Gabby Petito: Mom says ex-fiancé’s confession in notebook is ‘ridiculous’

The mother of digital influencer Gabby Petito, 22, spoke, in an interview with NBC News, about the confession in the notebook of Brian Laundrie, 23, in which he claims he killed his fiancée because he thought she wanted him to.

“That was his character, even in his final moments. He wanted to make sure he looked like the good guy. This is ridiculous. We know how she died,” said Nicole Schmidt, Gabby’s mother.

In June, the lawyer for Laundrie’s family released a notebook found near his dead body, in which he admits to murdering his fiancée, Gabby. She was found dead in September last year in a park in the state of Wyoming, in the United States.

“I ended her life,” Laundrie wrote in the notebook, which was found in October 2021 after her death by suicide. A medical examiner determined that Gabby died of strangulation.

“I found it merciful, which was what she wanted, but now I see all the mistakes I’ve made,” Laundrie wrote. “I panicked. I was in shock. But from the moment I decided, I took the pain away from her, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.”

​Laundrie, who disappeared amid nationwide arrest warrants, was found dead of a gunshot wound in Florida’s Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in October last year. In the notebook, which was provided to People E by attorney Steven Bertolino, Laundrie referred to Petito’s death as an “unexpected tragedy”.

He claimed that Petito was injured as the couple ran back to their car before it was too dark to see and tried to cross a creek. Laundrie stated that Petito had a “small bump on her forehead that ended up getting bigger”, in addition to other injuries, and that she was “begging for an end to her pain”.

Petito family lawyer Patrick Reilly told People that Laundrie’s claim that the murder was merciful and stemmed from a “tragic accident” is “absurd.” “He’s writing a letter like he wants people to feel sorry for him,” Reilly said.