FBI: Brian Laundrie claimed death of Gabby Petito 0:38

(CNN) -- The mother of Brian Laundrie, the man who killed his fiancée, Gabby Petito, and later killed himself in 2021, wrote to her son telling him she would help him "dispose of a body" or "bake a cake with a lime inside" to help him in jail, according to an undated copy of the undated letter obtained by CNN.


"I just want you to remember that I will always love you and that I know you will always love me. You are my child. Nothing can make me stop loving you, nothing can ever separate us. Whatever we do, wherever we go, or whatever we say: we will always love each other," Roberta Laundrie wrote in the letter.

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"If you're in jail, I'll bake a cake with a lime inside. If you have to get rid of a dead body, I'll bring you a shovel and garbage bags," he says, with an apparent cross-out over the word bring. "If you fly to the moon, I will be watching the skies for your re-entry. If you say you hate me to the core, I'll buy some new guts."

Roberta Laundrie said the letter was written before her son's trip with Petito, and one of her attorneys issued a statement saying it was "not related in any way to Gabby," though Petito's family disputes those claims.

Here is the text of Roberta Laundrie's undated letter to her son: I just want you to remember that I will always love you and I know you will always love me. You are my child. Nothing can make me stop loving you, nothing will separate us or can ever separate us. Whatever we do, wherever we go, or whatever we say, we will always love each other. If you are in jail, I will bake a cake with a lime inside. If you have to get rid of a dead body, I will arrive with a shovel and garbage bags. If you fly to the moon, I will be watching the skies for your reentry. If you say you hate me to the core, I'll buy some new guts. Remember that love is a verb, not a noun. It's not a thing, it's not words, it's actions. Observe people's actions to see if they love you, not their words. That is why I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor ruling spirits, nor the present, nor the future, nor the powers above, nor the powers below, nothing in the entire created world can separate our love. Neither the hostile powers, nor the messengers of heaven, nor the monarchs of earth. Nothing has the power to separate us..." --Romans 8:38 (Nothing can separate us: "Neither hatred, nor hunger, nor homelessness, nor threats, nor even sin, neither the thinkable nor the unthinkable can come between us.) Nor time. Not miles and miles and miles. (Obtained by CNN)

The envelope containing the letter said "burn after reading" and was recovered from Brian Laundrie's backpack when his remains were found in October 2021.

The undated letter to Brian Laundrie says "burn after reading." Obtained by CNN

The letter also quotes the Romans in the Bible. "Nothing can separate us; Neither hatred, nor hunger, nor homelessness, nor threats, nor even sin, nor the thinkable or unthinkable can come between us," it reads.

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The full contents of the letter are revealed nearly two years after the young couple embarked on a journey across the country, painstakingly documented on social media, that ended in tragedy. Brian Laundrie returned home from the trip without Petito and disappeared several weeks later.

Petito's remains were found in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest in September 2021 and his death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation. Before taking his own life, Brian Laundrie wrote in a notebook that he was responsible for her death, according to the FBI.

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The letter was the subject of a hearing Wednesday in which Petito's parents argued it is relevant in their lawsuit filed against Brian's parents and former attorney for emotional distress.

The Petito family maintains that Laundrie's parents and her attorney knew Petito had been killed and knew the location of her body when they issued a statement on Sept. 14, 2021, about the search. That statement, which is the crux of the case, read, in one excerpt: "We hope that the search for Miss Petito will be successful and that Miss Petito will be reunited with her family."

The judge has not yet ruled on the admissibility of Roberta Laundrie's letter. After a long tug-of-war in court, both sides agreed that a confidentiality order was not necessary to keep the letter secret once Judge Danielle Brewer of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court determined that the letter could be relevant to the case and that plaintiff's attorneys should, At least, get a copy.

In court, Petito family attorney Patrick Reilly argued that the letter was important in his lawsuit against the Laundrie family.

"As we all know, the letter refers to burying a corpse; bring a shovel and bury a dead body," he said. "Those are criminal acts, by the way, that Roberta Laundrie has said she would commit."

The Laundries argued in court that they had no obligation to the Petito family.

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Mother says letter is not related to Petito

In a statement from Roberta Laundrie's attorney, Steven Bertolino, she said the letter was written before the fatal trip and encouraged people to read it in its entirety.

"I really loved my son and I just wanted to convey to him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him," she said. "I'm sure people use phrases all the time to express to their loved ones the depth of their love. Although I chose words that I thought would have an impact on Brian given our relationship, the letter was in no way related to Gabby," he said.

"I ask you to read it in its entirety, and understand that the letter contains other phrases in addition to those highlighted by Pat Reilly for sensationalism and to bolster his case."

She said something similar in court documents, saying the letter was intended to "reach Brian while he and I were going through a difficult period in our relationship."

However, the Petito family said Laundrie's statement is "self-serving."

"The letter is undated, and although Roberta Laundrie has suggested that it was written before Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito left on a trip, a reasonable inference is that it was written after Gabby Petito was killed, and is evidence that the Laundries and attorney Bertolino were aware of Gabby Petito's passing when the statement in question was released on September 14, 2021," the Petito family replied.

"We expect a jury to determine when the letter was written at the time of trial," the Petito family added.

-- CNN's Eric Levenson contributed to this report.

Brian LaundrieGabby Petito