Brian Laundrie’s mother says ‘burn after reading’ letter not about Gabby Petito’s murder

Brian Laundrie’s mother claims that a letter she wrote to her son — one which allegedly stated she would “bring a shovel to help bury a body” — had nothing to do with the murder he would later commit.

The letter was written the same year Laundrie murdered his then-fiancée Gabby Petito, and had the phrase “burn after reading” written across the envelope, reports Fox 13 Tampa Bay.

The letter was later found with Laundrie’s remains, in a Florida park just 10 minutes from his parents’ home, in October 2021.

Investigators also found a backpack containing Laundrie’s notebook, which held a suicide note along with admission of having killed Petito, whose body was found a month earlier in a Wyoming national park.

The death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation.

The letter from Laundrie’s mother has yet to be publicly released, but attorneys representing Petito’s family are calling for it to be included as evidence in their case against the Laundries.

Roberta Laundrie admitted that she wrote “burn after reading” on the letter’s envelope, but claims it’s a reference to a book she read with Brian as a child. She also describes the letter as an attempt to reconnect with Brian during a strained time in their relationship.

“There were some other phrases that I used in the letter, which are not found in the books I shared with Brian as a child. However, these phrases are common enough in our circle of friends and family, to describe who you could turn to in the most troubling times of your life,” his mother wrote in her statement.

“While I used the words that seem to have a connection with Brian’s actions and his taking Gabby’s life, I never would have fathomed the events that unfolded months later between Brian and Gabby would reflect the words in my letter,” she added.

Roberta claims she gave the letter to Brian before he left for the cross-country road trip that would later turn deadly.

Petito family attorney Patrick Reilly believes the content of the undated letter is evidence it was written after the fact and that Roberta Laundrie knew of the murder and offered to help cover it up.

The civil case filed against the Laundries is set to begin in August.