What kind of man is Brian Laundrie? (part 2)

His words reveal a lot

I’m continuing to look at Brian Laundrie’s talk with the police after he was stopped for speeding. You can see the full transcript I’m looking at and my first thoughts here.

Brian Laundrie: We really weren’t physical before the point where I said, “All right, let’s let’s just take a breather” and walk away for a minute and I’ll lock the van up and I’ll go this way and you can go walk around the block. [inaudible 00:14:13], a nice area. You can go either way. It’s all shady, so I said, “Let just go for a little walk and breather, and come back. I’m not upset with her, but she got all worked up and she had a phone in her hand and keys in her hand, and her rings. And I was looking for the keys. I didn’t want her to go anywhere. And I figures, I don’t have my phone. I don’t really, I don’t have a phone. She goes off without me. I’m on my own. So I was saying, “Let’s just go for a walk.” And she was trying to get the keys. So I just, just back up, and that’s when she hit me. I did. I don’t want to push you.I didn’t get overtly physical. I’m just trying to keep her away. And then I got really loud and [inaudible] tension. I was going, “Back up, get away, just give me…”

Looking at pronouns - lots of “I”s here again - then he brings her in with she, never Gabby which may be his shorthand or a suggestion of distance. We is only used in terms of the physicality.

“We really weren’t physical before the point”. The word really is interesting here. We weren’t physical would be a strong statement that they were not physical. The addition of really suggests they were physical before that point.

“All right let’s let’s just take a breather’. He stumbles, repeats let’s and then comes just - repetition here suggests he realises that if he says “let’s take a breather” it’s a command to do something, adding in just minimises again and makes it sound like he’s commanding her to do something small.

Now he gets to mentioning somethings that don’t need mentioning. When something doesn’t need to be there for the story to make sense it’s interesting. “I’ll lock the van up and I’ll go this way and you can go walk around the block. [inaudible], a nice area. You can go either way.”

The locking of the van is very important to him, he mentions locks and keys 4 times in this section. When you tell someone about a trip you made say to the supermarket do you say, “I parked my car, locked my car and make my way into the store”?

“You can go either way”. Why mention this? It’s a very unusual place you’re in if you can’t go either way. Also, note “YOU can go either way”, he doesn’t specifically say that they went off in different directions, only that it was possible”

“Let’s just go for a little walk and a breather”. Another mention of little. The next part “and come back” becomes interesting later.

“I’m not upset with her, but she got all worked up and she had a phone in her hand and keys in her hand, and her rings. And I was looking for the keys.”

“I’m not upset with her”. Not quite the same as “I’m not upset” not nearly as strong as “I’m calm”.

Tense here is interesting too “I’m not upset with her” is in the present tense, “she got all worked up” is in the past tense. People tend to use the past tense when truthfully remembering past events but stray into the present tense when using images, they are currently conjuring in their mind to give a false recollection.

“I didn’t want her to go anywhere”. That is quite a statement. And believe it. “Anywhere” is a bit vague and could be taken out the sentence. “I didn’t want her to go” is totally at odds with his assertion that he wanted them to walk off apart and take a breather away from each other.

“She goes off without me, I’m on my own”. Again, at odds with his suggestion of them taking a breather from each other. From what he says it appears that after suggesting they take a breather apart, he is now frightened of being more permanently abandoned and yet he gives no reason as to why his thought pattern has changed. His other words around keys and locks suggests there’s sensitivity here.

‘So I was saying, “Let’s just go for a walk.” And she was trying to get the keys.' . Again just - just compares one thing to another. We know walk is one thing, what is the other? Well, he’s hinted he is worried about being permanently abandoned, is that it?

“And she was trying to get the keys”. He said she had them in her hands two lines ago. One of these things can’t be true. The use of “and” at the start of the sentence suggests some information is missing, perhaps this is when the keys went from Gabby to Brian. I’ll let you work out how that happened.

“So I just, just back up, and that’s when she hit me. I did. I don’t want to push you.I didn’t get overtly physical”. Two justs now. Minimising right before violence again and repeating a word before a sensitive part of his story, giving him time to ensure he’s got it right.

You could make some guesses on what he was going to say that started with “I did” that changed to “I don’t” but they’d be guesses.

“I don’t want to push you”. Present tense. Maybe he was going to say “I didn’t want to push her” which indicated he did indeed push her even though he didn’t want to. Either way “I don’t want to push you” indicates he did push her but again he’s in minimising mode, he can’t say “I pushed her”

Now the phrase that got in interested in all of this “I didn’t get overtly physical”. If he had said “I didn’t get physical” that would be good, clean, and simple. Here he is saying he got physical but again minimises it. The word overtly is interesting though. Did he mean to say “overly”, that’s very possible. He’s under stress. Or did he mean “overtly” defined as “openly, without concealment”? Was he much more aggressive than he said but aware of people looking on was he careful that they never saw too much?

Conclusion. Mr Laundrie continues to make this sound like the smallest disagreement ever, but we can detect here that is his missing out some details and covering something up.

Most worryingly is that he definitely is not someone who enjoys not being in control. He didn’t like being told he was dirty, he didn’t like how long they were in the coffee shop, he didn’t like that fact she had the keys which was potentially the most control Gabby had over him. Coupled with how he seems to be minimising his physical actions towards her, it’s not a pretty picture.

If there’s anything you’d like to take a look at leave it in the comments below.