Gabby Petito begged boyfriend Brian Laundrie to ‘stop calling me names’ in heartbreaking letter penned before her death
A PREVIOUSLY unseen love letter penned by Gabby Petito has revealed that she begged her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, to stop calling her names prior to their ill-fated road trip.
Laundrie, 23, admitted in a letter of his own to killing Petito, 22, during their 2021 cross-country road trip.
Petito's remains were discovered on September 19, 2021, in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming after she disappeared during the couple's road trip.
She was confirmed to have died by strangulation.
Laundrie's remains were found weeks later, on October 21, at an environmental preserve in Florida. He died by suicide after being named a person of interest in Petito's disappearance.
In the undated letter released in FBI documents obtained by the New York Post, Petito wrote of her love for Laundrie - but begged him to stop behaving in a certain way.
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“Brian, You know how much I love you, so (and I’m writing this with love) just please stop crying and stop calling me names because we are a team and I’m here with you,” Petito wrote.
Petito went on to apologize for getting “upset over a dumb piece of paper.”
“Yes, I can be a child sometimes, I know, but it’s cause you give me this energy and I just love you too much, like so much it hurts,” she wrote.
“So you in pain is killing me. I’m not trying to be negative but I’m frustrated there’s not more I can do.”
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The context surrounding the letter is unclear.
However, Petito also wrote of the couple's planned road trip.
“We can work on the van together and they are OUR dreams now,” she wrote.
“So I hope you understand when I’m upset it’s cause I love you too much,” she continued.
“Now, stop crying!!! And come home and say you love me with a big hug.”
Page One of Gabby Petito's Letter to Laundrie
A newly released two-page letter from Gabby Petito to her boyfriend and future killer, Brian Laundrie, has surfaced. Read page one in full:
“Brian, You know how much I love you, so (and I’m writing this with love) just please stop crying and stop calling me names because we are a team and I’m here with you.
Just please stop crying and stop calling me names because we're a team and I'm here with you.
I'm always going to have your back.
Sorry I got upset over a dumb piece of paper but I just wanted to do that with you, you know really this is all your fault cause you're into this cool stuff I was sheltered from.
So just try to understand, yes, I can be a child sometimes, I know.
But its cause you give me this energy and I just love you too much. Like so much it hurts.
So you in pain is killing me. I'm not trying to be negative but I'm frustrated there's not more I can do...
You know as soon as were unpacked 100% and I come back from NY and quarantine myself, I'm going to come work with you cause there's not much else here."
This two-page letter was part of a larger 366-page document filled with writings and other evidence collected and photographed by the FBI during a raid of Laundrie’s home in Florida after Petito’s body was discovered in Wyoming.
Other pages within this document include hand-written letters and scribbled drawings from Laundrie.
These letters and pictures detailed and depicted different manic episodes he experienced as well as his desire to kill himself.
The Petitos' lawyer, Brain Stewart, said these newly released writings prove that Laundrie “was clearly a narcissist and manipulator capable of violence.”
Lawsuit
In February, both families settled for a confidential amount in court after the Petito's sued the Laundries in March 2022 following their daughter's death at the hands of the Laundries son.
The lawsuit alleged the Laundries knew their son killed Petito, claiming that Brian Laundrie had admitted to his parents that he had killed his then-fiancée, Gabby Petito, before returning home by himself from their four-month cross-country road trip.
It also suggests that his parents not only tried to conceal that fact, but also tried to help him evade police.
during the civil case, it was revealed that Brian called his parents on August 29, 2021, just two days after Gabby was last seen, and frantically told them that Gabby was “gone” and he needed a lawyer.
By not coming forward during the searches for Petito and Laundrie, the lawsuit said that Laundrie's parents "acted with malice or great indifference to the rights" of Petito's parents.
After Brian called his parents asking for help, they sent a $25,000 check to their attorney, Steve Bertolino, to get their son a lawyer.
The lawsuit also called the parent's behavior "shocking, atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."
Prior to that settlement earlier this year, both families reached an additional $3 million settlement in November 2022, in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Petito's parents after police concluded their daughter was strangled by Laundrie.
