Brian Laundrie’s notes containing his confession about killing his fiancée Gabby Petito have been released.
As previously reported on Monsters and Critics, the FBI had said in a January press release that Laundrie, who died by suicide, left behind a notebook among other items recovered when his body was found.
The note reportedly had “written statements” that claimed “responsibility for Ms. Petito’s death,” but it has not been released to the public until this week.
Brian Laundrie wrote ‘I ended her life’
In the notebook which appears to be handwritten by Laundrie, he admits to killing his 22-year-old fiancée.
“I ended her life,” Laundrie wrote. “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.”
In the note, obtained by Fox News, Laundrie addressed Gabby Petito writing: “I can’t live without you,” while reminiscing about their relationship.
He apologized to his familym as well as Gabby’s parents and sibling in the long note. He wrote that he killed his fiancée due to an “unexpected tragedy.”
“Rushing back to our car trying to cross the streams of spread creek before it got too dark to see, too cold. I hear a splash and a scream. I could barely see, I couldn’t find her for a moment, shouted her name,” he wrote about Gabby, continuing:
“I found her breathing heavily gasping my name, she was freezing cold. We had just come from the blazing hot National Parks in Utah. The temperature had dropped to freezing and she was soaking wet.”
He added that he “couldn’t safely carry her” and started a fire while describing her condition as seen and freezing.
He describes Gabby as having “a small bump on her forehead” that kept getting bigger.
Brian claimed that she was “begging for an end to her pain” but he then “decided” to end his own life because he “couldn’t go on without her.”
Gabby Petito’s parents react to Brian’s letter
A lawyer for the Petito family, Patrick Reilly, told PEOPLE Magazine that Laundrie’s claim he killed Gabby as a mercy act from a “tragic accident” is “nonsense.”
“He is writing a letter as though he wants people to feel sorry for him,” Reilly said to the publication.
When asked about Petito’s parents’ reaction to Laundrie’s confession, Reilly said, “I don’t think there is anything that can make them feel better about it.”
Petito’s family has brought a civil suit against Laundrie’s family, alleging that his parents knew helped Laundrie conceal Petito’s murder and were making plans to help their son flee the country.
Petito met Brian in high school in 2017 but they became a couple in March 2019 and moved in with his family.
They went on a cross-country drive across the United States in late 2019 and got engaged in July 2020.
As previously reported, an autopsy determined that the manner of death was homicide by “blunt-force injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation.”