It’s unclear what will happen with the search for Brian Laundrie on Friday, a North Port police department spokesperson said Thursday.
- The department said in an email to the Deseret News that 75 personnel from 16 different agencies were on the ground searching for Laundrie, Gabby Petito’s boyfriend, on Thursday.
- The police, who are assisting the FBI in the search, have four buggies out in their search, which included a dive team on Wednesday.
- “We plan to search throughout the day. Friday TBD,” said Joshua Taylor, the North Port police department spokesperson.
The search for Laundrie began last week when his family told police that Brian Laundrie had been missing for days. Laundrie is a person of interest in the disappearance of his Gabby Petito.
Petito, 22, went on a cross-country road trip with Laundrie. But only Laundrie returned home to North Port, Florida, on Sept. 1. Petito was reported missing on Sept. 11 — 10 days after Laundrie had returned home. Laundrie invoked his Fifth Amendment right and decided not to speak with the police when he returned home.
Last Sunday, the FBI in Denver found human remains in Wyoming that were consistent with the description of Petito. It wasn’t until Tuesday of this week that Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue confirmed that the remains were Petito. Blue said she died by homicide, but the cause of death for Petito has yet to be determined.
Police are still looking for Laundrie at the Carlton Reserve, a 25,000-acre park in Sarasota County, Florida. On Wednesday, the police used a dive team to seek out Laundrie.
“We have received a number of questions about underwater dive vehicles entering the Carlton (Reserve),” spokesperson Joshua Taylor told the Deseret News. “Area resources are looking at large bodies of water, including dive teams, boats and sonar equipment. At this time, this does not mean anything has been found. It’s a part of the overall search process.”
There were reports that Laundrie might have gone to Alabama. But the Mobile, Alabama, police said he had not visited that location. Similarly, rumors suggested Laundrie was spotted in Okaloosa County, Florida, but the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office debunked those rumors, too.
The search does not include Utah or Wyoming as of right now.
“Just here,” Taylor told the Deseret News in an email.