Brian Laundrie’s mother is facing new scrutiny after she allegedly wrote a letter to her son that referenced helping him “bury a body” and enclosed it in an envelope inscribed with the words “burn after reading.”
The explosive claim comes from an attorney representing the parents of Gabby Petito in a civil lawsuit against the Laundries for the emotional distress caused by her going missing and eventual death at her fiancé’s hands in 2021. In a court hearing Tuesday, the attorney, Patrick Reilly said that he saw the letter at an FBI regional office and that it had been recovered from Brian Laundrie’s backpack when his body was found in a Florida park in Oct. 2021.
The family is seeking access to the letter as a part of the pre-trial discovery process and referenced it in a recent filing where they requested additional evidence.
NEW in the Gabby Petito murder case. Per court doc, Brian Laundrie’s mother Roberta wrote her son and offered to bring him a shovel to help bury Petito’s body. The FBI had the note. Petito was found dead in 2021 in Wyo. Brian Laundrie killed her, then himself in Sarasota County. pic.twitter.com/9V8rzhKo9P
— Chris Anderson (@ChrisA0213) December 30, 2022
“This request would also include the note that Roberta Laundrie wrote to Brian Laundrie which she offered to bring a shovel to help bury the body. This note was released to the custody of Mr. Bertolino on Friday, June 24, 2022 by the FBI,” the court filing said.
Petito’s parents, Joseph Petito and Nicole Schmidt, are suing Christopher and Roberta Laundrie for their lack of help and the emotional distress it caused them after they first reported their daughter missing in Sept. 2021, weeks after they had last heard from her while she was on a cross-country road trip with Brian. He had returned to Florida with their van on Sept. 1, but Petito was not with him.
During that time, the Laundrie family refused to cooperate with investigators nor returned calls and texts to the Petito family as they searched for Gabby. They reported their son missing on Sept. 17, two days before Petito’s remains were found in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Park. Her death was later ruled a homicide by manual strangulation.
The letter, which reportedly expressed things like “including helping him get out of prison, getting a shovel and some other things,” was found alongside Brian’s notebook where he confessed responsibility for Gabby’s death. He took his own life.
Attorneys for the Laundrie family are fighting back against the letter being part of the lawsuit, confirming its existence, but stating that they do not have to produce it because it is irrelevant and pre-dates the events that led to both Gabby and Brian’s deaths.
“This document pre-dates Brian and Gabby’s trip so its creation really doesn’t have any relation necessarily to the unfortunate events that unfolded thereafter. I know that some of the wording that was used in the letter is unfortunate and might suggest that it has some connection but it doesn’t,” attorney P. Matthew Luka said in court.
They previously sought to limit “heart-wrenching” details from the lawsuit depositions to protect themselves from “annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, undue burden, and expense.’
Petito family attorneys maintain there is no date on the letter, making it relevant to the proceedings. The case is set to go to trial in August.
