By Nupur Kudapkar
In early October the search for Brian Laundrie ended, as his dead body was found in the Carlton Reserve in Florida. In the summer, Gabby Petito, Laundrie’s fiance, and Laundrie took a cross-country road trip across the United States. Gabrielle (Gabby) Petito was an American woman who was killed presumably by her fiancé, Brian Laundrie while traveling across the United States. However, only Laundrie returned to North Port, Florida, on September 1 in Petito’s white van. Petito was reported missing on September 11. Eight days later, her remains were discovered in a Wyoming national park. Meanwhile, Laundrie was reported missing on September 17, just two days before his late fiance’s remains were discovered. He was last seen via CCTV leaving his house on September 13. Due to Laundrie’s and his parent’s refusal to help the police in their investigation of Petito’s death, the police were watching them, and soon after Laundrie’s disappearance, he was identified as a person of interest in Petito’s death. After a month-long search, Laundrie’s remains were discovered on Oct. 20 in the Carlton Reserve, a 25,000-acre Florida wildlife park. Police believe that he committed suicide a little while before they found him even though the autopsy results came back inconclusive. The spotlight is now on Brian Laundrie’s notebook, which was recovered along with his remains and a few other possessions in the Carlton Reserve. According to experts, the notebook may include information regarding what happened to Laundrie, as well as his obvious role in the death of his fiance. “‘If he killed himself, it’s much more likely that he wrote something in the notebook about Gabby. That’s what people who kill themselves often do, they open up about everything so their family and friends know what they had been dealing with before their death,’” Neama Rahmani, a former assistant U.S. attorney and the current president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek (Deseret). Although the contents of his notebook have not been revealed to the public as of November 10, there is hope that if he recorded enough of his life in that book then the Petito family can get closure as to what happened to their daughter and Gabby can finally rest in peace.