FBI wants any helpful tips in Gabby Petito case, search for fiancé

Nearly everyone has their eyes open and are on the lookout for Brian Laundrie, wanting answers as to what happened on the trip he and Gabby Petito took out west.

The FBI says a huge way for you to help is to report your tip if you have one.

Outside the Laundrie home, for days, neighbors and onlookers kept their distance. But that changed at lunchtime Friday when a woman decided to post flyers where the family and the rest of us could see them. She hopes her simple reminder that gabby was once a beloved member of the household might spark the Laundrie’s to talk to the FBI.

Terri Desesso didn’t know Gabby Petito or Brian Laundrie. But she drove 50 miles Friday to post a message on the house they used to call home, a flyer with a picture of Gabby and a reminder to the Laundrie family that she once lived there.

“I don’t even know the girl, and I don’t know what happened,” Desesso said. “All I know is she’s not here, and she can’t talk for herself.”

Desesso hopes and prays her simple gesture gets to the Laundrie’s. The FBI would love nothing more for them to talk. Short of that, agents hope anyone with information will call the FBI’s tip line.

“They’re trained how to gather information on the phone, how to get details that can help an investigation,” Desseso said.

Rich Kolko, a retired FBI agent and WINK News Safety & Security Specialist, told us, after the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the FBI revamped how it handles tips because the bureau missed tips about the Parkland shooter.

“You never know where that good lead is going to come from,” Kolko said.

Eventually, the media sensation surrounding the search for Laundrie will go away. But that doesn’t mean the FBI search will stop.

“If Brian Laundrie isn’t found, you’ll see additional marketing by the FBI,” Kolko said. “There’ll be more posters. There’ll be electronic messaging. There’ll be even billboards for Laundrie’s picture on it, and those will cause more calls to be made, which is exactly what the FBI wants.”

The attention is good because the FBI is receiving many tips, but it’s bad because it’s generating an uptick in bogus tips as well.

TIPS: If you have any information on the homicide of Gabby Petito or the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie, call 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or you can submit a tip online at fbi.gov/tips.