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Gabby Petito told her ex she was scared to leave Brian Laundrie but wanted to, just before murder: new doc

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Gabby Petito told her ex she was scared to leave Brian Laundrie but wanted to, just before murder: new doc

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Days before her murder in the Wyoming wilderness, Gabby Petito told her ex-boyfriend she was planning to leave Brian Laundrie but was afraid of how he might react, the ex revealed in a new docuseries, which is the first project on the case involving her friends and family.

“American Murder: Gabby Petito,” on Netflix unveils previously unseen text messages from Petito, Laundrie and other figures central to the case, including the killer’s mother, Roberta. It also includes new interviews with her parents and stepparents, as well as revelations from her former boyfriend, Jackson, and other close friends.

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Filmmakers Julia Willoughby Nason and Michael Gasparro, who are both directors and executive producers on the project, said they felt a heavy responsibility to handle her story with care, in an interview with Fox News Digital shortly before its release.

GABBY PETITO URGED BRIAN LAUNDRIE TO ‘STOP CRYING’ IN LVOE LETTER TO HER KILLER RELEASED BY FBI

While their social media told one story, there was a dark side beneath the cross-country road trip of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, pictured here in “American Murder: Gabby Petito.” (Courtesy of Netflix)

“It’s really important to make sure that we have the people that were directly involved in it being part of the doc,” Gasparro said. “The family is at the start of this.”

Petito’s parents had seen their prior work and agreed to have them make the docuseries after meeting in person. The family turned over her journals, artwork – and text messages that revealed a dark layer beneath the relationship between Petito and Laundrie in the lead-up to and during their cross-country road trip.

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“Looking at her text messages with Brian for the first time, knowing that he had murdered her was haunting because it was like the manipulation… was very subtle,” Nason said. “And I think that we’re hoping that this series can show the subtlety of intimate partner abuse, especially among young people.”

Against that backdrop, an exclusive new interview with Petito’s prior boyfriend, Jackson, reveals she wanted to escape and was afraid of what might happen if she left Laundrie.

GABBY PETITO’S MOM FORGIVES KILLER BRIAN LAUNDRIE, CALLS OUT ‘EVIL’ ROBERTA: ‘YOU DESERVE TO BE FORGOTTEN’

“She wasn’t sure of what he would do, or what he could do,” he told Nason and Gasparro.

Jackson, Gabby Petito’s ex-boyfriend from before Brian Laundrie, pictured on the set of “American Murder: Gabby Petito.” (Courtesy of Netflix)

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Days after the couple narrowly avoided arrest in a public domestic violence incident in Moab, Utah, on Aug. 12, 2021, Laundrie flew home to Florida and left Petito in Salt Lake City.

While alone, Petito contacted her ex, the docuseries reveals. She confided in him that she wanted to leave Laundrie but was scared of how he might react. 

BRIAN LAUNDRIE ARGUED IN WYOMING RESTAURANT HOURS BEFORE GABBY PETITO VANISHED: EYEWITNESSES

By Aug. 27, 2021, Laundrie had returned to the road trip and the couple arrived in Jackson, Wyoming. Petito again texted her ex-boyfriend, saying the town’s name reminded her of him.

A view from the entrance of Bridger-Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19, 2021, shortly after Gabby Petito’s remains were recovered nearby in the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Ground. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)

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That same day, witnesses told Fox News Digital they saw the couple at the Merry Piglets Tex-Mex restaurant, and Laundrie was arguing with female staff. While some experts have speculated the confrontation was a catalyst for Laundrie’s rage just hours before Petito’s murder, the couple’s text messages shed new light on what happened inside.

“Ask for the check and tell her that the smell made me sick… idk the chicken wasn’t right. I actually don’t feel good… gonna be a min,” Petito wrote to Laundrie. 

“Okay. I got the check, should I wait for you, should I get a to go box?” he replied.

BRIAN LAUNDRIE’S PARENTS ADMIT BEING WORRIED ABOUT GABBY PETITO’S WELL-BEING WHEN HE CALLED DAYS AFTER MURDER

“I don’t want to pay for food that made me sick.”

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Witnesses told Fox News Digital they believed Laundrie was arguing with staff about money and said he left and returned four times. 

