BRIAN LAUNDRIE ADMITTED TO KILLING BLOGGER GABBY PETITO, REVEALS FBI
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO: The boyfriend of slain cross-country traveller Gabby Petito admitted killing her in a notebook discovered near his body in a Florida swamp, the FBI said on Friday.
It was the first time authorities squarely pinned the blame on Brian Laundrie, though he was the prime suspect all along.
Investigators meanwhile announced that Laundrie, 23, had sent text messages to intentionally deceive people that Petito, 22, was still alive after he beat and strangled her in late August, according to a statement released by the FBI in Denver.
Petito’s body was found September 19 at a campground near Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. A coroner determined she’d died about three weeks earlier of “bluntforce injuries to the head and neck, with manual strangulation.” Laundrie returned home to Florida in early September but went missing soon after. In October, his parents found an item belonging to him in a nature preserve near their house.
Further searching turned up Laundrie’s remains, a revolver, backpack and the notebook. Medical examiners determined Laundrie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The FBI did not specify what, exactly, Laundrie had written in the notebook and in the texts he’d sent to mislead. The texts were sent between Laundrie’s phone and Petito’s phone, according to the statement.
“The timing and content of these messages are indicative of Mr. Laundrie attempting to deceive law enforcement by giving the impression that Ms. Petito was still alive,” it said.