Florida following the grisly discovery.

Laundrie admitted to killing his fiancée in a notebook entry.

After Gabby’s body was found, Petito and Schmidt created the “Gabby Petito Foundation” to “address the needs of organizations that support locating missing persons and to provide aid to organizations that assist victims of domestic violence situations, through education, awareness, and prevention strategies.”

The event helped raise money for the foundation's mission of helping families find missing loved ones.

The fundraiser comes just days after Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, filed to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Gabby’s parents.

The Blast previously reported on the Laundrie family’s recent callous move.

On March 11, Gabby’s biological parents filed a lawsuit at a Florida court suing Chris and Roberta for knowing more about their daughter’s death than they let on.

Chris and Roberta’s lawyer, Steven Bertolino, made a statement to CBS News on March 30.

“A motion to dismiss the baseless and frivolous lawsuit commenced by Gabby Petito's parents was filed in court,” Bertolino said in the statement. "The Laundries have exercised their constitutional right to refrain from speaking and have relied on counsel to speak for them. This is not only common practice in our civilized society but it embodies the exercise of fundamental rights under the United States and Florida Constitutions. The Laundries' rights are inalienable and the Laundries can never be liable for exercising their legal rights in a permissible way."

Petito and Schmidt’s lawsuit claims Chris and Roberta knew their son had killed Gabby before returning to Florida in her white camper van without her.

Gabby’s parents also claim Chris and Roberta were conspiring with Brian to keep him hidden, and conceal his alleged confession from the authorities and the Petito-Schmidt families.

"In doing so, Christopher Laundrie and Roberta Laundrie acted with malice or great indifference to the rights of [Petito's parents] Joseph Petito and Nicole Schmidt," the lawsuit claims, adding that their alleged conduct was "shocking, atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."

Petito and Schmidt also believe Chris and Roberta were arranging to help Brian flee the country; however, there was no hard evidence to back up this claim.

The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $30,000.00.

According to the Petito’s lawsuit, the relationship between the two families was “cordial,” but turned sour after Gabby had gone missing.

Schmidt claims Roberta blocked her cell phone number and Facebook profile after things worsened.