Gabby Petito poses for an Instagram photo in Bryce Canyon National Park. (Family of Gabby Petito)

Petito was last seen alive later that afternoon on surveillance video at a nearby Whole Foods.

She tried to call her ex, the docuseries revealed, but he said he was at work and couldn’t pick up.

In one of her last known messages, she told her mom, Nichole Schmidt, that she might do better on her quest to become a van-life video blogger without Laundrie dragging her down, and that he had agreed to camp out in the woods that night as she slept in the van. 

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“American Murder: Gabby Petito” began streaming on Netflix Monday. It includes additional details, videos and photographs that had previously only been known to her family and the FBI, as well as the text messages between Petito and her killer directly. It also includes video exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital from the morning Laundrie’s remains and waterproof bag were discovered in the Florida park where he took his own life.

Separately, Fox News Digital has obtained what the FBI said is its final disclosure of Laundrie-related material – and the documents reveal another unnamed witness to the Moab domestic assault just two weeks before Petito’s murder.

Brian Laundrie as seen in bodycam footage released by the Moab Police Department in Utah. (Moab Police Department)

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The unnamed man told an FBI agent he saw the couple in Moab on Aug. 12, 2021, while driving his family on a trip from Denver, Colorado, to Las Vegas, Nevada. He passed a white Ford Transit van and thought he saw a man inside slap a woman. He was so concerned that he pulled a U-turn and parked across the street to keep an eye on things.

The male in the van “‘acted like a lunatic,’ sporadically opening and slamming doors and pacing around the van. He seemed to be pleading with the female and at one point may have tried to hug the female, but was pushed back by her. The male ultimately pushed the female’s legs into the passenger side of the van, closed her door, and entered the driver’s side,” according to FBI records. The witness then said both of them started crying.

Read the FBI’s notes from previously unknown Moab witness

He said he thought about intervening or calling 911 but eventually decided not to. He had called 911 earlier the same day after a near collision on the road into town. He said he contacted the FBI in September after he and his daughter saw news coverage of Petito’s disappearance.

Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, said she had not previously known about this witness and would be interested in speaking with him.

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“[I] wish we could get a hold of this person,” she told Fox News Digital. “I would love to ask questions.”

By virtue of the widespread attention it received, Gabby Petito’s story has already helped saved lives, according to people who have contacted her parents and told them they were inspired to escape abusive relationships. At one point in the series, her friend Rose says she left a relationship of her own.

“This is how the foundation is helping,” Gasparro said. “They’ve become a resource for people like this.”

Chris and Roberta Laundrie in the  Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on the morning police discovered their son’s skeletal remains. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)

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Following Petito’s murder, her parents started the Gabby Petito Foundation to advocate for domestic violence victims and missing persons. They have also lobbied for new laws to protect victims in at least three states, as well as in Washington, D.C.

They are currently asking for the public’s help solving another woman’s suspicious disappearance out of Redding, California.

Nikki McCain, 39, was last seen on May 17, 2024, driving a gray Chevy Avalanche, according to the Redding Police Department. The vehicle, bearing California plate DP154UT, was recovered more than a week later in Tehama County, but McCain’s whereabouts remain unknown.

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Nikki McCain vanished in Redding, California, on May 17, 2024. Gabby Petito’s family is urging anyone with information on her whereabouts to come forward. (Redding Police Department)

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Her husband had been accused of felony domestic abuse, false imprisonment and criminal threats months earlier, court records show. That case was dismissed in July because the missing victim was unable to testify.

“A lot of the time, you can’t charge a guy if there’s no body,” Petito’s father, Joe Petito, told Fox News Digital. “That’s what we went through with Brian. They couldn’t charge him because Gabby wasn’t found.”

By the time she was, he had slipped away and killed himself, leaving behind a confession and suicide note in a waterproof bag, as first reported by Fox News Digital.

“This is something that should be shouted from the rooftop: Help that family find her safe and sound, or bring whoever’s responsible to justice, one of the two,” Petito said. “The fact that there’s prior domestic violence does raise some red flags, but we don’t want to jump to conclusions.”

The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office has announced a $30,000 reward for information that helps them locate McCain.

