The FBI stated on Wednesday that they found human remains and personal belongings thought to belong to Brian Laundrie in a Florida park. Thereby, potentially putting an end to the search for Gabby Petito’s fiance.
FBI Tampa special agent Michael McPherson said the objects included a bag and notepad, as well as the apparent human remains. They discovered the human remains and other things in the area. It was previously underwater during a brief news conference.
Steven Bertolino, an attorney for the Laundrie family, previously acknowledged that the goods likely belong to Laundrie. The Sarasota County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that the agency dispatched to the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park.
Bertolino said Laundrie’s parents went to the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park to look for their son. The FBI and North Port police “were informed last night of Brian’s parents’ intentions,” he added. Thereby, adding that they met the couple at the park.
“After a brief search of a trail that Brian frequented, some articles belonging to Brian were found,” Bertolino said. “Law enforcement is conducting a more thorough investigation of that area.”
Bertolino declined to identify what they discovered in the park. Police did not respond to a request for comment. The 160-acre park joins the Carlton Preserve, 25,000-acre wetlands and forest region where officials searched for Laundrie for days after his family reported him missing on Sept. 17. Laundrie had gone camping in the reserve days before, according to family members.
“The probability is strong that it is Brian’s remains,” Bertolino said Wednesday night on CNN about the human remains.
Items of interest
“Items of interest” were discovered, according to the FBI in Tampa. An FBI Evidence Response Team was processing the scene.
Petito and Laundrie met in high school and were high school sweethearts from Long Island, New York. Laundrie’s parents eventually relocated to North Port, Florida, 35 miles southeast of Sarasota, and the couple moved in with them.
They set out from Long Island in July on a month-long tour of national parks and other sights on their route to Oregon, sharing cheerful social media photographs and anecdotes along the way. Petito’s parents filed a missing person report after not hearing from her since late August after Laundrie returned to Florida alone on Sept. 1.
Petito’s body was discovered outside a Wyoming campground on September 19. Petito’s death was a homicide by strangulation by Teton County Coroner Brent Blue. He said Petito’s body had been “outside in the wilderness for three to four weeks” before finding it.
Petito’s death had only one person of interest: Laundrie. He does not have chargers for Petito’s death. But he has chargers for unauthorized use of a debit card and numerous accounts totaling over $1,000. The cards and accounts do not belong to anyone, according to the records.
The indictment also accuses Laundrie of gaining unauthorized access to a device. Thereby, claiming that from August 30 to September 1, he utilized the bank accounts without permission.
“The gentleman slapping the girl”
Following Petito’s disappearance, police video showing the couple’s troubles surfaced, and cops separated Petito and Laundrie for a night when a domestic quarrel escalated into a physical altercation.
The Grand County Sheriff’s Office in Utah published a 911 call from Aug. 12 in which the caller claims he drove past the couple’s van and also saw “the gentleman slapping the girl.”
During a police stop on the side of the roadway near Arches National Park in Utah, Petito was crying on body camera. The video shows a police officer conversing with Laundrie, who claims that tensions between the two have been rising for several days, despite authorities at the location taking no action other than to tell the couple to seperate for the night.