Story at a glance
- Partial human remains were located in a park in Florida on Wednesday.
- The FBI announced at a press conference that several items belonging to Brian Laundrie were located at the scene.
- Forensic units will continue to process the area for several days.
Authorities have found human remains near items that belonged to Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the murder of his fiance Gabby Petito.
“Earlier today, we found what appears to be human remains along with personal items, including a backpack and a notebook, which appeared to belong to Mr. Laundrie,” FBI Tampa Division Special Agent in Charge Michael McPherson said at a press conference Wednesday.
Forensic units will continue to process the area for several days.
“We don’t have all the answers yet, we are working diligently to get those answers to you,” McPherson added.
No questions were taken at the press conference, and people in attendance began chanting, “Justice for Gabby,” as the authorities walked away.
Earlier Wednesday, the lawyer for the Laundrie family issued a statement that “articles” belonging to Laundrie had been found in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Fla.
Laundrie’s parents reported him missing on Sept. 17, saying they had not seen their son since he went to hike in the Carlton Reserve, a 25,000-acre wildlife refuge, on Tuesday, Sept. 14. They later said he actually left Sept. 13.
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Laundrie returned to his family’s North Port, Fla., home alone with Petito’s van on Sept. 1 after the 22-year-old Petito set out on a cross-country road trip on July 2 with Laundrie. The couple had been documenting much of their travels on YouTube and social media under the moniker Nomadic Statik, and Petito stayed in touch with her family throughout.
However, she hadn’t been seen since Aug. 25, and her family hadn’t officially heard from her since that day when she Facetimed her mother, Nicole Schmidt. Her family reported her missing on Sept. 11 after failing to hear from Petito. Schmidt claims she also attempted to contact Laundrie, as well as his mother, when she could not reach Petito, but she received no response.
Petito’s remains were found in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on Sept. 19, and the coroner determined her manner of death to be a homicide. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Laundrie on Sept. 23 on charges of bank fraud for allegedly using a Capital One Bank debit card and personal identification numbers for two accounts without authorization for over $1,000 worth of goods following Petito’s death.
The Teton County Coroner Brent Blue announced in a press conference Oct. 12 that her cause of death had been strangulation. Petito’s body was in the wilderness for three to four weeks prior to being discovered, according to Blue.
Though he would not comment on any potential suspects in the case at the time, the coroner did confirm that authorities were able to collect outside DNA samples from Petito’s body.
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