All The Chilling Details Found In Brian Laundrie's Notebook Confession
By WILLIAM KENNEDY
History - Science
Content Warning
This story contains discussions of domestic abuse and suicide.
In September 2021, the remains of social media celebrity Gabby Petito were discovered in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest. A month later, the body of her boyfriend Brian Laundrie — who had been a person of interest in her disappearance — was discovered in Florida’s Carlton Reserve, alongside a notebook and other belongings.
In the notebook, Laundrie confessed to killing Petito, claiming that she had fallen into a creek and that he had mercy killed her while in shock. He wrote apologies to her and his family, and also expressed the intent to take his own life: "From the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn't go on without her."
Gabby Petito was 22 when she was murdered, and Laundrie was 23 when he died from what was later confirmed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. As of now, the case is closed, though criminal profiler and psychotherapist John Kelly has called Laundrie's version of events "farcical."