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'Hopefully, They Find Him Soon:’ FBI Agents Collect More Items At Home Of Brian Laundrie
Steven Bertolino, the lawyer representing the Laundrie family, told Oxygen.com that FBI agents collected items to assist canines in their search for Brian Laundrie.
The FBI has collected items to assist in the ongoing search for Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the disappearance of Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, according to the family's lawyer.
Two agents arrived at the Laundrie family home in North Port, Florida on Thursday afternoon where they were spotted briefly entering both the home and the family’s camper, WFLA reports.
The agents left the home carrying a bag.
Steven Bertolino, the lawyer representing the Laundrie family, confirmed Friday that the agents collected items at the family home.
"It was a collection of items to assist the canines in the search for Brian,” he told Oxygen.com.
He added, “It was not a search.”
The lawyer said that the search to find Laundrie is “ongoing.”
“Hopefully, they find him soon,” he said.
It has been two weeks since Laundrie, 23, was reported missing by his parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie. He has been named a person of interest in the investigation into Petito’s disappearance. The 22-year-old travel blogger’s remains were found in Wyoming on Sept. 19; she was last seen alive while on a cross-country trip with Laundrie. A federal arrest warrant was issued for his arrest last week for the unauthorized use of a debit card following Petito’s murder.
Laundrie's parents say their son, who is known to be a skilled outdoorsman, went for a hike at Sarasota County’s Carlton Reserve a few days before they reported him missing. Multiple searches at that swampy reserve have not been successful.
Shortly before going missing — and before the search for Petito had begun — Laundrie and his parents visited a Florida campground 75 miles from their home. Their stay beginning Sept. 6 was confirmed by Bertolino. But he dismissed a theory put forth by reality TV bounty hunter Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman that Brian went on the run during that trip. The whole family “left the park together,” he said.
Petito was reported missing by her family in Suffolk County, New York on Sept. 11. Laundrie's parents say he left for a hike in the Carlton Reserve on Sept. 14 and they reported him missing three days later.
"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.
