Brian Laundry’s mother finally opens up about the ‘burn after reading’ note she wrote to her son

Brian Laundry’s mother claims the controversial letter to her son offering to “help bury the body” was written months before he killed his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, and had nothing to do with her murder.

Speaking about the note for the first time, Roberta Lowdry said in an affidavit that parts of the “bizarre” letter, including a note that she would “bring a shovel to help bury the body” and the ink “to be burned after reading” on the envelope, were torn out of context, reports Fox 13.

The letter was not released, but in December Patrick Reilly, an attorney representing Petito’s parents, Joe Petito and Nicole Schmidt, filed a motion to include it in their civil lawsuit against laundries.

“This request will certainly also include a note that Roberta Londry wrote to Brian Londry: [in] that she offered to bring a shovel to help bury the body,” Reilly wrote to laundry attorney Matt Luca in a Dec. 5 letter regarding the documents they must hand over as part of the lawsuit.

Roberta Laundry admitted that she wrote “burn after reading” on the envelope, but stated that this was a reference to a book that she and Brian liked. She said she wrote the letter when their relationship was strained.

While not directly mentioning the burial of the body, Laundry said she used “similar phrases to describe the depth of motherly love” and included references to children’s books such as Little Bear and Runaway Rabbit, according to the sworn testimony.

She said some of the “quirky” parts of the letter were references to inside jokes they shared.

“There were other phrases that I used in the letter that are not in the books I shared with Brian as children. However, these phrases are common enough in our circle of friends and family to describe who you can turn to in the most troubling moments of your life,” Roberta Laundry wrote in her affidavit.

“While I use words that seem to relate to Brian’s actions and his taking Gabby’s life, I would never have thought that the events that unfolded a few months later between Brian and Gabby would reflect the words in my letter.” she wrote.

According to the report, Laundry said she gave her son the letter in May 2021 — just before Brian and Gabby’s cross-country trip during which he killed her. The letter is undated, the lawyers of both families agree with this.

“The words in the letter could never have been a comment on this tragic situation as they were written many months ago,” Laundry wrote in a court document. “My words to Brian were to convey my love and support to my son through a light-hearted and whimsical reminder that my love for him has not diminished and cannot be shaken by the miles of separation we will soon face. ”

Brian Lowndry’s remains were found on October 20, 2021 at Myakkahatchee Creek Ecological Park, just 10 minutes from his parents’ home in North Port, Florida.

Laundry, who had died by shooting himself in the head, was found with a backpack full of several letters, a suicide note, and a notepad in which he confessed to Petito’s murder.

Reilly argued that “the contents of the letter indicate that it was written after Gabby’s death.”

“If my opinion about the time of its writing is correct, then it shows that at least Roberta Lowdry knew about Gabby’s murder before her body was discovered. The rest of the notebook contained letters to his family,” Reilly told Fox News.

A civil case against laundries is scheduled to begin in August.