One of the most horrifying and talked-about criminal cases in the US is the one involving Gaby Petito and Brian Laundrie’s deaths.
Recently filed court documents state that on August 29, 2021, Brian Laundrie “was frantic” to tell his father that Gabby Petito was “gone” and that he needed legal representation.
Petito’s family filed a second complaint in the ongoing civil lawsuit against the Laundrie family and Steve Bertolino, their lawyer, demanding that Bertolino reveal what Brian told him on August 29, 2021.
Her family has argued in court filings that Bertolino and Brian’s family knew about Gabby’s passing and covered it up as part of a supposed scheme to help Brian get away with it while making the Petitos suffer psychologically.
In this article, we will discuss how they both died and what they left behind.
Laundrie’s cause of death revealed
The cause of death for Brian Laundrie, Gabby Petito’s fiancé, whose disappearance sparked a controversy late last summer, was made public on Monday.
According to officials, only his skeleton was left after he was partially consumed by animals.
Laundrie passed away from a gunshot wound to the head, according to an autopsy report from the Sarasota, Florida, Medical Examiner.
According to the medical examiner’s report, Laundrie’s skeletal remains were discovered in October in a heavily forested area in the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County.
For a considerable amount of time, they were submerged under “up to three feet and possibly more” of water.
The reason only a skeleton remained, according to officials, was “extensive carnivore activity evidenced by multiple gouging and gnawing marks consistent with carnivores and/or omnivores, including canines such as feral dogs and coyotes, along with rodents and raccoons.”
Items recovered from the scene where Laundrie’s remains were discovered were also described in the 47-page report.
These items included a wooden box that held a small notebook and photos, a backpack with a tent and flares, a piece of paper, and a red hat with the logo “Moab Coffee Roasters.”
The murder of Gabby Petito
Gabrielle Venora Petito, a 22-year-old American woman, was killed in August 2021 by her fiancé Brian Christopher Laundrie while they were traveling across the country in a van.
Do you know why Brian killed Gabby? Laundrie said he killed her to take her out of her misery from an injury. Maybe he was the one that caused her injuries, and he didn’t want anyone to find out that he did it. So he put her out of her misery instead.
On July 2, 2021, the four-month trip was scheduled to start, but on August 27, Petito vanished.
When Laundrie drove the van from Wyoming back to his parents’ Florida house after Petito vanished and refused to talk about her whereabouts, it raised suspicions.
Due to allegations that he had taken withdrawals using her debit card, he was considered a person of interest in the case, and an arrest warrant was issued. On September 13, he departed from his residence and was listed as missing after four days.
What happened to Brian Laundrie?
Laundrie’s unlawful use of Petito’s debit card to obtain $1,000 or more between August 30 and September 1 led to the issuance of an arrest warrant by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming on September 23.
The FBI searched Laundrie’s house in search of material that might have been his DNA.
In an interview with ABC News on October 5, Laundrie’s sister urged him to turn himself into the police.
Two days later, Laundrie’s father went with investigators to the T. Mabry Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Florida, to look for him.
They concentrated on areas of the reserve that he used to visit, as well as the nearby Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
Using forensic dentistry, Laundrie’s skeletal remains were identified on October 20 in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, in an area that had recently been flooded. Several of his belongings were also discovered there.
Since an autopsy was unable to ascertain the cause of his death, his remains were turned over to a forensic anthropologist for additional investigation.
On November 23, it was made public that the anthropologist had concluded that Laundrie had shot himself in the head.