Brian Laundrie's Text To A Friend After Murdering Gabby Petito Is Just Sickening

A series of texts that Brian Laundrie – YouTube star Gabby Petito's ex-boyfriend who took responsibility for her death — sent to a friend after their supposed road trip reveals that he was initially planning on distancing himself from his crime.

It was in September 2021 when authorities discovered Petito's remains in a forest in Wyoming. According to a coroner, her death was caused by strangulation. She and Laundrie embarked on a cross-country road trip in July 2021, but only Laundrie returned home. He refused to say where Petito was, prompting a massive search, with the case gaining national media attention. Weeks after his return, he, too, disappeared. In October 2021, his corpse was found in a park in Florida, and an autopsy revealed that Laundrie died by suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Per the FBI, a notebook discovered near his remains contained a confession that he killed Petito. "A review of the notebook revealed written statements by Mr. Laundrie claiming responsibility for Ms. Petito's death," they said in a press release. What's more, weeks before Petito's death, the pair were pulled over by cops in Utah, who then reported that the two had "engaged in some sort of altercation," leaving her "confused and emotional" (via CNN).

Now, two years after Petito's death, text messages that Laundrie sent to a friend named Ben show that he had lied about the true nature of his road trip with Petito.

Brian Laundrie appeared to have acted nonchalant after he killed Gabby Petito. In a copy of a text exchange reviewed by The Messenger, Laundrie told one of his friends that his road trip with Petito was one for the books. "Trip was good," he wrote to Ben a few days after his return home. "Gab and I had fun. Tired now, gonna sleep for a week." Laundrie also claimed they had filmed a lot of trip footage for their YouTube channel. "We made a lot of content," he added. "It was once in a lifetime." Whether Ben responded to the messages remains unknown, but what's clear is that Laundrie acted as if nothing happened.

In Laundrie's reported written confession, he insinuated that Petito's death was an "unexpected tragedy." He wrote: "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. But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn't go on without her."

In November 2022, Petito's family was awarded $3 million in the wrongful death lawsuit they filed against Laundrie's estate. According to their attorney, the money will go to the Gabby Petito Foundation – a non-profit organization that aims to help locate missing persons and provide assistance to victims of domestic violence.