Roberta Laundrie's 'burn after reading' letter to son Brian made public: 'If you’re in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it'

An eerie letter written by Roberta Laundrie, Brian Laundrie’s mother, has been made public.

The “burn after reading” letter was obtained by Gabby Petito’s family Wednesday after a Florida judge ruled the infamous letter could be used as potential evidence in a civil suit against Laundrie’s parents.

The undated letter, which Roberta wrote to Brian and was found in his backpack alongside his remains, not only references her love for her son, but also indicates her willingness to protect her son.

The envelope containing the letter said “burn after reading.”

The letter reads:

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 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 create 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. ~

According to CNN, attorneys for both the Laundrie family and Petito family argued about the letter’s relevancy to the case. Eventually the judge ruled the letter was relevant and the Petito family should have access to a copy.

NBC 2 reported Roberta released the contents of the letter to the media after she asked for a protective order and confidentiality agreement.

In an affidavit, Roberta insisted the letter was written prior to Brian and Gabby Petito’s cross-country trip.

“Although I do not know the exact date I wrote the letter, I do know that I wrote it and gave it to Brian before Brian and Gabby left Florida for New York which was on June 2, 2021.”

Last year Gabby’s family filed a lawsuit against the Laundrie family accusing them of intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury trial is set to begin in May 2024.