‘Burn After Reading’: Petito Attorney Wants Letter From Laundrie’s Mom

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — Brian Laundrie’s mother allegedly wrote a letter to her son referencing getting a shovel and burying a body in 2021 after he strangled his fiancée, Gabby Petito, to death while on a cross-country road trip, an attorney for Petito’s parents claims.

Now, attorney Patrick Reilly wants the Laundries to hand over that letter as evidence as a civil lawsuit against them moves forward in Florida courts, according to multiple reports. The Laundries have pushed back on producing the letter.

Petito’s parents are suing Chris and Roberta Laundrie, as well as their attorney, Steven Bertolino, for intentional infliction of emotional distress. They claim the Laundries and Bertolino knew that their son killed Gabby near a Wyoming campsite in August 2021 while a national search for her was underway.

The van-life couple lived with the Laundries in North Port, Florida, before embarking on their ill-fated trip. After killing Petito in Wyoming, Brian Laundrie later took his own life, shooting himself in the head at a Sarasota County park.

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Reilly told a Sarasota County Circuit Court judge during a remote hearing Tuesday that he saw Roberta Laundrie’s letter, which expressed things like “including helping him get out of prison, getting a shovel and some other things,” at an FBI regional office, according to CNN.

His mother allegedly wrote “burn after reading” on the envelope containing the letter, Reilly added.

The letter was found in Brian Laundrie’s backpack alongside his remains and a written confession in October 2021, according to ABC Action News.

“There’s some pretty extreme things she said in there that, without having the letter here to quote it I don’t want to say, but I will simply tell you that there’s some pretty extreme things that were contained within that letter,” Reilly told WFLA. “I will tell you, by the way, that on the envelope that contained the letter, the words ‘burn after you read this’ were written.”

The Laundries’ defense attorney, P. Matthew Luka, confirmed in court Tuesday that the letter exists, but argued it is irrelevant to the lawsuit, CNN reported.

“This document pre-dates Brian and Gabby’s trip, so its creation really doesn’t have any relation necessarily to the unfortunate events that unfolded thereafter. I know that some of the wording that was used in the letter is unfortunate and might suggest that it has some connection, but it doesn’t,” Luka said.

Reilly initially filed a motion requesting the letter and other documents in a December court filing.

Among the documents requested are conversations between the Laundries and their son around the time Petito was slain, as well as their conversations with any third parties about the couple.

The requested documents included the note allegedly written by “Roberta Laundrie…to Brian Laundrie (in) which she offered to bring a shovel to help bury the body,” Reilly wrote in the original motion.

This note was given to Steven Bertolino, an attorney representing the Laundries since Petito was reported missing, by the FBI on June 24 of this year, Reilly added.

Bertolino was added to the lawsuit in January.