Why Brian Laundrie never destroyed his mother's 'burn after reading' letter

After police named her son a person of interest in the 2021 case of missing YouTube star Gabby Petito, Brian Laundrie's mother Roberta wrote him a disturbing note titled 'burn after reading'.

In the days that followed the discovery of the unnerving letter, 22-year-old Gabby's remains were found in a remote area of a Wyoming campsite, and her fiancé Brian was officially blamed for her murder.

The long-term couple had set off on a road-trip of the US in August of that year, only for her family to report her as a missing person after she failed to respond to a plethora of concerned messages.

Before Brian, 23, could be charged with Gabby's death, however, he took his own life - leaving a confession in a waterproof notebook.

Spectators to the case later wondered whether Brian's parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, had played a part in covering up Gabby's murder - especially after the mother's eerie note was made public. Others, meanwhile, were left wondering why Brian chose not to dispose of the letter prior to committing his suicide, inadvertently leading police to question his parents' potential involvement in his crime.

Gabby's disappearance

On 10 September, having only received a handful of texts from Gabby's phone - which she didn't believe her daughter had written - her mother reached out to the Laundrie family, to see if anyone had heard from the couple.

After being met with silence, the Petito family launched a missing persons campaign.

Around this point, however, they discovered that Brian had actually returned home to Florida in Gabby's van at the end of August, and that his family had since had an attorney.

On 17 September, amid the search for Gabby, Chris and Roberta Laundrie reported Brian missing, telling police they hadn't seen their son since the 13th, when he embarked on a solo camping trip.

This led police to consider Brian an official person of interest, and his house was searched the same day.

Brian murdered Gabby in August 2021 (Instagram/@gabspetito)

Roberta Laundrie's note

During their search for evidence, police subsequently came across a note that Roberta had written to her son titled 'burn after reading', in which she pledged to help him if he ever need to 'dispose of a body'.

A full version obtained by CNN reads: "I just want you to remember I will always Love you, and I know you will always Love me. You are my boy. Nothing can make me stop loving you. Nothing will or could ever divide us: no matter what we do, or where we go or what we say -- we will always Love each other."

Roberta continued to promise: "If you're in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will bring show up with a shovel and garbage bags. If you fly to the moon, I will be watching the skies for your re-entry. If you say you hate my guts, I'll get new guts.

"Remember that love is a verb, not a noun. It's not a thing, it's not words, it is actions. Watch people's actions to know if they love you -- not their words."

She then quoted a verse from the Bible (Romans 8:38), before concluding: "(Nothing can separate us: not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not threats, not even sin, not the thinkable or unthinkable can get between us.) ~Not time. Not miles and miles and miles."

Brian's family feature heavily in the documentary (Netflix)

Why didn't Brian destroy his mother's letter?

As we say, days after the Laundrie home was searched, Brian's body was found in an area of Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park that had previously been underwater due to flooding.

An autopsy later determined that he'd died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Since the release of Netflix's new documentary, however, many viewers have been left confused as to why Brian opted not to do as his mother had requested, and burn her letter after he'd read it.

Roberta Laundrie had written an eerie note to her son (Netflix/CNN)

Whilst such speculation has never been wholly addressed, the fact that Roberta Laundrie later told police during questioning that the letter had been penned months before Brian and Gabby had embarked on their travels may serve as a reason for why he didn't destroy it.

Speaking in a public statement released by her lawyer, Steven Bertolino, at the time, the mum-of-two insisted she just used highly-emotive language to describe the love she feels for her son.

According to Global news, she added that she and Brian were enduring a rocky relationship at the time, and she directed the note to him as a means of reassuring him she'd always be there.

"I truly loved my son, and simply wanted to convey to him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him," Roberta claimed. "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."

The Petito family later pressed charges (James Carbone/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

The Petito family press charges

In 2022, Gabby's parents filed a lawsuit against Roberta and Chris Laundrie for at least $100,000 in damages, claiming they assisted their son in the cover-up of Gabby's murder.

Though this was later dropped down to at least $30,000 in damages, the families reached a settlement in 2024 before the case went to trial.

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