ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (1010 WINS) — A lawyer for Gabby Petito's parents alleged during a court hearing Tuesday that Brian Laundrie's mother sent him a letter saying she'd "bring a shovel to help bury a body."
Petito's parents are suing the Laundries for emotional distress in connection with Gabby's murder by her fiance, Brian, during a cross-country trip in August 2021.
During a remote hearing in Florida's Sarasota County Circuit Court, Petito's parents' attorney, Patrick Reilly, said that he saw the letter at an FBI regional office from Laundrie's mother Roberta, offering to help "him get out of prison," acquire "a shovel, and some other stuff."
A court motion seeking the letter from the Laundries describes the document as stating, "in part, that Roberta Laundrie would bring a shovel to help bury a body."
The envelope with the letter inside said, "Burn after reading," but it was not burned. Reilly said that instead, it was discovered in Brian Laundrie's backpack when his body was discovered in a swampy Florida nature preserve in October 2021.
Although the letter's existence was confirmed in court, the Laundrie family's defense attorney, P. Matthew Luka, said that it "pre-dates Brian and Gabby's trip, so its creation really doesn't have any relation necessarily to the unfortunate events that unfolded thereafter."
Roberta Laundrie, before moving to Florida, worked for Suffolk County in an administrative position. Her final year of employment with the county was in 2019.
Petito’s disappearance on the trip and the subsequent discovery of her slain body on Sept. 19, 2021, in a Wyoming national park became a national obsession, which continued during the weekslong search for Laundrie.
Investigators say Brian Laundrie died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and left a note confessing to Petito’s slaying, according to the FBI.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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