Cadaver Dogs Brought To Florida Reserve In Hunt For Brian Laundrie

Cadaver dogs have been brought to the swampy Florida reserve where Brian Laundrie’s parents say he went hiking before vanishing roughly a month ago.

Multiple law enforcement vehicles and a K-9 forensics unit arrived at Sarasota County’s Carlton Reserve, which has become the epicenter of the search efforts for Laundrie, on Thursday, NewsNation Now reports.

Weeks after scaling back search efforts, cadaver dogs were brought onto the scene of the 24,000-acre reserve.

“We had two K9 units assisting North Port PD/Sarasota Sheriff's Office/FBI - one human remains detection (HRD) K9 and one K9 trainer,” Amanda Hunter, a spokesperson for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office told Oxygen.com via email on Friday. “This trainer was acting essentially as a ‘spotter’ for the working K9's safety. The HRD K9 that assisted yesterday is handled by one of our Forensic Investigators.”

Hunter noted that the cadaver dogs were only on the site on Thursday and no other day this week. She said nothing of note was found during the search.

Steven Bertolino, the lawyer for the Laundrie family, had no comment on the search when contacted by Oxygen.com.

Laundrie, who is reputed to be a skilled outdoorsman, has been missing since mid-September after his parents say he went for a hike in the Carlton Reserve. His parents told police that they picked up his Mustang, which they say had been abandoned near the reserve, and brought it back to their home before reporting him missing.

Since then, the area has been searched multiple times on foot, by air and through swampy water. The area is now reportedly drier than it has been in a past. North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor previously told Oxygen.com in September that he hopes the water will lower in areas that are currently difficult to access. Police have called the terrain “vast and unforgiving” and full of “gator and snake-infested swamps and flooded hiking and biking trails."

Laundrie, 23, has been named a person of interest in the investigation into the disappearance of his girlfriend, Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito. The couple were in the midst of a cross-country trip when she went missing. Just this week it was revealed that the 22-year-old travel blogger was strangled to death. A federal arrest warrant was issued for his arrest last month for the unauthorized use of a debit or credit card following Petito’s murder. He had returned to his parents’ home in North Port, Florida without Petito mid-way through their trip. Weeks later, on Sept. 19, her remains were found in Wyoming. She had likely been killed three to four weeks earlier, according to the coroner's report.

"The Murder of Gabby Petito: Truth, Lies and Social Media" will air on Oxygen on Monday, January 24 at 9/8c. It's also available to stream on Peacock now.