Brian Laundrie is dead. His remains were identified on October 21, 2021, in a Florida nature preserve, and the Sarasota County medical examiner ruled he died by suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The FBI closed its investigation in January 2022 after a notebook recovered near his body contained written statements claiming responsibility for the death of his fiancée, Gabby Petito. For anyone asking where Brian Laundrie is now, the short answer is that he has been dead since roughly mid-September 2021, and no criminal case against him remains open.
How and Where His Body Was Found
After Laundrie returned alone to his parents’ home in North Port, Florida on September 1, 2021, driving the van he and Petito had taken on their cross-country trip, he was named a person of interest in her disappearance on September 15. Two days later, his parents told police they hadn’t seen him since September 13 and believed he had gone hiking in the Carlton Reserve, a 25,000-acre nature preserve in Sarasota County.
The search that followed, led by the North Port Police Department and the FBI, stretched for weeks. Much of the reserve was swampy and underwater, and public skepticism grew as days passed without any sign of him. Outdoors experts speculated he could not have survived there for long. North Port police maintained that intelligence supported continuing the search.
On the morning of October 20, 2021, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie went to the neighboring Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park to look for their son themselves. The FBI and North Port police, informed of their plans, met them there. Off a trail Brian had frequented, investigators found a backpack, a notebook, and what appeared to be human remains in an area that had previously been submerged. Only partial remains were recovered that day. On October 21, dental records confirmed the remains were his.
On November 23, 2021, the Sarasota County medical examiner confirmed Laundrie died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and ruled the manner of death a suicide. A revolver was found near the remains.
The Notebook Confession and the FBI Closing the Case
The notebook recovered next to Laundrie’s body had been submerged in water for roughly five weeks. On January 21, 2022, the FBI announced that it contained “written statements by Mr. Laundrie claiming responsibility for Ms. Petito’s death.” The agency said “all logical investigative steps have been concluded” and that no other individuals were identified as directly involved in Petito’s killing. With that, the federal investigation was closed.
The only formal charge ever brought against Laundrie was unrelated to the homicide. On September 23, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted him on a single count of unauthorized use of a Capital One Bank debit card, alleging he withdrew or spent more than $1,000 between August 30 and September 1. A federal arrest warrant was issued. Investigators were still building the homicide case when he was found dead.
The full contents of the notebook were not disclosed until June 24, 2022, when the Laundrie family’s attorney, Steven Bertolino, released eight pages after recovering the notebook from the FBI as returned personal property. Laundrie wrote that Petito had sustained an injury from a fall in Wyoming and was “in extreme pain,” and he claimed he killed her as an act of mercy: “I ended her life. 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.”
On his own death, he wrote: “I have killed myself by this creek in the hopes that annimals [sic] may tear me apart. That it may make some of her family happy.” His final written words were: “Please pick up all of my things. Gabby hated people who litter.”
Why He Was Being Searched For
Petito and Laundrie, who were engaged, had left Blue Point, New York on July 2, 2021 in a converted 2012 Ford Transit van for a planned four-month road trip. On August 12, 2021, Moab, Utah police pulled them over near the entrance to Arches National Park after a 911 caller reported seeing a man slapping a woman. Officers found Petito visibly upset and crying, and Laundrie with scratches on his arms, face, and neck. They classified the incident as a mental health crisis rather than a domestic assault, separated the couple for the night, and filed no charges.
On August 27, witnesses reported an argument between the couple at a restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming. That was the last time Petito was seen alive publicly. Laundrie returned to Florida on September 1. Her family reported her missing on September 11 to the Suffolk County Police Department in New York.
On September 19, the FBI discovered human remains in the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Jackson, Wyoming. They were confirmed two days later to be Petito’s. The Teton County coroner, Dr. Brent Blue, ruled the cause of death manual strangulation and the manner of death homicide. Her body had been exposed to the wilderness for three to four weeks.
The Lawsuits That Followed His Death
Because Laundrie was never criminally prosecuted, the legal accounting has played out in civil court.
Wrongful Death Against His Estate
Petito’s parents, Nichole Schmidt and Joseph Petito, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Brian Laundrie’s estate in Sarasota County, Florida. In November 2022, Sarasota County Circuit Judge Hunter Carroll awarded the family $3 million in damages. The family’s attorney, Patrick Reilly, acknowledged the figure was “arbitrary” since the estate didn’t possess that amount, and said any funds recovered would go to the Gabby Petito Foundation.
Emotional Distress Suit Against His Parents
In March 2022, Petito’s parents sued Christopher and Roberta Laundrie and attorney Steven Bertolino for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit alleged the Laundries knew their son had killed Petito and helped him evade justice while issuing misleading public statements. A letter written by Roberta to Brian, found in his backpack in an envelope labeled “burn after reading,” became a flashpoint. It read in part: “If you’re in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags.” Roberta maintained in an affidavit that the letter was written before the couple’s trip as a “jokey, stupid letter” with “poor humor” and had no connection to Petito’s death. A judge ruled in May 2023 that the letter could be admitted as evidence.
On February 21, 2024, after mediation, the parties reached a confidential settlement, avoiding a civil trial that had been scheduled for May 2024. In a joint statement, both families said they “reluctantly agreed in order to avoid further legal expenses and prolonged personal conflict.”
The Suit Against the City of Moab
An independent review of the August 12 traffic stop, conducted by Captain Brandon Ratcliffe of the Price, Utah Police Department and released in January 2022, produced a 102-page report finding that responding officers made “several unintentional mistakes,” including not issuing a citation in what Utah law classifies as a domestic violence incident and never interviewing the 911 caller. In November 2022, Petito’s parents filed a $50 million wrongful-death lawsuit against the City of Moab, alleging gross negligence. On November 20, 2024, Seventh District Court Judge Don Torgerson dismissed the suit, citing Utah’s governmental immunity law. The Petito family announced plans to appeal.
Where His Parents Are Now
Christopher and Roberta Laundrie continue to live in Florida and have largely stayed out of the public eye. Their former business, Juicer Services Inc. in North Port, is listed as permanently closed. In depositions taken in October 2023, Christopher testified that on August 29, 2021, Brian called him sounding “frantic,” repeatedly saying “Gabby’s gone” and asking for help finding a lawyer. Roberta testified that when Brian returned to Florida on September 1, she did not ask him what happened to Gabby. “I was told not to ask, and so I just kept Brian close and didn’t talk to him about anything,” she said.