A disturbing letter from Brian Laundrie’s mother, discovered in his backpack after he took his own life, has been released.
The tragic death of Gabby Petito has recently been thrust into the public eye following the release of the Netflix true crime docuseries, American Murder: Gabby Petito.
The three-part series, which premiered on February 17, explores the 22-year-old travel vlogger’s disappearance and murder at the hands of her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, during a cross-country road trip in 2021.
And with the public once again scrutinizing each element of the case, a letter written to Gabby's killer and fiancè from his mom has resurfaced.
The letter - which contained unsettling statements about helping her son “dispose of a body” or smuggling a file into jail inside a cake - was written on an envelope marked “burn after reading.”
A Chilling Note from Mother to Son
The undated letter, obtained by CNN, was found alongside Brian’s remains in October 2021 after he fled law enforcement following Gabby’s murder.
In it, his mom - Roberta Laundrie - expressed unconditional love for her son, writing: “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.”
She then made shockingly specific references to illegal acts, stating: “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 show up with a shovel and garbage bags.”
Roberta also included a cryptic reference to space travel, saying: “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.”
She concluded with a passage from an extended version of Romans 8:38, emphasizing that nothing — not even “hatred, hunger, homelessness, threats, or sin” — could separate her from her son.
The Letter In Full
Here is the contents of the letter in full:
"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. 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. "Therefore I am certain that neither death nor Life, nor angels nor the ruling spirits, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers from above, nor powers from below, nothing in the entire created world can separate our love. Neither hostile powers nor messengers of heaven nor monarchs of earth. Nothing has the power to separate us... " --Romans 8:38 (extended version!) (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."
Letter Sparked Legal and Public Outrage
Following the discovery of the letter, Gabby Petito’s family strongly contested Roberta Laundrie’s claim that the letter was written before Brian and Gabby embarked on their road trip.
The Petitos’ legal team argues that the note is potentially incriminating and supports their longstanding assertion that Brian’s parents were aware of Gabby’s fate.
The Netflix documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito has also highlighted suspicious behavior from the Laundries, suggesting they may have known about Gabby’s death long before it was publicly revealed.
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Phone records reportedly show that Brian contacted his parents multiple times after Gabby’s disappearance, leading his father to promptly reach out to an attorney while the family ignored desperate calls from the Petitos.
Roberta Laundrie Defends Her Words
In response to mounting criticism, Roberta has insisted the letter was never meant to be taken literally, calling it an expression of deep parental love.
“I truly loved my son, and simply wanted to convey to him how much he meant to me,” she said, per CNN. “I am sure people use phrases all the time to express to their loved ones the depths of their love… The letter was in no way related to Gabby.”
Her attorneys also argued that the note is filled with common phrases used to express devotion, rather than admissions of criminal intent.
A Case That Shook the Nation
Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie’s ill-fated trip across the U.S. in the summer of 2021 captivated the world, with their travels heavily documented on social media.
When Brian returned home alone to Florida in September 2021, suspicions grew, and a nationwide search for Gabby ended in tragedy when her body was found in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest. The cause of death was ruled as homicide by manual strangulation.
Weeks later, Brian Laundrie disappeared into a Florida nature reserve, where his skeletal remains were eventually found. Alongside his body, investigators recovered a notebook in which he confessed to killing Gabby.
In response to the new documentary, Gabby’s mother - Nichole Schmidt - has made a heartfelt plea to viewers, urging them to see beyond the entertainment value of the documentary.
Speaking to NewsNation, she said: “When you watch the documentary, remember that this is a real person, this is a real family, it’s a real story, and it’s real life. It’s not just true crime. This can happen to anyone. We never in a million years thought this would happen to our family.”
Since Gabby’s murder, Nichole and her husband, Jim Schmidt, have dedicated themselves to raising awareness about domestic violence and coercive control, hoping to prevent similar tragedies.
In a deeply personal revelation, Nichole also shared that she has found the strength to forgive Brian Laundrie — not for him, but for herself.
“I have forgiven Brian, and I know that is what Gabby would have wanted, and I’m moving forward so I can move on,” she said. “That is my personal experience. I don’t think everyone has to forgive. They can when they are ready if they are ever ready. But for me personally, I needed to forgive to let that anchor go.”
Jim Schmidt echoed his wife’s words, adding: “Forgiveness is for you. It is for your healing. For your grief. For you to be able to move on.”