diff --git a/docs/roadmap/remediation.md b/docs/roadmap/remediation.md
index 733d26c..64e486d 100644
--- a/docs/roadmap/remediation.md
+++ b/docs/roadmap/remediation.md
@@ -493,6 +493,12 @@ changes to record selection are required.
 
 ## R12: Reject trailing JSON without constructing a discarded value — P3
 
+**Completed:** Loading uses complete-document unmarshalling and wraps the actual
+parser error. It avoids constructing a discarded trailing value while retaining
+the whole-file read bound. Tests passed for single documents, whitespace,
+additional fields, extra documents, malformed suffixes, and retained syntax
+causes, alongside byte-preserving record regressions.
+
 **Relevant code:** `internal/publish/record.go:24`, particularly the second
 `decoder.Decode(&trailing)` and its error handling at lines 34–37.
 
diff --git a/internal/publish/record.go b/internal/publish/record.go
index f1a9ec4..30b04f2 100644
--- a/internal/publish/record.go
+++ b/internal/publish/record.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -32,15 +31,10 @@ func LoadEvidence(path string) (Evidence, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return Evidence{}, &RecoveryError{Kind: "record_read", RecordPath: path, cause: fmt.Errorf("read record %q: %w", path, err)}
 	}
-	decoder := json.NewDecoder(strings.NewReader(string(data)))
 	var envelope recordEnvelope
-	if err := decoder.Decode(&envelope); err != nil {
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &envelope); err != nil {
 		return Evidence{}, &RecoveryError{Kind: "record_format", RecordPath: path, cause: fmt.Errorf("decode record %q: %w", path, err)}
 	}
-	var trailing any
-	if err := decoder.Decode(&trailing); err != io.EOF {
-		return Evidence{}, &RecoveryError{Kind: "record_format", RecordPath: path, cause: fmt.Errorf("record %q contains trailing JSON", path)}
-	}
 	if envelope.FormatVersion != recordFormatVersion && envelope.FormatVersion != recordByteFormatVersion {
 		return Evidence{}, &RecoveryError{Kind: "record_format", RecordPath: path, cause: fmt.Errorf("record %q has unsupported format version %d", path, envelope.FormatVersion)}
 	}
diff --git a/internal/publish/record_test.go b/internal/publish/record_test.go
index 2617fd1..0e21e23 100644
--- a/internal/publish/record_test.go
+++ b/internal/publish/record_test.go
@@ -138,6 +138,38 @@ func TestLoadEvidenceAcceptsPartialAndRejectsMalformedRecords(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestLoadEvidenceRequiresOneDocumentAndPreservesSyntaxCause(t *testing.T) {
+	const valid = `{"format_version":1,"evidence":{"tag":"v1.2.3","future":{}},"future":true}`
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		name, data string
+		valid      bool
+	}{
+		{"single", valid, true}, {"whitespace", valid + "\n \t\r", true},
+		{"first incomplete", "{", false}, {"first syntax", "x", false},
+		{"second object", valid + ` {"unused":[1,2,3]}`, false},
+		{"incomplete suffix", valid + " {", false}, {"invalid suffix", valid + " x", false},
+	} {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			path := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "record.json")
+			if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte(test.data), 0600); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			loaded, err := LoadEvidence(path)
+			if test.valid {
+				if err != nil || loaded.Tag != "v1.2.3" {
+					t.Fatalf("valid record = %#v, %v", loaded, err)
+				}
+				return
+			}
+			var recovery *RecoveryError
+			var syntax *json.SyntaxError
+			if !errors.As(err, &recovery) || recovery.Kind != "record_format" || !errors.As(err, &syntax) {
+				t.Fatalf("lost format/parser cause: %v", err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestLoadEvidenceReadFailureHasTypedError(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err := LoadEvidence(filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "missing.json"))
 	var recovery *RecoveryError