SARASOTA, Fla. — New developments have emerged in the lawsuit Gabby Petito's family has filed against the parents of Brian Laundrie, as well as another against law enforcement in Utah.
New court documents show Brian Laundrie's mother, Roberta, admitting that she wrote the infamous letter to her son with the phrase "burn after reading" on the envelope.
Attorneys for the Petito family had filed a motion in December requesting that the letter be included as evidence in their suit against the Laundries. However, the Laundrie's lawyers want it excluded from being entered as evidence in the case because they argue that it is unrelated to the Petito incident.
In Sarasota, lawyers for the Laundries filed a motion on Monday to stop the letter while court documents will be filed in Grand County, Utah on Wednesday, March 1. Lawyers said they have new information on how police contributed to Gabby's cause of death.
In the affidavit signed by Roberta, she said her letter was written around the end of May before Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie embarked on their travels on June 2. She said the characterization of the letter had been taken out of context.
She explained that the quote was referring to instructions in a book titled "Burn After Writing" by Sarah Jones, which was a gift Gabby Petito had given to Brian Laundrie.
Roberta said the letter was her way of trying to reach her son when they were "experiencing a difficult time in their relationship."
She also said the letter was among Brian Laundrie's items already with the FBI before his body was found with self-inflicted gunshot wounds on Oct. 20 in 2021. She used this to dispute the reports that the letter was found in his backpack.
Laudrie's attorneys were unavailable to speak further on their motion but the Petito family lawyer said the timeline of the letter is in question and it should be part of the evidence.
"It depends on when the letter was written," Patrick Reilly, a lawyer for the Petito family, said. "If the letter was written after Gabby was murdered, it shows knowledge of the murder."
"I'm not surprised by this. If I were in the shoes of Roberta Laundrie, I would want to explain what is some pretty damning language myself, but if you look at what her explanation is, a lot of it doesn't make sense or is awfully convenient."
In the wrongful death lawsuit against Moab Police in Utah, court documents stated that transcripts revealed police officers knew Brian Laundrie was an "emotional and mental threat to Gabby" during a traffic stop two weeks before she died.
The documents also showed the officers "willfully disregarded facts" by "not investigating further and charging Laundrie for using physical force on Gabby."
The next hearing in the Sarasota case is set for Monday, March 13.