Search concludes again for Brian Laundrie in Sarasota County, remains found matching description of Gabby Petito

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Searches are continuing across two areas of the country for Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie. In Wyoming, crews are looking for Petito. Meanwhile, in Sarasota County, Florida, the search is on for Laundrie.

A renewed search for Brian Laundrie began shortly before 10 a.m. on Sunday morning at a nature preserve in Sarasota County. The search has since been suspended for the day.

The North Port Police Department, in a tweet, said more than 50 law enforcement officers are once again in the Carlton Reserve searching for Laundrie. Crews spent all of Saturday there, too.

The search through Carlton Reserve for Brian Laundrie has concluded Sunday. As of about 5:40 p.m., North Port Police says nothing was found.

Meanwhile, agents are searching for Laundrie’s fiancee Gabby Petito, who has been considered missing since Sept. 11. The search for Petito is centered at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, which is the east boundary of Grand Teton National Park.

FBI Denver confirms they will be giving updates on the search for Gabby Petito at 4 p.m. MDT which is 6 p.m. EDT. The Teton County Coroner says that he was dispatched to Grand Teton National Park to recover a body. Human remains have been found that are consistent with the description of Petito but the body has not been identified and authorities cannot confirm it was Gabby Petito.


Reports show Grand Teton is where Petito was last seen by her family during a call. They have been unable to communicate with Petito since Aug. 24, except for a text message she sent.

Gabby Petito sits in a police vehicle during an investigation into an altercation between her and Brian Laundrie in Moab, Utah.

The couple went on a road trip in their converted sleeper van to crisscross the states and visit the nation’s national parks.

Laundrie returned from the trip to North Port on Sept. 1 in the van the couple shared without Petito and has not spoken to authorities of her whereabouts despite her family’s pleas for information.

Laundrie’s family broke their silence to report their son missing on Friday. His family said they believed he was at the Carlton Reserve, an expansive, 24,000-plus acre park that connects to the Myakka Island Wilderness Trial and the Myakka River State Park in Sarasota County.

Law enforcement searched for Brian Laundrie at a nature park in Sarasota County on Saturday. (CREDIT: North Port Police Department)

North Port Spokesman Josh Taylor said the case remains a missing person’s case, adding that Laundrie is still only a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance and not a suspect.

“Brian is a resident of this community; Brian was not a suspect in a crime,” Taylor said on Saturday. “We are not following him everywhere he is going.”

The North Port Police Department, which is the lead agency in the case, was focused on putting resources toward finding Petito, Taylor said.

North Port Police told WINK News that Brian’s family got his mustang home at some point on Tuesday, the same day he disappeared.

“We knew we would deal with Brian eventually but this is certainly a twist,” Taylor said.

On Sunday morning, law enforcement was gathering to start the search. A volunteer arrived to block off the entrance to Sarasota nature preserve.

As Laundrie remains elusive, the question is where does the investigation go. The route to Laundrie’s family home was also being blocked off this morning.

Taylor says this entire case is unusual. “There’s been nothing normal about any of this. The circumstances they’re not what people understand and we have laws and how we’re able to act and if we don’t act accordingly potentially some of the evidence that you receive is then thrown out and those that are responsible get off,” said Taylor.

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