PolitiFact: Brian Laundrie’s remains confirmed by dental records, don’t belong to a twin

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• There is no evidence that Brian Laundrie had a twin whose remains were discovered in a Florida park on Oct. 20.
• The remains were found near Laundrie’s backpack and notebook, and the FBI later confirmed they were his with dental records.

See the sources for this fact-check

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The murder of Gabrielle Petito and disappearance of her fiancé Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in the killing, captivated many Americans but dental records solved at least part of the mystery: human remains found in Florida on Oct. 20 belonged to Laundrie, according to the FBI.

Unsourced social media and blog posts had previously claimed without evidence that Laundrie was actually alive in Mexico. That claim has persisted even in his death. One Facebook post claimed that he had a twin, and the bones that were discovered in Florida belonged to the twin, while Laundrie was still somewhere south of the border.

But this defies evidence, and there’s nothing to support it.

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

According to the FBI, Laundrie’s remains were found near his notebook and backpack in a park in North Port, Fla. Dental records confirmed they were his remains, the New York Times reported.

Twins — even identical twins — don’t have identical dental patterns, according to a study published in a 1982 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association.

There has been no mention in news or law enforcement reports that Laundrie had a twin, but there has been media coverage of his sister and their parents.

Politifact rates this claim False.

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