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Anyone with information is asked to call 530-245-6135 or email the major crimes unit at MCU@shastacounty.gov.

A press conference is held by Gabby Petito’s family in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 3, 2022. (Fox News Digital)

“We’ve gotta let the authorities do their due diligence and see where it leads them, but any information anyone has, please come forward,” Petito said.

Fox News’ Stephanie Nolasco and Mitch Picasso contributed to this report.

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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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FBI’s renewed push in DC pipe bomb case shows how fresh eyes can change a stalled investigation

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FBI’s renewed push in DC pipe bomb case shows how fresh eyes can change a stalled investigation

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Federal agents searching the Virginia home of Brian Cole Jr., accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, carried out a step-by-step operation this week that indicated investigators have re-energized a case that had seen little movement for years.

Cole was arrested in Woodbridge, Virginia, last week after federal investigators identified him as the suspect accused of planting the pipe bombs on Jan. 5, 2021, near the Capitol complex, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). His arrest marked the first major break in a case that had been largely dormant for years.

Retired FBI Special Agent Jason Pack, who previously helped lead Evidence Response Teams, told Fox News Digital the search followed the standard sequence used in explosive investigations, beginning with hazard clearing before evidence work. He said the careful pace shows investigators treating the case as if it had just happened.

The operation began with the standard safety sweep used in federal explosives investigations.

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Brian J. Cole was arrested by the FBI for alleged involvement in the D.C. pipe bomb incident. (Department of Justice)

“Federal agents are following a deliberate and familiar sequence as the search of the Woodbridge residence continues,” Pack said. “The presence of explosive ordnance disposal technicians, bomb techs and specialized K-9 teams indicates that the first priority is safety.”

He explained that investigators must first clear the property of possible explosive hazards to protect personnel and preserve the scene before they can begin collecting evidence.

One of the clearest indications of the work underway came from the metal paint cans agents carried out of the home.

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FBI DIRECTOR SUGGESTS ‘SHEER INCOMPETENCE’ OR ‘NEGLIGENCE’ IN BIDEN ADMIN HANDLING OF PIPE BOMB CASE

The FBI is carrying out “court enforced activity” at a home in Woodbridge, Va., after authorities arrested a suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs blocks from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, sources told Fox News on Dec. 4, 2025. (WTTG)

Pack said metal paint cans are a preferred method for collecting and transporting suspected explosive material because they limit contamination and protect volatile samples. The cans also allow forensic laboratories to analyze residues, components and chemical signatures that might connect a device to a specific individual or technique.

Once the scene is declared safe, evidence teams can move inside the home.

FBI Evidence Response Team members, guided by a federal search warrant and its attachments, typically handle the next phase of the search and use those documents to determine what they are authorized to seize.

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CNN’S JAKE TAPPER CALLS DC PIPE BOMB SUSPECT ‘WHITE MAN’ SHORTLY BEFORE AIRING PHOTO OF ALLEGED BLACK CULPRIT

The FBI swarmed the home following the suspect’s arrest. (WTTG)

Those categories include explosive components or precursor chemicals; tools or materials used to construct destructive devices; electronic devices such as phones, hard drives and laptops; records, notes or digital communications that could show planning, motive or knowledge; and items that confirm identity, occupancy or control of the residence.

In this investigation, agents are looking for evidence that establishes intent, capability and any links to the explosive devices planted on Jan. 5, 2021.

Once the evidence is collected, it moves into the long analytical phase of the investigation.

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Sketch of Brian Cole Jr.’s first federal court appearance in Washington, D.C. Friday, December 5, 2025. Cole is the lead suspect in the D.C. pipe incident. (Dana Verkouteren)

Any electronics seized will undergo digital forensics to recover communications, searches or location data that may reveal planning or coordination. Laboratories will also examine residues or components to determine whether they match the devices used at the Capitol complex, the RNC or the DNC.

Pack said the search in Woodbridge shows the FBI is treating the investigation as if it had just begun, which he said can “change the entire trajectory” of the case.

“I have been the fresh set of eyes on cold cases, and I worked them as if the crime happened that morning,” he said. “The initial investigators often do excellent work. A new perspective simply asks different questions and sometimes spots the detail that finally brings the guilty to justice.”

