2:19
- ABC News
- September 19, 2021
Search resumes for boyfriend of missing woman
TikTok poster said she and her boyfriend gave Laundrie a ride on Aug. 29.
2:19
\"Be advised that the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie are currently unknown,\" an attorney for the Laundrie family said Friday. \"The FBI is currently at the Laundrie residence removing property to assist in locating Brian. As of now, the FBI is now looking for both Gabby and Brian.\"
Additional photos from the search for Brian Laundrie around the Carlton Reserve area. If you have seen him please use 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit online at https://t.co/vlIagGqNPE. pic.twitter.com/X5QZmMJhTq
— North Port Police (@NorthPortPolice) September 18, 2021
North Port police officers accompanied by FBI agents, drones, K-9 and bloodhounds are involved in the search for Laundrie, police said during a briefing Saturday afternoon. Authorities took clothing from the family home Friday to help canine units, North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor said.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/gabby-petito-fbi-mo-20210917_1631931855483_hpEmbed_1x1_384.jpg\")
Laundrie's family told police on Friday that they last saw him on Tuesday with a backpack and he told them he was going to the massive preserve, which he would frequent for hikes, according to Taylor.
\"Our goal is to get answers. We love to be able to find Gabby. And right now we need to find Brian, too. Not only is he missing, but he potentially holds some key information in helping us find Gabby,\" Taylor told ABC News on Saturday night. \"We have to locate him. We're hopeful to bring him in because I think he does have some information that will really lead us to Gabby. And that is the primary objective, to find this little girl.\"
In response to the news that Laundrie's whereabouts were unknown, a lawyer for the Petito family said in a statement: \"All of Gabby's family want the world to know that Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing.\"
The North Port Police Department, FBI, and agency partners are currently conducting a search of the vast Carlton Reserve for Brian Laundrie. His family says they believe he entered the area earlier this week. More details when available. pic.twitter.com/I5x7DvQ3Jt
— North Port Police (@NorthPortPolice) September 18, 2021
The search for Laundrie is the latest twist in the case that has grabbed national attention as the couple had been traveling across the country since June in Petito's 2012 Ford Transit and documenting the trip on social media. Laundrie returned home in Petito's van to North Port, on Sept. 1 without his girlfriend, according to police.
Petito's parents reported her missing on Sept. 11 after not speaking with her for two weeks.
As the search for Petito continues, FBI Denver said in an update Saturday evening that authorities are \"conducting ground surveys\" at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. The FBI asked for anyone who saw the couple's white van, with Florida license plate QFTG03, to contact the FBI.
Taylor confirmed that investigators have spoken to Miranda Baker, a college student who posted a TikTok video over the weekend claiming she and her boyfriend picked up Laundrie around 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 29 as he was hitchhiking alone in the Colter Bay Village area of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. In the video, Baker said Laundrie offered her and her boyfriend $200 to drive him to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
\"He told us he's been camping for multiple days without his fiancee. He did say he had a fiancee and that she was working on their social media page back at their van,\" Baker said in the video.
She said that during the ride, Laundrie \"freaked out\" and demanded to be let out of the vehicle.
\"He's like, 'Nope, I need to get out right now. You have to pull over,'\" Baker said in the video and later in an interview with ABC's \"Good Morning America.\"
Baker said she and her boyfriend let Laundrie out near the Jackson Lake Dam a little after 6 p.m. She said Laundrie had a backpack and was dressed in a long-sleeve shirt, pants, hiking boots and had a scruffy beard.
\"For someone who was camping for multiple days, he didn't look dirty. He didn't smell dirty,\" Baker said.
Asked about Baker's purported encounter with Laundrie, Taylor told ABC News on Sunday, \"We have spoken to her. Her timeline is plausible.\"
The FBI specifically said it would like to talk to anyone who was at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area from Aug. 27 to 30 and may have seen the couple or their van. The agency said it would not comment on the specifics of the information in its investigation.
