Brian Laundrie's Mother Writes "Burn After Reading" Letter | Gabby Petito Lawsuit Analysis

so this is Dr Grande today's question is can I analyze the Burn After Reading letter written by Roberta laundry to her son Brian laundry just a reminder I'm not diagnosing by this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon I will put the link to patreon in the description for this video first I'll look at the background of this case move to the timeline of the lawsuit a summary of the letter relevant to the lawsuit then offer my analysis in the summer of 2021 a 22 year old woman named Gabby Patito was engaged to a 23 year old man named Brian laundry the couple lived in Northport Florida with Brian's parents on July 2 2021 after visiting Gabby's family in New York the couple departed on a trip across the country in a 2012 Ford Transit Connect minivan they intended to spend four months driving across the country visiting and camping and national parks on their trip they attempted to establish a social media Presence by documenting their adventure online on August 12th when the couple was in Moab Utah the police pulled them over after receiving a report about a confrontation between them but neither of them was arrested Brian flew back to Florida on August 17 but then returned to Utah on August 23. the couple traveled to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on August 24 at some point between August 27 and August 29 Brian strangled Gabby and left her body near the National Park Brian returned to Northport Florida on September 1 he drove the Ford minivan and was alone on September 11 Gabby was reported missing two days later Brian disappeared Gabby's body was found on September 19 a warrant was issued for Brian's arrest on September 23 but he was still nowhere to be found on October 20 2021 Brian Landry's body was found in a reserve in Florida he had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound a notebook was recovered from the scene containing a handwritten message from Brian in the message he confessed to the murder of Gabby Patito now moving to the timeline of the lawsuit on March 11 2022 Gabby patito's parents Joseph petito and Nicole Schmidt filed a lawsuit against the parents of Brian laundry Christopher Ann Roberto laundry on March 30 Christopher and Roberta moved to dismiss the lawsuit calling it baseless and frivolous on June 30 a judge denied the motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the petito family was allowed to move forward at the time making this video the trial is scheduled for May 2024. here is a summary of the complaint filed by Gabby patito's parents against Brian Landry's parents the vatido family claimed that on August 28th Brian told his parents that he murdered Gabby this is not long before Brian returned home alone in the van Christopher and Roberta spoke to an attorney that same day August 28 and retained the attorney on September 2. Brian's parents did not tell the authorities about this alleged Disclosure by Brian on September 10 Roberta blocked Gabby's mother Nicole Schmidt on her cell phone and on Facebook on September 14 Brian's parents threw their attorney issued a statement which read quote it is our understanding that a search has been organized for Miss Patito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on behalf of the laundry family it is our hope that the search for Miss Patito is successful and that miss spatito is reunited with her family unquote Gabby's parents through an attorney asked Brian's parents for information about Gabby's whereabouts but Brian's parents did not respond the lawsuit claimed that as a direct and proximate result of the maliciousness of Brian's parents Gabby's parents suffered pain mental anguish inconvenience and loss of capacity for enjoyment of life even though the term is never explicitly mentioned it appears as though Gabby's parents are arguing that they were the victims of intentional infliction of emotional distress now moving to a summary of a letter relevant to the lawsuit as I mentioned the lawsuit is moving forward one interesting development in this lawsuit is a letter written by Roberta laundry that came to be in the possession of the FBI it's not exactly clear how the FBI obtained the letter one reports that it was found in a closet in the laundry house another report said it was found in Brian laundry's backpack and an attorney for the laundry family said the FBI had it for weeks when Ryan's body was found Roberta laundry wrote a letter to her son Brian on the outside of the card there is a drawing of a bird with the word remember on the other side it has his name Brian Christopher laundry and in parentheses the words Burn After Reading here is the content of this handwritten letter quote I just want you to remember I will always love you and I know you will always love me you are my boy nothing can make me stop loving you nothing will or could ever divide us no matter what we do or where we go or what we say we will always love each other if you're in jail I will bake you 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 if you fly to the moon I will be watching the skies for your re-entry if you say you hate my guts I'll get new guts remember that love is a verb not a noun it's not a thing it's not words it is actions watch people's actions to know if they love you not their words therefore I am certain that neither death nor life nor angels nor the ruling Spirits nor things present nor things to come nor powers from above nor powers from below nothing in the entire created world can separate our love neither hostile powers nor messengers of Heaven Nor monarchs of Earth nothing has the power to separate us Romans 8 38 extended version nothing can separate us not hatred not hunger not homelessness not threats not even sin not the thinkable or Unthinkable can get between us not time not miles and miles and miles unquote the letter does not contain the name of Gabby Patito it is undated and there is no other indication as to when it was written Roberta stated that she did not remember the exact date that she wrote the letter but it was written before Brian and Gabby left Florida for New York Roberta said they left Florida on June 2 2021. as far as the unusual instruction Burn After Reading Roberta implied it was a play on words based on a book that Brian liked titled burn after writing I guess this was sort of an inside joke in an effort to explain the letter Roberta said quote I truly loved my son and simply wanted to convey to him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him I am sure people use phrases all the time to express to their loved ones the depths of their love although I chose words that I thought would be impactful with Brian given our relationship the letter was