A chilling note written by Brian Laudrie's mother has been made public, in which she instructed him to "burn after reading" and vowed she would help him "dispose of a body".
The letter was made public after a judge ruled it was admissible as evidence in an emotional distress lawsuit brought against Laundrie's parents by Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt, the parents of the late Gabby Petito.
Petito, 22, was killed in 2021 by 23-year-old Laundrie while the pair were on a road trip around the US and living out of a van. After Petito's body was found following an extensive search and manhunt for Laundrie, he took his own life, leaving a note confessing to killing his girlfriend.
Now, Petito's parents have brought a case against Laundrie's parents, Roberta and Christopher Laundrie, for emotional distress after the killer's parents maintained their silence throughout the manhunt, claiming it hindered the search for Petito.
The Laundries' lawyers have attempted to get the case thrown out previously, claiming the couple's silence could not constitute intentional infliction of emotional distress on Petito's parents.
However, their attempts have so far been unsuccessful, and the case is currently still underway.
Now, a letter has been shown to the court, handwritten by Laundrie's mother, in which she wrote: "If you’re in jail I will bake a cake and put a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body. I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags."
She continued: "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 can or ever will divide us no matter what we do, or where we go, or what we say – we will always love each other.
"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."
Laundrie's mother then added quotes from the Bible including a verse from Romans 8:38.
The letter was made public on Wednesday after Florida Judge Danielle Brewer ruled that it was admissible as evidence.
Roberta Laundrie told Fox News that she had written the chilling letter months before her son and Petito left for their road trip in June 2021, before Petito was tragically killed in September 2021.
She claimed in a previous affidavit that she had written the letter in order "to reach out to Brian while he and I were experiencing a difficult period in our relationship," adding that the instruction to "burn after reading" was in reference to a book on writing letters to oneself that Laundrie had received from Gabby, titled 'Burn After Writing'.
Laundrie's mother also claimed that the references to baking files into cakes, bringing shovels, and burying bodies were from her son's favorite children's books which were 'Little Bear' and 'The Runaway Bunny', and were commonly used in their circle of family and friends to "describe who you could turn to in the most troubling times of your life."
Her attorney, Matthew Lukda, had argued that the references to murder and prison time were purely an unfortunate coincidence, adding: "[While her] choice of words in hindsight are unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean the letter is relevant."
However, Pat Reilly, the attorney for the Petito family held the books up in court and claimed not to have been able to find any reference to bodies or shovels within the children's stories.
Reilly also argued that while the letter itself did not cause distress to Petito's parents, it could serve as proof that the Laundries knew the 22-year-old was already dead when they released a statement in September 2021 hoping that she may be alive.
Petito's parents alleged that the Laundries knew that their son had killed Petito but chose not to disclose that knowledge, instead releasing a statement hoping that she would "be reunited" with them.
The couple had been traveling together in their van since June 2021, but Petito's parents raised the alarm on September 11 after not having heard from their daughter since late August.
Four days after Petito was reported as a missing person, Laundrie was named as a person of interest in her disappearance. His parents immediately hired a lawyer and maintained their silence about the case on his advice.
Amid the extensive search for Petito, police bodycam footage was released from when the couple was stopped by traffic cops, in which Petito was seen crying and looking distressed. The police filed the incident as a mental breakdown rather than domestic violence - which would have required an arrest - and separated the couple, leaving Petito to stay the night in the van while Laundrie spent the night in a nearby motel.
Her body was found on September 19, 2021, near a camping area in Wyoming, not far from where the couple's van was previously sighted. An autopsy determined that she had died from blunt force trauma to the head and manual strangling around three or four weeks before her remains were found.
On September 23, 2021, an arrest warrant was issued for Laundrie on the basis that he had used Petito's credit card without authorization and taken out $1,000 or more.
An extensive manhunt began and Laundrie's skeletal remains were eventually located on October 20, 2021, in Florida, in an area that had recently been underwater due to flooding.
His body had to be identified using dental records and it was determined that he had taken his own life. Belongings found near his body included a notebook in which he confessed to the killing and to deceiving people by sending messages from Petito's phone to make it look like she was still alive.
Laundrie had claimed he killed Petito as an act of "mercy" after she fell and injured herself, and claimed he was ending his own life "not out of fear of punishment but rather because I can't stand to live another day without her".
Petito's parents have claimed in the civil lawsuit filed last year that if the Laundries and their lawyer knew their son had killed their daughter when they released the statement hoping she was still alive, it constituted intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Laundrie's mother's lawyer had countered that the letter she had written should not be made public as it was written before the killing and could be misconstrued as incriminating in light of the tragic occurrences afterward.
