Strong Probability Brian Laundrie’s Remains Found, Attorney Says
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Brian Laundrie’s personal items and possible human remains were found at the Florida nature preserve authorities have been searching for weeks on Wednesday—with the help of Laundrie’s own father, according to the family’s attorney.
The 23-year-old is a person of interest in the death of Gabby Petito, his fiancée with whom Laundrie embarked on a cross-country trip in a van this summer that the couple chronicled on Youtube. Petito’s body was discovered in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last month, more than two weeks after Laundrie returned to Florida and three days after his own parents reported him missing.
Petito’s killing and the subsequent search for Laundrie, who is also wanted for debit card fraud, has garnered massive national attention in the U.S.
Among the personal items discovered at the Carlton Memorial Preserve in Sarasota County were a backpack and a notebook belonging to Laundrie, FBI special agent in charge Michael McPherson told reporters Wednesday. McPherson said that the items were found “in an area that, up until recently, had been underwater.”
A nature park connected by a bridge with the Carlton Nature Preserve had been closed to the public for weeks and only reopened yesterday morning. The family attorney, Steve Bertolino, told CNN that Laundrie’s parents had told authorities about that specific area on Sept 17, and after going to that area of the park first, his father Chris “stumbled upon these items.”
“As they went further in, Chris ventured off the trail into the woods. He was zigzagging in different areas, law enforcement was doing the same thing. And Roberta Laundrie was walking down the trail,” Bertolino told CNN. “At some point, Chris locates what's called a dry bag. The dry bag is a white bag, laying in the woods, say 20 feet or so off the trail, according to Chris. It was in some bramble.”
Law enforcement had separately found the backpack belonging to Laundrie, as well as human remains that have not yet been identified. “At that point, the Laundries were notified there was also remains near the backpack, and they were asked to leave the preserve,” Bertolino told CNN.
Bertolino said Laundrie’s parents were “heartbroken” by the discovery of the personal items.
McPherson said the FBI’s Evidence Response Team was on the scene and likely would be “for several days.” A source described as close to the investigation told CNN that "based on the condition of the remains, it may take some time to officially identify” the remains. Bertolino told CNN, however, that "the probability is strong that it is Brian's remains.”
Petito was last seen alive checking out of a hotel in Salt Lake City on August 24, and her last known communication was through text messages, which her family has said they doubt were sent by her. After more than a week of Petito’s family being unable to contact her, they reported her missing on September 11.
Petito’s body was found Sept. 19 in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and an autopsy report later revealed that she had been strangled to death. Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue said that her body had been left in the wilderness for at least three weeks.
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Paul Blest, Khareem Sudlow