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FOX NEWS POLITICS NEWSLETTER: WHO IS BRIAN COLE, THE DC PIPE BOMB SUSPECT?

The suspect is seen walking outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters moments before placing one of two pipe bombs discovered near party offices in Washington, D.C. (FBI)

Pack said the U.S. Attorney’s Office is responsible for obtaining the warrants and court orders that move an investigation from suspicion to proof.

“When the immediate danger has passed, older cases often end up folded into the stack of files handled by overworked Assistant United States Attorneys who are already juggling emergencies of their own,” he said. “That can slow down warrants and subpoenas, not because anyone is dragging their feet, but because they are drowning in urgent matters.”

EVIDENCE AGAINST J6 PIPE BOMB SUSPECT WAS JUST ‘SITTING THERE’ FOR YEARS, DOJ SAYS

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The same pressures hit FBI agents, Pack said, as new threats emerge each day and older cases get pushed back while “investigators run to the sound of guns.”

“There are only 12,000 FBI agents in the world, and that small group is responsible for handling every threat that comes our way,” Pack said. “When leadership pours fresh resources back into a case, the whole machine turns forward again. Sunlight finds what shadows hide, and a second look often makes all the difference.”

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Cole had his first court appearance Friday after being arrested the day before and charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with maliciously attempting to destroy property using explosive materials.

He has been speaking with investigators and reportedly admitted to planting the devices and expressing doubts about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, a source close to the investigation told Fox News.

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Charlotte residents say they feel less safe as city faces second transit stabbing

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Two in three Charlotte, North Carolina, residents say they feel less safe today than they did a year ago, according to a recent survey, as the city reels from two train stabbings.

More than 930 people responded to a survey that the Queen City recently completed before hiring its new police chief, Stella Patterson. Residents overwhelmingly said they want a proactive police force, not a reactive one, with 66% saying they feel less safe.

The results come as Charlotte contends with another stabbing on its light rail system, months after the stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.

On Friday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officers responded to a call regarding assault with a deadly weapon. When they arrived, they found the victim, identified as Kenyon Kareem-Shemar Dobie, with a stab wound, according to warrants.

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Oscar Solorzano, 33, was arrested in connection to a stabbing on a Charlotte, North Carolina light rail. (Mecklenburg County Jail)

NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATS FALL SILENT AFTER ICE ARRESTS DOZENS WITH VIOLENT RECORDS

Oscar Gerardo Solorzano-Garcia, 33, of Honduras, was arrested after the stabbing and charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with serious injury, breaking/entering a motor vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon and intoxicated/disruptive behavior, according to multiple Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources and arrest warrants obtained by Fox News Digital. 

On Monday morning, Solorzano appeared in court, where he was denied bond. The 33-year-old appeared via Zoom in an orange jumpsuit where he was charged. Authorities revealed that Solorzano, prior to the Dec. 5 attack, was banned by Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS).

CMPD noted Dobie was in critical but stable condition when he was taken to a hospital.

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The victim told WRAL News that he saw Solorzano yelling at an older woman before Solorzano handed his bike to another passenger and said: “I’m about to show you who I really am.”

“I wasn’t trying to be a macho man,” Dobie said in a TikTok post from his hospital room. “But what I won’t allow is you to attack random people for no reason, especially the elderly.”

Dobie said he jumped up and told Solorzano to leave everyone alone. He said Solarzano then grabbed his hands and stabbed him as he tried to grab him back.

Police in North Carolina have charged a 33-year-old man from Honduras with critically injuring another person in a stabbing on a Charlotte commuter train, just a few months after a Ukrainian refugee was murdered. (WJZY)

According to court documents, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Solorzano broke into a railroad car “with the intent to commit a felony,” while carrying a large fixed-blade knife.

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While intoxicated, he challenged Dobie to a fight, cursing and shouting at others using “unintelligible and slurred words,” according to court documents.

He was booted from the country by the Trump administration in March 2018 on a deportation order and reentered illegally during the Biden administration at the Texas border in March 2021, DHS sources said.

