Expert Notice Strange Detail That Doesn't Add Up in Brian Laundrie Notebook: 'That Is Bugging Me More Than Anything'

By Abby Liebing June 26, 2022 at 8:38am

In the continuing fallout from the dramatic disappearance and death of Gabby Petito that grabbed the attention of the U.S. in the fall of 2021, the attorney for Brian Laundrie’s family released eight pages from Laundrie’s notebook last week.

There was something like a confession written in the notebook, which was found near Laundrie’s remains in a Florida nature preserve in October, but the released pages still have investigators asking questions, Fox News reported.

On Friday, the attorney for the family of Brian Laundrie released the pages, according to WINK-TV in Fort Myers.

In the journal, Laundrie claimed that his strangulation of Petito was actually an act of mercy and an “unexpected tragedy.”

Petito’s body was found in September in a wilderness area of Wyoming.

In the notebook, Laundrie claimed that he and Petito were “trying to cross” a stream when he heard “a splash and a scream.”

“I couldn’t find her for a moment, shouted her name. I found her breathing heavily gasping my name, she was freezing cold,” he wrote.

“When I pulled Gabby out of the water she couldn’t tell me what hurt. She had a small bump on her forehead that eventually got larger. Her feet hurt, her wrist hurt but she was freezing, shaking violently, while carrying her she continually made sounds of pain, laying next to her she said little lapsing between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain.”

“I don’t know the extent of Gabby’s injurys (sic). Only that she was in extreme pain,” Laundrie added.

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This is Brian Laundrie’s notebook confession where he admits he ended Gabby’s life. pic.twitter.com/f3iyTutWpo

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) June 24, 2022

However, John Kelly, a criminal profiler and psychotherapist who has interviewed numerous killers, according to Fox, pointed out that Laundrie did not directly come out and confess the murder of Petito.

“He tiptoed around the confession. He wanted to serve it up as a mercy killing,” Kelly told Fox News Digital. “That’s the thing that is bugging me more than anything.”

However, Kelly noted that Laundrie’s record of events was ridiculous.

“He found her breathing heavily and gasping for breath, so he decided to choke her out? An ‘unexpected tragedy’ is when you get in a car accident or you slip and fall and God forbid someone gets hurt really bad,” Kelly pointed out.

Have you been following the Petito case closely?

Others pointed out that Laundrie’s claim that Petito seemed to be suffering from something like hypothermia, was questionable.

Jenn Bethune, who was in the area of Wyoming at the time of Petito’s death, told Fox News Digital that the weather was around the high 40s, instead of the 38 degrees that Laundrie claimed.

Jason Jensen, a private investigator also agreed that Laundrie’s story seemed to just be made up.

“He writes this farcical tale about her falling down and getting injured while crossing Spread Creek, and describes how he couldn’t leave her behind,” Jensen said, Fox News reported.

He called it “an attempt to rewrite history.”

However, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that just what is true and false about Petito and Laundrie’s deaths might never be known.

The evidence surrounding their deaths is complicated and there are no witnesses.

The version of confession that was found with Laundrie’s remains may or may not be true. But that can likely never be verified.

If one of them had lived to tell the tale in court, this would be a very different case.

But with both Petito and Laundrie dead, all the evidence may be pieced together to give a decent picture of what happened, but with the material that is now available, nothing will ever be known for certain.

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