As local and federal agencies search for Gabby Petito in a Rocky Mountain national park, law enforcement are also working to locate her fiancé Brian Laundrie, who his family says has not been seen since Tuesday.
The latest efforts to find Laundrie have shifted to a Florida nature reserve, where dozens of officers and FBI agents are combing an area that stretches out to roughly 25,000 acres, according to the North Port Police Department. Laundrie’s family told police he left home with his backpack Tuesday and told them he was going to the reserve, North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor said Saturday. Laundrie,23, is not wanted for a crime, according to law enforcement officials, who began investigating Petito’s disappearance on September 11 when her family reported her missing. Prior to her disappearance, Petito,22, had been traveling with Laundrie on a cross-country road trip through several western states, leaving online reviews of campsites visited. Laundrie returned to North Port, Florida, without Petito on September 1, according to police. Officials later found the van the couple had been traveling in at the home Petito shared with Laundrie and his parents in North Port. Police visited the home after Petito was reported missing, but Laundrie’s family refused to talk and instead gave authorities the information for their attorney, Taylor said earlier this week.