WATCH: Migrant who was deported twice accused of Charlotte light rail stabbing

CHARLOTTE MAN CHARGED WITH IRYNA ZARUTSKA’S KILLING COULD FACE DEATH PENALTY

Solorzano was deported a second time by the Biden administration and reentered illegally as a got-away at an unknown time and location.

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Solorzano has a prior conviction for robbery in the U.S. and prior arrests for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and false ID, DHS sources said.

Court records indicate he had known aliases, including Solorzano-Garcia, Oscar Herardo and Kevin Garcia.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks alongside a photo of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was allegedly killed by Decarlos Brown Jr., on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the White House, Sept. 9, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

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The stabbing attack comes months after Zarutska, 23, was fatally stabbed on a LYNX Blue Line light rail while on her way home from work from a local pizzeria shop.

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Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, who is accused of killing Zarutska, was charged with violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death, a capital offense under federal law.

Brown had a history of violent crime, including assaults and robberies, and had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yet he was still free and walking the streets.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the city of Charlotte and the CMPD for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Alexander Koch and Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Chelsea Torres contributed to this report.

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Murdaugh trial court clerk pleads guilty to showing sealed crime scene photos to photographer

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A former South Carolina court clerk pleaded guilty Monday in connection with showing sealed court exhibits related to the murder trial of disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh to a photographer and lying about it in court.

Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill, who served as the court clerk in Colleton County, pleaded guilty to four charges — obstruction of justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs that were sealed court exhibits and then lying about it, plus two counts of misconduct in office for taking bonuses and promoting a book she wrote on the trial through her public office. 

“There is no excuse for the mistakes I made. I’m ashamed of them and will carry that shame the rest of my life,” Hill said in a statement read to the court.

She was sentenced to three years of probation.

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ALEX MURDAUGH’S MONEY MAN PAYS THE PRICE AFTER ADMITTING ROLE IN MILLION-DOLLAR CRIME SCHEME

Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill is sworn in before taking the stand to testify during the Alex Murdaugh jury-tampering hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP)

Her sentence would have been much harsher had evidence surfaced that she tampered with the murder trial, Judge Heath Taylor told Hill. 

During Murdaugjh’s murder trial, Hill was responsible for taking care of the jury, overseeing exhibits and assisting the judge. Murdaugh was eventually convicted of murdering his wife and son after a six-week trial, which drew nationwide attention.

Murdaugh’s lawyers said Hill tried to influence jurors to vote guilty and that she was biased against Murdaugh because of her book.

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ALEX MURDAUGH SLAMS NEW TRUE CRIME SERIES DEPICTING FAMILY’S DOUBLE-MURDER: ‘MISLEADING PORTRAYALS’

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill smiles after pleading guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C. Hill pleaded guilty Monday to showing sealed exhibits from Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial and other charges. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Solicitor Rick Hubbard told the judge that a journalist informed investigators that Hill showed graphic crime scene photos to several media members.

He did not name the journalist.

The photos were posted online, and the metadata from the images matched a time when Hill’s courthouse key card indicated she was inside the locked room where the photos were kept, Hubbard said.

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Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill is sworn in during a court hearing on Monday in St. Matthews, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Hill resigned in March 2024. One of the charges against her stemmed from money prosecutors said she took for herself. She brought a check to court on Monday to repay nearly $10,000.

Journalist Neil Gordon who worked with Hill on “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders” and previously accused her of plagiarism, commented on Hill’s plea to Fox News Digital.

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill pleaded guilty Monday to showing sealed exhibits from disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial and other charges. (Fox Nation/ Tracy Glantz/The State via AP, Pool)

“I appreciate seeing Becky step up and take responsibility for her actions, including the charge of misconduct in office, as it was directly related to the book I co-authored with her,” he said in a statement. “The specific instance was her decision to arrange a “Facebook Live” from her clerk’s office with the Colleton County Chamber of Commerce solely to promote our book.”

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“The fact that it occurred during the workday showed boldness, poor judgement, and frankly ignorance of the oath she took as an elected official.,” he added. “Sadly, poor judgement around our book had been a pattern for Becky, as we later learned she plagiarized its preface.”

Meanwhile, Murdaugh is also serving a prison sentence for stealing money from his family’s law firm and client settlements.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to Murdaugh’s attorney.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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