Gabby Petito Told Brian Laundrie in Letter to Stop Calling Her Names

Before she was strangled to death by her fiancé, Gabby Petito wrote Brian Laundrie a letter imploring him to stop calling her names.

The letter was recently released by the FBI, along with hundreds of other documents related to the murder investigation in a file that was reviewed by PEOPLE. 

Petito, 22, was found dead in September 2021 near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, over a week after she was reported missing. Laundrie, who had been named a person of interest, was found dead by suicide in Florida a month later, along with a backpack that the FBI said contained a notebook in which he admitted responsibility for her death.

The letter written by Petito released as part of the FBI’s collection of evidence does not contain a date, but provides a first-hand account of the relationship between the two.

“You know how much I love you,” the letter opens. “…Just please stop crying and stop calling me names because we’re a team and I’m here with you.”

In the emotional letter, Petito expresses concern that she is “frustrated” there isn’t more she can do when Laundrie is in pain and that she loves him “too much.”

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Petito and Laundrie had been on a cross-country van trip, traveling through multiple national parks and documenting it on social media.

Petito’s subsequent disappearance was the subject of intense nationwide media attention.

Her family is now working to help families of missing people of color, who do not always receive the same level of attention.

“We want to help all missing people,” her father Joe Petito previously told PEOPLE. “If the media doesn’t continue doing this for all the people then that’s a shame because it’s not just Gabby that deserved that.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.