West
Gabby Petito urged Brian Laundrie to 'stop crying' in love letter to her killer released by FBI
FIRST ON FOX: Gabby Petito attempted to soothe Brian Laundrie in a previously unseen letter released this week by the FBI, telling him to “stop crying” in an apparent attempt to make amends over an unknown issue.
The pages appeared to have been written before the couple left on their ill-fated road trip and referenced coming “back from NY.”
“Brian, you know how much I love you, so (and I’m writing this with love) Just please stop crying and stop calling me names, because we’re a team,” Petito wrote in an undated letter. “And I’m here with you. I’m always going to have your back”
The two handwritten pages from Petito, 22, to Laundrie, 23, were included in a 366-page release of law enforcement documents regarding the case. She apologized for getting upset over “a dumb piece of paper,” and tried to comfort the man who would eventually kill her.
GABBY PETITO’S MOM FORGIVES KILLER BRIAN LAUNDRIE, CALLS OUT ‘EVIL’ ROBERTA: ‘YOU DESERVE TO BE FORGOTTEN’
The 22-year-old Gabby Petito from New York’s Long Island was reported missing on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021 by her family after her fiancé returned home alone from a cross-country road trip the two had embarked on in early July. An FBI-led search later uncovered her remains at a Wyoming campsite near where she had last been seen. (Steve Petito )
“I love you so much it hurts,” Petito wrote. “So you in pain is killing me. I’m not trying to be negative, but I’m frustrated there’s not more I can do.”
Petito appeared hopeful and ambitious in the letter, vowing to achieve the couple’s shared dreams, reiterating her love – but also apologizing for unstated transgressions.
“I hope you understand when I’m upset it’s cause you make me love you too much,” she wrote on a second page. “Now…stop crying! And come home and say you love me with a big hug.”
Despite her words, the files reveal that the FBI was quick to launch a kidnapping and murder investigation, just days after Petito was reported missing in September 2021.
BRIAN LAUNDRIE’S PARENTS ADMIT BEING WORRIED ABOUT GABBY PETITO’S WELL-BEING WHEN HE CALLED DAYS AFTER MURDER
Read Gabby Petito’s note to Brian Laundrie
Other items in the file include pictures of personal effects belonging to both Petito and Laundrie as well as internal FBI notes, warrant returns and police reports from local agencies around the country.
According to a North Port, Florida, search warrant, tensions within the couple were increasingly visible to an unnamed person who communicated with Petito on a near daily basis.
Investigators also collected photographs of sketches created by Laundrie and his journals. In one entry, he mused about suicide and wrote that he kept a revolver under his mattress.
Brian Laundrie as seen in bodycam footage released by the Moab Police Department in Utah. (Moab PD)
Petito’s last known public sighting came on Aug. 27 leaving Jackson, Wyoming. Laundrie remained in the area for about three days before he drove her van back to his parents’ house in North Port, Florida, and the mystery of her disappearance soon made headlines around the world.
Before an FBI-led search discovered her remains in the Bridger-Teton National Forest at a campsite where she had stayed with Laundrie, agents already suspected he was responsible for her death, according to the unclassified documents.
“At time of case opening, Laundrie would not speak to investigators in reference to the location of Petito,” an agent wrote on Sept. 15. “Writer requests a case opening for kidnapping and murder of Petito on federal lands.”
The Petito, Schmidt and Laundrie families said they had not been given a heads up by the FBI prior to the release of the documents.
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Gabby Petito memorial in Florida. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
Steve Bertolino, the attorney for Laundrie and his parents, said some of the photographs and writings he had seen when the FBI returned Laundrie’s personal effects to the family. But other items, including the FBI’s internal documents, were new to him.
BRIAN LAUNDRIE HIRED WYOMING LAWYER WHO DEFENDED BIN LADEN BODYGUARD IN GUANTANAMO
Gabby Petito poses in front of a mural. (Steve Petito)
Last week, Petito’s mom Nichole Schmidt told an assembly in Nashville that she had forgiven Laundrie.
“I speak for myself here when I say Brian, I forgive you,” she told a packed auditorium at CrimeCon 2024. “I needed to release myself from the chains of anger and bitterness, and I refuse to let your despicable act define the rest of my life.”
Following Petito’s death, her parents and stepparents created a foundation in her honor to combat domestic violence and raise awareness for missing persons.
Gabby Petito poses for an Instagram photo in Bryce Canyon National Park. (Family of Gabby Petito)
They have lobbied for federal legislation, some of which became law last year with bipartisan support, as well as lethality assessment laws in Florida, Utah and New York.
The foundation donated $100,000 to the National Domestic Violence Hotline last year.
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If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 (SAFE).
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Utah
Mia Bailey initially housed with men in prison after Utah murder convictions
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Mia Bailey, a transgender woman who pleaded guilty to killing both her parents, will be housed in a men’s housing unit, at least initially.
A Utah Department of Corrections spokesperson said Bailey will be in the intake unit while various needs are assessed, adding that it can take a few weeks to make the housing assignment, depending on availability within the unit that best fits the person’s needs.
Under a Utah law that took effect in May 2024, UDC is required to assign inmates to housing units based on their biological sex at birth, not gender identity, as a default rule.
The law does allow for an exception in cases for transgender inmates to request to be housed in a living area that does not match their biological sex at birth, only after a detailed, individualized security analysis.
That analysis must consider the inmate’s anatomy, physical characteristics, criminal history, past behavior while in custody, and whether the inmate has a history of predatory or violent behavior. It also must be determined that the placement poses a low risk to others and to the inmate, does not disrupt facility operations, and is not being sought solely to change housing assignments.
If at any point that placement is found to create safety or security issues, the inmate must be reassigned back to housing that corresponds with their biological sex at birth.
The Utah Department of Corrections currently houses other transgender inmates, according to a department spokesperson.
Bailey was given two consecutive sentences of 25 years to life earlier this month after previously pleading guilty to killing her parents.
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Washington
Shooting during ICE operation in Maryland leaves 2 injured, officials say
Federal immigration agents shot at a moving vehicle on Wednesday morning during an enforcement and removal action in Glen Burnie, Maryland, striking one person and injuring another, officials said.
A spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said neither person had life-threatening injuries, and both were taken to the hospital.
Anne Arundel police responded to a report of a shooting involving federal agents at about 10:50 a.m. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were the only officials involved in the shooting, police said.
Preliminarily, police said the agents approached a white van, but the vehicle attempted to run them over. The agents fired at the van, which accelerated until coming to a stop in a wooded area, police said.
When asked for comment, Department of Homeland Security officials said both civilians involved in the altercation with ICE are in the U.S. illegally. They did not indicate whether either of the men had been arrested.
“Continued efforts to encourage illegal aliens and violent agitators to actively resist ICE will only lead to more violent incidents,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Anne Arundel police said they will investigate the shooting, while the FBI investigates the alleged assault on the agents and ICE conducts an internal investigation.
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