Photos Of Brian Laundrie’s Notebook Released, Details Gabby Petito’s Final Hours

Gabby Petito/Instagram

Nine months after Gabby Petito’s disappearance and death, and the subsequent death of her fiance Brian Laundrie, photos of Laundrie’s notebook that contain a written murder confession have been released.

Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were on a cross-country road trip during the summer of 2021 when Petito went missing. The couple had documented their adventure on social media, but went silent when Petito was reported missing on September 11. Laundrie returned to his parents’ Florida home shortly after, but also went missing a few days later.

On September 19, Gabby’s body was discovered at a remote campsite in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest and Laundrie was named a person of interest in the case. One month after her body was recovered, Petito’s cause of death was found to be “homicide by manual strangulation” and blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

The manhunt for Brian Laundrie continued until October 21 when his remains were discovered in Florida’s Carlton Reserve.  A dry bag full of Laundrie’s belongings, including a notebook, was recovered at the site. Authorities shared that the notebook contained a confession, but the public didn’t know exactly what the notebook contained until now.

On Friday, June 24, photos of Laundrie’s notebook were released that contain a detailed, handwritten confession that he had killed Gabby Petito.

In the letter, Laundrie called Petito’s death the result of “an unexpected tragedy,” before detailing Gabby’s final moments.

“Rushing back to our car trying to cross the streams of spread creek before it got too dark to see, to cold. I hear a splash and a scream. I could barely see, I couldn’t find her for a moment, shouted her name. I found her breathing heavily gasping my name, she was freezing cold,” Laundrie wrote. “I carried her as far as I could down the stream towards the car, stumbling exhausted in shock, when my knees buckled and knew I couldn’t safely carry her. I started a fire and spooned her as close to the heat, she was so thin, had already been freezing too long….She had a small bump on her forehead that eventually got larger. Her feet hurt, her wrist hurt but she was freezing, shaking violently, while carrying her she continually made sounds of pain, laying next to her she said little lapsing between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain. She would fall asleep and I would shake her awake fearing she shouldn’t close her eyes if she had a concussion.”

Laundrie wrote that he didn’t know how bad his fiancee’s injuries were, only that she was in extreme pain. So, he killed her thinking that it’s what she wanted.

“I ended her life, I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked, I was in shock,” Brian wrote. “But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.”

He added that he went home to see his family before taking his own life, a decision he made not because he was afraid of the consequences of the murder, but because he didn’t want to live without Gabby.

“I’ve lost out whole future together, every moment we could have cherished. Im sorry for everyones loss. Please do not make life harder for my family, they lost a son and a daughter. The most wonderful girl in the world. Gabby I’m sorry. I have killed myself by this creek in the hopes that animals may tear me apart. That it may make some of her family happy.”

See photos of Brian Laundrie’s handwritten confession below. Read a typed version of the full note HERE.