Police Tape Goes Up Near Brian Laundrie Search Area in Florida—Separate Fugitive Possibly Found
WFLA is reporting that police tape went up earlier at one of the entrances to the nature reserve where authorities have been searching for Brian Laundrie.
Laundrie was the fiance of Gabby Petito, the travel influencer whose remains were found in a remote area of Teton County.
Almost a month ago to the day, Laundrie was reported missing by his family after they say he left home to go to the Carlton Reserve area of Florida (not far from their residence where he and Gabby lived with them) on Tuesday, September 14. The day before he was reported missing, Laundrie was named a person of interest in the disappearance of Gabby Petito.
He was the last person to see Petito as the couple was on a months-long cross-country road trip, but Brian returned home to Florida without Gabby on September 1, according to police.
On September 11, Petito was reported missing. Eight days later, her body was found in Wyoming within 48 hours, her death was ruled a homicide. Earlier this week, the Teton County coroner announced that Petito's cause of death was "manual strangulation or throttling."
WFLA reporters noticed the yellow police tape go up near the North Port side of the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park—an access point to the Carlton Reserve. According to the news outlet, it was the first time police tape has gone up since the beginning of the search for Laundrie.
Laundrie is still the lone person of interest in the Petito investigation after a federal arrest warrant was issued for "use of unauthorized access devices" (a Capital One Bank debit card and a personal ID number for two Capital One Bank accounts) in the wake of Petito's death.
The coroner said that it is likely that Petito was dead for "three to four weeks" before her body was located.
In an unrelated story, internet sleuths have been chirping about a possible Brian Laundrie sighting earlier that has reportedly been debunked but may have led to the arrest of another fugitive by the name of Ethan Waters.
We'll keep you update if we hear any more developments in relation to the police activity earlier this morning.