Gabby Petito’s parents now have a copy of a letter Brian Laundrie’s mother wrote to her son, which included references to getting a shovel and burying a body.
Attorneys for both sides argued in a Sarasota County courtroom Wednesday over whether the letter is relevant to the lawsuit brought by Gabby Petito’s parents against Laundrie’s parents and the Laundries’ former attorney.
The envelope containing the letter – which is undated – said “burn after reading” and was recovered from Brian Laundrie’s backpack when his remains were found in October 2021.
“As we all know the letter references burying a body bringing a shovel and burying a body,” Petito family attorney Patrick Reilly said in court Wednesday. “Those are criminal acts, by the way, that Roberta Laundrie has said she would commit.”
The Petitos sued the Laundries for emotional distress in connection with Gabby Petito’s death while traveling the Western United States with Brian Laundrie, her fiancé. Laundrie came home from the trip without Petito and disappeared several weeks later.
Gabby Petito’s remains were found at Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest in September 2021 and her death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation. Before taking his own life, Brian Laundrie wrote in a notebook he was responsible for her death, according to the FBI. His remains were found the next month in a preserve not far from his parents’ home in North Port.
Attorneys for Brian Laundrie’s parents fought to not turn over the letter, arguing that it’s not relevant to the civil lawsuit brought by Petito’s parents.
In an affidavit filed before the hearing, Roberta Laundrie wrote she doesn’t know the exact date of the letter but that she wrote it before Brian left with Gabby Petito for their trip in hopes it would help repair her relationship with her son.
After a lengthy back-and-forth in court Wednesday, both parties agreed that a confidentiality order was not necessary to keep the letter under seal once Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Danielle Brewer determined the letter could be relevant to the case and the plaintiff lawyers should at least get a copy.
“Your Honor, I think at this point, we probably wouldn’t be in favor of a confidentiality agreement on this issue either just because Mr. Reilly just put probably the two worst parts of the letter on the record in open court so I mean, that’s where - we would be dealing with that throughout the litigation,” Laundries’ attorney P. Matthew Luka said Wednesday.
Luka released the following statement from Roberta Laundrie, along with scans of the letter.
The letter to Brian was written prior to Gabby and Brian leaving my home for their trip. Previously, I submitted an affidavit to the court for very limited purposes but that is not the whole story. Now that the letter has been shared, I ask that you read it in its entirety, and understand that the letter contains other phrases besides those highlighted by Pat Reilly for sensationalism and to bolster his case.
I truly loved my son, and simply wanted to convey to him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him. I am sure people use phrases all the time to express to their loved ones the depths of their love. Although I chose words that I thought would be impactful with Brian given our relationship, the letter was in no way related to Gabby. Please read the entire letter before you believe the hype put out by Pat Reilly.
The lawyer representing Petito's parents released the following statement on the letter.
Roberta Laundrie has issued a self serving statement and released the “Burn After Reading” letter after Judge Danielle Brewer yesterday denied her Motion for a Protective Order to preclude a release of the letter to the Petito family. The letter was not released to the press by us. It is interesting that she would do this now, given that she has resisted providing it for the last 5-6 months, she asked for a protective order, asked for a confidentiality agreement in the afternoon of May 24, 2023, and then released it later that day. Attorney Bertolino on behalf of the Laundries also released Brian Laundrie’s confession last Summer within an hour after it was provided to him by the FBI. We have attached a copy of the letter and the outside of the envelope with this statement.
We appreciate Judge Brewer’s ruling in which she recognized the importance of the “Burn After Reading” letter as a potential source of evidence to be used at trial against the Laundries. The letter is undated, and while Roberta Laundrie has suggested it was written before Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito left on their trip, a reasonable inference is that it was written after Gabby Petito was murdered, and is evidence that the Laundries and Attorney Bertolino were aware of Gabby Petito’s demise when the statement at issue was released on September 14, 2021. We look forward to having a jury determine when the letter was written at the time of trial.
The lawsuit alleges outrageous behavior of intentional infliction of emotional distress by Roberta and Christopher Laundrie during the time Gabby was missing. The couple refused to return calls or texts to the Petito family as they were frantically trying to find their daughter, it says.
The Laundries have argued in court filings they had no duty to Petito’s family.
Earlier in the hourslong hearing, attorneys for the Laundries and their former attorney Steven Bertolino, who is also a named defendant in the lawsuit, argued motions to dismiss the civil case. The judge said she’d rule on the motions to dismiss in a written order posted on the docket.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
