Chilling text message man sent his friend days after strangling fiancée to death
A man who strangled his girlfriend to death on a cross-country road trip sent chilling text messages to a friend just days after the horrific murder.
Brian Laundrie, 23, went on a journey across the US with his 22-year-old fiancée Gabby Petito in June 2021 when he killed her on August 28 in Wyoming. Her remains were discovered in Grand Teton National Park on September 19. The murderer then took his own life out of guilt.
However, in several texts Laundrie sent messages to a friend called Ben on September 4 and claimed everything was fine. "Trip was good," he wrote after he returned home to Florida. "Gab and I had fun. Tired now, gonna sleep for a week." The chilling messages show how Ben was acting like everything was normal.
"We made a lot of content,' he replied about the couple's YouTube travel channel. "It was once in a lifetime."
Petito, who had been spending the summer with her boyfriend in a white van travelling, was documenting their trip before she went missing. Laundrie returned home to his parent's house in Florida on September 1 without his girlfriend and did not report her missing until September 11. The suspect was named by cops as a person of interest following her disappearance. Petito's body was later found strangled in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park.
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Police responded to an altercation between the pair (Moab City Police Department/AFP)Before authorities could arrest Laundrie his body was found in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida. A notebook was also found in which he admitted to killing his girlfriend and claimed he did it to end the pain she was in after she fell. "I ended her life,' Laundrie wrote. "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."
Before the 22-year-old's death, the couple were questioned by cops in Moah, Utah, following accusations the couple had gotten into a physical fight. A member of the public had called 911 after being concerned for Petito's welfare. They were separated for the night by authorities but no charges were filed.
Gabby was left distressed following the argument (Moab City Police Department/AFP)The heartbroken parents of Petito launched a $50million lawsuit against the Moab City Police Department for failing to arrest Laundrie after their daughter was found covered in blood and distressed following an altercation just days before her death. There were transcripts of an interview between an officer and the victim who claimed she was being attacked by her boyfriend.
The murderer killed himself following the guilt (NORTH PORT POLICE DEPARTMENT HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)According to the lawsuit, officer Eric Pratt did not uphold his duties by failing to arrest Laundrie despite later telling other cops Laundrie raised 'more red flags than a Chinese communist rally.' A Utah statute requires all officers to make an arrest or issue a citation in all domestic incidents.
Pratt conceded to police that he, at the time, viewed Laundrie as a threat to Petito's well-being. The civil lawsuit also claims the parents of the murderer were aware of her murder and chose to remain silent, inflicting untold emotional damage on her parents.
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