In a letter written before what was supposed to be a romantic cross-country adventure, Gabby Petito declared her love for Brian Laundrie — her fiancé and suspected killer — but she also asked that he stop “calling her names.”
The heart-wrenching note was among more than 350 pages of documents released by the FBI in connection with the case, one that gripped the nation and for weeks dominated headlines. In the handwritten missive, Petito references an argument with Laundrie, then begs her husband-to-be to move on, assuring him that he is not alone.
“Brian, You know how much I love you, so (and I’m writing this with love) just please stop crying and stop calling me names because we are a team and I’m here with you,” she wrote.
While she does not provide the specifics, Petito goes on to apologize for getting “upset over a dumb piece of paper,” adding that her anger and frustration is coming from a place of love.
Gabby Petito
“Yes, I can be a child sometimes, I know, but it’s cause you give me this energy and I just love you too much, like so much it hurts,” she wrote. “So you in pain is killing me. I’m not trying to be negative but I’m frustrated there’s not more I can do.”
Petito, a Long Island native, said that she would also help him fix up a van when she “returned from [New York,]” likely the same vehicle the couple used to embark on their fateful road trip.
“We can work on the van together and they are OUR dreams now,” she wrote.
“So I hope you understand when I’m upset it’s cause I love you too much,” Petito concluded. “Now, stop crying!!! And come home and say you love me with a big hug.”
missing
As an aspiring travel influencer and blogger, Petito embarked on a cross-country journey with Laundrie on July 2, 2021. Her family grew concerned when Laundrie returned alone to his parents home in North Port, Fla., on Sept. 1.
Petito’s body was found on Sept. 19 at a campground near Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming, and a coroner concluded she died of strangulation.
Laundrie later died by suicide and admitted he was responsible for Petito’s death in a notebook found near his body in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida.