The Petitos have also filed another lawsuit against a Utah police department, who stopped the couple over a domestic violence dispute but "failed to protect" Gabby, according to her parents.
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An investigative review by the department found the officers did not properly document Petito's injuries on her face, which were later revealed in a disturbing selfie provided by the family's attorney as part of the lawsuit.
The police concluded she was the "primary aggressor" after she admitted to hitting Laundrie during their cross-country trip, but they only separated them for the night.
Gabby Petito timeline
Gabby Petito, 22, was last seen on August 24, leaving a hotel in Utah. Here is a timeline of Gabby Petito's disappearance:
- June 2021 - Gabby Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie set off on a cross-country trip across the US.
- July 4 - Gabby posts photos of herself barefoot in Gove County, Kansas.
- July 8 - Gabby posts photos of herself at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.
- July 18 - Gabby and Brian post photos of themselves at Utah's Zion National Park.
- August 12 - Body camera footage was released in September showing an encounter Brian and Gabby had with police in Utah. Police confirmed that no significant injuries were reported.
- August 19 - Gabby and Brian post a video on their YouTube channel chronicling their trip.
- August 24 - Gabby is spotted leaving a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- August 25 - Gabby Facetimes her mom, Nichole Schmidt, for the final time. In a later police report, Schmidt said her conversations with her daughter revealed "more and more tension" between her and Brian.
- August 25 - Gabby also posts her last Instagram. No location is given.
- August 27 - Gabby is seen for what's believed to be the final time. Witnesses claim they saw Brian in an explosive argument with staff at a restaurant in Jackson Hole, leaving Gabby in tears.
- August 27 - Four hours later, travel bloggers driving through Grand Teton National Park drive past the couple's van "abandoned" on a dirt road.
- September 1 - Brian returns home to Florida without Gabby.
- September 11 - Gabby's parents report her missing to Suffolk County police.
- September 14 - Brian's family issues a statement saying he has retained an attorney and will not be cooperating with investigators.
- September 14 - Brian is allegedly last seen by his family. He reportedly told them he was going hiking in Cartlon Reserve but failed to return.
- September 15 - Florida's North Port police announce Brian is a person of interest in the case. He is not charged with any crime.
- September 16 - Utah police release body camera footage of the police encounter with Brian and Gabby.
- September 17 - Brian's parents say they have not seen their son in a couple of days and report him missing.
- September 18 - Police announce they were searching Carlton Reserve in Florida for Brian. Police announce they have not found anything.
- September 19 - Authorities in Wyoming say they found a body in Grand Teton National Park. The FBI announces the body was believed to be Gabby's but a full forensic identification needs to be completed first to confirm.
- September 20 - Police execute a search warrant on Laundrie's home, seizing his silver Mustang and a hard drive that may contain "evidence relevant to proving that a felony has been committed."
- September 21 - Officials announce they will be conducting an autopsy on the remains found in Wyoming to confirm whether or not they belong to Gabby. Police also resumed their search for Laundrie, this time on the Venice side of Carlton Reserve.
- September 21 - The FBI announced the body found in Wyoming was identified as Gabby's. The cause of death was not yet revealed.
- September 21 - The Teton County Coroner's office said Gabby's official cause of death was still pending but the initial manner of death is homicide.
- September 22 - Police continue to scour Carlton Reserve for a trace of Laundrie but yield no leads. A specialist dive team is called in to assist with the hunt.
- September 23 - Officials announced a federal arrest warrant for Brian was issued.
- September 26 - Gabby's funeral was held on Long Island, New York.
- October 12: Gabby's autopsy results were made public. Teton County Coroner Dr Brent Blue confirmed Gabby died by strangulation.
- October 20: Laundrie's personal items were found at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. A medical examiner was called to the scene.
- October 21: The FBI confirmed the remains found have been identified as Laundrie's.
- November 23: Laundrie's autopsy reveals he died from a gunshot wound to the head.
- October 1, 2022: The Gabby Petito Story premieres on Lifetime.