Brian Laundrie's Recovered Notebook Says Gabby Petito's Death Was a Mercy Killing

The contents of Brian Laundrie’s notebook that the FBI obtained following his death have been revealed.

According to Fox News, Laundrie confessed to killing his 22-year-old fiancée, Gabby Petito. “I ended her life,” he wrote. “I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made,” the 23-year-old continued. “I panicked. I was in shock. But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.”

Laundrie also wrote that her death was an “unexpected tragedy.”

He wrote that she was injured while the couple were trying to get to their car before it got too dark and as they were traversing some water. He alleged Petito had a number of injuries, including a “small bump on her forehead that eventually got larger” and was “begging for an end to her pain.”

The Petito’s lawyer, Patrick Reilly, toldPeople that Laundrie saying it was a mercy killing is “nonsense.” Reilly added, “He is writing a letter as though he wants people to feel sorry for him.”

Petito’s body was found in September 2021 in Grant Teton National Park in Wyoming. It was ruled that she died by homicidal strangulation. Around that time, Laundrie also disappeared; he was later discovered dead after shooting himself in the Florida wilderness in October 2021. It was then that the notebook was found.

TMZ reports that the notebook was fairly damaged since it had been underwater for five weeks, though his handwriting was still legible. “They lost a son and a daughter,” Laundrie also wrote. “The most wonderful girl in the world. Gabby, I’m sorry.”