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Federal investigators have identified the human remains found in North Port, Florida, as those of Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of slain Blue Point woman Gabby Petito.
“On October 21, 2021, a comparison of dental records confirmed that the human remains found at the T. Mabry Carlton, Jr. Memorial Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park are those of Brian Laundrie,” reads a press statement issued Thursday by the FBI field office in Denver, Colorado.
[The full statement appears below.]
The FBI in Tampa had confirmed Wednesday afternoon that investigators found “what appear to be human remains” near a backpack and other items belonging to fugitive Brian Laundrie in an environmental park north of his home in North Port, Florida.
“These items were found in an area that up until recently had been under water,” said Michael McPherson, special agent in charge of the FBI Tampa division. “Our evidence response team is on the scene using all available forensic resources to process the area. It’s likely the team will be on the scene for several days.”
The other personal items found included a notebook that belonged to Laundrie, the former Blue Point resident who is a person of interest in the murder of his girlfriend Gabby Petito, 22, a native of Blue Point whose mom, stepdad and siblings still reside in the hamlet.
Laundrie had been missing more than a month, wandering off from the North Port, Florida, home he shared with his parents Roberta and Chris — and previously Petito — days before his girlfriend was found slain in a national park in Wyoming.
The human remains and personal items of Laundrie, 23, were found in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. The FBI, North Port Police and other law enforcement agencies had searched the park and the adjacent Carlton Reserve for a over a month in their manhunt for Laundrie.
Petito, an aspiring travel blogger who this summer went on a cross-country trip with Laundrie in her converted white Ford Transit van, is believed to have been killed some time in late August.
The Teton County, Wyoming, coroner confirmed this month that she died of strangulation.
On Sept. 1, Laundrie drove back home to Florida in the van — without Petito. For the last two years, the couple had lived with Laundrie’s parents Roberta and Chris, after moving from Blue Point to North Port, Florida. Petito and Laundrie had dated for two years, and at one point were engaged.
Gabby was officially reported missing on Sept. 11, but her family had not heard from her since Aug. 25. Her disappearance, and now her murder, has drawn the attention of the nation and much of the world.
The free spirited Long Islander was carefully documenting her travels with Laundrie in seemingly fun-loving social media posts from out west in Utah and Wyoming. Her pose in front of a wall mural with a pair of giant angel wings has become iconic, inspiring mural memorials to her in Florida and New York.
Top: Police camera footage (still).
