Details of Gabby Petito's death have been revealed after her killer's suicide note was shown in a new Netflix documentary.
The American Murder of Gabby Petito landed on Netflix just this week (17 February), detailing the events leading up to the killing of Gabby at the hands of her fiancé, Brian Laundrie.
Gabby was just 22 when she disappeared in August 2021, after heading off on a road trip with Brian across the US in a campervan.
Advert
But when Brian made a quiet return home to his family house in Florida without his girlfriend, suspicions over his involvement in her disappearance naturally arose.
After failing to hear from their daughter for a number of weeks, Gabby's family launched a missing person's campaign on 11 September.
It quickly turned into a trip she would never return from, as her body was eventually found on 19 September, with her autopsy report later revealing that she had been killed via manual strangulation and blunt-force trauma to her head and neck.
However, Brian's account of her death was very different.
Speaking in the new documentary, Gabby's stepfather Jim Schmidt noted: "Not one of the versions of Brian's account was accurate by the findings of Gabby's autopsy.
"The sole cause of her death was strangulation and nothing remotely or even close to what he said."
Brian was found dead a month on from the discovery of Gabby's body, with his body being located in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida.
An autopsy determined that he died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
There was also a note found next to his body, detailing his admission to killing the 22-year-old.
But his letter provided a conflicting account of Gabby's death to what her autopsy showed.
According to the documentary, Brian wrote: "Rushing back to our car, trying to cross the streams, I hear a splash and a scream. I can barely see. When I pulled Gabby out of the water, she couldn’t tell me what hurt. While carrying her, she continually made sounds of pain."
In an attempt to put the 22-year-old out of her misery, Brian claimed he made the decision that it 'was merciful' to end her life.
But the killer quickly changed his mind, and second-guessed his actions instantly.
He continued: "From the moment I decided to take her pain away, I knew I couldn’t go on without her."
Detailing his own death, he added: "I have killed myself by this creek. In the hopes that the animals will tear me apart."
Topics: Gabby Petito, Crime, True Crime, Netflix, TV And Film
Mia Williams