Brian Laundrie bought a new cellphone in the days after he returned from his road trip with Gabby Petito, Laundrie’s lawyer confirmed to reporters Thursday.
Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino told NewsNation Now reporter Brian Entin that a new phone was purchased on Sept. 4, 2021. Brian Laundrie opened an account with AT&T after he bought that phone.
However, Brian Laundrie left that phone at his home on the day his parents said he went for a hike in the Carlton Reserve on Sept. 14. The FBI, Bertolino said, now has that same phone.
Bertolino said that the phone is “not a burner.”
Reports on Wednesday suggested that Laundrie might have bought a burner phone on the day he disappeared (Sept. 14). Multiple reports said FBI agents had recently visited an AT&T store near Laundrie’s family home to look at any surveillance footage that might show Laundrie.
Sources told TMZ that Brian Laundrie had been spotted going into the store with an older woman on Sept. 14.
Some dates to remember here: Laundrie returned from the cross-country road trip on Sept. 1, but Petito did not return with him. It wasn’t until Sept. 11 that she was reported missing. Her remains were found in Wyoming on Sept. 19.
On Friday, Sept. 17, the Laundrie family told police in North Port, Florida, that they had not seen Brian Laundrie since he left their home on Sept. 14. Police have been searching the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve since then.
Brian Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, said Monday night in a statement that they don’t know where their son is.
“Chris and Roberta Laundrie do not know where Brian is. They are concerned about Brian and hope the FBI can locate him,” the statement said, per Fox 5 New York.
“The speculation by the public and some in the press that the parents assisted Brian in leaving the family home or in avoiding arrest on a warrant that was issued after Brian had already been missing for several days is just wrong,” the family said, according to the statement.