Brian Laundrie notebook: Gabby Petito’s killer confessed in writing before suicide, FBI says

In his ultimate phrases, Brian Laundrie admitted to killing his former fiancée Gabby Petito in a distant Wyoming campground, based on the FBI, based mostly on entries investigators discovered within the pocket book recovered close to his skeletal stays in a Florida swamp.

Investigators discovered the admission in his pocket book, which spent weeks underwater as flooding delayed the restoration effort.

“A evaluate of the pocket book revealed written statements by Mr. Laundrie claiming duty for Ms. Petito’s loss of life,” the FBI revealed Friday, roughly three months after Laundrie’s physique surfaced on the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, about 10 minutes from his dad and mom’ residence in North Port, Florida.

GABBY PETITO: FBI CLOSES HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION AS IT REVEALS BRIAN LAUNDRIE’S NOTEBOOK CONFESSION

The FBI stated that it in the end discovered no different folks apart from Laundrie as “straight concerned within the tragic loss of life of Gabby Petito.”

In an announcement, Petito’s dad and mom thanked the FBI and state and native authorities who labored on the case.

“We really respect the FBI’s diligent and painstaking efforts on this extraordinarily difficult case,” they stated by their legal professional, Rick Stafford. “The standard and amount of the information and data collected by the FBI go away little question that Brian Laundrie murdered Gabby.”

On Oct. 20, Laundrie’s dad and mom Chris and Roberta left their residence earlier than daybreak and drove to the swamp, the place the floodwater had receded after blanketing the world for weeks.

With two legislation enforcement officers and a Fox Information Digital reporter current, they returned to the world the place their lawyer stated they’d been directing authorities to go looking since mid-September.

GABBY PETITO’S FAMILY IN FLORIDA TO MEET WITH FBI, AGENCY SAYS ‘FINAL STATEMENT’ COMING SOON

Chris Laundrie zigzagged by the comb and finally stumbled upon a drybag in a clearing. The dad and mom handed inside only a few yards of the place legislation enforcement would individually discover their son’s stays that very same morning.

Authorities additionally discovered a revolver. And days later, a gaggle of protesters who had been demanding solutions from the Laundrie dad and mom noticed Petito’s water bottle in the identical clearing.

It will be weeks earlier than a forensic investigation on the badly decomposed stays concluded that Laundrie’s reason for loss of life had been suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They confirmed his identification by dental data and DNA.

And it took months for the FBI to disclose particulars about what the pocket book held inside – or to acknowledge that they’d discovered the gun. Laundrie’s dad and mom, regardless of holding the bag of their palms, have been stored in the dead of night till the investigation closed, based on their legal professional, Steve Bertolino. The pocket book has not but been returned to the household, he stated.

GABBY PETITO HOMICIDE: TIMELINE OF DISAPPEARANCE WITH BRIAN LAUNDRIE

“I don’t assume they realized what it was once they discovered it on the time,” he stated.

At one level, they handed the bag to a North Port detective. He informed them concerning the human stays and despatched them residence.

Roberta Laundrie wiped a tear from her husband’s eye. They left.

BRIAN LAUNDRIE FOUND: PARENTS MAY HAVE JUST MISSED UNCOVERING REMAINS THEMSELVES

Then the detective tossed the bag on the bottom close to the park entrance earlier than authorities closed the park to the general public.

Petito and Laundrie set off on a cross-country vanning journey final June. She needed to weblog about her travels. He didn’t help her, based on police paperwork in Moab, Utah, the place the couple acquired right into a struggle in public on Aug. 12. This incident was first reported by Fox Information Digital.

Two weeks later, Petito’s idyllic Instagram posts stopped showing. By the top of the month, her mom had obtained a textual content message from her daughter’s telephone that she didn’t imagine was actual.

When the FBI launched its ultimate assertion on the case Friday, investigators additionally stated that Laundrie had tried to mislead them by holding a faux textual content dialog with himself, utilizing Petito’s telephone.

“The timing and content material of those messages are indicative of Mr. Laundrie making an attempt to deceive legislation enforcement by giving the impression that Ms. Petito was nonetheless alive,” the FBI stated.

Police in Petito’s New York hometown, who had opened the preliminary lacking particular person investigation, stated they’d no remark Friday.

Police in North Port, the place Petito and Laundrie had lived earlier than setting off on their journey, stated they hope the FBI’s findings “present some closure.”

The FBI took the helm in September and was main the seek for Petito’s stays when crews discovered her at a dispersed tenting space in Bridger-Teton Nationwide Forest, north of Jackson, Wyoming, on Sept. 19. The Teton County coroner dominated her loss of life a murder by blunt-force trauma to the pinnacle and neck and guide strangulation.

They discovered her after a tip from one other journey running a blog couple, Jenn and Kyle Bethune, noticed Petito’s distinctive white Ford Transit van on their very own dashcam video from a visit by the world in late August, across the time Petito was final seen alive.

Laundrie left Petito’s physique within the wilderness and drove her van to his dad and mom’ home in Florida. Then he stated nothing about her disappearance earlier than ducking off into the swamp as soon as her lacking particular person case made worldwide headlines.

“The general public’s function in serving to us on this endeavor was invaluable,” FBI Denver Particular Agent in Cost Michael Schneider stated in an announcement Friday. “On behalf of the FBI, I wish to categorical my deepest appreciation to the general public for the 1000’s of suggestions that have been supplied through the investigation, and to our native, state and federal legislation enforcement companions for his or her work all through the investigation.”

Fox Information’ Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report.