Brian Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, are seeking to have access to their late son’s bank accounts. However, the FBI is not planning to turn over a notebook in addition to other items recovered near Brian’s body in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Reserve last year, where he is believed to have committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
Last year, Brian and former fiancée Gabby Petito made nationwide headlines after Gabby vanished during a cross-country road trip they’d been posting about on Instagram and YouTube. Because the couple has shared a lot about their journey on social media, members of the public and investigators are interested in learning more about the notebook’s contents.
Chris and Roberta’s attorney, Steve Bertolino, said the FBI had not told his clients whether anything pertinent to the case was found in the notebook or if what they recovered is even worth their times in the Florida swamp.
Since Brian did not have a will, his parents had filed paperwork to access their son’s estate, Bertolino said last month.
Speaking to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Bertolino said the petition is simply to administer Brian’s estate, which is primarily the bank account, noting that the return of property by law enforcement is separate.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Fox News that he didn’t expect investigators to find anything useful in the notebook. In addition, Rahmani said people hoping for a resolution to the high-profile disappearance and slaying might be disappointed once investigators do announce what they found inside the notebook.
“It is unlikely the notebook’s contents are legible if they were underwater for weeks,” he said. “Laundrie’s body was described as skeletal ‘remains’ and the FBI needed dental records to identify him. The human body can withstand water and wildlife better than paper.”
The FBI has declined to comment on the matter.
Bertolino and the attorney for Gabby Petito’s parents, Richard Stafford, have also been working on the return of Gabby’s personal belongings that were left behind at the Laundries’ home when the travel-blogging couple departed on their ill-fated road trip last year.
Stafford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
