Brian Laundrie’s mother offered to help her son “bury a body” in a bombshell letter she urged him to “burn after reading”, according to the family of Gabby Petito.
A Florida court hearing in the Petitos’ lawsuit against the Laundries on Tuesday outlined the contents of the letter Roberta Laundrie allegedly sent to her 23-year-old son before his death.
In the letter, Ms Laundrie spoke about “helping him get out of prison, getting a shovel and some other things”, according to attorney Patrick Reilly, who is representing Petito’s parents.
The envelope containing the letter also allegedly read: “Burn after reading.”
The damning memo was discovered in the backpack found next to Laundrie’s body after he killed himself in a Florida swamp.
Also in the backpack was a notebook in which the 23-year-old confessed to murdering his fiance Petito during their doomed cross-country road trip.
“I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked. I was in shock,” he wrote.
In a case that captured attention across the globe, Petito and Laundrie set off on what was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime in their camper van in July 2021.
The young couple were documenting their travels on YouTube but, on 1 September, Laundrie suddenly returned to his parents’ home alone in the van.
Petito’s parents reported her missing on 11 September after they couldn’t get in contact with her and Laundrie was refusing to say where she was.
Laundrie then went on the run days later, with his family telling police he was heading into the nature reserve close to their home.
On 19 September, Petito’s remains were found in a Wyoming national park with her autopsy confirming that she had been strangled to death.
Weeks later on 20 October, Laundrie’s remains were found inside the Florida reserve. He died by suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Petito’s parents Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt are now suing Laundrie’s parents Roberta and Christopher Laundrie for emotional distress, claiming that they refused to take their calls or texts while their daughter was missing.
Instead, they claim that the Laundries knew he had killed Petito and took him on a final camping trip as a family – while refusing to put the Petito family out of their agony by revealing what they knew.
Now, their attorneys are calling for Ms Laundrie to face deposition over the letter she sent to her son about burying a body.
The Laundries have responded to the lawsuit by saying that they had no duty to speak to the Petito family.
They have also claimed that the letter is not relevant to the case because it was sent before Petito’s disappearance.
“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,” said defense attorney P. Matthew Luka in Tuesday’s hearing.
“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.”
Mr Reilly said that it is unclear when the letter was sent because it is not dated but that the language is “damning”.
The high-profile lawsuit is expected to head to trial in August.
Petito’s family are also suing the Moab City Police Department after officers pulled the couple over for a domestic incident on 12 August 2021.
The officers failed to take action despite signs that Petito was the victim of abuse, the suit claims.