North Port police were also forced to clear up a rumor about finding a body in the Carlton Reserve that spread on social media Saturday, saying it was \"completely fake.\"
Petito was last seen on Aug. 24 leaving a hotel room in Utah. The next day, she spoke to her mother, Nichole Schmidt, telling her that their next stops would be at Grand Teton and Yellowstone, Schmidt told ABC News.
Schmidt received two text messages from her daughter's phone in the days after speaking to her, but it was unclear whether they were actually sent by Petito
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/General/missing-traveler-florida-boyfriend-02-ap-llr-210916_1631819274555_hpEmbed_16x9_384.jpg\")
\"Many people are wondering why Mr. Laundrie would not make a statement or speak with law enforcement in the face of Ms. Petito's absence,\" the attorney representing the Laundrie family, Steven P. Bertolino, said in a statement last week. \"In my experience, intimate partners are often the first person law enforcement focuses their attention on in cases like this, and the warning that 'any statement will be used against you' is true, regardless of whether my client had anything to do with Ms. Petito's disappearance. As such, on the advice of counsel, Mr. Laundrie is not speaking on this matter.\"
The North Port Police Department said Friday afternoon it had entered the family's home, where Brian was believed to be staying, to speak with the family \"at their request.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/Petito-1-ht-er-210914_1631646101736_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
The police later tweeted Friday, \"The conversation at the Laundrie home is complete. Once we have the details, a statement will be made. We ask for calm! Please let us work through this and information will be forthcoming.\"
It was after that tweet that the family lawyer released the statement saying the location of Brian Laundrie was unknown.
\"We've been trying to reach the family all week. This is the first time we've had communication with them, and now they're telling us that he's been gone for essentially the last four days,\" Taylor said in an interview with \"Good Morning America\" Saturday.
Laundrie's family told police about where he went after becoming \"concerned about his whereabouts\" and wanted to file a missing person's report, Taylor told reporters Saturday.
Laundrie's car was at the Carlton Reserve but then found again at the family's home, police said. When pressed by reporters as to how the car would have gotten back without a sign of Laundrie, Taylor said, \"We are going by [the family's] word.\"
Bertolino, the Laundrie family attorney, told ABC News the family picked up the car after going out to look for their son.
Bertolino said the family went to the reserve Wednesday to look for him and spotted a note from the North Port Police Department on the car saying it needed to be removed. The family left the car overnight \"so he could drive back,\" the attorney said. When Laundrie didn't come home Thursday morning, the family went back to retrieve the car, according to Bertolino.
People had gathered outside the Laundrie home throughout the day Friday, some with bullhorns, chanting \"Where is Gabby?\" and calling on Brian Laundrie or the family to talk to authorities. Those people were moved from the lawn to the sidewalk as they chanted toward the house.
Brian's sister, Cassandra Laundrie, spoke to ABC News on Thursday night, saying she had spoken to police about Petito's disappearance but was mostly learning details from the news.
\"Obviously, me and my family want Gabby to be found safe,\" she said. \"She is like a sister and my children love her, and all I want is for her to come home safe and sound and this be just a big misunderstanding.\"
The Grand County Sheriff's Office in Moab, Utah, said last week that Petito and Laundrie did not appear to be connected to the murders of two women at a campground in mid-August. The sheriff's office said on Thursday it had been in contact with Florida authorities about investigating a possible connection to the double murder.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/petito-2-ht-er-200914_1631646463833_hpMain_2_4x3t_384.jpg\")
The two women were last seen leaving a bar on Aug. 13, one day after authorities were called about a disagreement between Petito and Laundrie while they were traveling in Moab.
The couple's white van had been pulled over after a witness called police about an altercation between the two at the Arches National Park. Moab police released body camera footage of the couple admitting they had been arguing and that Petito had slapped Laundrie, according to a police report. The couple told police that Laundrie had not hit Petito.
There was \"insufficient evidence existed to justify criminal charges,\" Moab Police Department Chief Bret Edge said in a statement Tuesday.
ABC News' Alondra Valle, Julia Jacobo, Joshua Hoyos and Matt Foster contributed to this report.
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