in no way related to Gabby unquote Roberta indicated that she was trying to convey her love and support for her son she wanted him to know that her love would not be diminished even though they were separated by many miles Roberta suggested that the relationship between her and Brian was difficult and strained she said quote I was trying to connect with Brian and repair our relationship as he was planning to leave home and I hope this sweater would remind him how much I loved him unquote now moving to my analysis the significance of the Burn After Reading letter to the lawsuit is this if the letter was written after Gabby was murdered then it supports the idea that Roberta knew her son Brian murdered Gabby this is a key part of the lawsuit without the knowledge of the murder there was no intentional infliction of emotional distress the lawsuit has absolutely no chance of success without that alleged disclosure furthermore one could argue that the letter indicates a willingness on Roberta's part to help Brian conceal his crime for example the part about disposing of a body using a shovel and garbage bags this could speak to a state of mind like being indifferent to people's feelings or even being malicious if the letter was written before Gabby was murdered it would be difficult to connect to the lawsuit it would be a stretch to argue that Roberta knew that Brian was thinking about murder or something of that nature especially considering there is no evidence that the murder was premeditated considering the value of the letter in the lawsuit is really hinged on when it was written what does the evidence support in this case let's take a look at the evidence both for and against the idea that the letter was written after Gabby was murdered starting with the factors that support this Theory the letter mentioned jail and Body Disposal if Brian had not brought an end to his own life he would have gone to jail after the murder Body Disposal would have been a service that Brian may have been interested in It's Curious that Roberta brought up two items that were relevant to Brian's highly unusual situation after all how many people at any given time just murdered someone Roberta talked about how nothing would prevent her from loving Brian this could suggest that something happened which would normally cause a person not to love another like a homicide the letter had an absolute and defiant tone to it nothing in the world was going to separate Roberta from her son not life or death not power from above or below the weather was dramatic and extreme it appeared to be too intense for everyday communication the words Burn After Reading appeared on the outside of the card this makes it seem like the letter contains something Roberta did not want to be public her explanation for using this phrase was not believable also as a side note it demonstrates that Brian was not good at following directions now moving to the factors that contradict the theory that the letter was written after Gabby's murder the tone of the letter could be considered consistent with a mother trying to bridge the gap in a challenging relationship with her son Roberta explained that she wrote it because the relationship was difficult and strained it is reasonable to believe that this was true Brian was a killer people who are capable of killing are usually hard to get along with mostly because of the murder part Roberta talked about Brian going to the moon and replacing her guts with new guts she was clearly exaggerating in these instances perhaps she was also exaggerating when talking about jail and Body Disposal the letter does not contain a reference to Gabby Patito and appears to be generic in nature although one could argue that Roberta did that to conceal the intent of the letter when considering the evidence do I think the letter was written after Gabby's murder yes I think that Roberta wrote it in response to finding out about the homicide this is why she wanted it to be burned after it was read even though the timing of the letter is the most critical element the letter supports one important idea regardless of when it was written Brian knew he could tell his mother anything that doesn't mean he did tell her anything or specifically about the murder but just that he knew her reaction would not be judgmental she would always be there to help him even if it required a lunar Mission intestinal swap moving to the last question do I think the lawsuit has Merit in my opinion the lawsuit filed by Gabby's parents against Brian's parents is frivolous even if Brian's parents did everything that was alleged in the complaint including having knowledge that Brian was guilty and not saying anything there is no liability because they had the illegal right not to talk the government of the complaint is that Christopher and Roberta laundry made no statements to law enforcement or to the potato family Brian's parents had the right to hire an attorney and the right to remain silent everybody has that right even when they are not being accused of a crime now what about the statement from the laundry's attorney when he talked about hoping that Gabby was reunited with her family could this be considered cruel or malicious if Brian's parents knew about the murder in order to prove intentional infliction of emotional distress in Florida the conduct must be outrageous I agree that the statement was ill-advised but I'm not sure it was outrageous Brian's parents were in a tough spot and probably didn't know what to say they didn't know for certain that Brian was telling them the truth if he did in fact mention to them that he killed Gabby I doubt they authorized that statement with the intent of hurting the potato family now moving to my final thoughts the sentiment expressed in Roberta's letter was that she would love Brian without any conditions this is a pretty common feeling among parents and I don't think there is anything wrong with parents feeling that way what would be the alternative parents who profess to love their children conditionally that would be cold and callous despite the typical harmless nature of this sentiment perhaps there was one unintended consequence of this unconditional love I wonder if Brian Landry felt that every woman should Grant him unconditional love maybe this was the source of his rage toward his murder victim Gabby Patito those are my thoughts on the Burn After Reading letter please put any opinions and thoughts in the comments section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always I hope you found my analysis of this topic to be informative thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 248,538

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Id: E5FqRmo4onY

Length: 14min 53sec (893 seconds)

Published: Mon May 29 2023