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Gabby Petito remains missing; Brian Laundrie whereabouts are unknown
Brian Laundrie, Gabby Petito’s fiancé, is still missing, according to police. The couple left in July on a cross-country road trip, but only Laundrie returned to his parent’s house in North Port, Florida, on September 1, according to police.
Laundrie was named as a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance by police, but he has refused to speak with them. According to authorities, no charges have been filed, and the matter remains a missing person investigation.
According to Florida authorities, Laundrie’s relatives told officers on Friday that they hadn’t seen him since Tuesday. According to police, Friday was the first time authorities met with the Laundries in length about the case, and the meeting was requested by the family.
Around 5 p.m., Laundrie’s family filed a missing person report. North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, a member of the USA TODAY Network, on Friday.
North Port Police, the FBI, and other agencies are looking for Laundrie in the massive Carlton Reserve, a nearly 25,000-acre preserve in Sarasota County with approximately 80 miles of trails, where his family believes he went earlier this week. The search ended after dark with “nothing found,” according to police, and it was set to restart Sunday morning.
Authorities earlier Saturday refuted what they called “totally false” social media allegations that a body had been discovered in the region.
The Petito family’s attorneys issued a statement declaring that Laundrie was not “missing.”
Blissful video, perilous travel: Police bodycam footage is the latest twist in the Gabby Petito case.
“Everyone in Gabby’s family wants the public to know that Brian is not missing, but rather hiding. “Gabby is missing,” claimed the law office of Richard B. Stafford in a statement.
Steven Bertolino, Laundrie’s attorney, issued his own statement: “Be informed that the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie is now unknown.” “The FBI is presently removing stuff from the Laundrie residence to aid in the search for Brian. The FBI is currently looking for both Gabby and Brian.”
Petito, 22, was last seen on August 30 at Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.
Protesters gathered outside Laundrie’s home while police interviewed her family, chanting “Where’s Gabby?”
North Port Police Department said in a statement on Friday that it is no longer working on a criminal investigation and that the matter is now being viewed as a numerous missing person inquiry.
The agency also stated that they and the FBI had been pleading with the family for about a week before the meeting on Friday night.
“We understand the community’s displeasure; we are frustrated as well,” read the statement.
Laundry and his family are accused of suppressing information.
Investigators have charged Laundrie and those around him with suppressing vital information.
When the van was seized at their North Port residence, Laundrie declined to meet with officials and instead hired a lawyer.
At a news conference on Friday, North Port Police Department spokesperson Josh Taylor said of Petito’s family, “It breaks you apart.” “Right now, they’re being tortured by the possibility of someone knowing information but not relaying it.”
“I believe Brian has the information,” said Todd Garrison, chief of the North Port Police Department in Florida, at a news conference on Thursday.
According to police, Laundrie is exercising his Fifth Amendment right not to speak.
Laundrie’s attorney stated that he encouraged him not to speak.
“Many people are questioning why, in the face of Ms. Petito’s absence, Mr. Laundrie would not make a statement or speak with law enforcement,” Bertolino said in a statement. “In my experience, intimate partners are frequently the first person law enforcement concentrates on in instances like this, and the warning that ‘any statement made will be used against you is true, regardless of whether my client had anything to do with Ms. Petito’s disappearance. As a result, on the advice of counsel, Mr. Laundrie will refrain from commenting on this topic.”
Gabby Petito is who she claims to be.
Petito is a wannabe blogger and YouTuber that has thousands of followers.
An idyllic viral video titled “Beginning Our Van Life Journey” on her Nomadic Statik YouTube channel has been shared all over the world, documenting the couple’s cross-country journey.
Petito is characterized as a Caucasian female who stands around 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. She has blonde hair, blue eyes, and multiple tattoos, including one that says “Let it be” on her finger and another on her forearm.
Who exactly is Brian Laundrie?
Laundrie, 23, and Peitio, 23, are engaged to be married. In 2019, they relocated from Blue Point, New York, to reside with his parents in North Port.
Laundrie is a white male who stands 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. He has brown eyes, short brown hair, and clipped facial hair.
In Utah, police investigated a couple’s quarrel.
In August, authorities investigated an incident between the couple after a witness reported a possible domestic abuse situation.
Body camera footage published Thursday shows Petito in tears as an officer responds to a call on the side of a highway near Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.
Laundrie informed an officer that Petito slapped him after they had been arguing for several days. The officer stated that the two had been traveling together for several months and that their closeness caused an “emotional strain,” which resulted in further disputes.
Laundrie told an officer that he and Petito had the same mental health issue. The police report withheld particular information about the patient’s condition.
Officers in the video instructed the couple to sleep apart for the night so they could “reset their mental states without interference from one another.”
“I do not feel the incident progressed to the level of a domestic assault as much as it did to that of a mental health crisis,” the officer said in his report.
The police are inundated with tips.
Taylor stated on Friday that the agency has received an “enormous volume of tips,” estimating that over 1,000 had been received.
“The vast majority of them aren’t helpful,” he says, “but there are those small nuggets, those little pieces in there.”
Joe Petito, Gabby Petito’s father, asked for help finding his daughter on Thursday.
“I’m asking for everyone’s help at home,” he stated during a news conference. “I’m appealing for aid from Brian’s parents, as well as from family members and friends of the Laundrie family.”
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